Average Age

I just had my birthday (the 25th!) and now I'm 32 but I started collecting "old stuff" when I was 10 with the acquisition of an 1894 Canadian penny and an old rusty Victorian draft horse shoe both of which were found in my grandparents backyard in Point St Charles in Montreal!

Always liked clothes though and then started picking up clothing bits and bobs during my teens to add to my collection of antique stuff. It was until I got my first job (working in an antique shop!) in my late teens that I was able to buy more clothes instead of relying on my mother to buy me stuff. LOL, well she didn't really BUY me anything- she was an antiques dealer and I used to "borrow" from her stock

I went to a private school where what you wore was "important" (luckily we had uniforms so it saved me a lot of stress when it came to dressing) but I was always called a "nerd" just because I collected antiques and clothing (and also because I rode horses). I didn't care what people thought and I STILL collect clothing and ride horses :D
SO the moral is, do your own thing!

I'm always at the stables or messing around with stock so wearing vintage everyday isn't really practical but I do have a New Look era hourglass shaped winter coat that fits me that I wear everyday in the winter (except when I go to the stables) and I wear my vintage dresses to the vintage clothing fairs.
I like wearing corsets as they suit my shape and gives my dresses a more dramatic fit.
I think when it comes to vintage, is finding an era or a certain style that works best for you. For me, it's 1950's hour glass princess seamed dresses as they suit my tall height and body type. My sis is shorter and skinnier than me and she likes 1920's and 70's stuff.

Lei

 

I am 55 and sought out "second-hand" stores back in the early 70's. Mostly from necessity, things were so much cheaper. I was a pretty good seamstress, and if I couldn't find what I as looking for I found the pattern to make it myself.

I have always worn and mixed vintage with modern clothing.

I am relatively new to the selling of vintage, and it shows! I am more serious about vintage at this very late stage of my life, thinking more of its value, style, design, and history. I am, and always will be a child of the "hippie" era. I am fascinated with the diversity of the 60's and 70's.

I think it is WONDERFUL that you are interested in vintage as such a youthful age.


psssttt: cooltrikerchick...."HAPPY BIRTHDAY"

Nadine

 

O thank you all for responding. I just about forgot that i posted this. I'm back in school now so my collecting has to happen on weekends. I've gotten my good friend into the vintage/jewelery/antiques thing too. I'm now the owner of 12 vintage "clothing" items. I can't even count the accesories and jewelery that have know taken over the closet. Now that I have the whole photobucket thing down i might post some of the things I've bought in the rag brag. I've begun to buy antiques to resell. (anyone interested in an antique steamer trunk??) While I still haven't found my dream christmas dance dress (pretty much what has prompted most of my expeditions) it's been extremely fun. Vintage and antiques are the only hobby that I've ever stuck with and I'm definitely going to stick to them for the rest of my life. *SAM*

 

I am 46 and have been playing in vintage since I was a girl when my mother have me her 50's prom dresses to play dress up in. She had some beauties including an emerald green taffeta strapless affair that I wish was still around. I started wearing vintage in the 7th grade. I had been accompanying an aunt who was an antique dealer to auctions and began to buy clothing. My first purchase was a box of hats including one which was black velvet with a velvet bird's head sticking out the front complete with a rhinestone eye and a demi veil. I wore this hat to school and another one that was from Bullocks Wilshire. This hat was made of black straw that tipped on the side of the head. It had a very dramatic full veil and long streaming ends of veil that went down past my shoulders....A bit dramatic for a skinny flat chested 13 year old with braces, but no one teased me! I also began to buy edwardian and victorian blouses replete with lots of lace and inserts. By the time I graduated from high school I had 40's suits, kimonos and cashmere sweaters. By college graduation I had 40's dresses and lingerie.Its been fun every step of the way. Now I don't wear it as much except cocktail dresses for parties, hip 60's coats if I am headed into the city and vint. jewelry, right now I am into black bakelite inset with rhinestones...This winter I see more Vera scarves to wear with my cashmere sweaters and jeans...My taste keeps morphing...At heart I think I am a frustrated fashion designer, but I don't think I am alone in that respect!-Lorinda

 

I'm 31, and I bought my first piece vintage when I was 15 and quickly revamped my whole style much to the confusion of my southern smalltown classmates who now found themselves sitting next to Jackie O in the library.

 

I get the frustrated fashion designer thing. I get so many good ideas and if I could sew I would probably make some interesting things. I also love hats.

 

Hmmm I'll be 28 next month and got into vintage from my mother. She used to drag me to antique shows and salvage yards as a kid, and also works with old dolls. I used to look at jewelry and clothing while she looked at Victorian stuff... I remember seeing my first Aarnio globe chair at a local antique fair and begging my mom to buy it for me. Needless to say it didn't go over well with her Victorian decor.

