12
Stu
2018
What is vintage clothing?
Lots of people think that vintage is just a fancy, made up name for used, second hand clothes. However, the difference is great. Something like the difference between oldtimers and used cars.
Vintage is a term that came from wine terminology. Originally, in french, and later in english, it was used to denote a year or place in which wine, especially wine of high quality, was produced. In general, vintage is something from the past of high quality and longlasting value, especially something representing the best of its kind.
In the last 20 years, the term is also used in fashion to denote clothing originating from previous eras, from 1920s to 1980s, while clothing produced before 1920s is considered antique.
Pieces that are made long time ago were made with love, with an incredible sense of detailing, out of high quality materials, often by hands...it was produced to last.
It is necessary to distinguish retro from vintage. Retro, short for „retrospective”, usually refers to clothing that imitates the style of a previous era, but doesnt have that historical and romantic value of vintage clothing, nor the quality of materials and making.
The most valuable are unworn vintage pieces, especially if they have their original tags. Those pieces are very rare and especially appreciated by the true vintage lovers.
You may not know, but vintage clothing in plus XL sizes are very hard to find. That is due to a fact that corpulence was a relatively uncommon prior to 1980s, so larger sizes ware not produced in such an extent and were usually handmade.
The popularity of vintage fashion was contributed by the fact that it was worn by the famous actresses and top models in the 1990s, as well as many Hollywood movies set in different eras.
Since in this past eras it was always quality over quantity, there was no mass production, so almost every vintage piece today is unique and a great choice if you want to stand out.
Vintage clothes is much more than just old used clothes...it is history, art...the stories of those who lived long before us.
