Vintage Fashion

Because James wanted to see it :P

“Vintage includes many eras and is difficult to define, but the rule of thumb I go by is: vintage is old enough not to be manufactured in the context of day's fashion, but not old enough to be considered an antique or historical artifact.”
From the roaring 20s to the swinging 60s and beyond, fashion has been a woman’s prerogative. More commonly known as vintage fashion, clothes from this era became the ‘new’ style of the noughties, paying homage to their hay-day and embracing a more romantic way of life. Dancing to rockabilly in our micro-minis, it’s easy to see that we’re re-living the past – but what’s wrong with right now? Caoimhe Lavelle, a 22-year-old fashion student from Dublin, suspects she has the answer;
I think the main reason is that time puts a glaze on the lifestyle of the past, and a lot of it is to do with nostalgia. But people interested in fashion also just have a desire to find interesting and original pieces, and searching through vintage shops is a great way to find some. It opens up many doors, fashion-wise, and can also serve as inspiration for the present.
Fashion became a possibility for women in the 20s, as clothes became tailored to fit the modern lifestyle. Women cut their apron strings (and the hems of their skirts) to put on their dancing shoes, as the Charleston was introduced and flapper girls dominated. Through the war, women’s fashion was dictated by the rations on material – the skirts became shorter, the blouses became tighter, a nation revealing more and more, leading us beautifully into the short-skirted 60s, which took Revivalist influence directly from the 20s. The days of love, peace, and terribly cold legs, the 60s were split into the mods and the rockers and fashion was to be all that lasted. Richard Branson once commented of this time:
“there was a great sense of optimism. You could do anything if you set your mind to it.”
This is the ultimate explanation, I think, as to why people are reluctant to let go. People have no optimism these days. We are currently hounded by stories of death and destruction, of recession and scandal – maybe it’s time we all took a step back, just to “dig” our lives right now.
Do you think people have a romanticised view of what life was like back then?
To an extent. Fashion is very easy to idealise because you don't have to take into account historical events or context so much. You can say that fashion in the forties was fabulous without endorsing the Second World War. If you like how it looks, that's it. But there is also a certain amount of idealism of the past. One reason may be that our main connection to it is through our nostalgic parents or grandparents, or also through films. It's a little delusional to actually think that in the 1940's all people spoke with transatlantic accents, perfect posture and were incredibly beautiful, but we can't help but romanticise when we can't experience the time ourselves.
How does vintage fashion adapt to our current lifestyle and culture?
Well vintage fashion is brought back into current vogue and recreated every so often through revivals. Particularly these days, many people interested in fashion are looking for items with a history to them, or which brings to mind a time not of their own, and that’s why I think that in recent years there have been so many revivals in fashion, and that many people are looking for this 'vintage look'.
I think this may say that our current culture is jealous of that of other, past eras. Personal nostalgia has always been around, but we can see it's also being reflected in the clothes we wear.

Does vintage have a place in everyone’s lives?
Vintage to me seems to be particularly popular with those who experience dissatisfaction with their generation, who go out of their way to have their clothes give the message of being other; perhaps not from this time. But I think that vintage clothes can be worn and loved by anyone.

Do you think a vintage wardrobe is an achievable prospect for anyone? It can often be very expensive.
I'm a firm believer that it's possible on any budget. It all depends greatly on where you look. Certainly, many vintage boutiques are over-priced, but they don't have a monopoly on old clothes. It takes patience, but I recommend searching through flea markets and charity shops. Vintage is concerning the age of the clothes, all that separates a find in a flea market to one in a boutique is snobbery.

Do you believe there is a certain ‘vintage lifestyle’ – wearing the clothes, listening to the music? How does it fit into modern life?
A certain amount, yes.. You can have general vintage interests. eg; have a vintage wardrobe, listen to swing jazz and watch only films noir starring the likes of Humphrey Bogart, but I think that this can be easily adapted into our modern lifestyle.
You don't need to deny yourself the technological advances made or new music and culture. Embracing vintage shouldn't mean an intentional and stubborn disregard for what is around you, and you should embrace the things that you love about your own generation if there is anything, because this time now used to be the future, and later on it will be the rose-tinted past.
How would you describe today’s fashion?
I'm not terribly up-to-date, but I suppose I can speculate from a spectator's perspective. It seems to be rather practical and comfortable-looking in general. There also a stress on the clothing of a person to reflect one's personality. And of course; it is quite often expressed in unusual-looking garments sold by mass in chain-stores such as Top Shop.
This desire to express individuality is now very mainstream. It's great because it celebrates individuality, but unfortunate that it's being exploited by certain companies which I believe fool the consumer into believing that their clothes better them as a person. It is also unfortunate because it results in the popularity of such apologetically ridiculous items such as 'jeggings' (leggings with jean seams printed on, worn as jeans), a phenomenon which I personally cannot get my head around.

