And another blog post -- on a controversial topic!

Excellent post Liza, and I totally agree. I love to preserve but we live in the real world - all I can do is advise and make suggestions and if someone buys it, it is theirs to do as they wish.

If the seller does not want anyone to wear the clothes, she should keep them herself, and live happily in the knowledge that she can control them. Otherwise, you have to set them free.

Personally, I love the wearability of 19th century underwear - it's tough and made to last. After all, our foremothers used to boil them! There's no reason why you can't wear them and later, if you like, preserve them. In a (cardboard or archival) box with (acid-free) tissue paper.
 
This is wild.
While I personally love preserving History and like to think I am passing my treasures on to folks that will care for them basically once I do it is theirs.
I love seeing Liza's items and posts online. Cannot imagine a better home for any vintage.
I can though think of some things I would not want to sell if I knew someone would repurpose it.
Wear it yes, repurpose no.
I once saw a Limoges gorgeous plate glued solid to a cheap glass base. I still shudder.
Thought provoking thread for us vintage and Antique lovers.
Sandy
 
Tough subject with many valid opinions. I do my best to make my customers aware of the rarity and fragility of some older clothing and on occasion I do discourage the sale of frail pieces that the customer intends to wear by offering an alternative. Usually I tell them the garment could actually fall apart on the body just from normal movement which is the truth. We do our best :)
Melody
 
Oh... you kind and thoughtful folks need to paste these comments on the blog and boost my readership!! LOL. Thanks so much for reading my stuff. It's gratifying to know my words aren't just floating lonely and ignored in cyber space.

Meanwhile, as for explaining to someone the value of vintage...

I recently went to the house I grew up in, which is being brutalized through neglect by the people who bought it from us in 1988.

It's a 1909 Georgian Colonial. Absolutely magnificent. A sublime house, which my parents bought in a distressed state for a song in 1975 and restored (my mom did 95% of the work herself -- she's got a bizarre set of skills for a girl who went to finishing school) inside and out, using the original plans and blueprints. They put back everything just as it was originally designed, right down to the landscaping.

It was a 13-year project, as the owners before us were a bit nutty and had ripped out and discarded every last piece of molding, every mantel piece, every French door, every original brass doorknob, everything. They'd even reshaped the front staircase to create a "swinging 70s rounded landing." Hideous.

Then they carpeted the entire house with olive green wall-to-wall, which was never cleaned or changed, including the "dog room" in which their giant german shepherds did their business right on the floor. Weird, no?

My parents had to call a professional service to sanitize that particular room.

And mom had to search high and low to find replacements for all the discarded parts of the house. But this was back in the day when the pieces of demolished houses were saved for just this purpose. We used to go to a magical place called "United Housewreckers" in Greenwich, CT, and seek out the missing pieces. They knew us really well by the time we were through.

Anyway, I showed up at the door (what's left of it), and tried very hard to explain to these owners that houses such as this are no longer built, and there are very few people left who know how to repair them. No one knows how to "throw plaster," or make REAL, functioning shutters, or fix a genuine slate roof, or any of that. They are foreign (Israeli) and have no concept of the value of the house from a historical or cultural perspective. I wish I could do something.

Shutters are missing or hanging off. The wood is rotting. The ivy is destroying the mortar between the bricks. They've cut down the weeping cherries and let the hedges die. There is actually a hole in the roof of the garage. A gaping hole. I just sat on the sidewalk and cried.

My hope is that the next owner will be able to afford to properly restore it -- though their task will be an even bigger one than ours was -- and that the current owners will sell sooner than later so there's a chance that can happen.
 
I just saw your post linked on FB and read it. Great post, and you are so right! I have just acquired my first properly antique garment. And I intend to wear it! It's soo gorgeous, and just too pretty to sit in a box IMHO. It's not all in perfect condition and it will need some help - the skirt at the moment isn't wearable as it is - there's a certain amount of damage to the under fabric. But I intend to repair it without being too invasive, so that I can wear it. Not for any wild adventure, but it should be well enough then for the occasion I've intended it for. I will show pics if it all works out!
 
How horribly sad for you to have seen your old home in such a battered state! We see so many destroyed homes when we go buying...either left in shambles or "redone" but not in good taste or totally renovated to the point where nothing of the original beauty of the house is left.
 
Liza. Reading your post made me sad. I also lived in a lovely 2 story Victorian home when I was a child.
Library with beautiful leather books, French doors leading out to a balcony and leading from dining to library.
Fully furnished with beautiful poster beds. It had 8 apartments on the property.
A family member actually bought it and fully furnished for my Father. We were a large family.
We had to move (long story) and they knocked it down later and built the ugliest square brick box in its place.
Hopefully a miracle will happen to get your childhood home back or preserved.

A ray of sunlight for me is the next door home I used to play in and around is grand with large pillars on huge front porch and someone did buy it and restore it. A real Gone With the Wind looker home.
I swear I visit it on Google earth from time to time and walk up and down the street and reminisce.
 
I not sure where this fits into the debate, personally, I love seeing original vintage been wore by both men and women especially when it a lay wearing it
I have worn mixed vintage with modern and have no problem with any one doing it , I always think it extra special when you see a full vintage look been worn.
I think the main thing is respecting and understanding what your wearing and how to wear it .
 
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