Dressing in vintage style clothing for a themed event or personal fashion is our passion. We turned a hobby into this website to make it easy to find vintage inspired clothing for women and men online spanning 1900-1960s. Our fashion history blog helps you create the look from decades past using vintage, vintage inspired and thrifty clothing, Need help? Ask us anytime.
Pin ups have been making men go crazy and women caring about their look for almost a century now, and the pin up visual appeal is having a great revival moment nowadays.  Pin up art and photography was all the rage in the 1940s and the 1950s, so what we look for today when reenacting this style is unavoidably inspired to 40s and 50s fashion. There’s a lot more than fashion to pin up though, and that’s exactly why we still love and get inspired by those gorgeous women. They have left us a legacy that will live on for many years to come. Long live the cheesecake girl! Confidence and attitude. Pin up style is a style that grabs a lot of attention when you go out fully dressed. Self confidence and bags of attitude are often required to rock the look. But getting the look also helps to get the right attitude, so it’s a process you can go through step by step. Start by adding pin up accessories to your everyday look, so you can get yourself comfortable with the style first. People around you will get more and more comfortable with it too and no one will be surprised when you come into the room in a polka dot red dress with a huge victory roll on your head. Petticoat. This is a trick a few women know nowadays. No one uses petticoats anymore, because they’re not needed with modern clothes. But a petticoat is something that can’t be missing from your 50s wardrobe. You need one under every dress and skirt you’ll get, aside from pencil dresses and skirts of course. Swing dresses, circle skirts, vintage dresses in general need a petticoat underneath. Get one in white and one in black to start with, you can experiment new colours when you will be more at ease in pin up clothes. Hair. Put a little extra attention to your hair and it will make a huge difference to your outfit. Learn a trick or two on how to quickly style your hair in victory rolls, or how to wear a bandana in your hair. Buy a ton of fake colourful flowers and adorn your hair with them, matching each flower to your outfit. You will go from plain to classy with just a little touch. Bow Pencil Skirt – Big Dot Long Dress – Antique Dream Bandana Makeup. What it’s true for hair is also true for makeup. You don’t have to spend three hours in front of a mirror to get a perfect pin up look. Applying a pin up makeup requires the same time as a normal makeup, with a couple of tips and tricks. You only need a bit of foundation, blush, black eyeliner and a red lipstick and you’re ready to go, it’s no hard at all. Follow our tips on how to get the perfect winged eye look, you can thank us later! Focus on the Waist.  Your aim is to create an alluring hourglass silhouette. If you have a look at 40s and 50s photographs you’ll see that the focus is always on the (rather tiny if compared to the rest) waist. Whether it’s a pencil skirt with a shirt tucked in or a swing dress with a waist belt, the shape it’s always a hourglass shape. The style of dresses and accessories will help you get the hourglass silhouette, but try and pay a little extra attention to achieve it. The 50s effect will get across immediately. What do you think it takes to be a pin up? Did you like our tips? Leave a comment below and let us know. Photo credits: Pinterest.com
The most important piece of advice for anyone wanting to rock the victory roll is to embrace the backcombing! There needs to be a lot of great backcombing, held with strong hold hairspray. Do this in small sections for the best results, smooth the outside with pomade ,and hide those bobby pins. This means that even girls with thin hair can get involved!
Another very popular style was the shirtwaist dress. Originally, introduced by Christian Dior in 1947, this style of dress was particularly popular with teenagers. It is set apart by its sloped shoulders which were a drastic change from the boxy shoulders just a few years before. This dress also has a raised bust line. The real change, however, came with a very narrow waist starting with a padded hipline and flowing away to a skirt with lots of fabric that was often pleated ending just below mid-calf. Wear this casual dress on your next shopping trip by getting this one from EricDress (@ericdress.com).
Next up is your makeup. Start with your standard foundation. One of the most notable things about pin up models is their smooth complexions. Use a full coverage foundation that matches your skin tone well. You can use a concealer to disguise any blemishes or dark spots on your skin in this step. On to the eyebrows, make sure they’re well shaped and filled in. Your eyes will follow, a smoky eye or bare eye paired with cat-eye or pin up style liner is a great way to bring some added pop to your pin up style outfit. Your lips should also make a big statement, pin ups often times wear oxblood colors, reds, or berry shades.
Using a little light back-combing along the way if you need to, and spraying some hairspray along the way will help, guide the hair so that it starts to curl around, using your fingers to help guide the strands in place. When in position, hold with bobby pins, and if you have blonde hair, use blonde pins to ensure they’re not too visible. Black pins look very obvious sometimes and can spoil the look. Spray with hairspray, pin the remainder of the hair up, and add a scarf for a real pinup touch.
Retro high ponytails also look amazing on longer lengths, especially since they deliver a polished and sophisticated finish. To achieve your high pony, start by applying the Nexxus Exxtra Hold Sculpting Gel to your hair to tame stray hairs. Next, flip your hair upside down. Proceed to brush your hair into a high ponytail that sits on top of the head. Secure your style with an elastic, and spritz on some strong hold hairspray.
Begin with the fringe area. Create a horizontal parting from the crown area down to the ears. Gather hair from the fringe and sides to create a ponytail at the crown. Backcomb the underside interior of the hair. Gather ends and roll under to create your fringe roll. Use a hair donut, padding or gentle backcombing for extra support. Pin under as needed with bobby pins. Smooth the exterior of the fringe with a fine tooth comb and light hairspray.
What Katie Did: This is where all your favorite retro Instagrammers are getting their stockings, and most of their lingerie, too. The site has a variety of colors of seamed nylons and more modern seamed pantyhose, plus seam-free nylons and fully fashioned stockings (a knit nylon fit to the specifications of the leg shape of the wearer with little to no stretch).

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