It’s every fashion maven’s dream to sift through the racks at her favorite vintage store and unearth a find so unique and so valuable that she’ll be the envy of all her well-dressed friends. In the sartorial world, there’s no bigger badge of honor than the perfectly sourced vintage find: the 1960s-era Pucci dress, the midcentury vintage denim, or the Hermès scarf in the hard-to-find print. Some women view vintage fashion as an investment that will appreciate with time—and some high-end vintage clothing surely is; most of us just appreciate quality craftsmanship and the chance to wear a small piece of another era’s style, often for a significantly lower price than new clothes cost.
So when you’re combing through those piles of clothes, how do you tell what’s valuable vintage and what’s just plain old? There’s a big difference, after all, and there’s nothing worse than taking home what you thought was a quality piece only to have it fall apart upon the first wear. Luckily, there are several foolproof ways to determine a garment’s real potential, and knowing them can keep you from making a grievous—and gauche—mistake.
Look for Good Construction
No matter when they were made, well-crafted clothes all carry certain characteristics. Look for weighted hems with a generous fabric allowance; tight, regular stitching along seams; enclosed seams that prevent thread from unraveling; metal zippers; and other signifiers of high quality and attention to detail. Patterns should be aligned properly, embroidery and beading should be done by hand, and buttonholes should be stitched the whole way around. Also, keep an eye out for luxurious fabrics such as real wool, cashmere, silk, or satin, instead of polyesters or synthetic blends. On shoes, look for cork or wooden heels, leather uppers, and stitched soles instead of plastic or synthetic materials that are glued together.
Learn to Spot a Fake
Some garments are modern reproductions made to trick customers into believing they’re true vintage. Remember that anything with a plastic or vinyl zipper was probably made after 1970, and true vintage dresses often have the zip at the side, not the back. Sizing has changed over the years, so a real vintage garment will often reflect a larger size than its modern equivalent—today’s size 8 would have been closer to a 12 or 14 in the 1950s and ’60s—and earlier vintage pieces often list the size in hip inches. Also, fabric-care labels only came into widespread use in the 1970s, so be suspicious of “vintage” clothes with modern labels. Garments from earlier eras are also more likely to feature netting or muslin underskirts for dresses, hook-and-eye fasteners, boning, or other handmade features that today’s mass-produced clothes don’t often have.
