I’m republishing today a slightly longer version of an article I wrote for Russian magazine Look At Me (Russian readers can check it out here).
Pre-Internet boom the word “vintage” still conjured up visions of fun trips to bizarre shops hidden away in mysterious dark alleys or memories of unexpected findings at car boot sales, charity shops or even in your gradma’s attic.
Vintage wasn’t even about buying garments and accessories by specific designer as an investment, but about finding affordable odd pieces to create your own style or about recreating a specific mood, at times even for film purposes.
Legend goes that, in the mid-‘90s, scouts looking for cheap yet credible vintage findings for the characters in Alan Parker’s Evita were even spotted as far as Glasgow.
As the years passed vintage radically changed: the Internet and sites such as the more popular eBay or 1st Dibs with its high-end antique dealers selling their wares online became the first stops for collectors and for people jumping on the vintage bandwagon.
At the same time, it wasn’t rare to see agents of famous actresses looking for a special red carpet number at vintage auctions at Sotheby’s or Christie’s. In some cases vintage dresses marked a special event in a the life of a star (Julia Roberts in a vintage Valentino gown received the Oscar for Best Actress in 2001); in others they even relaunched and revamped a career (remember Kylie Minogue’s 50p hotpants in the “Spinning Around” video?).
Vintage mania even spawned a renewed interest for the work of some forgotten designers: favoured by Eleonora Duse, Isadora Duncan and Madame Conde Nast, Mariano Fortuny’s gowns first reappeared donned by Gloria Vanderbilt in a 1969 photo shoot by Richard Avedon for Vogue and, forty years later, Natalia Vodianova made them fashionable again at the British Fashion Awards and at the Met Costume Gala.
In the meantime, vintage fairs mushroomed all over the world, together with special events and weekenders such as London’s at the vintage festival at the Royal Festival Hall organised by fashion designer Wayne Hemingway and the Jazz Age Lawn Party at Governors Island, while commercial Internet retailers à la Yoox converted to the trend, offering a dedicated space to vintage findings.
So after it became OK to wear vintage furs since you are after all recycling an old garment and therefore you’re not killing another animal or producing more polluting fake furs in neon colours, now the trend has reached a new stage, turning into the main inspiration for many fashion designers.
You could argue that this is only natural since fashion is made of cycles that constantly keep on returning, but at times these “inspirations” look more like copyright infringement. A couple of years ago Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1936 black leather gloves with lacquered red nails reappeared in different collections, including Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s and Sportmax’s.
Some of Prada’s Baroque frame prints from Spring/Summer 2011 collection seemed instead lifted from vintage issues of Italian magazine Annabella, though its Baroque sunglasses are a sort of remixed version of Schiaparelli's.
There are strange similarities between a Prada coat from the A/W 2011-12 collection and a coat modelled by Jill Kennington in the 1966 September issue of Vogue UK while some of the graphic dresses with block prints and checks in the same collection call to mind vintage Roberta di Camerino dresses.
The list of contemporary fashion designers and fashion houses inspired by vintage moods and photo shoots is long though, and also includes Dolce & Gabbana's starry prints from their Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection reeking of Krizia circa 1980 and Rick Owens whose hooded looks from his A/W 2011-12 collection seem to be borrowed from Pierre Cardin and the Fontana Sisters’ ‘60s rocket-shaped designs. The same collection also features a piece that moves from a 1937 padded jacket by American couturier Charles James.
And what about the vintage mood in specific advertising campaigns? Miu Miu’s A/W 2011-12 collection was clearly inspired by the “inverted triangle” silhouette as sported by Joan Crawford in Michael Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce, while the campaign shot by Bruce Weber features Hailee Steinfeld in a ‘40s hairstyle and wearing glittery gold booties-cum-sandals looking like Mildred’s eldest daughter, materialistic monster Veda (though one of the dresses Steinfeld wears seems the updated and reinvented modern copy of a dress that appeared in Frank Capra's Long Pants).
Fashion coincidences you may argue, but then again Miuccia Prada herself stated that the prints of dancing couples and cartoonish characters surfing and golfing on the shirts and floppy hats of Prada’s S/S 2012 menswear collection were actually inspired by a vintage shirt found in Miami.
One of the reasons why fashion houses, designers and major retail chains turn to vintage is easy to explain: rather than lack of fantasy or imagination there is laziness and a need for a constant flow of ideas that can be quickly repackaged and sold to consumers. Being too young or uneducated, the latter may buy into that trend because they aren’t aware of where that garment came from.
The main mistake of those designers who turn to vintage and often blatantly reproduce a specific garment is thinking people will never find out (Pedro Lourenço must have thought so when he did a Helmut Lang number in his S/S 2012 collection…), and so they do not even bother reinventing a garment or an accessory (and that’s where the laziness comes in…).
The next stage of vintage? Copying your own archive: apart from recreating for Vodianova's White Fairy Tale Love Ball, a vintage Gianni Versace costume orginally designed for a ballet, Donatella Versace recently announced that she will do a collection for H&M relaunching some of the house’s iconic pieces. And while that rumbling noise you can hear in the background is probably her brother Gianni turning in his grave, you wonder if we’re not missing the point of vintage here.
Vintage is about quality, craftsmanship, personality, history and uniqueness, it is definitely not about recreating cheaper versions of more expensive looks, otherwise what about doing Jacob Bengel’s Art Deco pieces in cheap plastic and release them as soon as Baz Lurhmann’s 3-D production of The Great Gatsby is out? Could be an idea, actually.
In the meantime, have a look in your attic, in your auntie’s wardrobe or among your great-grandmother’s possessions because that’s where true vintage gems may be hiding. But remember, in case you find them, don’t let Miuccia & Co. know about it.
Images 4, 5 and 6 from Look At Me.
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So beautiful, just love the styles.
Posted by: Christina Ferguson | April 25, 2013 at 12:07 PM