Sunday, June 6, 2010

Quality of Yesteryear




Look at this dress ... it is beautiful. Permanent pleats, the dress has weight, metal zipper, it will last forever .... exactly what clothing made today doesn't do - and neither does it generally do justice to the women we have grown into! Recently I purchased a mature woman's wardrobe of yesteryear .... they no longer fit her. I don't know her name, but all her clothing is marked with a 'J' ... a woman called J. As I sorted through the bags of items memories were stirred of my own clothing over the years. I used to make all my own clothing once, and then Target came to town and we all thought that to be 'hip' meant to wear clothing mass produced in Taiwan or Hong Kong (China wasn't on the scene then). And to be honest the quality and style of Target back then was good. But little by little we have all been hoodwinked, quality has deteriorated, each year style is a variation on the 'bag' look (I went for it in a big way for while), we all look remarkably the same and unfortunately black has taken over. It's time for a revolution. Can we recall what we looked like in colours that belonged to us, made us look gorgeous regardless of our body shape and size? I have started to remember and to notice. Have you ever bought an expensive item which looked fabulous on the shop mannequin only to don it at home and wonder why it didn't give the thrill you expected it to? And then have you ever bought something not quite what you would normally purchase and then found it really makes you sizzle? Colour and shape and our personalities, manufacturers can mass produce as much as they like but the truth is we aren't mass produced replicas of each other - we are all wonderfully unique!


From 23 - 27 June Vintage Vixens and Vamps will be at the Everywoman Expo in the Perth Convention Centre. We will have our range of vintage and recycled clothing and will be accompanied by She Seldom Blushes of Fremantle and Winifred and Bance of Inglewood. We are taking the style, grace, colour and quality of vintage and retro fashion to the women of Perth. Our recycled clothing is the best that we can source from hours of wracking through racks! In our op shop hunts we are looking for styles that suit our mature shapes, quality of local and European made labels and wherever possible - colour! We want to show you how, in combining the quality and style of Vintage and good recycled clothing you too can look fab on a frugal budget and rekindle feeling like the goddess you felt at 18 and are even more so at 38, 48 and older!