The labels and tags on the St. John knit garments can tell you a lot about the age of the garment.  Here is an example of the label commonly used for current garments which are a part of the St. John Collection (for other St. John labels, see my first guide).

This label became commonly used in the mid-90s, along with a similar label in black with white letters.

Previously used labels include:

The first three of these labels were used at various times in the 80's and early 90's.  The fourth label, is Marie St. John's signature, and it pre-dates her use of her married name, Marie Gray, so this label is older yet. Also, there was used a label with just "SJK" on it:

which was used before the first three above.

Finally, the first label used by Marie St. John is this one, in use in the 60s and early 70s.  Some St. John fans like collecting these garments.

So, by looking at the label, inself, you might get some idea as to date it was made.

For garments which are "NWT" you might also tell how recent the garment is.  This is the paper tag now used since 2005:

Before this, there was a folded tag like this: 

  So you should be able to tell if the new garment is older than one year, by the appearance of this folded tag.

Finally, sometimes you get lucky enough to find hidden in the seam, a little tag (usually under a tag telling you to dry clean only), which has some code letters on it.  For example, it might say:

FA 03    GP 02

This means that the garment came from the collection in Fall of 2003, and the grouping was group #2.  The grouping can help you match colors.  For example, if you do not know the name of the St. John color of a garment, and you can match the date and group, you know that the color will match.

Other code letters include SP for spring and CR for cruiseline.  But, unfortunately, these labels are not in all garments.  And the absence of a label like that does not mean that the garment is not authentic.

In case you couldn't tell, I LOVE St. John clothes!!