Anatomy of a Swing Coat.

This cradle of 1940's joy, a sapphire-ink colored coat came from Shrimpton Couture.  I love to find vintage fashion that defines a period and when it is so well preserved, I feel like I've been handed an extra slice of cake.

This is a coat that you can feel transported in, hopefully there will be no penny in the pocket (catch the reference?).  Just like vintage suits, I have a deep fondness for vintage coats.  In addition to the glamourous princess coats of the early 50s, I also love the coats that were a precursor to this look that you might have seen a remarkable young lady or a stylish woman wear in the late 1940's.  I believe this coat to be from this time.  Whenever I look through the fashion magazines of this period, my heart does skip a beat so it is certainly a period of fashion that I can truly immerse myself in.

Do you have certain blocks of time that you tune into as well?  I'd say a block in the late 30s, a block in the mid and late 40's, and one last block in the early 50's.   In the whole scheme of fashion, not really a big time frame.


This coat is also very interesting in that depending upon what light is focused on it, it can appear to be a blue/purple blue hued coat or a dark blue coat.  When I tried this coat on, I immediately thought I would like to experiment a little with light and dark.

This is something I'd like to experiment more with in the future, achieving a vintage look with natural light against contrasts of light and dark elements.

Outfit details:

Hat: Hattie Carnegie, blue velvet

Earrings:Schiaparelli

Coat: Peggy Barton (wish I could find more on this designer but there is nothing out there)

Gloves: Dior

Suit (not seen) Lilli Ann

Scarf: Vintage

(All items were bought at very reasonable prices and in many cases quite a steal-of-a-deal.)  

This is the great thing about vintage you can wear designer labels for a fraction of what you'd pay for a designer labeled item today.

Check out the peplum detail on the hips.  I do wish this coat had pockets but this was the style in the late 40's.

I always find it charming when a label inside a garment is hand stitched around the edges.  I'm sure not much time to put this label on by hand but it certain adds a couture element.  It's all in the small details..isn't it?

I found a cobbler not too far away that can fix up vintage shoes.  I was so happy he could save these 40's strappy shoes.  They didn't have really very much wear when I got them but the strap was almost falling off.  The leather had become dry.  I gave the shoes a good conditioning and off to the cobbler they went.  The cobbler was able to fix this strap for me before I lost it completely which was pretty close to happening.  

I am also very excited to share that I am in the process of organizing a fall photo shoot.  The one I did last year  , here, and here was so much fun that I thought I might try it again this year at a different location. 

I'm also going to see if I might get in my Dior "New Look" creation.  I put together a "Bar suit" that is very similar in nature to Dior's Bar suit (1947) almost a year ago and never quite found the right opportunity to present this.   The suit and skirt are vintage and are from around this time period.  It is not the true Dior but a great recreation attempt based upon actual vintage.   More images here.