Is the powder room dying on it's feet.

[Lenore]

It's good to be back. Within the past two years, I've been in a rut. I've got a job that makes me wear jeans every day, and I've gotten out of the groove. I'm miserable. So, I'm back and hoping you ladies can help pull me out of my funk.

Perhaps there's others out there like me who have just lost their way temporarily, but will come back soon.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

My husband left for a year so I have nothing but time. And I can get back into all things vintage. He likes vintage, but not to the degree I do. I can finally watch more movies, listen to the music *I* want to hear, and get back into sewing

 

[Louise Anne]

Perhaps there's others out there like me who have just lost their way temporarily, but will come back soon.

A few years ago there was a brake away forum start in the UK they talked about simular stuff as in the powder room it was a very small set up but a number of UK ladies from here joined it, stopped posting here I do not see them here now.
I think there will be one less from the UK on here also soon.

 

[St. Louis]

I haven't been on this forum long enough to know whether there's more or less posting. I will say that I don't feel I know enough to be able to answer most of the detailed questions, but I do very much appreciate LizzieMaine's suggestion that even a reaction is useful. I'm often astonished and delighted by people's creativity here, so I'll try to be more vocal about that.

 

[CinnamonCinders]

I've been a longtime lurker here even before I joined up, and I guess part of my minimal contribution is lack of confidence in having anything worthwhile to say. The Lounge is *such* an amazing resource for all things vintage and as only a dabbler, it can seem a bit like I'm just a noob about it all. After joining and having a spurt of a few posts, life took hold and I've only very recently rediscovered the Lounge and my love of vintage.

It's been said before and it's absolutely true, that for anything to stay alive, the ones who want to retain it have to put the work in. So, I shall endeavour to get over my inferiority complex and post a little more.

And on that note... I think I've got just the topic to either raise or revive...

 

[Grnidwitch]

One more thing I'll add here is that people are much more inclined to be helpful if we have some idea who it is that we're helping. A little bit of sincerity goes a very long way around here. You don't have to be Her Grace the Lady Victoria McVintage Riding On A Pony to be a respected member here -- you just have to be sincere in your interest and willing to share a bit of yourself. Meet us halfway, and we'll be more than happy to meet you.

"Her Grace the Lady Victoria McVintage on a Pony" just made me spit coffee all over the screen.

I don't dress vintage simply because I don't think women came in my size back then (I'm 5'11"). I see vintage as being more ladylike in dress, so I try to bring that into my daily life.

 

[Louise Anne]

The way I see it now is that the success of the Powder Room is also part of it's down fall becuse most thinks which need a question is covered some where in the past if you look, thus there no point in asking the same question

When I joined My Space Face Book and blogger were not around or not used much and so it was the F/L and the Powder Room or nothing.
Photos were not really taken that much of people, clothes Or activities, outfits, compared with today.
Photographers were only just becoming aware of vintage style worn by ladies and a few ladies here branched out into that area.

A forums is good for talking with people around the world asking questions and have a chat with but the graphic capability and networking have not kept pace with others areas. like face book or some other forum set ups.
You cannot have your own photo gallery here where you can on some forums.
Compared to face book it's a lot more structured with having to join, people moderating what you say and having to post things in different forums.

I do not see much has changed since I started this thread. I do not see it as simply people do not have time to post or nothing to say.
If you were on my F/B page you see there are always some one popping something up about cloth they are wear . vintage clothes, and hey I only have 17 friends on it and like 10 pages.

Of course you get people staying who like this format and nothing wrong with that but hitting it's full potential compared to what it once was the world moved on in a way and a slighly different direct now.

I think if the admit did a cull of members who had not posted for 12 months like they do on some forums you soon see it's a lot smaller than it shows now.
and maybe that would be a wake up call for them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most of the wardrobe-photo posting takes place in the "What Are You Wearing Today?" thread in the General Attire and Accoutrements forum. It's mostly men who post there, but occasional women do participate. Some people don't choose to participate in that thread because it's been targeted for mockery or sexist trolling by members of other forums, and they don't care to have their pictures subjected to that, but others don't know about that or don't care.

Another thing is that the Lounge is such a broad and diverse place that it's really outgrown the "vintage clothing forum" classification. A lot of members here don't collect vintage clothing, or particularly care about it, but do have an interest in some other aspect of vintage life. When the Lounge started it was primarily a hat forum -- then it became a men's vintage clothing forum -- then it became a general vintage clothing forum -- then it became a vintage clothing and lifestyle forum -- then it became a catch-all forum for anyone interested in any aspect of the Golden Era, which is basically what it is now.

