Tuesday 18 November 2014

Wearing Someone Else's Clothes?

No,  I'm not talking about cross-dressing here (not that I have any issues with this). I'm talking about wearing second hand and vintage clothing. When I was young and hip (the latter is debatable) there is no way I would have been caught dead wearing something from an op-shop. Granny dresses smelling of dust and moth-balls was my impression back then, decidedly uncool for someone in their teens and early twenties. And of course if someone had pulled out a 1950's rose print dress and said "wear this", I'd of snarled at them as only a disaffected youth can. But it was the 90's so if it wasn't hyper-coloured or roller blades then it wasn't cool.

In fact it wasn't until I had my own children that I started frequenting op-shops, mostly out of necessity. Let's face it, after buying your children all the things our world would make us believe they need (because apparently children can't survive without pink "Dora The Explorer" everything), you no longer have a disposable income. So $5 dollars it was. Not being a fan of fast fashion (Supre, Cotton On and the like) the only place I was going to find something new, or not so new, was at an op-shop.  And this is where my obsession with vintage clothing began.  But not straight away.

For me it was months of wondering into op-shops and never finding anything I liked. Then it progressed to finding something, buying it and then throwing it in the cupboard never to be retrieved again. Or even worse, thinking it looked good, getting it home, putting it on and thinking "Oh My God... I look like my granny!!!", and then throwing it in the cupboard never to be retrieved again. And so the cycle went until one day I finally found something I liked, and looked good. I'd finally found my Mojo.

So I thought I'd start by showing you the first vintage dress I found that I actually wear. It's a gorgeous white dress with brown and orange roses. Very 70's with lovely flowy sleeves (I'm sure there's a more technical term than flowy.. but I don't know it!). The fact that this dress is also homemade makes it even better and their is evidence of it being altered at the hem. I love the history that comes with vintage dresses and would love to know the story behind each of them. There is also something charming about the fact that you are adding to their story each time you wear one.
You'll have to excuse the awkward posing.. Not really my thang!


 Ok, so now we have the awkward pose out of the way, tell me about your first vintage find. Can you remember the first vintage or second hand item of clothing you really loved? I'd love to know! Incidentally the pear tree in the photo above is no longer :( We had to chop it down as it was too big and too old.. such a shame to waste a fruit tree but at least we got a garden seat out of it.


Well that's it, first post done. Hope I haven't bored you to tears! Until the next dress..Bye.







3 comments:

  1. I love that dress on you! You look amazing.

    My first really good vintage find was a cream colored brocade dress with beadwork around the neck. It was found on a music festival in a second hand stall with lots of colorful hippie clothing for very little money. The woman who sold it said so many people had tried it on but it must have been waiting for me to buy it ;)

    I look forward to following your blog :)


    Cheers, Mirjam

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  2. Love it, love it, love it!!1 Great blog!!

    Jessmae :)

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