Do you think, one day, people will look back on this past decade and declare it a decade that made a difference to fashion? Will people in 20 years go for a “noughties look”, as we might go for a seventies or eighties one?
It's hard to tell, but I don't think that many eras go un-noted in fashion. For example the nineties look is currently being embraced, which was, until recently, still a bit embarrassing to us. Nostalgia has a big part to play, and though I wasn't particularly impressed by the fashion of the noughties, I believe that after a certain amount of time it will become idealised, therefore coveted.
Romanticised or not, vintage is happening and is bigger than ever. As I prepared to say goodbye to Caoimhe, I asked her one final question – what she believes is the future for vintage.
It's quite simple if you think about it. The clothes that are vintage to us today will gradually become lost and increasingly rare. And the clothes we wear today will one day become vintage. It's a cycle.




Happy now?! :D xxxxxx

TUMBLR.

http://feedelosmuertos.tumblr.com/

This Was 2009.

- get a job and keep it for at least 3 months.
- save a grand.
- start buying music.
- go abroad.
- get into college.
- get a flat in glasgow.
- buy an ipod.
- see paramore live.
- write out my portfolio.
- cut down on the swearing.
- make 5 new good friends.
- buy a whole new wardrobe (or get bought one!)
- use a diary.
- stop being a snob - asif!
- learn to walk successfully in heels.
- become an optimist.
- get at least three new tattoos.
- stop with the jealousy!
- keep in regular contact with family and old friends.
- letter write even more often.

Incase You Hadn't Noticed

I got bored of pasting blogs over.
I might save the rest for a rainy day. I might not.
I assume you get the general idea, though;I'm challenging and not much fun.

I Feel Like A Right James Blunt.

Saw the world turning in my sheets and once again I cannot sleep.Walk out the door and up the street; look at the stars beneath my feet.Remember rights that I did wrong, so here I go.Hello, hello. There is no place I cannot go.My mind is muddy but my heart is heavy. Does it show?I lose the track that loses me, so here I go.And so I sent some men to fight, and one came back at dead of night.Said he'd seen my enemy. Said he looked just like me,So I set out to cut myself and here I go.I'm not calling for a second chance,I'm screaming at the top of my voice.Give me reason but don't give me choice.'Cause I'll just make the same mistake again.And maybe someday we will meet, and maybe talk and not just speak.Don't buy the promises 'cause, there are no promises I keep.And my reflection troubles me, so here I go.I'm not calling for a second chance,I'm screaming at the top of my voice.Give me reason but don't give me choice.'Cause I'll just make the same mistake,I'm not calling for a second chance,I'm screaming at the top of my voice.Give me reason but don't give me choice.'Cause I'll just make the same mistake again.Saw the world turning in my sheets and once again I cannot sleep.Walk out the door and up the street; look at the stars.Look at the stars fall down.And wonder where did I go wrong.

Friday 13th. - February 13th 2009
So, its Friday 13th and I'm in the library wondering whether or not I should be fearing for my life.Some people see this day as a good thing (Kat Von D once remarked that her ex husband, Oliver, tattoos 13s onto people every time this day comes around) and some dread it completely - a phobia complicatedly titled paraskavedekatriaphobia, which I won't even try to pronounce, let alone memorise.Being that there are 3 bouts of Friday 13th this year, I decided to look into it a little further. Is this going to be an incredibly unlucky year for everyone? (Financially, of course it will be, but I'm not going to be another of those irritating people who go on and on about the recession.)Before the 19th century there was no mention of Friday 13th, and it is generally pretty unclear where the superstition came from. I am a complete video game geek, particularly for the Broken Sword series. I recently downloaded and played BS2.5 (seriously, get out there and download it. Its a fan game, its free and its awesome) and I noticed one mission referred to Friday 13th in connection with the Knights Templar. So, out came Wiki, and it told me that King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307 - Friday the 13th. Nah, not strong enough to be a universal superstition, I don't think. Soviet forces invaded Poland on 17th September, back in WWII but nobody is superstitious about this day... It just isn't a big enough deal to have lasted this long. (though I'm sure some of the Knight's Templar might have something to say about that!)The origin may also be Norse. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil - a gathering of thirteen - and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath". This one, though, I'm not so sure about. As far as witchy tales go, I'm not that into them. It rates up there with Christianity in the unbelievable scale, I'm afraid. And, no, I'm not going to get a tirade of abuse for that, because nobody's bothered to read this far. Heck, I wouldn't have. Back to the point, though, I don't see how this makes sense. Surely this'd mean that every Friday is unlucky? Wiki seems to be pretty inconclusive, to be honest. I can't find any solid argument to suggest that I should be quivering under my duvet and praying for Saturday (Valentines Day, incedentally, which I most certainly am not praying for). Actually, Friday 13th is reportedly the safest day of the year, because everyone's being so damned careful. I'm sending out a bit of a conflicted message then, guys - you don't need to bother staying safe, because everyone else is. But if you aren't being safe, you probably should. Its Friday 13th, afterall.I'd love to hear other peoples' views on this, or see if anyone has any solid fact!

