Everyday....Vintage!

Gosh darn I've been busy with mundane non vintage things and neglectful of my blog. I was hell bent on blogging about the recent showing of Grey Gardens on HBO and my personal take on the Edies but... Netflix informs me that the wait for the original docu is a "very long" one and since it's been about 15 years since I last saw it I think I'll hold off on that entry. The movie was divine though.

I decided to make a list of a few little ways ways to own, wear , give away or incorporate in general vintage clothing (textiles & accessories too) into one's life and maybe actually on a daily basis if one's so inclined. Here goes, if anyone reads this and has any other ideas please feel free to augment.

1. Since it's almost June and nearly all of us has a Dad why not give him a tie, whoa... wait, too boring? Well then make it a vintage one. I bet even if he's not the dresser upper type of father he'll want to be if you present him with one of these.


2.Sew some vintage buttons on a shirt you already have. Make them colorful bakelite or faceted glass - everyone will covet your blouse and wonder why they can't find one just like it.

3. Wiggle into a vintage slip - a tried & true answer to feeling sexy and devilish underneath it all. You'll have a sly & seductive smirk on your face almost all day.

4.Sew a vintage apron with a wonderful vintage apron pattern. Really, truly it's easy to do even if you're not a sewing expert. You'll end up wearing something you created, keep your nice clothes clean and will probably become addicted to collecting them.

5.Wear a pair of long black vintage gloves with your favorite little black dress on a date with someone very special (or maybe even your husband). Hint - in case you didn't know this, long black gloves drive men wild...

6. Take one of those very sheer, very adorable, very delicate antique cotton baby dresses, thread it through a curtain rod and hang it in the window for the summer instead of your usually drapery. The light will shine through it on sunny days ethereally, making you think of the tiny baby that wore it maybe some 100 years ago.

7.Of course wear a piece of vintage jewelry - all that glitters need not be gold.

8. Just go ahead & do it if you haven't done it before. Buy & wear a piece of vintage, slip it in there with all the new stuff. Be it a blouse, bag, skirt or dress even, pick something you know you'll wear. Summer is a great time to start. Recycle, reuse, renew, remember.

That's all I could come up with for now. I'm sure there's tons more and some of these are obvious I know. I wish I could conjure up more.

But I do have to think these things up you know.

Work It , Baby.

Ah....The allure of vintage work wear, the big E, big money denim, the elusive "genuine" barn jacket, the everyday clothing of the most ordinary people of long ago, just like you and I. The flip side of the coin to the coveted, priceless beaded dresses, Victorian silks and taffetas and dapper, expertly tailored walking suits and fur bowlers.

The January 09 issue of Outside magazine features a profile of Brit Eaton, a self made vintage clothing/workwear Indiana Jones, pretty much leading a life I akin to running away and joining the circus. Forget dreaming about the inner reaches of the closets of socialites, heiresses & other well clothed luminaries. Fashion inspiration (and it's jackpot) lies in the crumbling mortar of old ghost town chimneys, sideboards, underneath rotting floor boards, privies & such. Armed with a flashlight,a can of Raid and a fair amount of gumption one can plumb history's closet for raggedy finds that have survived long after the mine let out. And suffice it to say this fellow fashions a pretty fair living out of plain cloth.

But garments such as these Levis and other "well worn" denims commanding such lofty amounts and in such high demand surely must hold more than design secrets. Without a boring lesson in the history of blue jeans and Levi Strauss, it's safe to say that civilization as we know it at least in this corner of the world would not be what it is today without the advent of the denim jean. Everything relates. They may not be a work of art but they are truly American, a tangible touchable part of the Old West, a manifestation of good ole pioneer spirit and the lure of the unknown, and a product of necessity and ingenuity and hard work. They were probably really, really comfortable too.

Loose fit for sure.


What is it about these garments that fascinate and inspire the chicest designers working today. After all these were the most functional of garments meant to withstand heavy labor, the wardrobe of proverbial "old salts". It's plain stuff, unadorned, all straight lines with no unnecessary extras, zippers and buttons were meant to open & close, a pocket is more than a place to put your hands.
You can wax all philosophical about how nowadays the well off really just want to look poor, the idle rich seem rugged and adventurous and we all want casual comfort, in layers to boot.


Perhaps what Ralph Lauren and others like him are reaching for when they deconstruct these vintage garments into new designs is a definition and presentation of Americanism that possibly we're losing grasp of. Maybe recalling a time when American men (women & children too) toiled long hard hours in sweatshops and factories to produce the everyday wardrobe of a people totally totally immersed in the business of building and expanding a nation, in the most literal sense.

Or maybe he and others like him know a buck to be made when they see one (an innately American characteristic).

If you are what you eat are you what you wear too? Do you want to be? In this time when the exterior artifice of clothing can mean so much, what can a well worn jean jacket and a pair of Lees really say?