Lately I’ve been working extra long hours to get Circa’s webshop finished in time for launching on August 13th, Circa’s 6th anniversary. And it was done! Hundreds of items photographed, edited, measured and loaded online for your perusing pleasure. Hundreds more almost ready to go up, so there will be lots of new stock soon.

Whilst that was happening, it was easy to take some extra photos for the Vintage Fashion Guild’s new fur resource – it’s going to be included in the new and improved site which should hopefully be available soon. Here is Circa’s small contribution. If you hover over each image with your mouse, a title will appear – perhaps you might like to see if you can guess them first?

A note on furs, because it can be a contentious issue – whilst I do not support animal cruelty or factory farming, I have no trouble with vintage furs because the animal has died long ago. The demand for vintage furs is much less than the supply and so I consider valuing and preserving them to be a form of respect for their sacrifice and the aesthetics of our fore-mothers. Besides: many vintage furs are being saved from landfill, as they are little valued these days, compared to the past when they were a great symbol of status.

All of these items are available for sale at Circa, with the exception of the Arctic fox (sold last week to a lovely visiting Gallery owner) and the Baboon (not for sale as it’s an endangered species). The Baboon is pretty popular at Circa actually: it gets regular visitors despite not being for sale.

I spend a lot of my online time at the VFG forums: as well as being the best place to get respected and professional opinions on whether that 1940s cocktail frock is real or a 1980s inspired style, or what a particular fabric or detailing is called, it also has the best Fashion Label Resource. Recently I heard something about there being over 3,000 labels there? The great thing about a label resource is that, as well as providing lots of good biographical information, it’s a useful tool in dating garments, as most fashion companies change the design over time.

But back to Circa’s webshop – it’s now open and you can see it here. There will still be some tweaking but all in all, I’m pretty pleased with it. In particular, hope you like the return policy: it’s my job to find the right owner for each vintage garment so if you don’t like it, or it doesn’t fit you, we’ll be happy to take it back.

At Circa we’ve all been working hard on setting up Circa’s online emporium – so far there are 300 items listed including ladieswear, childrenswear, menswear and vintage sewing supplies like patterns and haberdashery.

There is still much to be done before the launch next Friday, but I thought you might like a sneak peak at some of the haberdashery items to be available. We’ve always had haberdashery at Circa, but it was in an art deco cabinet and tended to get overshadowed by all the frocks and other garments, so the webshop will give it a chance to shine on it’s own. I have hundreds of items of vintage haberdashery, so here is a small start.

These laces, trims and appliques originate from the 1920s to the 1950s and will be available from Friday, August 13th – Circa’s sixth anniversary of opening.

I love coats, I really do, but at Circa we currently have more than we really need.

So – we’re going to have a Coat Sale – all coats are $80! They’ve all been dry cleaned, most have been repaired although at this price some may have damage to the lining or the occasional moth nibble. Most are from the 1950s, some are ’40s, ’60s or ’70s. I love colour so there are quite a few to choose from – we also have all kinds of wools from llama, mohair, camel, velour, boucle, gabardine and tweeds.

There are men’s coats as well as ladies coats, some are full length, some hip length, some the short “car coat” or “topper” length. All are in very wearable condition and looking for happy new and appreciative homes.

We have a rack full of them and as they sell, I shall bring some more in – here’s a selection of what we have right now (with thanks to my wonderful model Fiona).

How long will the sale last? As long as our stocks last. Please note that sale is for overcoats only, not evening coats, afternoon coats, opera coats or jackets. All coats are one offs and it’s first come, best dressed.

One of the things that I love about the wonderful slide into autumn and winter is the emergence of wool fabrics and in particular, tweeds. Tweed is a coarsely woven wool fabric, in a plain or twill pattern and it’s the patterns that I like the best – here are some of the tweed fabrics now gracing coats, jackets, skirts and suits at Circa.

Firstly – here are some houndstooths. Houndstooth has been selling very quickly at Circa lately, and this post was inspired by a lovely pair of classic black and white high waisted ’50s pants and a gold lame ’60s straight skirt. I’ve never seen a gold lame houndstooth before! Unfortunately they both sold yesterday so I can’t show them to you now but out there, are sure to be two happy houndstooth loving ladies.

Houndstooth must be the elegant tweed because most of these are ladies garments, from the ’60s, the height of houndstooth’s popularity. The grey one on the right is from a Harris Tweed jacket.

Now, onto the houndstooth’s royal cousin, the Prince of Wales check – originally known as the Glen Urquhart check or Glen plaid for short – it was popularised during the 1930s by Edward VIII when he was the Prince of Wales. These are all from jackets: two mens, two ladies. The fabric is finer for the ladies styles.

Herringbone tweed is a personal favourite of mine: it can be strong or it can be subtle depending on the colours used. The first is a ’60s ladies jacket, the second is a Harris Tweed jacket from the ’50s (note the knotted leather button), the third is a mens coat also from the ’50s and the last is a ladies trench coat from the ’40s, complete with bakelite buttons.

Herringbone tweed apparently gets it’s name from the herring fish skeleton. Not having ever seen one, I’ll take their word on that.

