Have you heard of Anna May Wong? Anna May is widely considered to be the first major Chinese-American film star, and she is the namesake of our new Anna May Mary Jane…
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Shoes for Service: 1940’s Wartime Oxfords
During the second World War, over 400,000 women served in the US military, and nearly half a million women served in the British military. In fact, women served in the military all…
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A Little History of Shocking Pink
For the first time in American Duchess history, we’ve created shoes in several very strong pinks, all drawn from and inspired by a late 1930s “Surrealist” palette. As with many things in…
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The “Velvet” Collection – Pre-Order Now Open
Get ready for one heck of a Fall/Winter season. We’ve been finalizing *so* many new styles and *so* many new colorways, and I’m stoked to introduce the first of four Fall collections:…
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I Made a Vintage Style Raincoat…Somehow
I live in the desert. We get, oh, a handful of days of novelty rain per year and so a raincoat is not something that regularly factors into my wardrobe. So it…
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Vintage Capsule Wardrobes
May 1940. Marie Claire. Though the term “capsule wardrobe” wasn’t coined until the 1970s, the idea stretches much further back. The general purpose of such a collection is to have a wardrobe…
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Historical Reproduction Winter Boots For You
It’s that time of year when the weather goes cold and you’re wanting a nice pair of boots to slog around in…historically, of course. Ladies of the past had a broad assortment…
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The Vintage Makeup Review – with Lauren & Abby
Whether you’ve gone fully down the vintage style rabbit hole of everyday dress or you need a faceplan for an impending costume party, today we’re going to share with you our discoveries…
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Who’s That Girl? Meet Tina Vines
Who is that gorgeous new face on RoyalVintageShoes.com, our Facebook, and Instagram? Meet Tina Vines, vintage fashion enthusiast and entrepreneur. Tina modeled a beautiful original vintage western outfit for our mid-Summer photo…
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A Very Vintage Trip to the UK
Hi! I’m Lauren – remember me? I’ve been away for awhile on a much-needed vacation to the UK. Hooray! Vacay! It was a wonderful, restful and also stimulating trip. We did many…
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Simplicity Pattern Catalog, June 1946
I promised I would show snaps from the other 1940s Simplicity pattern catalog I recently purchased, so here we go! Last time, I shared with you my favorites from the Simplicity 1940,…
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Simplicity Pattern Catalog, August 1940
Simplicity Pattern Catalog, August 1940 About a month ago I acquired my first vintage counter book – you know, the big pattern catalogs we go and flip through at the fabric stores.…
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Popping Up In New York
New York from the Polaski Bridge A couple weekends ago, Chris and I took a mini-vacay-partial-work-trip to New York. The mini-vacay part involved lots of delicious and varied eateries in the ultra-hip(ster)…
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Brooklyn Royal – Our First Pop-Up Shop in NYC!
And here I thought we were done with travel for the year. Nope! Back to New York City we go (twice in one year!) for our very first, very special Pop Up…
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Vintage Pants Review: Vivien of Holloway Swing Trousers
Lauren reporting … As you may know, I have a bit of an obsession with vintage trousers. This comes from my love of vintage style clothing, naturally, but also my deep seething…
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Classic 1940s Shoes by Royal Vintage (That’s Me!)
I’ve been kindof quietly working on this other thing for awhile, for about a year now – it’s a whole new line of historical reproduction shoes for the 20th century vintage decades,…
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A 1940s Photo Shoot in Reno, Nevada
The beautiful Elizabeth, dressed in original 1940s vintage. Whenever we do photo shoots, I always try to come up with an interesting concept. Usually, for the American Duchess line, we’re trying to…
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Review: Emmy Design Sweden Vintage Repro Clothing
Do you ever feel like you just can’t sew the vintage wardrobe you want, in its entirety, fast enough? I have a gazillion vintage sewing patterns, but it seems like less and…
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My “Agent Carter” Outfit on The Mood Blog (!)
I am a bit remiss in posting lately. A whole lot of everything has been going on, but a lot of it hasn’t been about historical costuming. While I’ve been buried in…
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1940s Hair Styling Inspiration
It’s Sunday. I was meant to do a 1940s photo shoot today, but it’s raining. Yup, rain in the desert. It rains 10 days a year here, and I manage to schedule…