VFG blog article: The Pressures of Social Media on Vintage Fashionistas

MagsRags

MagsRags

VFG President
Staff member
Did you know that the VFG has a blog, regularly updated with articles and videos? Some pieces share our YouTube reels with website visitors, some highlight a piece of vintage fashion history, and some offer a personal perspective on an aspect of vintage fashion, rather like an opinion piece in a news site.

When I read a good online article, I also enjoy reading the comments - I even comment myself sometimes! We have not opened our website blog to Comments - it would take volunteer time to monitor for spam, and our volunteers tend to be thinly spread. But it occurred to us that if we link to blog articles here in the forums, comments can happen here. Let's give this a try - we would love to hear your comments, and share some of ours as well!

Click HERE to read the article , written by Maggie @denisebrain - The Pressures of Social Media for Vintage Fashionistas. And then please come back to give us your thoughts.

And to sweeten the pot, a photo of Maggie/d as a teen, wearing vintage even then!
VFGblog-maggied.webp
 
MagsRags said:
Did you know that the VFG has a blog, regularly updated with articles and videos? Some pieces share our YouTube reels with website visitors, some highlight a piece of vintage fashion history, and some offer a personal perspective on an aspect of vintage fashion, rather like an opinion piece in a news site.

When I read a good online article, I also enjoy reading the comments - I even comment myself sometimes! We have not opened our website blog to Comments - it would take volunteer time to monitor for spam, and our volunteers tend to be thinly spread. But it occurred to us that if we link to blog articles here in the forums, comments can happen here. Let's give this a try - we would love to hear your comments, and share some of ours as well!

Click HERE to read the article , written by Maggie @denisebrain - The Pressures of Social Media for Vintage Fashionistas. And then please come back to give us your thoughts.

And to sweeten the pot, a photo of Maggie/d as a teen, wearing vintage even then!
View attachment 192612
Click to expand...

Wow @denisebrain I think I found your dressing gown:

IMG_9066.jpg
 
You are welcome. I think it's a great topic for comment and discussion.

I am so fortunate in that I don't have a chronic illness to deal with. But I can still relate to much of what you wrote. My biggest barrier to wearing as much vintage at this point in my life is that favorite pieces in my closet just don't fit the way they used to.

My feet don't tolerate high heels well at all! I have done some theater performances where I felt the need to push through for the hour or two of stagework, but I felt like the Little Mermaid after she traded her fin for human legs - it hurt to stand and walk.

And "corrective" undergarments have become a necessity in most of my favorite dresses - a waist cincher and industrial underwire bra. Less painful than the shoe issue but not what I would call comfortable. The cincher does help my posture!
 
I hear you! I have trouble wearing anything tight because I have enthesitis, so I have taken to wearing comfortable vintage.

I recently wrote about the vintage I'm now gravitating toward:
  1. Soft knit dresses, such as rayon or cotton jersey—1940s are my favorites.
  2. 1960s A-line cotton house dresses with front zippers.
  3. Kimono-style jackets from any era, the silkier the better.
  4. Slip-on knit skirts from the 1970s. I especially love novelty print knits from that era.
  5. 1990s oversized unstructured blazers in linen or cotton (vintage men’s jackets can be great quality).
  6. Cotton wrap dresses—especially 1940s and 50s-era.
  7. Accessories, accessories, accessories.
(From Flare to Flair: How Vintage Fashion Helps Me Cope with Psoriatic Arthritis)
 
I had a very similar kimono in the1970s too...I think it is still hidden away here.
Vintage selling has certainly gone through so many changes. I loved having my shop back in the 1980s, it was
a wonderful time although vintage wasn't as well accepted. We had such fabulous inventory back then and it
was not hard to find treasures!

Over the years as my body shape has changed, I still wear vintage but mainly it is my hats, jackets, coats, scarves, gloves.
Dresses not so much anymore.

You need to know what suits you and what you are comfortable wearing...with those basics you can wear vintage and not
feel the need to be just like who you see online. It still is about individuality and having fun and feeling good!

I am glad to see though how much more vintage is appreciated now especially with all the horrible fast fashion that is out there.
So many more people have come to understand about the quality of older garments and how you can mix different decades and
make them work for you.
 
Last edited:
I am late... but that's such a great blog post, Maggie!

