Vintage Style on a budget / Shein

I've recently been seeking out items that can be styled in a vintage fashion from places that you may not necessarily think to look! As much as I admire the stunning repro pieces by the likes of Glamour Bunny, Miss Candyfloss, and Pin Up Girl Clothing(some of my faves), you can't always afford to treat yourselves to pretties from higher end brands, so here's my answer to when you're after a pick-me-up or two and aren't looking to spend too much...

I think if you're a female who uses Facebook chances are you've seen lots of adverts for Shein, a budget clothing website. I'd ignored them until the end of last year when something in an ad caught my eye so I decided to check it out.

Cue searches for '1950s', 'polka dots', 'leopard print', some general go-tos in the hope of finding some pin-up or rockabilly vintage inspired designs.

In that first experience I discovered that the items seemed particularly cheap, especially since they seemed to have various discount codes running alongside the already low prices, I wondered what this would say about the quality of the items. 

When my order arrived the first thing that I noticed was the unusual, or maybe unexpected, material. I guess that's something that ties in to the low price. It's generally thin polyester, so feels more lightweight and that almost water resistant type feel. Not the end of the world, but definitely works on some items better than others.

From 50s reminiscent prints, polka dots and novelty prints like fruit, to empire waistlines and ruched busts, bishops sleeves and two piece playsuits, there are so many things on there that could be styled vintage!

My first order with discounted prices were...

A mustard dress, that seemed to be a copy of a design by vintage repro brand Tatyana, the Alika dress, that I have in a few colourways. £8.49, a fraction of the price of the Alika.

A heart print mini dress with a ruched shelf bust similar to vintage patterns with cute tie straps. I just wished it was longer! But when I've worn it out I've teamed it with a red skirt over the top. £7.21

A tropical print cute little playsuit. £7.21

And a red leopard print fitted dress that I thought would be ideal for salsa social nights. £14.46.

I was happy with all four items and kept each of them. I've worn the playsuit the most, it's been great for something casual but cute over the summer to keep cool. I wore the leopard dress out for a salsa night, the only problem was that it does tend to ride up, and I've worn the heart dress a few times. I wore the mustard dress for a little lockdown lindy hop practice night with my other half and it was great for dancing/twirling!

 

Since that order I've ordered a few other bits from Shein and I've mostly been happy (I ordered a red polka dot jumpsuit that just looked more like pyjamas due to the strange material that I've mentioned so I didn't keep that one) and I do think the value for money seems good as you can't really beat those prices when looking for some extra bits for your vintage inspired wardrobe!

There are definitely people in the vintage-lovin community that would turn their noses up at items like the ones I've found here, or anything that isn't 'authentic' in it's design, but I'm not one of those people, I just love the colours, prints and shapes of the era, so, if you're like me, have fun seeking out some vintage inspired items from other 'mainstream' brands!

Here are a few more items, from cute prints to vintage inspired shapes that I've bought and some I've just found whilst putting this blog post together that I think would make great pieces to style into a vintage outfit!