So why do you think this almighty word “Vintage” has become so prevailing during recent years as if it cast a spell on us all and we constantly come across its sweet blessed face everywhere we turn to along the higways and the byways of the world of fashion?
That’s simply because we have lost our souls somewhere down the road and we have no cure other than going back... Going back to those times when fashion actually cherished and honored woman... Back then, in 60’s or 50’s for instance or in 70’s, fashion used to be done with a little bit of grace and and a little bit of style, if all else failed. It had character, which we all silently and unfortunately crave for nowadays while trying hard to find our ways through the self-replicating alternatives that are proudly presented by copy cat minds.
What they managed to accomplish decades ago even with much less help from technology was so astonishingly creative, chic and classy that no wonder modern woman has now a deep dissatisfied longing for the ladylike elegance that they had to offer sophisticatedly and in abundance at that.
Whereas today, it is hardly possible for a woman to find even a proper dress that has a "waist" for heaven's sake, amongst all those arbitrarily gathered too-short-to-be-a-dress and too-long-to-be-a-blouse pieces of fabrics hanging on stands, hanging on our bodies. As a matter of fact, we have forgotten where our waists or sleeve holes really are, conveniently enough, that we have gotten accustomed to the sloppiness that is marketed on the excuse of comfort. However in the good old days, what they called fashion was meant to glorify the beauty of the female figure. A woman used to have a right to dress herself up femininely and sexily, which would only be considered as "too fancy" or "overdressed" now.
Laces, velvets, silks, satins, sequins, furs, sparkling stones, deep slits... for all I know, all that glitter and glamour and allure has become a privilege peculiar to Hollywood by now and ordinary woman is so busy worrying and wondering about the question "Is it too much?" that she only occasionally gets to spoil herself with something of an unleashed womanly enthusiasm and appeal, maybe for a distant relative's wedding ceremony, if she's lucky enough. We simply need an alibi to hide behind just to be able to freely beautify ourselves according to our hearts' desire.
We yearn for the past and we clumsily call it vintage fashion instead of freeing ourselves to create and as importantly consume what is unique, precious and more elaborated. We settle for less. We are in a hurry trying to catch up with a zillion different collections for a zillion different seasons such as pre-fall, pre-spring, next summer; so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if we heard soon about mid-shower or after-breakfast seasons in fashion industry. I wish we had kept things simpler and spent more time on trying to produce well-designed, well-thought outfits that are inspiring.
How many colors has Mother Nature given us and how many of them do we have an appreciation of? How many of them are we able to reproduce and set in fabric in such harmony as we see in vintage clothes? Colors have somehow become rare treasures that are very hard to find. Patterns printed on fabrics have no spirit, they are banal and cheesy, they are just made of some randomly scattered messy stains. Even high heel shoes are only a shadow of their former selves now, they have no gracefulnes that would make a woman’s legs look beautiful, because they mostly seem like huge battle axes or wheel chocks or some artificial, bionic limb kind of freaky stuff making walking even harder.
Over the years, fashion products have lost their quality as well as their souls. It is almost a miracle that one can find a dress or a trench coat or a pair of shoes or any other ready-to-wear pieces that they like and that would last more than one season. I guess the longevity of the products too is adjusted based on the speediness, tansitivity and temporariness of the wide range of “seasons”. Well now, fashion sector could be categorized as a sub-branch of Fast Moving Consumer Products sector all right.
That’s why the timeless beauty and as-good-as-new condition of a blouse or a coat or the shoes handed down from our mothers and grandmothers to us keep leaving us stunned and amazed and make us pray 'long live Saint Vintage'...
Essy
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