Impossible search for vintage blouse. Can you help?

[Vintageshirtsearch]

I'm sorry to not put this is style and beauty but I may need the traffic of AIBU
Years ago I owned a shirt/blouse. It was boxy cut and I'm sure it was from Evans (I was plump) it had a wide sort of square collar and it was purple, white and had a really bold pattern on. I'm sure it was tarot cards or something esoteric. It had gold too. It was a bit reminiscent of the Hermes style buckle print in vibe. I'd love to have this shirt again but is it now impossible? I reckon it's from 1989-1993 ish. How could I find it? Anyone else have it? I remember it being really floppy and light . Any help gratefully received!

Why don't you try to sketch it and do a reverse image search?

I just posted your post into ChatGPT and this is what it said…

This sounds exactly like the sort of thing that people on Mumsnet occasionally manage to track down from a 30-year-old memory!
A few thoughts:

• Evans absolutely did sell bold, silky-feel blouses in the late 80s/early 90s with baroque, chain, scarf, zodiac and tarot-inspired prints.
• The description of purple, white and gold, a boxy cut, wide collar, and a floppy lightweight fabric screams early-90s polyester “scarf print” blouse.
• The tarot/zodiac angle is interesting because mystical and celestial prints were very fashionable around 1990–93. It could have featured playing cards, zodiac symbols, suns, moons, stars, chains or medallions rather than actual tarot cards.

To find it, I’d try:

1. Search eBay, Vinted and Etsy using combinations of:

• “vintage Evans blouse purple gold”
• “1990s Evans shirt scarf print”
• “vintage Evans zodiac blouse”
• “vintage Evans celestial print shirt”
• “90s Evans baroque blouse”
• “tarot print blouse 1990s”

1. Join Facebook groups such as:

• Vintage Fashion Collectors UK
• 80s & 90s Fashion UK
• Vintage Evans / Plus Size Vintage groups

1. If you can remember:

• Was it button-through?
• Long or short sleeved?
• Satin/shiny or matte?
• Black outlines in the print or just purple/white/gold?
• Did the collar sit flat and square like a sailor collar, or was it just a very wide pointed collar?

1. The biggest help would be a rough sketch. Even a terrible doodle of the pattern layout could trigger someone’s memory.

My wild guess is that it was less “tarot cards” and more a celestial/scarf-print blouse with suns, moons, stars, chains and medallions, because those were everywhere around 1990–92 and often get remembered as tarot-inspired years later. If you’d like, I can also help you create a mock-up image of what you’re remembering, which can then be used for reverse-image searching or posting on vintage fashion groups.

have you tried looking on eBay/Vinted, with whatever search words you can think of? It’s amazing how much stuff is still in circulation out there.

Ask someone who buys and sells vintage clothes for a living to keep an eye out. Any vintage shops local to you that may be able to help?

This is amazing thank you! I had no idea you could use chat gpt like this

Yeah ask it anything! It doesn’t always yield results, but it can put you on the right track.