New Year's resolution: Wear vintage wrap up

A few loose ends

I mentioned earlier that I conducted a small survey of vintage wearers and I asked the question, “If you were to give one piece of advice to a beginning vintage buyer, what would it be?”

50 people answered this question, and many made a suggestion best summarized by the answer:

If you see it, love it, but aren't sure, get it anyway. It may not be there next time you look for it!

Many think you shouldn’t hesitate if you love a vintage item. And the reason?

Find something that you love, and you will find a time and place to wear it.

If you think you look good in it you do.

Buy what makes you feel happy/fun/beautiful.

You’ll love the right piece for you the minute you try it on.

If you love it you will wear it well.  

Susan in her late 40s dress. I love seeing my customers looking so happy and beautiful in their purchases!

 I’ve been writing about wearing vintage, geared to the newcomer, and I hope it has given some confidence and knowledge. I hope you can see it is all about wearing what you feel good about wearing, not some sort of fashion dictate. In many ways I worry about the present state of fashion available to most of us, with much not designed well, inadequately made by terribly underpaid workers, and without a sense of newness in spirit, production or style. The good part is that you really can wear vintage clothing now, and not be seen as costume-y or out-of-date. More than any time in history, style is individual.

One last thing I want to say is that even if you only have a tiny bit of money, you can still wear vintage style. How? If you have hair long enough you can do rag curls. Bell’s Belles Vintage has a tutorial on her blog.

Red lipstick is another vintage choice. Here are 11 lead-free lipsticks as reported on thedailygreen, at differing prices. I love my red lipstick by The BodyShop (rich scarlet is a wearable true red that you can wear lightly or full-on).

Behave vintage by choosing among the characteristics of older people you admire: Think of quality not quantity; be steadfast; show sincere concern for others; be well groomed; walk straight and tall; smile. In a way, behaving vintage may be the hardest thing to do, but it is free.