Why is vintage so popular now?
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| Sophie Loren in 1950. |
Vintage clothing has
gained momentum in recent years and a bandwagon trend quickly followed, but why
are people so interested in vintage now?
Fashion is a cycle
that regularly borrows from previous eras so it’s not surprising that every year
a modern version of an iconic look appears, recently flapper girl style has
being featured in many collections.
Many tv shows have
appeared on our screens that are based in yester-year, Mad Men is the popular
example. Plus a few celebrities have named Vintage as their catwalk dress; a
sneaky way of ensuring no other celebrity will wear the same dress! The only
disappointment is that I know I’ll never find the same gorgeous dress (pfft like
I can afford it anyway, I can dream though).
Since the recent
recession we’ve become more aware of how we spend our money and the cheaper
alternatives, I’ve read many articles of thrifty people naming vintage and
secondhand clothing as their shopping outlet.
People are more
willing to express themselves how they see fit, personally I think it’s related
to the recession. Fast fashion is now deemed too expensive and trend followers
are more individual, instead of copying the trend they use it as inspiration to
suit their own style. A dress could be out of style within six months but I’ve
seen trends last far longer now, even though I don’t follow fashion I’m glad
it’s more open to creativity.
In recent years the style of vintage have developed and become distinctive styles that feature in several other styles, for example sailor lolita and gothabilly. To be frank it's just a lovely style that many people have fallen in love with once they've seen it, previously they might have collected teapots to release their vintage love but now it's more than acceptable to dress in a 40s style.
As a consequence of
all these reasons vintage has become more acceptable to wear and shop for,
although I’m glad there’s no longer a stigma attached I must admit it has its
downfalls. Vintage has quite simply become a trend itself, the pin up girl look
is more popular than ever and I regularly see rockabilly fashion when I’m out
and about. Its become a fashion buzzword along with “kitsch” and is used to
sell a clothing collection, plus there’s a always a tiny amount of sadness when
something you love so dearly becomes popular. It was almost like my little
secret! You can read my previous moaning about vintage becoming a trend here.
5 comments:
I also read the other post you linked to. I've seen this happening several times when I shop in second hand stores; Clothes that in first sight look vintage but then you see the texture of the fabric, the buttons and the label the item is just a half year old. It's difficult to find quality vintage clothes today and the second hand and thrift stores are raising their prices to ridicilously high levels.
I actually wondered the same thing on my blog, but it was more along the lines of, why do older goth women migrate towards a more Gothabilly style. Ahem, me included lately. My hubby was kidding around when he said that goths start in the Victorian era and then slowly migrate to the 40s and 50s as they get older. He seems to think it's a natural progression. Me, I've always been into goth, punk rock and rockabilly music ... and the associated musical styles like Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and good old fashioned Swing; and I've always loved the fashion. But, in my younger years I was more about traditional goth and spent my time scavenging stores for velvet and lace.
Nowadays, I'm a professional woman who has very little time for myself. I've been gravitating towards clothes that can go from the classroom to the club and true vintage cuts really work well ... and has satisfied my life long craving for retro. In addition, I've lost quite a bit of weight and the retro cuts are just so damned flattering! And this is the first time since I was 12 that I actually have long hair. You know I'm going to play with it! I've been curling it, rolling it, spraying it! This gives me time for myself and makes me feel gorgeous.
So, this is my take on why I've been moving towards a more retro, Gothabilly style. I'm tired to the same old Goth and let's face it, I love the music. It's time.
Maybe it's because a few decades ago manufacturers actually tried to make fitting/flattering clothing. Today a huge part of mainstream clothing is either ridiculously 'oversized' or made entirely out of elastics. It has a fit like a diving suite and is just as comfortable *cough*. Either way it seems like they are trying to solve the sizing problem by avoiding it.
On the other hand for me vintage craze is internet only. I rarely see people dressed like that around here and second hand shops are either 'what my mom wore in the 90ies' or luxury clothing (chanel, etc).
Is it really more usual in the UK?
And, of course, great blog^^ .
well with everything there are good and bad sides but i think 'mixed' styles like rockabilly make people realize a bit, that 'goth' isnt all bad since its a mixture of known and that 'unknown black' but youre right about the quality :-/
I've always bought clothes from second hand stores, but that's mainly because it feels like treasure hunting for me...ie I won't always find something I love but when I do, I've really hit gold! That being said, I also like to 'embellish' and 'adjust' my clothes so I also feel less guilty with second hand clothes when I accidentally ruin them by cutting the fabric wrong....
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