Paper Doll Girls...

I've just recently converted one of my etsy shops, Paper Doll Girls, to sell my collection of vintage Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Seventeen magazine advertisements and fashion pages from the 1920s to the 1960s.  Come check it out!

Australian Home Journal...

The Australian Home Journal was a magazine mostly about fashion for the average woman.   Each cover featured 3-5 outfits and inside were full-size paper tissue patterns and instructions on how to make them up. There were also more outfits illustrated inside, and you could buy them by mail order from the AHJ pattern service. The rest of the magazine featured knitting and crochet patterns, fashion-related DIY and handy hints, short fiction, advice columns, recipes, and plenty of ads for powders and potions to keep you regular, make you slim, and keep your baby quiet. 

Here's some of the covers of the magazines I've collected, dating from 1939-1956, and some black and white illustrations of the fashion advice given inside.    You can see what the well-dressed Australian woman was wearing back then.  Enjoy!

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Has Anyone Seen My Handbag...?

A very favorite research book in my vintage fashion library is Vintage Handbags, Collecting and Wearing Designer Classics, by Marnie Fogg, published by The Five Mile Press in 2009 (ISBN 978-1-74211-667-9).  I promise you, if you are a keen lover of vintage purses, you will just go GA-GA over the photos in this gorgeous book!

I absolutely adore vintage handbags, especially Corde handbags from the 1940s.  I actually use my handbags on a daily basis, even though you pretty quickly get the idea just exactly what women DIDN'T carry in their tiny little handbags whenever you start to use one.  Women in the 1940s didn't have to deal with mobile phones, MP3 players, Blackberries, etc.--all they required was a hankie and a tube of lipstick and they were set for whatever life could throw at them!

Here's a few photos from this MUST HAVE book just to whet your appetite.  You won't be disappointed if you add this lovely book to your reference collection.

American Bamboo and Plastic, 1953 by the Philadelphia Company, Ingber

Gown and Clutch, 1952, by Christian Dior

Hard-Framed, Double Handle Handbag, 1952

Pauline Trigere, 1952

American, Red Calfskin, by Koret, 1953

1950s Fur Handbag by Greta

Large Leopard Skin Handbag, 1946

Clutch Bag, 1952

Clutch Incorporating a Watch, 1935

I hope you've enjoyed this little snippet of vintage handbag heaven!  This lovely book is just full of fascinating handbag history from the 1920s-1980s and is VERY, VERY USEFUL!

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