Nothing prevents any member from starting or participating in in-depth discussions of clothing. I'm not particularly interested in "collecting" clothes, so I probably wouldn't have much to contribute there, but there are certainly plenty of members who would.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

In all honesty, a lot of the more interesting and active members have all stopped posting here because their styles were indirectly put down somewhere on this forum. I know a lot of the gals on Facebook who have tattoos, maybe a funky hair colour, don't really dress authentically vintage (I actually fit this description!)....but do have a deep, genuine love and knowledge of the era who felt maybe they weren't welcome here because they didn't fit the rigid mold. So they stopped posting. Just because someone has tattoos, or even a BAGEL HEAD lol, doesn't mean their passions are any less amazing than those who authentically live like it's 1942 (with a computer, of course )

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Also, when I post I try to keep it vintage-relevant and I try to make it PRO-VINTAGE instead of ANTI-MODERN. A lot of the gals who no longer post here got tired of the anti-modern posts, too

 

[Louise Anne]

If it's about info on collecting vintage then I have to say this is not my first choose to post , there are better places to get collecting info on , Those place do not have ladies who wear vintage themselve (very much).
I also have to agree with Amy Jeanne becase I did originally point a lot of ladies in this direction until they started to say things like Amy Jean points out about not feeling welcome which others have told them.
I have always been made to feel welcome in the Powder Room in other place on here I have often felt a undertone going on.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't speak for the rest of the Lounge, but I don't recall any anti-tattoo/anti-exotic-hair-color talk going on here in the PR myself. If it did come up and I noticed it I'd tell the people engaging in it to take it somewhere else, and I'm sure LD would do likewise. Whatever passive-aggressive stuff goes on here, and it does admittedly go on, tends to go both ways -- I notice just as many snipes at the "vintager-than-thou" people as there are directed toward the "not-vintage-enough-for-thou" crowd.

Every forum has its cliques, unfortunately, and they don't always get along. Trying to force them to get along is as impossible as it is to force them not to snipe. The best any of us can do is, as the cliche goes, agree to disagree. If you don't like tattoos don't try to bait the tattoo fans by going in their thread and making smart remarks. If you like yoga pants, let the people who don't like yoga pants grouse and gripe about them knowing that their opinion is irrelevant to you. And then both groups will get along fine talking about the things they do enjoy in common: all I've got on my own skin is scars and bruises, but I'd love to have AJ and her tattoos up here for an El Brendel-Marjorie White film festival some time.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

lol

I'm one of the ones who doesn't care if my "silly" pink hair or sleeves gets put down ANYWHERE (not just here ) I know what I love and don't have to prove it to anyone. Even through I have tats and pink hair, I am genuinely a 20s-30s-40s lover and i don't know any other way to be. I can't imagine doing my makeup or hair "normal" or dressing without a vintage twist. I do love all kinds of music, but most of my popular culture love cuts off around 1942ish. I have a big rockabilly leaning, too. Depends on my mood!

But that's what people have told me. I don't like that they are letting it effect them like that, but what can ya do?

ETA: My home decor is 20s-50s leaning, too. I could not even imagine "normal" home decor...lol. I have modern IKEA stuff mixed in with thrift store pieces -- but it works. Mayeb a lil trashy, but I like that

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pink hair is vintage!

(From the London Daily Mirror, November 17, 1936)

CHANGED HAIR TO ORCHID BLONDE AND WON SUCCESS

If you get tired of being in the chorus, turn up one morning with mauve hair.

Miss Towyna Thomas, who is twenty-three and comes from Carmarthenshire, did this, and now she has a part in the new revue "To and Fro," which opens at the Comedy Theatre, London, on November 26.

Towyna's hair is naturally platinum blonde. "I was so tired of being platinum blonde and seeing almost every girl with the same coloured hair," she told me, "that I decided to have my hair mauve. No one seems to have thought of that. I call it 'orchid blonde.'"

"I can't say I like it much in daylight, but my work is the most important thing to me and it won me a part -- and I hope it will help me realise my ambition to be a comedienne."

 

[JennieWren]

LizzieMaine, you just made my day!

 

[Louise Anne]

I can't speak for the rest of the Lounge, but I don't recall any anti-tattoo/anti-exotic-hair-color talk going on here in the PR myself.

To your credit and also of L/D I think your right about that, saying that I can clearly remember something going on outside the P/R along the negative lines about Tatoos.
maybe that was out of control.