Had enough of tweed yet? Thought you might like some pin stripes – these are all from mens suits, so the fabric is a finer worsted wool than a tweed, and they’re from the ’30s to the late ’70s. Like anything, pin stripes go in and out of fashion and the main eras seem to be the ’30s-’40s and then again in the ’60s-70s. For many of us, they never go out of style.

It’s easy to tell the older suiting fabrics from the newer ones, because as they said in the classics: “feel the quality”. The older ones are thicker and heavier. You know you’re wearing a suit when you wear a pre’60s suit.

As always, you can click on an image to bring it up in full and then click again to see it full size.

My biggest current project is to set up an online shop for Circa, so that our many customers outside of Melbourne can peruse the racks at their leisure, as well as locals who may not find the time to visit.

As well, it will allow me to present items that Circa does not currently stock – in particular: childrenswear, vintage fabrics, haberdashery, patterns, linens and manchester, and the more modern eras of clothing like the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Some of these occasionally sneak into Circa but really, they deserve a proper home where I can offer you a range of sizes, colours, fabrics and styles.

This morning I took some rough images of some childrenswear for a UK fashion forecasting website. They aren’t the best but I thought that you might like to see them, to get a bit of an idea of the sort of garments that soon should be available online for you – these are all from the 1950s (you can mouse over them for the full title and description) and with the exception of the shirt and pinafore, are all home-made and in excellent condition.

I hope to be able to launch the Circa online Emporium in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Carly, our wonderful new Circa lady has started this week so I’ve been quite busy and have fallen a bit behind in posts but thought you might like to see three new 1960s dresses that have recently come in.

1960s black and gold cocktail dress – Fiona is modelling a knitted dress made of pure wool and pale gold metallic yarn. This dates from the mid-1960s.

1960s linen shift – This mid-60s shift makes good use of the stripey fabric and features subtle shaping. Great for summer as is, or in winter, it could be worn with a blouse or skivvy underneath.

1960s black polyester knit day dress -

Fiona models a “fit and flare” dress with polka dot gores under the box pleats. This very flattering style dates to about 1967 and be great for winter with knee high boots. Note the longer hem length, as the mini-skirt begins to dominate less.

It’s going to be a busy week –

On Wednesday evening is the group tour to Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection. Now, the tour is fully booked but it’s likely we’ll do another one soon for those who’ve missed out. If you are coming, please meet us out the front (35 Greenaway Street, Bulleen) just before 7pm.

On Friday evening I’m doing a talk on vintage clothing at the City Museum – please phone the City Museum on (03) 9651 2233 for bookings. I’ll be bringing some garments from my collection.

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced office or studio space, a friend of mine is looking for someone to share in Collingwood – Circa’s stockroom is at the Langridge Design Centre so I can vouch for how good it is – more information can be found here.

Coming up: on Tuesday March 2nd, I’m giving another talk on vintage at Heritage Hill in Dandenong. Please phone phone 9793 4511 for bookings.

As well, the 20% off Sale continues at Circa all week – here are some of the goodies in store now, all are available at a nice discount – thank you to my wonderful model and shop lady Victoria.

A new product line has arrived – pure nylon black seamed stockings from UK company Kiss Me Deadly.

These are similar to original vintage stockings, and have little stretch – so are available in five sizes, three of which are currently in stock (sizes 1, 3 and 4).

Stocking-loving ladies, if you’d like to pop in and tell us what you think of them, it will encourage me to order more and (when they’re available) stock the full range of sizes.

The stockings go particularly well with the Van Doren suspender belt, available at Circa in black or white – and yes, that is an excuse for another lovely shot of Morgana, my favourite lingerie model, in her vintage peignoir (looks ’40s to me, very nice).

All photographs reproduced with the kind permission of Kiss Me Deadly.

Some of my favourite things are the beautiful cotton print frocks they produced in the 1950s. I bought my first one in 1980 and I’ve loved them more and more with every year – cool and comfortable, they’re the perfect dress for a hot summer’s day and with care, will last for many more years.

Here’s Victoria swirling around in some of the current favourites – sized between 6 and 12 so many are clipped to her slim frame. Available in the shop now. Petticoats are also available – in white, red or black.

I love the colour green so thought you might like to see some of those frocks we currently have in stock.

Firstly – a lime crepe evening gown from the mid 1930s. It features a cowl neckline, plunging back and a small sash, which drapes around the sides and secures at the back – this works especially well when accessorised with a small diamante buckle of the era. Unusually for these styles, this one is very wearable size 10.

Second up is a rayon floral day dress from the late 1930s – a particularly vibrant combination of colours, the fabric drapes well and needs someone quite petite. Size 4 in modern sizes.

Thirdly is my favourite: a rich bottle green crepe evening gown from the early 1940s. In excellent condition, it features some interesting bodice draping (click on the close up for a better view) it’s a size 10-12.

The last dress is more modern – 1960s and an amazing leaf green velvet with satin ribbon trim and rosette trimming the neckline. I’ve never seen a velvet this shade of green. Size small, probably a 6 or 8 (’60s dresses are sized by their hips rather than waistlines so slim hips are needed).

And what to wear with your green frock? Some complementary vintage gloves of course!

As always, click on each image to see in full and again, to see a larger version. These dresses are all available for sale in store now.

UPDATE; I’m afraid that I had to repost this post after it crashed my site (bug, sadly) so the comments were deleted. Sorry – wish I could re-add them but they’ve gone.