Vintage women, vintage clothes
Today, a subject close to my heart, addressed by Vanessa Friedman: "Are You Ever Too Old to Wear Vintage". (If you are paywalled, I'll summarize: it depends.) Ilene wrote to ask The New York Times' esteemed fashion writer whether she ought to wear a vintage dress exactly like one she bought the first time around, many years ago.
First, what is "vintage"? Friedman suggests the descriptor clicks in at around twenty years, and not—as some Poshmark sellers seem to think—last year or last season. "Vintage" is not a synonym for "used" or "retro". She also reminds us of one of the definitions in the Cambridge Dictionary, "Of superior quality and lasting value, or showing the best or most typical characteristics...".
But the dictionary is not concerned how you look in an '80s blazer with shoulders wider than a cupboard door.
She advises us to "assess (an item) by its quality and how it fits into your wardrobe". I nodded, because I do that too. This is my go-to fall/winter sweater, whether brand-new or 25 years old. I don't feel like a wooly Miss Havisham, because a) EB sell them now, and b) I wear mine like this, too.
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| Classic v-neck, Eric Bompard |
But Ilene refers to a dress that she spotted in a flea market and said, "I owned that!", as opposed to years past, when she said, "My grandmother wore that!"
Perhaps she found one of the styles below: left, the '80s padded-and-peplumed red number; right, the '90s ditsy floral midi, probably with little ties at the back. (She does not describe the dress, which would have been helpful!) These clothes transport me to those decades, when I wore nearly identical versions, but I'm not eager reprise them now.
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| Photos: eBay |
Some vintage designer dresses look less dated, like this '80s Basile silk dress for sale ($660) on First Dibs, but it's not only the cut that changes; our lives do.
This is a dress I would have worn for important business occasions. Now, life has changed, and over $600 is a lot to pay for nostalgia on one's back.
Friedman suggests that Ilene could approach her vintage piece with irony. I am wary; one person in thirty may sense that you are making an arch comment via your clothes—that you miss "Dallas", or the days when you were on a first-name basis with the drycleaner. If dressing ironically to amuse only yourself, it's like telling yourself a joke: you already know the punch line.
The approval rating for vintage is high now, driven by the promotion of sustainable fashion. A woman sees Bella Hadid (below, left), age 26, in a 1986 Chanel dress, and thinks, What if I haul my old party dress out of the closet? It is beautiful; I felt wonderful in it!
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| Photos: Vogue and Vogue UK |
Olivia Coleman, however, chose a current Emma Wickstead dress to wear to the BAFTA Awards two years ago. Hadid could wear Coleman's gown, but the opposite would look off. The Chanel's retro-glam flounce is not Olivia Coleman's style—she chooses dramatic, sculptural looks.
Coleman could, however, wear a different vintage Chanel, this 1992 black silk dress, which reflects Friedman's counsel that the piece should integrate into one's current style. (Price, $CDN 1, 054 at CSD).
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| Photo: CSD Luxury Vintage |
From my late teens through mid-thirties, I was a devotée of vintage and antique clothing, trolling market stalls to find 1930s cocktail dresses, silk nightgowns dripping with embroideries, mens' wing-collar shirts of Egyptian cotton. The whole point was looking like one stepped out of another era.
Today, I enjoy seeing younger generations' vintage scores. I might covet a new jacket with '40s details, like Totty Rocks' tweed Coachwoman Jacket, but the actual jacket that inspired this design is extremely hard to find in wearable condition, because it would be over seventy years old now.
Lightly-worn clothes that stayed in one family have a better chance of survival; Alice wears her mother's carefully-stored and still-vibrant silk Pucci top to cocktail parties. After no more than three wears, it visits a specialty cleaner and goes back into a fabric conservator's box.
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| Photo: Totty Rocks |
Vintage clothing on the mature woman is like walking a cat on a leash: it can be done, but it is a chancy proposition for both parties. You will draw attention, and better be committed.
