10 rules for dealing with vintage
Text: Elena Stafieva
Last week, the journalist Elena Stafyeva told what real vintage clothes are, what pricing in this segment is like pricing in the art market and how things are with vintage in Russia. In the new material, Stafieva explains how best to deal with vintage in 2013: why you should not chase big names like YSL and Vionnet, where in the world you should look for vintage and how not to look silly in clothes of the sizes of the 1940s and 60s.
1
If you do not want to look like a crowd of retro-serial BBC (or ITV), then the main rule - one vintage item for one outfit. If you are wearing a vintage dress, it’s best to think three times before putting on even a vintage jewelry, not to mention a vintage coat or jacket. Yes, there are girls of impeccable appearance and the same taste, who, even dressed in vintage from head to toe, look cool, but mere mortals should still not do this. Try to avoid the effect of "grandma's chest."
2
Vintage things better to combine with a modern modern. For example, if you wear a velvet YSL jacket from the 80s, then let him have a pair of jeans, and not a silk flared skirt, and under a vintage boa it is better to wear, for example, a sweatshirt, not a lace dress. In general, a vintage image should be sharply pointed out in every possible way with sporting and casual things, and not be publicized with something “smart”.
3
Wear vintage fur is ethical, eco-friendly and far less bourgeois than new fur. A vintage fur coat, even its most status variant of the caramel color type of mink jackets, which are so loved by respectable Italian signori, in combination with modern things looks fashionable, fun and not at all pathetic, but even ironic.
4
Do not buy vintage from Didier Ludo. No, of course, no one will forbid you to come to his shop in the Palais Royal and leave a lot of money there. But it's much more fun to find something worthwhile somewhere in the shop itself in the Marais, where clusters of tweed Chanel jackets do not hang over you and do not surround the line of Kelly and Birkin bags on all sides. This is an adventure, this is a game and also a big savings.
5
Do not be afraid of minor defects. Vintage is, by definition, old clothes, and all sorts of signs of time and traces of life only add to her charm. Of course, it is better to somehow fix ripped seams and noticeable gaps, but minor defects such as a pair of small moth holes (which are often on woolen vintage items), small specks or flown beads and sequins are best left as is. If this confuses you, then you should not even deal with vintage.
6
Do not wear vintage hats (no matter how beautiful they are) if your plan does not include creating an image of an urban madman. Only Anna Piaggi could afford them, but now on Anna Dello Rousseau they look too much, although the epithets “too” and “too” are not applicable to this character.
7
There is some difference between vintage clothing and antique clothing. Things of the 20s and 30s, and even more so things of the XIX century - it's still antiques. Of course, you can put them on (and much depends on the degree of preservation), but, in principle, they do not withstand any active exploitation, they are rather exhibits for the collection than part of a living wardrobe. Remember this when buying a beautiful beaded dress from the era of the Great Gatsby.
8
Very often, vintage items were created in a size system that is quite different from the modern one. Especially the 40s, 50s and 60s. Such beautiful jackets in the style of a zazu (which Monsieur Dior hated so much) would be baggy on a modern girl, and the sleeves will certainly be short. New bow dresses will almost always be tight in the waist (because they were designed for corsets, and then the waist was simply thinner). Modov dresses from swinging London will be too short and narrow in the armhole. In principle, all this is not a big problem, completely solved by the forces of the neighboring studios and workshops for fitting clothes, you just have to be ready for them.
9
Of course, the desired names of Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Hermès, and even more so Madame Grès or Vionnet - this is fine, but do not dwell on the famous Houses. In Europe, and especially in Italy and France, there have always been many beautiful studios where they sew (and still sew) wonderful things of almost couture quality without any big names, they should also be paid attention to.
10
The simplest and most comprehensible, from which it is worthwhile to approach the vintage, are decorations. First of all, you don’t have to wrestle with how and with what to combine them: the same with the modern ones. Secondly, the last few years, designers of jewelry only those engaged in that reproduce vintage designs in modern materials. Third, they do not need to be adapted in any way: put the Byzantine cross on Chanel with a simple white T-shirt and go ahead.