Vintage is my jam, so you're getting a looooong reply. Sorry, not sorry.
Two things about vintage:
#1: True, older 40s and 50s clothing can be fragile, and for the most part, did not have any stretch, unlike today's garments.
Which brings me to...
#2 If you have a good foundational knowledge of the style elements of 1940s/50s clothing, you can recreate a lot of looks from contemporary clothing - which if often easily found at thrift stores, if you really know your 40s and 50s style elements.
For 1940s: I look for strong/padded shoulders, nipped-in waist. Tweeds and woven heavier fabrics. Calf-length skirts that are a-line, have a kickpleat, or are pleated. Lace-up brogues or heeled shoes with a thicker cuban heel.
For 1950: slim pencil skirts or very full skirts you can wear a crinoline under. Fitted blouses and sweaters. Pedal pusher, capri pants, cigarette pants, and daintier shoes.
Great sources for vintage/vintage-looking clothing:
1) Your grandma, great-aunt, or mom's closets. Seriously. You might have to beg and wheedle a little bit, but eventually someone realizes "wouldn't it be nice if I could empty out this drawer/closet rail?" and suddenly they're shoving all their vintage castoffs at you, and it's wonderful. (Then you realize they were very tiny, and most of it doesn't fit you, but you hang onto it and hope).
2) Estate sales
3) Local community, professional theatres and opera companies will sometimes sell off costumes to make space for new production wardrobes.
4) Costume rental shops sometimes do the same.
5) Goodwill (my #1 all-time fave resource)
6) Any charity shop that sells clothes
7) Etsy
8) Poshmark (this can be an unexpectedly good resource because a lot of sellers are willing to bargain)
9) eBay (my #2 all-time fave resource)
10) Vintage reproduction sites: Modcloth, Pretty Dress Company, Stop Staring!, Heart My Closet, Secrets in Lace, and Bettie Page Clothing. Some of this can be pricey, so stalk eBay, Poshmark, and Etsy for these brands.
11) Actual vintage shops. Some of these can be expensive, but if you're lucky, they'll eventually give up and mark stuff down.
12) Consignment stores occasionallly yield up surprises. I've found two blouses there that are distinctly late 1930s/early 40s, by modern brands.
On a side note, older Kay Unger, Tracy Reese, and Anthropologie brands from the early 2000s
(Moth, Guinevere, Louis, Knitted + Knotted are a few), has a lot of great stuff that translates well to 1940s/50s.
Photos 1-2 are of an older purple/blue Kay Unger suit I found at Goodwill about a year ago. I bought it specifically because it looked vintage '40s, and wound up wearing it in a WWII-era show. The suit was around $14, the belt was $3. The white blouse was my grandma's, so, free.
Photo 3 is a vintage repro dress, by Stop Staring! that I found, again, at Goodwill. I paid $7 for it. It said dry-clean only, but I took a chance, and hand-washed. Crinoline was free, passed along from my mom.
Photos 4-5 is an Ellen Tracy coat that I found at - you guessed it, Goodwill. It's a larger size than I normally wear, which made it ideal as a duplicate for one of my all-time favorite fashion films, "Vertigo". I wore it over a black skirt and turtleneck, with some nude shoes. Coat was around $9-10, plus another $10 to dry-clean. Gloves are from the 1950s, I think I paid around $40 on eBay, which was a huge splurge, but they are spectacular gloves and very warm in winter.
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