 

[JennieWren]

There was a thread that I read (I think it was in the Observation Bar) about tattoos and how some people didn't like them in which some posters expressed their opinion of them as ugly (I seem to remember one person saying that they were particularly ugly on women, especially "tramp stamps" which are tattoos placed on the lower back - I have one of these. I designed it myself, it is a tree on my base chakra and I love it. It symbolizes to me being grounded to the natural world.). I don't much care what other people think of them, however they are allowed to express their opinion. If I don't like it I shan't read it. It doesn't make me feel unwelcome, it is simply a different opinion than my own. I love wild coloured hair (I've had my hair every colour of the rainbow), tattoos and piercings, but I respect that some people don't. It would be a boring old world if we were all the same.
When I am at work my scrubs cover my tattoos, my plugs are small enough (2g) that very few people notice that my ears are gauged, and I keep my hair in a "normal" colour range. I work in a hospital and on a ward where I have to be very sensitive to patients who are coming either from very strict religious backgrounds (I have many Hassidic patients), or who might be coming to my floor (Acute internal medicine - critical care) very confused and frightened. Even though outside of work I have not worn anything other than black, white and grey for almost 20 years, when I am at work my scrubs are brightly coloured. If you are elderly, confused and scared you don't want your nurse coming into your room at night looking like the tattooed Angel of Death!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

There was a thread that I read (I think it was in the Observation Bar) about tattoos and how some people didn't like them in which some posters expressed their opinion of them as ugly (I seem to remember one person saying that they were particularly ugly on women, especially "tramp stamps" which are tattoos placed on the lower back - I have one of these. I designed it myself, it is a tree on my base chakra and I love it. It symbolizes to me being grounded to the natural world.). I don't much care what other people think of them, however they are allowed to express their opinion. If I don't like it I shan't read it. It doesn't make me feel unwelcome, it is simply a different opinion than my own. I love wild coloured hair (I've had my hair every colour of the rainbow), tattoos and piercings, but I respect that some people don't. It would be a boring old world if we were all the same.

This is how I feel. I don't let ANYONE ANYWHERE effect my love of an offbeat appearance. Hence why i still post on here after 5 years and many of my other friends have stopped I also know my limits when it comes to dressing crazy (this even includes vintage, unfortunately). One day I might be a total square in the psychology field -- this is why I don't have tattoos below a certain point on my arm. Where I work now they actually kind of encourage "offbeat" appearances (I work in an accounting dept.) and I swear they sometimes go out of their way to hire "hip" people lol My tats and pink hair are welcome there. But when I went on the initial job interview I had all black hair, dress slacks, and dress shirt on (long sleeves!) Totally "normal"! I would dress this way if I had to go on another job interview now, too. I know when and where certain things are appropriate and when and where they are not.

 

[Flicka]

Well, I think the discussion in the PR has always been nice and civilised, but I can see anyone with candy-coloured hair or tats being put off by the tone in the Observation Bar. To be honest, the conservatism in there is often quite massive and I think it drives some female posters off the board and that naturally affects the PR as a side effect. I also don't think everyone is always aware which forum a thread is in, and once burned twice shy and all that.

My opinion of course. I'm also not that much into the 50's and so I often feel a little "left out" in the PR where the most people are into that sort of thing.

Hey, Amy Jeanne; I'd love to see your place. It sounds just like mine, what with mixing IKEA and old stuff (mostly stuff I've inherited). Mine's very "Carl Larsson"-Scandinavian and I think most people I know would freak if I invited them home because they'd think it was horribly tasteless. Swedes like spare; white everything and pale wood. I just got a book from my mother that my grandmother got before getting married in the late 40s (it's so sweet, her notes are still in there and you can see how she's been putting down how much everything is going to cost them) and you should see how spare everything is! Looks like an institution rather than a home. If I get round to it, I'll scan some of pics and post.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I think the discussion in the PR has always been nice and civilised, but I can see anyone with candy-coloured hair or tats being put off by the tone in the Observation Bar. To be honest, the conservatism in there is often quite massive and I think it drives some female posters off the board and that naturally affects the PR as a side effect. I also don't think everyone is always aware which forum a thread is in, and once burned twice shy and all that..

I forget sometimes that some people use the "View New Posts" feature as a way of scanning everything that comes up -- I don't use that myself, because probably 75 percent of those posts are things that I know won't interest me, discussion of men's hats or whatever. Nobody has time to read every single post on the forum, and nobody should feel obligated to have an opinion on every topic that comes up.

As far as the slant in the OB goes, it's purely a function of who posts there. Some people lean one way, some people lean another. If your own side isn't represented, represent it. The moderation in that room isn't in any way ideologically controlled, and if you've got something to say, you're the only one who can say it. It's likely that some people won't agree with you -- but then, someone won't agree with you if you express that same opinion on the street, either. Such is life. The alternative is just to post in threads on topics you appreciate and leave the rest to the people who want to talk about them. If you let yourself be run off a forum because it's "too conservative" or "too liberal" or too many people there wear their hair funny or insist that brown shoes should never be worn in the city, aren't you just giving them what they want?