Top Tips for Dating Your Vintage
1. First, what is the silhouette of the garment? In other words, what's its general shape? A dress with a tiny waist and huge, below-knee skirt screams 1950s, while a slim-fit dress with huge shoulder pads is probably from the 1980s. See the "Retro Fashion History" and "Vintage Fashion and Art" links below to learn more about silhouettes and see lots of great photos by decade.
2. Check the seams. If your garment has "serged" seams, it probably dates to after the mid-1960s. Serged seams were uncommon before the mid-1960s, when manufacturers began using sergers routinely to finish seams. Older garments also sometimes had very large seams to allow for alterations. They might also be finished by "pinking," or cutting with zig-zag scissors.
