{"id":129579,"date":"2023-09-05T19:30:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/?p=129579"},"modified":"2023-09-05T19:30:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:30:22","slug":"are-you-ever-too-old-to-wear-vintage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/beauty-and-fashion\/are-you-ever-too-old-to-wear-vintage\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Ever Too Old to Wear Vintage?"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is true that when we think about vintage clothing these days, we often think about it as a young person\u2019s game: Gen Z rediscovering the \u201990s (or the \u201980s or the early 2000s) and finding the joy in low-slung cargo pants, cropped tops and mini backpacks as everyone celebrates them as champions of sustainability; or fresh-faced celebrities looking hip in midcentury haute couture.<\/p>\n
Loving resale is a good thing, no question, but it has also led to a situation where the whole meaning of \u201cvintage\u201d has become confused with \u201cused clothes\u201d and \u201cretro\u201d \u2014 which are, in fact, not actually synonyms.<\/p>\n
There is, as it turns out, no generally accepted definition of \u201cvintage\u201d \u2014 The Vou.com newsletter describes it as \u201cany object representing a previous era or social period, at least 20 years old but not older than 100 years.\u201d Vestiaire says that vintage is \u201c15 years old or older.\u201d Many other sites use the term simply to mean old \u2014 and by \u201cold,\u201d I mean last season. Which is itself a development that can be attributed to our bizarrely truncated sense of time, thanks to social media, and the constant stream of new information.<\/p>\n
Let me tell you: \u201cVintage\u201d does not mean last season. It doesn\u2019t even mean last year.<\/p>\n
But if we think of the meaning the way the Cambridge Dictionary does, as \u201cof high quality and lasting value, or showing the best and most typical characteristics of a particular type of thing,\u201d then it becomes a signifier of connoisseurship, knowledge and taste. And that, in answer to your question, has absolutely no age limit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not when a garment was made that dictates whether you should buy it \u2014 or whether, once upon a time, you wore a similar style \u2014 and not even its price, but its quality and how it fits into your new wardrobe. And self.<\/p>\n
After all, as Simone Hines of Erstwhile Style Vintage pointed out, whatever clothes you remember from your own youth will look different through the lens of now. You have changed over the years, as has your body. What may once have felt frumpy to you may now seem elegant; what might have seemed like weak social signaling could now look sardonically cool.<\/p>\n
Rachel Zabar, a vintage dealer in Los Angeles who says she still wears the Norma Kamali ruched minidress she wore to her prom, offered a few guidelines when I called.<\/p>\n
First, she said, approach vintage \u201cironically.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in the 1980s, and I love a striped knee-high tube sock,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes I wear these on the tennis court with a cute Stella McCartney for Adidas tennis dress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second, think high-low, as in \u201ca vintage Diana Ross Live in Central Park tee with a pair of high-waist jeans.\u201d<\/p>\n
And finally, take a page from the vintage looks Carrie (a.k.a. Sarah Jessica Parker) modeled in the last season of \u201cAnd Just Like That\u2026,\u201d many of which came from Converted Closet, a label that upcycles vintage garments. Then, alter the look.<\/p>\n
See, for example, Carrie\u2019s white lace jumpsuit, which was made from a 1980s Victorian-style wedding dress. Or, for that matter, her actual Vivienne Westwood wedding dress, which became a last-minute Met Gala gown. A turquoise wrap, a kooky hat and that dress was given a whole new, more modern, meaning.<\/p>\n
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader\u2019s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via <\/em>email<\/em> or <\/em>Twitter<\/em>. Questions are edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n Vanessa Friedman<\/span> has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014. In this role she covers global fashion for both The New York Times and International New York Times. More about Vanessa Friedman<\/span><\/p>\n