What is so great about vintage?
My dad looked aghast at the 19th century French
dresser I’d picked up for £100 in a vintage market (and he’d lugged up four
flights of stairs). “It’s the kind of thing my grandmother would have had”.
Equal dismissiveness for my enamel pots and pans, my penchant for wooden
flooring, the ‘distressed look’ and my sincere grief at having discovered he’d
thrown away his father’s old leather suitcases (sigh – they would have been a
perfect receptacle for all the silk scarves I seem to have accumulated…)
He has a point though. Vintage is second hand. It’s been
used by someone else. So why do we go so doolally for the clothes that others
have worn before us?
The recession has
made us all value hunters
We used to love labels. The bigger, the better – preferably
in capital letters on the front of a T-shirt, and any diamante as an added
bonus. I shiver to think of some Abercrombie Tshirts languishing at the back of
my wardrobe that I wore with such pride in my mid-teenage years. We loved these
labels because they demonstrated a sign of success, class and status. But now,
when the average shopper is strapped for cash, we relish a bargain. We boast
about discounts and great finds. And we expect more. We don’t want to
compromise on quality. Or what makes us look and feel good.
Independence is the
new black
As well-known chain store brands gobble up our traditional
high street, it is not uncommon that we find mirror images of our wardrobes in
the street. My Topshop red duffle coat kept bumping into other Topshop red
duffle coats last winter. And yet – while we haven’t lost our animal instinct
to fit in as part of the pack and stay on trend – we now want the paradoxical
aim of standing out at the same time. Indepedence is the ultimate fashion
trend.In fact, independence is becoming a style in itself. Vintage is the never
ending pot for independent fashion, and at reasonable costs – we can pair the
basic black tank top with a 60s mini skirt, a pair of leggings with an old silk
shirt belonging to grandma, the simple winter wool dress with some chunky
character earrings and a quirky scarf dug out of a box of treasures found in
deepest darkest Shoreditch. We can also be guaranteed no one else has it. The
cool factor suddenly multiplies.
Family got cool
These days, borrowing from your siblings is downright
boring. It falls to raiding the wardrobes of parents, grandparents and any
distant relations you can lay your hands on. Scratchy woollen jumpers from the
70s; all in one ski suits; cameo brooches; the elusive fox fur; this brings the
concept of family heirlooms to life, and makes family wearable. It’s a simple
anthropological fact. People feel proud in the get up of their ancestors, and
everyone has their family crown jewels – whether as classy as a pearl necklace
or as brash as that multi-coloured sequined Christmas jumper you trot out for
every party between mid November and Valentines Day. Wearing family clothes
makes us feel safe, special and part of something. It’s a short-term escape
from consumerism that we don’t even realise we crave.
We’re running out of
ideas
History is cyclical, my friends. And while our social
diktats call for different styles of clothes – sadly, the opportunity to wear full length ball gowns is
increasingly limited – we borrow and borrow again from our past. These can be influenced byc our silver screen
heroes, as seen by the prevalence of flapper dresses with the Great Gatsby
film. Hell, even ruffs tried to make a brief reappearance. Originality isn’t
dead – it’s just we haven’t had a new trend in a while. So we’ve made a trend
out of borrowing from our past, and vintage is the ultimate library for us
borrowers.
Fashion is for the
masses
As styles have gone in and out of fashion, so have body
shapes. And whatever shape you were blessed with by your parent’s DNA, you
forced your body to fit the style of the day, with hoops, corsets, Spanx and
any other sartorial imprisonments you could find. What is genius about vintage
is that all women – of any size, age, shape – can find an age that’s right for
them.
And so we wear vintage with pride.
By Ilana Lever
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