Vintage Clothing

Prom night is one you'll remember for the rest of your life. From the limousine to the last dance, you'll replay each moment multiple times before the summer before college ends, at least. And special nights call for special dresses. Not when you can buy unique, sometimes designer vintage dresses, often at great prices. On the red carpet this year, we saw some resurgence of the designer vintage trend of a few seasons back. Most notably was Natalie Portman's red polka dotted Dior.  Vintage Prom Dresses 101 takes you through on trend vintage dresses, as well as daring new options that will have your friends talking even way after the graduation march has sounded and those black hats are tossed in the air!

This season's obsession with peplum signals the return of glamour and the hourglass shape. And it's just in time to work full on glamour with the ubiquitous red lip. As seen on the spring 2012 runways of Badgley Mischka, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Thakoon, Jason Wu--and the list goes on!--the ultra-feminine nipped then skirted at the waist shape has been part of the Western fashion lexicon since before Cleopatra seduced Alexander the Great. The ancient greeks were onto something...

In December of 2011, Gossip Girl Blake Lively, pictured above, inaugurated this season in peplum on the red carpet, at the launch of Jason Wu's Target Collection. The sleeved, black peplum dress actually IS available in the collection. Or should I say WAS available! Looking for great, quality options and alternatives to what everyone else will be wearing? Check out our list of vintage peplum--jackets, tops, dresses, even skirts--in And Pair It With Peplum!

New MVP's!! (Most Vintage Personalities, that is!)

There isn't a best-dressed, style, or trendsetter list in France that does not include the two young women making bookends of this photo: Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Doillon and Gainsbourg are the two most fashionable daughters of  legendary French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, and Jane Birkin (also pictured above). As a young actress, singer, and style icon-in-the-making herself, Birkin's effortless cool, risk-taking allure, and boyish sex appeal turned the head of not only Serge Gainsbourg, but most of the fashion and film worlds. It was after her that Hermes named its iconic "Birkin" bag! She's since passed her sartorial superiority on to her two daughters, Charlotte, and Doillon, who mix vintage, menswear-inspired, and some of that good old Gainsbourg/Birkin rock and roll sex appeal to carry on the tradition of great style! First, get some background on the life and times of the trendsetting trio in The House of Gainsbourg-Birkin. Then check out our step-by-step guide to getting the ultimate vintage-inspired style of Gainsbourg-Birkin-Doillon!

Menswear-inspired looks added some much needed testosterone to the runways recently, from butterfly collar suits at Louis Vuitton to Marc by Marc Jacobs' tweedy "professor" trenches and masculine booties. But beyond being trendy, masculine-inspired looks are always helpful for the 9-5 set. The boardroom set. The "how can I look appropriate and feminine at the same time" set...

Alas vintage clothing is not normally considered work wear. It's more for unique night looks and quirky brunch fashion. Enter the shirt dress. Essentially a mens' shirt long enough to cover your goods, and feminine enough to call a dress, the shirt dress is a guaranteed "kill too birds with one stone" look. Just take a look at Botticelli babe, Christina Hendricks as Joanie from popular AMC show, Mad Men, in this wicked, electric blue shirt dress. Check out the quintessential list of office-friendly options in Work, Work, Work! 9 Vintage Shirt Dresses.

I would never have actually chosen her as an MVP. If you read this blog enough, you know that by MVP, I mean Most Vintage Personality. Those fashion forward celebrities who mix haute couture with thrift shop finds to craft the most creative, inspired looks. Women of the red carpet who don't follow fashion rules, and are all about quirky, individual style. Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Zoe Kravitz, the Olsen twins....Natalie Portman?

Her Girl, Interrupted-esque role in last year's Black Swan, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress, helped to sully her good Harvard girl next door image just a bit. In all the right ways, I might add. But who would have thought that Portman would turn into the year's vintage style champion, as she did with that stunning red polka dotted number from a 1956 Christian Dior collection, at this year's Oscar ceremony? The girl not only knows how to choose film roles, she can pick a dress, too!

