Have you ever wondered why we don’t seem to value the clothing and accessories we wear as highly as, say, fine heirloom furniture?
This past weekend in New York I attended a two-day symposium organized by Initiatives in Art and Culture. Entitled Vintage: Value, Values, and Enduring Designs, the program freshly fleshed out an age-old topic about not-new wares intended to be worn on the body.
The symposium took a totally fresh approach to the concept of vintage because in today’s day and age, “vintage” doesn’t have to be from the Deco era. It could be a found object discarded by your best friend, or a flawed gemstone unvalued by one company, but totally valued by an artisan because of its perceived natural beauty. This gave me a new lens through which to see vintage. It can all start by how we treat and develop our wardrobes.
Jewelers, museum curators and conservators, vintage hounds, auctioneers, clothing designers, trendsetters, and tastemakers were presenters and panelists at the conference. Their take on vintage is as varied as the places and times where vintage clothing comes from.
When there is lack of consensus, or even downright dissention – which I love as an independent thinker – this made me think about the value I got from learning about the value and values of vintage.
Well, let me tell you a few things that we should all try on for size.
The reason why many people clamor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or to the San Francisco Museums of Fine Arts to catch fashion oriented exhibits is because they are enthralled with bygone styles and fashions and with beloved designers. Reviewing the past gives hope in seeing inspiration for the future. This is definitely what designers do. I even want to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the spring just because it’s mounting a men’s style exhibit – a true rarity! I’m always looking for inspiration, too.
Yet as we long for “what was” [when clothes were made so well and people dressed so well] and ruminate over “what has become” [clothes made so poorly in the fast fashion era and people dressing haphazardly], we are part of the problem. We become part of the solution by buying quality items that we want to hold on to and incorporate into our wardrobes. This creates a signature look that reclaims the concept of elegance, no matter your personal style.
By recycling less clothing, buying less clothing that you trash, and buying more that you value, your actions are more sustainable for the environment. When you are truer to your personal style than to trends, your values are about truth and authenticity than they are about making fleeting impressions intended for a landfill near you. Being too trendy leads to waste.
Piece goods, gemstones, and materials aren’t always the crème de la crème, but sometimes the artisan design efforts that make fashion and jewelry a marvel is worthy of thoughtful or even an impulsively emotional purchase. In today’s practical minded times, we need to allow the opportunity to acquire old and new fashions just because they speak to our most outrageous sides of personality and pocketbook. This is how we become attached to and become visually defined by “favorite things.”
Whether you find something at a flea market or paid top dollar on High Street in London with a weak exchange rate, you’ve got to make buying decisions based on how much you love what you buy. And while it’s about love, it’s about quality. It’s got to be made well. It’s got to be in good shape if it’s old. And it’s got to be in fine condition if it’s new.
Move forward with renewed values in yourself to wear clothes you know will make you feel great for a long time. Curating your own personal style is the birth of true vintage.
Joseph Rosenfeld helps high-profile individuals revitalize, manage, and be secure in their personal visual brand. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.