Average Age

I'm 28 and although I've been marginally obsessed with the Sixties and Seventies since my early teens, I've only really been wearing vintage since I was at University (so for about 8 years now). I used to go charity shopping for fitted velvet jackets and crinkly stuff in my c.93-95 hippy phase, but never really focused in on vintage per se. I never really seemed to find anything interesting until I started going to a (sadly defunct) vintage shop just off Carnaby Street. Of course I was meant to be sourcing fabric samples in Soho (for my costume designs) and got slightly waylaid.....;)

I really wish ebay etc had been around when *I* was 13 and could probably have gotten away with wearing even more bizarre stuff than I wear now!

Liz

 

OK I am 42... Into vintage since the 80's...Was a punk artist..... So vintage was a big part of my wardrobe. Then the wardrobe got too big and I expanded into a online store while I design handbags clothing and jewelry.

It also supllements my websdesign business. So I can pick and choose my clients.

-Chris

 

In the early 70s my sister beat me to all my mother and grandmother's 1950s chiffon party dresses. grrrrr.

So I grabbed my fathers Korean War era army khaki dress shirt, the silk vest my mother gave him in 1953 and his good conduct medal, which I wore as an ensemble to high school. It was actually a hit, but then it was the 70s. My dad laughed when he saw what I wore.

After that, it was bits and pieces mixed in with modern. And I will be 51 in August

It's great you are already into vintage at your age and making such buys.

Hollis

 

Thank u all for being so supportive. I really never thought I'd get many responses to this. I thought it might be a better way to introduce myself than just saying "HI I'M HERE"(hahah). I was very surprised how many of u got into vintage when you were close to my age. Very good ideas on how to wear vintage. My new back to school obsession will be skinny ties I want to wear them with men's shirts and my favorite skinny jeans. It's definitely my dream to own a vintage boutique, but right now I'm just buying for myself (I get attached to everything I pick up).
Thanks

 

I'm 34, started with hats when I was on a costume rage during photography courses...I was big into Cindy Sherman style art. It started with a 60s hat covered in daisies, back in the mid 90's. Once I had a job and my own money, I went to tons of estate sales and passed up loads of dresses in favor of hats. I wake in cold sweats to this day thinking of the attics full of dresses....
I started dealing on ebay when I had my little one (now 5 1/2) because I could list one handed and it kept me busy while he nursed and napped. Now I deal so I can stay at home with him.

Welcome, Dress-Up! Nice to know there are younger gals getting into authentic vintage!
Jenn

 

I've passed up some good deals too. I always feel bad for days after. Usually I try to go back and find it, sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. I want to get a job as soon as I can get papers (just a little over a year, I'm almost 14). The more I work the more I can buy! I haven't been to alot of estate sales yet, I'm mostly into garage sales. One of the last ones I was at they had a nine west 80's minidress, that i didn't buy.:(

 

l will be 49 in early august and l have loved vintage since forever!

Although always interested through my parents' collecting antiques and running a small shop...l made a concerted effort in the early 80's to collect vanity items from the late victorian period. everything snowballed from there really.... I now have a collection of handbags and silk scarves....and run my website as my virtual store, hobby come small business!

It kinda creeps up on you and takes a strong hold!!! Beware.....!"£$%^& and good luck with your collecting!!

 

I bought my first piece of vintage when I was 15 or so, and I still have it. I paid a quarter for a 1920s beaded bag at an estate sale!

I really started wearing vintage in the 1980s, when my beloved Hadley cashmere outlet went out of business and I had to find a cheap source of sweaters. I found what I was looking for in a little hole-in-the-wall shop called Rags. The first real outfit I bought was a late 40s casual skirt and sleeveless blouse set, with nautical flags embroidered all over. That set is, sadly, long gone.

Lizzie, who's 52

 

I'm 51 and have loved vintage since high school...much to my mother's chagrin...she wanted everything modern & new. I started wearing my dad's old Navy uniform pants as a way to keep him close to me after he died suddenly when I was in 10th grade..... It all spiraled from there.

I wear something vintage every day mixed with modern pieces. I have a huge collection of 50's/60's sweaters that work perfectly with the pants & skirts that I wear to my job as a behavioral specialist at a high school. I have several students that are now into vintage clothes...I enjoy sharing my passion with them.

I sell so that I can actually have room to live in my house.......

Cat

 

I started wearing vintage in 1960, when I discovered you could get amazing things for a near-nothing at rummage sales. We opened our first vintage shop--PHANTASMAGORIA--in a Victorian house in 1967. My husband-partner was 1890s head to toe--button shoes to high celluloid collar. My style was always eclectic; Victorian blouse and shoes, skintight jeans, vintage suede jacket. In the style of the day, we both wore gobs of vintage beads and had hands full of fabulous rings. Three generations of Portlanders later, I'm still selling only vintage, though my latest love is the 80s. The shop motto: ''Victorian to Versace'. I'm an eccentric 67.