Do you wear vintage?
What clothes, if any, do you wear that are twenty or more years old? How do you feel about wearing what you wore "the first time around", once again?
Comments
Hard to think of clothes in my closet as vintage but I guess since I’m there now, they must be too. I recently hauled out a pair of jeans I kept for many years, must be at least 20. They now fit and I enjoy wearing them. As is the case with a Hilary Ridley quilted jacket, faded and mellow. In fact now that I think of it I have a fair amount of stuff that goes back 20 years plus. No shoulder pads though!
I remain spoiled with cashmere. The many Scottish cashmere sweaters in the thrift stores here, mostly men's v-necks, attract no interest. They are also sold at low prices on Poshmark and the RealReal. There is a good sampling of Bompard on those sites. e
Tom: A lot of vintage cashmere is too boxy on me, but oh did that Pringle and Ballantyne wear well!
Ms Liz: That's it: the contrast, the juxtaposition done lightly so it does not look forced. I wish I could see your vintage jewellery! I do know one imposing and rather grand woman who wears moonstone earrings and a marching collet necklace, but she is the exception.
Wearing vintage as an older woman is a minefield, in my view, and one that I don't really care to venture into! I certainly remember items and outfits from the 70s and 80s that I owned and loved, but I know that - even if I'd kept them, and was still the same size - they just wouldn't look the same on me now.
The hot pink slim trousers and tunic combo in silk crepe that I always got compliments on when I wore it in my early 30s would make me look washed out and tired now I'm in my 60s. What I miss about those clothes from my past is probably not the actual clothes themselves, but more how I looked in them then and how they made me feel.
I know one woman my age who has a real knack for pulling together vintage pieces and mixing and matching them. She always looks interesting and original, but tbh the look is not particularly flattering (if, of course, 'flattering' is what you're after).
I never was a hoarder, always sold what I didn't like anymore. Only kept a beautiful made skirt from Girbaud but didn't wear it since ever. Not long ago I found a featherlight Cashmere Coat from Jil Sander+ in perfect condition, slightly oversized and still current.
As you said, most Vintage fashion looks it's best on young women.
Just read about Dame Jane Collins new book. It's entiteled "Behind the Shoolderpads" :-)
Regarding Jeans, I would love to read about them from you. Such a big variety and the decision often is complicated.
Two years ago, during the pandemic my husband and I ventured out to a lovely hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We booked in for dinner at a very nice restaurant at the hotel. I was excited to be wearing dressed up clothes for once. I selected a beautiful NIC+ZOE sweater jacket with a silk blouse and slim pants. I thought I would sparkle things up a bit and wear a very large and sparkly Sherman broach. Our server complimented me on the broach and said his grandmother often wore broaches like the one I was wearing and how lovely mine looked. Not perhaps the look I was going for and thank goodness I did not wear the matching earrings! My husband quietly smiled .....
Barbara: Ohhh, Jil Sander clothes really last. I have two knit tanks Le Duc brought me from Paris in the '90s and they are still perfect. I'm posting on jeans this month.
Jane in London: "... more how I looked in them and how they made me feel" exactly describes the effect. Sometimes I wonder if our tug toward vintage is in fact that wish more than wearing the actual garment.
Ms Liz: It's a double-edged moment when one summons a young adult's grandmother via one's accessories. BTW both spellings of your brooch are acceptable: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/brooch-vs-broach-usage
Bunny: I'd rather see a twenty-year-old dressed as an Edwardian equestrienne than in some of the astonishingly revealing outfits that—at least in daylight—I find tasteless. I was on a train recently where a young women wore a pair of shorts that were essentially skin-toned panties; in fact, they may have been. With maribou-trimmed flip-flops and a cropped t-shirt. All I could think was, Put some clothes on! For grown women (in their 40s and 50s) who wear those carefully-curated costumes, perhaps they missed out on the chance when teens and young women, or maybe they have support for it from friends who do the same.