That Ol' Devil Called 'God' - May 23rd, 2009.

Regardless of what I write here, I'm going to get flamed within an inch of my life.Not updated in a while and I'm not going to update properly for a while longer because... Just because.I'm writing this because I came across a couple of quotes that made me smile.Also, 'I love you til the end' just came on and made my heart go all gooey, so this'll probably take me longer than expected because this song really deserves all the attention in the world. Its gorgeous.Yesterday, I was walking through the city centre (I live in Glasgow now, remember?) and a man gave me a magazine - more of a leaflet - called The Anarchist Critic. At first I chuckled to myself at the notion that I look in any way, shape or form like an anarchist, then I began to read it and it talks a lot of sense. Not quite read it all yet but I'm enjoying it so far.First off, I'm not an anarchist. To be honest, if someone said to define anarchist, I'm not sure I could define it to any extent past "someone who rebels". I don't rebel. I live a simple life for the most part and my mind is wide open, giving me nothing to rebel against. I don't pay attention to what is 'conforming' or not - I dress in what I think looks nice and flatters my figure (or at least, I try to). As far as religion goes, I'd have to say I'm very agnostic. I don't know if there's a God, if there is I don't know what religion he/she/it would preach. I have read many things about religion in both positive and negative lights and I must be highly impressionable because, for the most part, I agree with it all.I believe it is ridiculous to consider that there is a man sitting on a cloud sending angels to do dirty work and damning the homos for getting their kicks. I certainly believe in fate and destiny - I think we have our paths set out for us, its just full of twists and forks and it is our choice which route we take. This quote, though, has made the most sense for me."I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."Why don't we use our intelligence to dictate our lives? Fuck blind faith - if there was a God, he'd have worked hard to make you better than that. Believe what you believe, and worship it in your mind. Don't preach, don't condemn. I am saying that I don't know if there's a God. If there is, I don't think I believe in the Christian God but perhaps I'm judging him by his followers. Maybe God's sat in his cloud wincing at Christians and saying "way to make me look bad"...I'm rambling now, anyway. I've totally lost my thread.Point is, your mind is like a petri dish. You can fill it with imformation, watch it grow, fill it with new information, watch it grow and keep going until your petri dish is filled with beauty in the form of various colours, shapes and sizes, and you can nurture all of the contents so that they never die and they stay vivid and beautiful.Or you can pack your dish to the brim with this one opinion. You can leave no room for anything else. You can watch it flourish, followed by watching it grow mould and eventually die (and probably go to heaven - though this isn't just at Christians, though it may seem that way. Its about blind faith in general).That metaphor may not have quite worked as well as I'd hoped but my general point is; keep your mind open, soak up knowledge and nurture your intelligence. Explore every view, every opinion, make up some of your own. And if, at the end of your quest for knowledge, you believe what you always have, then kudos to you. You have a strong mind and strong faith.This advert also made me laugh.THE BIBLE - PARENTAL ADVISORY.Contains scenes of violence, sex, the occult, immoralit, genocide.NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN.Honestly, I wish I had a God at the moment. As said, I believe in fate and I believe in destiny and it does comfort me to know that everytime I feel something bad, I know its for a reason. It helps me out a lot. But I wish I could put all my trust into a 'spiritual leader' and dedicate my entire life to that.Let the flames begin, as the wonderful Paramore would say.