FashBlog.com

There is quite a bit of emphasis put on the world of fashion these days. Actually, the emphasis placed on fashion wear has been around in one varying degree or another since the Roman Empire (remember the death penalty being imposed upon people who were not royalty donning purple clothes? No? Before your time?) Then again, even with all the emphasis tossed around as to proper fashion, there will always be those who will have either zero fashion sense or simply refuse to accept the reality that they need to invest money in order to have a decent fashion wardrobe. Either means of ignorance is the path to the heresy of wearing clothes that are horribly out of style.

Personally, I always found the concept of dressing up to be somewhat confounding under certain circumstances. Outside of certain formal and social settings, the need for anything beyond casual wear (or, more specifically, business casual) is really unnecessary. But, there will always be those events that will require a jacket and tie.

In my freshman year of High School, there was some dopey event, lord knows what it ways. NONE of the events at my high school were important in any way shape of form. I remember they once had speakers from the Epsilon Society of Greater Living Through Intellect come in to speak. Joy. But, I digress…

Some silly event required us to wear a jacket and tie and, being 14, didn't have one. Oh, not to worry, my parents had one found something for me in their closet: a green blazer from 1965. Yes, 1965. Despite my pleas, they INSISTED it was a great jacket and off I was to total humiliation of mocking laughter and it was totally deserved. Not my fault, but deserved. The blazer was, after all, over 22 years out of style.

So why do people have such a love for vintage clothing?

Well, because vintage clothing is fun to collect and wear around the house. Not every sale of clothes is designed for public consumption and view. A gorilla suit, for example, looks great under certain circumstances. A gorilla suit simply would not look all that great in church. Oh sure, to someone like me or anyone who shares my sensibilities probably would find the concept of a guy in a gorilla suit sitting in church to be funny, funny stuff. To the rest of the world, such a person would be a nut.

Also deemed a nut would be anyone waltzing into a nightclub wearing a 1977 vintage era leisure suit, but people still buy them and the reason they buy them is not unlike purchasing a model airplane. It is cool stuff to have in one's closet as part of a collection of neat-o things. Does it have practical value? Of course not, but it is still fun.

Then again, there will always be those people who has such little concept of fashion sense that one could give them a 1970 vintage outfit and the person receiving the gift will have absolutely no clue that what they are receiving has been out of style for 36 years. If there ever was a need to the answer to the age old question, what do you give to the person who has everything, the answer is: fleece them somehow.

This is not to say, however, that certain vintage clothing does not look super cool. Those tan Starskey and Hutch jackets, some of the odder 1970's era hats and sunglasses all have a charm unto themselves. Then again, these items have a tendency to fall more into the realm of casual or active wear, so the fact that they have a kitschy charm is not a negative, but a positive.

The key to getting the most out of vintage clothing is realizing that it is a gimmick for casual wear. There is a right medium that this type of clothing will shine in. Trying to pawn off vintage clothing from three or four decades ago as dress wear in the office will probably kill off all chances of a promotion. Use common sense and a bit of fashion sense when picking vintage clothing or, more specifically, picking the platform in which to walk around in vintage clothing.