One of my favorite ways to dress up in vintage style for everyday is to incorporate sweaters during the cooler months. Sweaters with 1940s styling are easily found in thrift stores and are generally very comfortable to wear for everyday since they have no motion restriction.

I've written before about wearing sweaters as a collegiate style, but sweaters were actually worn by women of all ages and occupations, so they can be quite suitable for anyone to incorporate into their wardrobe.
There are many different pictures available of women in the 1940s wearing sweaters which can give us a wide range of options when we are sweater shopping. As a 1940s sweater buying guide, you should look for two different styles. One comes just to the waist, or just past it. This type of sweater was generally worn as a blouse. It could be button down or pullover. This kind of sweater might not have shoulder pads; it could have gently puffed sleeves of any length (short sleeves were common) and usually was fitted at the waist while it could remain a little more blousy or be fitted on the top.

This cardigan has cute front detail, shoulder pads, and a collar.

Loretta Young wears a more casual style here - a fitted pullover with a novelty design, and a rare turtleneck.
The other style you can look for is a longer cardigan, which would have been worn as a jacket, sometimes even instead of a suit jacket. This type of sweater, always button-down (or even closing with a front zipper), usually has shoulder pads and is generally in more of a jacket style. Close the top button on these and button them all the way as long as the sweater is hip length.

Here's a sweater that is a jacket replica. Notice the crossed scarf to fill in the neck - a great idea!

This color block knitted sweater zips up the front and has a plain high neckline.
The cardigan I'm wearing falls in the 2nd category. It has patch pockets and cute sleeve detail. It did not originally have shoulder pads, but the nice thing about shoulder pads are they are super easy to add to a finished garment like I did here.


I paired it with a vintage dickey and one of my new finds at an antique store - a dangling heart 1940s brooch.

Another style you can look for would be a long pullover to be worn with a belt, or if you want a sloppier teenage look, a slightly too-big sweater can be paired with a simple skirt and bobby socks. No belt.

Here are some less fitted schoolgirl style sweaters. Notice the initials at the neck of the one on the left.
Things to Look For
Sweaters in the 1940s often were solid colors, sometimes with shoulder detail. If they were unadorned, a lady would often wear a brooch or some sort of decoration on the shoulder. Novelty designs in sweaters were very common (hearts, arrows, animals, etc), and fair isle was popular especially for ski sweaters. Sweaters of some style or other could be worn for almost every dress code, including evening wear, though that was less common.

Fair isle pullover, a little longer than some. A ski type of sweater but since it's short sleeve, probably not worn for skiing!
Sweaters often were blouse style, worn as blouses, and would have collars. This is not so common today, but don't worry - many sweaters were without collars back then as well. A plain round close neck was common, but if you have a sweater with a V, wear it with an undershirt or dickey that sports a collar - preferably white. The rule of thumb is if you have a sweater or jacket with a lapel or collar, wear a plain round neck dickey (maybe with a bow for a fussier style). If the sweater or jacket has a plain neck, wear it with a dickey with a collar.

V neck simple cardigans, worn with white collared blouses or dickeys.
If you are crafty, you can make 1940s sweaters yourself! Many vintage knitting patterns for lovely sweaters are available online and you can make the real thing.
Most of these guidelines apply to other eras of sweaters as well. 1930s sweaters might have more neck and shoulder detail, worn belted, and often sported raglan sleeves and button embellishments. 1950s sweaters were usually plain and snug, always without shoulder pads, and sweater sets were in vogue. So if you know what to look for and what to pair it with, these can be some of the easiest modern pieces to incorporate into your costumes or vintage-themed wear of any decade.

With these guidelines, just keep the options in mind when sweater shopping. A plain cardigan when worn with a white collared blouse and an A line skirt is a great, easy to find, everyday style for comfort for us vintage dressing gals, and still can be worn as a period correct costume if paired with the right accessories.
(All pictures not of me were found in the public domain.)