Hello, lovely. Come in and have a rummage.
Ms Delightful’s Treasure Chest is my little corner of the internet for vintage beauty, fashion, old fashioned know how and the sorts of wonderful things I’m forever finding, collecting and disappearing down research rabbit holes over.
If you’ve arrived here from Oh So Delightful, you’ll probably already know that I have a bit of a thing for the past. Particularly the 1940s through to the 1970s. The clothes, the hair, the make up, the illustrations, the wonderfully specific advice about what one ought to wear at 4pm on a Tuesday...
I love all of it.
But I also think vintage should be fun to actually use, rather than something we admire from a distance.
And that is really where this shop came from.
So, what exactly is in the Treasure Chest?
A mixture of vintage inspired and genuinely vintage resources, with plenty more being added as I find, research and create them.
You can expect things such as:
- Vintage hair styling guides and beauty books
- Sewing, knitting and crochet patterns
- Fashion illustrations and printable artwork
- Vintage inspired planners and practical resources
- Fashion and beauty guides from different decades
- Carefully selected digital ephemera and reference material
- Resources for anyone researching or recreating vintage style
Some are beautifully nostalgic. Some are genuinely useful. Quite a few are both.
My favourite sort.
Vintage beauty you can actually try
One of the things that fascinates me most about old beauty books is just how detailed they can be.
There are instructions for setting hair, shaping curls, applying make up, choosing flattering hairstyles and creating looks that we now tend to associate with film stars and old photographs.
Rather than simply looking at a 1950s hairstyle and thinking, lovely, but how on earth did she do that?, vintage manuals can actually show us.
Of course, some advice has aged rather less gracefully than the hairstyles themselves. I’m quite happy leaving many old fashioned social rules exactly where they belong.
The pincurls can stay though.
For the makers, stitchers and crafty sorts
There is something rather satisfying about making from an original vintage pattern.
You begin to notice the little details that modern reproductions sometimes miss. The shaping of a sleeve. The position of a waist seam. A particular collar. The way a jumper was intended to sit with a high waisted skirt.
Vintage knitting, crochet and sewing patterns also give us a wonderful glimpse into everyday fashion.
Not simply couture gowns or famous designer pieces, but the cardigans, dresses, tops and accessories ordinary people might actually have made and worn.
And sometimes, frankly, the illustrations alone are enough to tempt me.
Why digital vintage resources?
Original vintage books and patterns are beautiful things, but they can also be fragile, expensive and surprisingly difficult to track down.
Digital resources make it much easier to explore these ideas without constantly worrying that a seventy year old page is about to detach itself in your hands.
You can keep them on your phone or tablet, print useful pages, study the details and return to them whenever inspiration strikes.
Which, in my case, is usually when I should be doing something else entirely.
A little vintage, without the vintage values
If you know Oh So Delightful, you may already know my philosophy.
I adore vintage style.
I do not believe we need to recreate every attitude that came with it.
Fashion history becomes far more interesting when we can enjoy the clothes, beauty rituals and creativity of previous decades while still looking honestly at the world that produced them.
So you'll find plenty of nostalgia here. But no pretending the past was perfect.
Red lipstick? Absolutely.
Having to ask your husband's permission to buy it? We can probably leave that bit behind.
What’s coming next?
The Treasure Chest will keep growing.
I’m working on more vintage beauty resources, printable guides, planners, fashion related downloads and a few ideas that may eventually wander beyond digital products too.
I’ll also be using this little blog to share styling ideas, vintage discoveries, useful snippets from old books and occasional behind the scenes peeks at whatever I’m currently working on.
So have a browse, open a few drawers and see what you find.
There might be something delightful tucked away inside.
Until next time,
Ms Delightful x
Vintage vibes, no vintage values.