Help required from the powder room ladies

[Paul]

I looking for 4 or 5 reasons to describe why some one could try wearing vintage fashions or vintage style. Or why you do wear vintage style

This is for an intro to a new web site, so I thought it best to ask you for a ladies perspective, from ladies who already wear vintage.

Thank you very much in anticipation.
Paul

 

[KittyT]

1. Vintage clothes have classic, sexy and sophisticated style that doesn't look cheap or trashy like many modern styles.

2. Vintage clothes were made during a time when women had curves. I have a classic hourglass figure and most modern clothes are made for women with straighter figures. Vintage clothes fit me much better, look better on me, and flatter my figure. And when you look your best, you tend to feel better about yourself and your body. Wearing vintage makes me feel sexy - I appreciate what I see when I look in the mirror, and that's important.

3. Vintage clothes tend to be higher quality. The fabrics are nicer, there was attention paid to little details, and the construction is good. I'm sick of buying dresses from Target that fall apart after I've had them for 3 months.

4. Why would I want to wear something that everyone else can have? I'm a pretty unique individual and I like presenting myself in a way that reflects that. Also, I like knowing that I turn a few heads when I walk into a room.

5. The price is right. For about the same price as a decent modern dress (or less than a lot of more poorly made repros), I can have a unique, well-made dress that fits me beautifully. Why should I pay more for something that everyone can have, when I can have a high quality, one-of-a-kind item, often for less money?

 

[Paisley]

I appreciate some of the looks of the past, but I don't want to wear a costume. I also don't have the figure for most vintage clothes. For those reasons, I buy high quality classic or vintage inspired pieces at sale prices or on consignment and wear them for a long time. If a piece is in a simple style, it should be in style for years.

Why not buy the latest thing from a department store or trendy shop?

• It puts you on a treadmill of continually buying new clothes to keep up with trends and replace the junk that's fallen apart. It takes time and money, and I have better uses for both.
• Fashion works only when it looks good on you. Look around at all the sheep who look awful in the latest thing: short, stout women in cropped pants, spare tires bulging out of camisoles and low-slung pants, thick gray calluses thwopping away on flip flops... The classics stick around for a reason: so many women look great in them.

 

[Inky]

1. I like classic styles, but I also like to have fun with my clothes and want to be able to wear them for a good long time.

2. I am 48 years "old" and other "styles" no longer suit me, but dressing vintage is something I have done off and on since I was in my teens when I bought my first 40's dress (oh how I wish I still had it!) for a dance. I know I can pull off this "look" for a long time and still suit my advancing age.

3. A vintage garment has withstood the test of time in regard to fabric and construction in so many cases - would you say that about new items often meant for one season's wear that will fall apart after a few washings or trips to the cleaners?

4. Oh how I hate being trendy

 

[Paul]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply to this. Very useful info and a good insight for me.

 

[Mojito]

Great reasons listed above!

I'd also add that I enjoy the complete evocation of an era that some vintage pieces convey. I have a weakness not only for pieces that are timeless, but also for those that are very specifically era related. There's a romance to some vintage and antique dresses that goes beyond the knowledge that they existed in that decade and may have seen some swell parties (although I've known even non-vintage collectors to give a little sigh and say "imagine what stories that dress could tell!). They take some of the age with them, and while there's a poignancy that lingers to seeing something out of its time, when you don a 1920s beaded dress there's still a faint lingering echo of jazz music, laughter, the clink of glasses and snappy repartee that lingers around it.

 

[Miss Sis]

All good answers above.

I too like to have clothes that fit properly, are well made of nice fabrics and are individual.

I usually wear all vintage together. I'm not really one to mix vintage with modern. I like the "complete-ness" of wearing everything from the same era together and the challenge of gathering the whole outfit.

Plus it's fun to see people's reactions when you are wearing things that are really different from what most people have.

 

[glamour-girl]

i guess the reason i wear vintage clothes, is that it makes me feel (and look...) special, i'v always dreamed of looking like a femme-fatal from a 40's film noir... i love this mysterious and seductive look, not trashy really, more elegant but still a bit sexy (i guess it makes up for my geeky highschool years...)

 

[Lorena B]

I personally get a buzz from vintage that i dont get with modern wear.

It actually makes me enjoy cloth shopping something that is very unlike to happen if i ever buy modern stuff.

Also, as pointed by other girls, quality of the fabric, we are talking about wholesome fabrics and wonderful coloring and in some cases printing.

Styles are absolutely femenine, women dressed as women, something that nowdaways is not so comun.

The cloths show good quality work, like secuences, tulles, embrodery.
Generally is a one of a kind piece, most than one i am sure has had that sinking heart feeling when going to a party and see another girls in the same dress than you!:rage:
i think we all know the sort of pride you get when you go out in vintage, it gives you un special feeling, that it! it makes you look and feel special, and as one of you pointed earlier on, we all need that individualism feeling.

And finally, i just loooove people shouting at me in the street " i love your outfit" or being stopped and asked where i bought my outfit, it makes you think some people, still can see the beauty in past fashions or maybe they are just fed up of the modern stuff


www.myspace.com/lorena54

 

[Tatum]

I had always admired the vintage styles, and usually leaned towards classic pieces, but it was when I had to start being a bit more "grown-up" that I started really going for it. I can feel really great about what I am wearing, and still feel more individual. I hate trends, and trying to keep up with them!

Since I started dressing as much classic/vintage as possible, I never feel out of place wherever I am, or whoever I am with. It's so timeless, and even though I feel like I am dressing more my age (whatever that means, ask my sister-in-law), I feel even more comfortable.

 

[Lorena B]

Yes. classic never goes out of fashion!

 

[SuperKawaiiMama]

I appreciate the craftsmanship in vintage clothing and I also buy reproduction to support the continuation and development of those skills.

The sense of history in the garments is fabulous to me. As though they carry a 'vibe' and have a secret history of all sorts of grand adventures that may have happened in them.

The tailoring is exquisite in the better garments, and veyr hard to find today unless you are buying couture.

There is a sense of romance involved in wearing them that can allow you to expand your personality and the glamour in your daily life.

It's the next best thing to time travel!