Buying a vintage prom dress is not nearly as hard as you might think. Although there are some guide-lines you should keep in mind when you are looking for a vintage dress, you are guaranteed to find a unique, one-of-a-kind gem that will make you stand out from the rest of the boring crowd.
Depending on how you buy the dresses, there are a few things you remember:
Buying A Vintage Prom Dress Online
This is one of the best ways you can be guaranteed to find the most diverse range of options, but also a bit trickier to successfully buy from. Just as long as you remember these things, you will do just fine.
1. Measure yourself accurately. The best way to measure yourself is with a flexible plastic or vinyl sewing measuring tape. They are a cheap way to ensure that you are making the right measurements, and will save you the money that you can lose making inaccurate measurements. If a dress is too long, or just a tad too big, you can always take it to the dry-cleaners for alterations depending on how much you want to pay. Some tailors are very reasonable.
2. Vintage sizing is a lot different from modern sizing. It is hard enough these days getting things in contemporary sizes correctly online, so buying vintage can be even trickier. The best way to judge the fit of a dress is by the measurements the seller provides. If you are unsure of the size, ask the seller how they measured the article. Also, be sure to ask if they have clipped the dress to the mannequin. Never judge the size of a dress by how big it looks in pictures!
3. Time. Take a look at how many days are left until your prom. How long will it take for the dress to get to your house? Will you have time to get it altered or dry-cleaned if it needs it? Be sure to take that all into consideration! Nothing is worse than getting a dress that doesn’t fit quite right on the day of the dance!
4. Condition. Are there any holes or stains, and are they in prominent places? Will they be easy to fix or do you even need to bother to fix them? Will you just be wearing this dress once or will you be saving it for other occasions? Is the price justified by the quality? This is also good to keep in mind when shopping at consignment or thrift stores. Although you do not get to try on the dress or examine it closely, buying online is still a reasonably safe way to get a good vintage prom dress if you have your accurate measurements and are buying from a reputable seller!
Buying a Prom Dress at a Thrift or Consignment Shop
This is often one of the cheaper of the options, but like shopping online, there are some things you have to watch out for. Lots of the time there are very important things that are very easy to over-look when you are buying a dress at the local Goodwill, church basement, or Salvation Army.
1. Condition. Now that you get to examine and touch the dress before you buy it, there are a lot of things that you need to look for. Does it smell? Rips, tears, stains, or holes? Are there missing beads or sequins if it has those? Splits at any of the seams? How strong is the fabric? If there are any flaws, how easy will they be to fix? Lots of time it is very easy to overlook the stain on the front in the dim light of the store only to realize it later in the bright light of your livingroom.
2. Smell. I feel that I need to elaborate on this one. Most, if not all vintage clothing has some sort of smell. Most of it is very light, a mixture of different detergents the surrounding clothes has transferred onto it. Smells that will come out with cleaning: a light musty smell (usually comes from storage), light old lady perfume odor. Smells that WILL NOT come out with cleaning: cat or animal pee, overwhelming old lady smell (no offense to anyone), rotten smells, gasoline odor.
3. Sizing. Always try it on before you buy it if you get the chance. If you know the shop does not have any dressing rooms, wear tight-fitting clothing that doesn’t add to your measurements (think spandex). Take a look in the mirror. Is there anything bulging out? Anything draped oddly, any weird gathers? Can you breathe? If it is strapless, does it stay up? Bend over and see if your butt remains covered while doing so. Although you sacrifice the diversity and wide variety of sizes that you have online, shopping in a thrift store allows you the opportunity to try on the clothes.
