The best authentic vintage clothing for the modern, stylish woman.
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Daisy Fairbanks Vintage Boutique is pleased to present a large and unique selection of authentic vintage clothing including vintage dresses, vintage skirts, vintage coats, vintage shoes, vintage purses, vintage accessories, and vintage jewelry for women. We sell only well made vintage apparel, both designer and unknown labels, with an emphasis on quality. You’ll find chic and unique dresses from the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s 70’s and a few 80’s pieces. We’re always on the lookout for new ways to wear vintage clothing!
Our brick-and-mortar contemporary and vintage clothing store, Ivy Company, has been open in Santa Cruz, CA since 1997. At this location we serve walk-in customers with the finest designer and boutique modern clothing and vintage apparel and provide exemplary customer service, so we know what it takes to help each individual find her unique style. We love to mix modern and vintage clothing in real life, but here at Daisy Fairbanks you’ll find only authentic vintage fashions. We’ll never show modern mass-produced “vintage style” or “retro” clothing and you won’t find thrift store cast-offs. Each piece is carefully chosen for its quality of construction, chic appeal, and historic context, then thoroughly inspected, cleaned, repaired if necessary, and professionally photographed for the web.
Please let us know if there’s something you’re looking for. With hundreds of vintage clothing items to choose from, we may be able to pull out of the archives the perfect vintage leather purse, vintage leather gloves, vintage novelty hankies, or vintage fur jacket. We may have something more just for you! We’ll also be adding a vintage men’s collection soon, so check back for great vintage neck ties, vintage designer silk shirts, men’s disco fashions and vintage accessories, men’s jewelry, and a few vintage suits for the dapper man in your life!
We try to list new items each week, but we have hundreds of fabulous goodies that we’ve yet to list, and more arriving daily. Our sources are top secret of course, but we work with consignors, antique dealers, vintage scouts, wholesalers, and we also buy entire estates. It’s wonderful that we just never know what we’ll find! Past acquisitions have included trunkloads of estate costume jewelry, vintage 70’s wrap dresses by Diane von Furstenberg, rhinestone evening gowns from the 30’s & 40’s, a secret vintage lingerie stash including nightgowns and slips from Lucie Ann and Emilio Pucci, vintage Chanel Suits, new-old-stock day dresses from a store that closed in the 1950’s, an amazing collection of vintage handbags and vintage shoes from one woman’s European tours in the 1960’s including purses by Gucci, Roberta di Camerino, Christian Dior and Cartier, plus some amazing vintage Italian boots, an adorable and whimsical handmade vintage novelty apron collection, vintage wiggle dresses by Dorothy O’Hara and Suzy Perette, gorgeous vintage coats and suits by Lilli Ann, wonderful designer vintage scarves by Hermes, Pucci, Leonard of Paris, Peter Max, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Sonia Rykiel, Schiaparelli, Vera, and many more.
What’s your favorite vintage fashion look? Mine personal tendency is toward the bohemian chic of the early 1970’s, but that’s just because it’s what looks best on me.
It’s hard to pin down fashion favorites, but here are some of ours:
The 1920’s brought us Art Deco and freedom from corsets, so we love the angular beaded evening gowns and flapper fringe.
In the 1930’s we began to see the figure again, and we adore the bias cut vintage crepe evening wear, plus the flirty, feminine day dresses with floral prints and ruffles, so perfect for a drive in the country in your motor car!
From the 1940’s we love vintage rayon crepe dresses with fit and flare influenced by WWII fashions and Christian Dior’s New Look. Wonderful details like novelty prints and buttons, bias cut, extra detailed pockets and collars. The strong, independent spirit of Katharine Hepburn, the smoky sensuality of Lauren Bacall.
In the 1950’s there’s nothing cuter than the dresses influenced by Lucille Ball on the Lucy Show! Bold floral prints, wasp waists, fitted bodices and uber flared skirts. Hubert de Givenchy created Audrey Hepburn’s signature chic style as the ultimate fashionable urchin ingenue, with a white shirt, black cigarette pants and black flat shoes. And Audrey singulary popularized the little black dress and long black gloves in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And Marilyn Monroe couldn’t have been sexier in her wiggle dresses and innocent bombshell demeanor. We also love the Eames inspired atomic novelty prints in fashion and home accessories.
Fashion began take another direction in the 1960’s with the boxy silhouettes of Pierre Cardin and London Mod fashion of Carnaby Street. The political unrest in the US had a heavy influence on youth culture and brought an independent spirit to fashion. We love designers like Betsey Johnson, Mary Quant, Courreges, and bohemian/ethnic influenced fashions of Ossie Clark, Jean Muir, Biba, Thea Porter. We love the craft resurgence and can’t get enough of vintage Hippie art leather purses and clothing, and handmade crochet dresses.
Popular culture in the 60’s and 1970’s made style icons out of music and rock stars such as Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks, Francois Hardy, and Disco became the music and lifestyle. We love the Glam Rock androgyny influenced fashions, and admire the Punk style inventions of Vivienne Westwood. Our particular affinity is for the new romantic maxi dresses of Jessica McClintock, and vintage California fashion in general.
And while not all of 80s fashion strikes our fancy, we can’t help but admire strong woman “power dressing” images brought out by designers such as Norma Kamali, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and the sculptural apparel of Japanese designer Issey Miyake. But even today we believe the biggest fashion icon of the 80s is without a doubt Madonna with her lingerie-as-outerwear and sexy bad-girl leather-and-lace style.
Whatever vintage clothing style you love and wear, you’re certain to find something here that you’ll treasure for decades to come.
Enjoy your shopping experience at Daisy Fairbanks Vintage Boutique!