I tried the "dress up" thing for a bit when I was newly into vintage - as in getting wearing full-on style including correct hair and make-up. TBH it mostly didn't feel like "me". I've kept my best vintage evening wear (because I do like dressing up for special occasion, just not the "period perfect" way), and I keep wearing my wild mix of vintage/modern/me-made/second hand stuff every day that feels like me and that feels good. This can also include mixing vintage from different eras.

People know I wear vintage, but at a guess, they will not know what's vintage - or just how old some of those things I wear are :hysterical:. My favourite cute little-flower-print dress for spring/summer is from the 40s, and I wear it with modern sneakers for work and I bet nobody would guess it's age. My black "business" jacket is an indestructible 40s suit jacket that I'll usually wear with modern black pants - and a 70s YSL silk blouse (equally indestructible and easy to pack as the jacket - will survive in a suitcase without major wrinkles). My best summer party dress that takes up no space to pack is a 70s poly number that has been around the world with me more than once. I've worn a 40s house dress as an evening dress at a business event. It's so long, I can really only wear with heels!
 
Great article Maggie!

I'm kind of low key so I usually don't wear anything too vibrant, but I do have
pieces I wear that are usually 40s-ish or very vintage inspired (fabrics, style, etc).

I find it "really interesting" how people seem to notice those pieces.

Wore a very understated black dress and jacket to a function one time.
Heard women talking about me while in the washroom stall. lol

Had a large half moon corde purse I stopped carrying as I was just stopped too often about it.
And the Issey Miyake Bao Bao bag.... If you want attention from men and women, carry one of those.
People who didn't know me remembered me from that purse. I would make a call, and they would
say "Are you the lady with the purse?"

Have a felted wool coat I wear in winter that "is" extremely" colorful..., oranges, blues.
I love it as it's lightweight and has huge front pockets.
By the end of the season though, I always wonder whether I have it in me to wear it another year.
I'm stopped at minimum at least once whenever I am out, often more.
Having said that, it's going to the drycleaner this morning for its yearly cleaning and shave.
I probably would be interested in another if anyone ever has one.
Art of Cloth, looks like this, can't miss it.

a1.jpg
 
What is your area like Lynn, is it a city or a town? I find that if I'm in a big city, I tend to get more admiration for for wearing vintage clothing, and in a smaller town I either am ignored or get a funny look here and there.
 
Just a small town... about 5,000, 60,000 for the county.
City is about an hour away but even it is only about 500,000.

Not that there aren't any people who recognize things...
but I bought both my Miyake bags (the other one is a Pleats Please),
hanging on a hook with the assorted grocery type bags for 50 cents.
Picked up a hand painted early 1800s German snuff box today,
in a box of empty picture frames (it was on velvet in a shadowbox) for $2.00

It seems like people don't really "see" things, until someone else has it,
and then it really gets their attention.
 
I often wear vintage coats, and knitwear, i find both are easy to wear. Lately I’ve been buying 70s/80s/90s plain wool sweaters in classic shapes, for office wear. They are totally ‘stealth’ vintage, and I’ve bought them simply because they are such good value and quality, compared to buying new today. No one would know they are over 30 years old.
 
I spoke at my local church on Sunday, and I wore a very wide shouldered 80s jacket with a multi on black novelty print. The only comments I got were from my pastor's wife, who thinks I'm a real fashionista.

Though I'm slowly losing weight, I'm still a plus size - volup, if you prefer - and wear a 1X. It's difficult to find vintage for myself, but I have a blingy, disco ball metallic gold swing jacket from the 80s that I've worn to my nephew's wedding and on a cruise. Wish I could fit into the smaller size, older pieces that I find. Maybe someday!
 
Ruth, "stealth vintage" is such a good term! I've definitely got those kinds of sweaters too - in either cashmere or wool. I have rediscovered my taste for chunky sweaters in recent years. One of my highlights was finding one by a brand that I always admired in the mail-order catalogs my mom had. At a guess it's late 80s/early 90s - the time when I would have been looking at those catalogs.

Super stealth vintage pieces are also nice wool pencil skirts for winter.

I don't usually get a lot of comments for the vintage I wear. The thing I've probably got most comments for lately are 80s / 90s Leonard sneakers, with one of those typical Leonard flower prints. Colorful flowers on a white ground. I wore them for the trade show last year and everybody noticed them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top