Eventually in middle and high school I started wearing 60s and 70s dresses and now I wear anything from 20s-70s, depending on the occasion.

 

I'm 23 and I first got into vintage when I was in Primary Seven (11 years old) back in 1995 and I was assigned a Victorian fashion project for school. I think we had a choice, Victorian transport, Victorian fashion or Victorian leisure. Anyway, I went down to the library and got all the books I could find, filling up both my mother's, father's and my library card and while my classmates produced four page projects I made a book of my own (which I still have). A year later we got the internet and I would browse vintage stores online but, although now we have packages arriving from all over the world every day of the week, back then my parents were dubious about buying off the internet and there really wasn't anywhere you could get vintage where I am from. Plus my mother hates antiques.:( The first vintage item I bought was a pair of 50s silver Christian Dior stilettos on e-Bay in 2002 when I was 18. Incidentally they were also the first item I sold.

They were not, however, the first vintage item I owned. That honour goes to a pair of black, skin tight, shiny trousers (like the ones Sandy wears at the end of Grease) that were my mother's in the 1970s. We wore a uniform at school, but every now and then (usually before Christmas and at the end of the year) we would have 'non-uniform days'. When I was about your age (13/14) I wore those trousers to a non-uniform day with a pair of purple suede platform boots out over the top of them and a black top and jacket. My maths teacher called me 'skin tight' for the next three years! I still have them though and my friends still think I am weird for liking 'old things'.

Emma.

 

I am 47 and I've been wearing vintage items off and on since I was in High School. I lived in beaded sweaters and full painted or designed skirts. In summer I wore them with Birkenstocks and in the winter I wore them with my Frye boots. In the 80's though I fell in love with shirtwaist dresses and anything wiggle with huge shoulder pads, my birks were discarded for spike heels, and in the 90's I gave up my 80's wear for jeans and beaded sweaters once again. Now I love 70's knee length dresses and the occasional Lilli Diamond 70's dress. I got married 2 years ago and my wedding dress was a green chiffon empire waist beaded dress that was cut jagged and floaty at the bottom with soft pink shoes with green flowers on them. I really like the floatiness of the 70's things, the ease and fluidity of the dresses.

 

Well as of 8 o clock tommorow evening I will be 14!!!!! :D

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

a little early, but I do hope tomorrow is a perfect day and you're spoiled silly!

 

Happy Birthday!!!:party: Maybe you'll get something nice and vintage for a present!


Emma.

 

Thank you all!! Well today I went to an auction and got a fabulous VERY OLD hat (i would say but I'm not an expert). It's very pretty black velvet and all handsewn. will post pix soon

 

Happy Birthday from another Virgo!

Look forward to seeing pics of the hat.

 

I just posted pictures of the hat on the public Q&A board. This has been a very good week for me. On monday I got elected Student Council president. And on Friday I was elected 8th grade class president. Saturday was my b-day and I got to spend it going to auctions and antique stores. :spin:

*SAM*

 

wow it seems the age range is pretty wide here, which I like.

I am 34 and I don't remember when I first got into vintage, high school I guess, pieces here and there, but not into heavy collecting or dealing then, much to my regret. Remember when people were embarassed to buy second hand, geez I miss those days!

In my mid twenties I was dressing strictly 50's with a Marilyn hair cut to match. I sort of regret this too because I passed up tons of amazing 60's-80's stuff! Now my style is all over the place Victorian-80's. I'm a mess, but I love it!

As is the case with most of us, I became a dealer when I had too much of my own, and while I'm out there shopping anyway I might as well try to make a buck.

 

I am 50 years old this year but have been a collector of stuff my whole life. When I was about 9 I collected TV guides. When I was about 12 I collected postcards from around the world as my brother traveled alot.
Then in my early 20s I started collecting dolls and then glassware and then basically everything.
I always picked up neat old hats along the way and then started wearing vintage clothing when I couldn't find any quality clothing.
I go thru phases with all my stuff. Vintage embroidered sweaters and then Swirl dresses? Lately the jersey new items have really pushed me into buying vintage. I will sell stuff either I pick up or get and it doesn't fit or look good on me.
I have a waist of 34.0 and am petite so sometimes it is hard to find stuff but I am amazed by the creativity and strength of vintage. I used to sew so know when time is put into a garment and I appreciate it.

 

Tried to edit post but then couldn't figure out how to get back.
Congratulations on your Birthday and your winning those offices. Sound like you are a great kid. Yeah you!1