 

Cat-that is really sweet about your dad's navy uniform. I have alot of family keepsakes that i treasure too.
U r not the only one with a house full of stuff. my house is new, 1 year old,( old houses have way more character). I have it pretty full. My room is good sized and i have a walk-in-closet. The closet is bursting and the room is getting there. I also commandered part of the basement and garage for things im fixing up.(i also am into antiques)

I enjoy being eccentric especially wearing big hats and sunglasses to places where they are unneccesary, it makes people wonder. The 80s are pretty cool. :D

 

I'm 54 and I have been wearing vintage since I was in college. I got my daughter started on it when she was 12 or so -- we would search through Ebay to find things for her to wear.

Vintage is a wonderful way to have your own personal style. Congratulations to you DressUp for being willing to make yourself stand out from the crowd. --Cheri

 

I'm 53 but a latecomer to vintage. We had raised 6 kids on a tight budget and were given tons of clothes from people who felt sorry for us, I guess. ;) When I first got into selling, I wanted to ream out my house of all the things that I had stuffed in the attic (leftovers of those bags of clothes). My first vintage find was a wonderful Shaheen skirt with large butterflies. I think it went for around $70.

It took about a year of selling before I really caught the bug.....at first, I could take it or leave it Now I dream about it.

Gail

 

I know what you mean, Gail...I've gotten to the point that I can be having a dream about shopping a fully stocked estate sale with penny prices, then wake up in my lovely home with my nice hubby and kid...and be mildly disappointed!

 

What fabulous stories!

Well I fit in somewhere in the middle, at 42, it's a popular age it seems....I've always worn vintage, since babyhood because we were poor and my mum loved old things. She was more into furniture and bric a brac but had a few nice pieces like a '20s silk velvet opera coat with a castellated hem.

I bought my first proper vintage dress at 15: a spotty teal and white '50s chiffon prom dress, it was too fabulous to leave sitting in the op shop (that's what we Aussies call charity shops: it's short for opportunity shop) and a bargain at $8. After that, I went through the phone book and methodically did the rounds of all the second hand shops to find the best buys: my second dress was a '50s black silk velvet cocktail number, what we now call a wiggle dress, thanks to ebay. I wore it with slingback shoes and long gloves, my friends thought I was mad! I never did like "teenage fashion".

After that, I never looked back. It was 1982, a good year to start collecting as back then you could still find great things in op shops or cheap in vintage shops. Here in Australia, it pretty much dried up in the late 'eighties but if you have an eye, you can always find good things. Just this morning, I found a nice charcoal pinstripe mens suit from the 'sixties in an op shop. I can't wait to find the right man for that little beauty.

 

Oh, Hatfeathers, I have those dreams all the time!

I call them "heaven" dreams....and my vintage loving sister has them too. We probably all do! You find some place full of fabulous things at incredibly cheap prices. It's like you've died and gone to heaven!

The closest I've got is going to jumble sales in the UK - dealers pay a premium to get in early and then everything is 50p a piece! I did the rounds when I was costuming for a film and filled eight garbage bags for less then a tenner. It was amazing! I gave one early seventies leather trench coat to a friend who sold on Portobello road - she got eighty pounds for it!

 

I get those dreams too. They always have fantastic clothes in them. Yes, the whole "teenage fashion" thing bugs me a little too. Everyone I know is in head to toe hollister, american eagle, or aeropostale. Last year like 15 people had the same shorts (it was hilarious to count how many people had them on at the same time). Maybe I should go to Australia just to go to those sales!!!!! Amazing deal on that coat. Never found anything quite that amazing yet. I did find an old Valentino (not sure if its authentic thought) coin purse for $2. If it's real it's probably my best deal.

 

Am I the only one with the NIGHTMARE?....

I'm in a house full of antiques, .the lights are out, the windows are dirty, I see fabulous stuff but IF you can get enough light to see it--it's CRACKED, BROKEN, TORN....

The sale's about to open, every shark I know in the business is circling the place...

 

Dressup! You are amazing! At 13, to know designers like Elinor Gay, etc. That's a big deal. You remind me so much of me at that age. I wanted to know as much as I could about vintage. Lucky for you and me both that we grew up with internet. It's an amazing resource that will open doors to vast amounts of information about the field. Just keep reading and studying.

I'm 25, just turned on the 7th of August. I've been collecting and selling vintage since I was 17. I worked at the Goodwill all through highschool and got into antiques. I bougth a 70's gucci tote bag and decided to try to sell it on ebay later on. It was the first thing I sold and I think I got $250 for it. I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit. After that, I said, I'm going to do this for a living. It took a while for it to come full circle, but 5 months ago, this became my full time job.