That red 50's Dior, which recently sold to a British couture collector for $50,000, has made red, red and vintage, vintage--any combination therein, the go-to formal dress look of the year. Portman, in fact, was not the only one to go red and vintage on the red carpet this awards season. To get Portman and co.'s hot vintage-inspired look, check out our new Trends Gone Vintage: Dressy Reds.

It's spring, early 1990's, and Gianni Versace (May God Rest His Soul), has unleashed a monster of a women's collection on the fashion world. The collection, starring the Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and the rest of the supermodel crew, is rock star glamorous at its finest. There's sparkle, color, grandiose, ultra-sexy silhouettes, and PRINTS, PRINTS, PRINTS! Prints, even, and especially, on the trousers. Most specialists in what to wear and how to wear it would naysay prints on the lower half of the body, arguing that they give the unflattering illusion of added weight, and draw attention to areas of the body...to which attention should not be drawn in public, anyway. Exhibit A, perhaps, would be the not-so-well placed yellow heel on Ms. Campbell's skin tight skinnies in the photo accompanying this post.

Fast forward to 2012, and everyone still LOVES prints on pants! The Fall 2012 runways were full of them, from playful, cartoonish prints at Jeremy Scott to the grown up but standout options at Badgely Mischka and Lyn Devyn. Leopard seems to be print of choice on the streets and in contemporary shops, but vintage shops offer unique options from the decades (and designers!) that did it fearless and best. Yes, including the dearly departed, Mr. Gianni Versace! Check out our list of the net's cutest vintage Printed Pants!

Stalking around fashion blogs recently, I encountered more than a few people asking where the vintage dress trend went, and lamenting the uninspired, humdrum, "safe" fashion choices celebrities are making these days. But a look at what's come down the red carpet this awards season, and beyond, makes liars of the critics. Brave, backward looking (in the best way possible!) fashionistas, from last year's winner for Best Actress at the Oscars, Natalie Portman, to the future Queen of England, for Pete's sake, have all flouted fashion convention and skirted modern protocol by going retro on the red carpet. It's no coincidence that each of the women on February's Top 5 Vintage Style Moments consistently appeared on Best Dressed lists in the press.

Why? Good taste, for one. Secondly, the time and care that goes into finding vintage dresses, and the precision involved in tailoring a decades old creation for modern times and bodies, makes it almost impossible to err.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of the women on February's Top 5 Vintage Style Moments list, as they (or their stylists!) sifted through racks and racks of frocks, in the end, choosing vintage over everything else!

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Wire Image

What does your spring platform look like?

Yes, it's an election year, but no, this is not a political discussion; it's vintage-inspired shoe talk! Technically any shoe with a 4-inch thick sole, the platform is back in style. As unwieldy, clunky, and even inelegant as they may sometimes appear from afar, the platform shoe actually holds many advantages over traditional heels. For one, [some] experts say the platform shoe makes for a less traumatic walking experience for your the soles of your feet, as long as the incline is gentle. Whether or not they are better for your feet, they're certainly more comfortable to walk in!

Second, the thicker sole adds style contrast, "anchoring" more floaty, feminine looks. As for the question of whether or not a platform can be elegant, just check out our list of 8 Great Platform Shoes for 2012. It's a mix of vintage and vintage-inspired options from contemporary brands. As you ready to free your feet of their winter layers, let us know--what's YOUR spring 2012 platform?

*Photo: Bianca Jagger 1975 Backstage Pass/Getty Images

Some of the world's most influential cities are basking in the afterglow of a fashion week that saw several plays on vintage-inspired looks like flare legged trousers, jumpsuits, and a below-the-knee hemlines. A glorious beginning to the year, full of playful as well as standard style signatures, like monochrome.  Runway to Retro catalogues the best of the Fall 2012 shows, alongside their corresponding looks in vintage.  I figured, we can tell you how to shop vintage for trends, or just show you how it's done! Visit the comments section to tell us what you think!

*Photo: High waisted, printed pants at Acne by Alessandro Viero/GoRunway.com