Recently I was chatting with friends about a facebook post they saw arguing that the words 'vintage' and 'retro' have been over used and we should all stop using them. I'd be inclined to agree on some level about over use, for example I don't consider anything seventies or later to be vintage, but as one of my friends pointed out, 'what are we supposed to say? We like old stuff?'. This leads me neatly round to the theme of today's post; vintage clothes are (obviously) very old, and sixty or seventy years down the line they are starting to fall to pieces. What is a girl (or boy, for that matter) to do?
Lovely though it is to wear a genuine vintage item, there are lots of problems that can arise; the vast majority of garments will require handwashing or dry cleaning, which can be an issue with items you like to wear frequently. People were, on average, shorter and slimmer in the 1940s and 50s, and it can be very difficult to find vintage pieces to fit. I've lost my heart to several pairs of vintage shoes and gloves, but my hands and feet appear to be a little bit larger than those of the ladies they were intended for.....
Vintage men's clothes can be even more tricky; for starters there are far fewer garments left, presumably due to men wearing their clothes until they wore out. This has pushed the prices of men's clothes even higher, and led R, amongst others, to start exploring the wonderful world of reproduction clothing. The recent surge in retro fashion and rockabilly now means that a google search for reproduction vintage clothing will throw up lots of sites, including Heyday, Freddies of Pinewood, Rocket Originals, What Katie Did, and Gok Wan's favourite, Vivien of Holloway.
Personally, I love reproduction clothing. It's often machine washable, more likely to fit a more modern body shape, and usually much more affordable. The only real downside I can think of is that, due to it being mass produced, you run a far greater risk of running into someone else wearing the same frock. I'm incredibly jealous of people who can sew (properly I mean, buttons and hems are about my limit), but many of us lack either the skill or the time to make our own clothes from scratch. Enter Kelly-Anne Milner, also known as alt model and gorelesque performer Eden Falls. Kelly-Anne is in the process of setting up Mocambo Fashions, a unique brand creating one off pieces based on vintage patterns and fabrics.
Kelly-Anne has taken her inspiration from The Mocambo, a nightclub in West Hollywood that some of the biggest names in film, music, and sometimes organised crime, used to frequent in the 40s and 50s. She is experienced in fashion and design, but she wants to do some market research, and this is where you come in.
What do you want from reproduction clothing? Does cost matter? What do you think of the garments that are currently available, and do they represent good value for money? Kelly-Anne wants to know your views on authenticity, fabrics, dress lengths, fastenings, wearability and anything else you can think of. She can be contacted here, or I can pass on any comments on this blog to her. Remember, your input can help to create some amazing and unique garments, and bring some vintage style glamour to a wardrobe near you...
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