Nostalgia/born in the wrong era. 1 of 4
1940s moire striped Rayon
Anyone who says the study of the history of fashion is irrelevant because it’s just frippery girl stuff is missing the point. The clothes we wear reflect who we think we are, so what does that say about those of us who love and wear vintage?
A love of vintage fashion and a passion for history grew up in tandem for me, it wasn’t enough that I liked the frocks, I wanted to understand why they were like that, how they fit into the social fabric of time.
I’m not one of those people how goes to re-enactment weekends or dresses in vintage all the time, I don’t feel I was born in the wrong decade, I like antibiotics and indoor plumbing. Re-enactors often seem to choose times of war, although WWII seems to be more popular than WWI. Is it the attraction the poignancy and urgency of those times? I’m guessing no one actually wants a full on blitz experience, but to go to a swing dance is rather fun. The fantasy of the past as conjured by the fully-fledged reenactors is just that, nostalgia. The reality is that for almost any time in the past women couldn’t easily be professionals, it was illegal to be gay and if you were black you were staff. All very odd, but I do get it too.
My love of the past stems from the films of the time; my heroines as a teenager were Mynra Loy, Ginger Rogers and Kathrine Hepburn. Not to mention any films by Powell and Pressburger. None of that was a real depiction of the time either, none of my favourite films were documentaries, but I was also obsessed with the history too.
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