How To Choose Vintage Tops

Hi. I'm Zoe Lem, stylist and owner of My Sugarland, and today, I'm going to give you some insider's tips on how to do fashion. I'm now going to show you how to choose a vintage top.

Obviously, with a vintage top, there's all the different eras and it's really important to get the right era for you and the right shape because with each era comes quite a different silhouette. So, this one is more of a 70's, 80's shape. It's got more of a batwing.

It's got the raglan sleeve and it's looser. High neckline, but you've got the shine which is great and really good for lifting the face, brightening the eyes. But what you need to do is see the vintage top as a shell and then see how you can kind of work the silhouettes and add accessories and belts to actually make the shape work for you.

So, with this one though, it's quite a wide shape we can then quite quickly add with a belt, just nip this in, and create a really slim line silhouette. So there, it's already a completely different shape. So, what was an 80's shape has now become a very flattering hourglass shape, nipped in.

Underneath the bust is most women's smallest bit, so that's a great place to nip in, and because this is a synthetic fabric, it's quite a soft fabric and it's not going to add too much bulk. So, though you've got a lot of fabric, it's not going to make you look bigger. You could also go for a 40's, 50's cardigan shape.

So, again, it's a different feel depending on your style or your mood. You can go for a little cardigan. There are lots of details, so this great.

This is your accessory; you don't need a necklace with something like this. There's so much detail in all the beadwork and pearls. But the cardigans then were quite boxy so it's quite a square shape which isn't going to be that flattering.

So, what you want to do is then nip it in. So if you're doing this over a cute little dress or even over jeans, you can then do even just a brown leather belt or this is great because this is a hospital wrap belt. So, it's going to give you a shape.

You can go with a belt over the top. It's fine doing them over cardigans and it's fine even doing them over jackets. It's about really creating that hourglass silhouette.

So, 50's shape then becomes flattering hourglass shape. So, it's flattering. You can do this; this is a 50's version of a kind of Victoriana style.

So, really pretty lace, really nice color, really flattering but again, quite boxy, so it's really about the way that you wear them. Keep that open so you still see, go for a darker color underneath and keep a slim line silhouette through the middle and keep that open or hoist it in and belt that in, so it gives you that great shape. So, the trick is vintage tops, look at them as a core and then you can create a shape over the top because the tops weren't always slim line and they weren't always so flattering.

But they're a starting point and a great place to get some interesting fabrics and something a bit different. And that's how to choose a vintage top. .