 My birthday is coming up, so I've decided to treat myself to something that is a little bit special. I'm going to purchase a vintage silk dress.
I love vintage - and make no excuses. Designers used to design to flatter a woman's figure. Clothes had curves - just like women do. Although the women I work with dress nicely, everything looks vaguely like maternity wear - shapeless and flow-y. Somewhere along the line, designers stopped creating structured garments, I suppose, because it's just too expensive to manufacture tailored clothes. My size US 6 used to be a size 12/14 back in the 60's. It got too expensive to have such subtle sizing differences, so now I can wear clothes that are either slightly too tight or slightly too loose.
So, to go forward, I'm going back. And I'm buying vintage. And I'm going to wear it to work and introduce my colleagues to the wonderful lines and fabrics of vintage.
This also reminds me: does anyone dress up any more? Friday casual has become Monday - Thursday casual, and Friday casual has become weekend carefree. I have heard people say that they work better when they don't have to think about how they look - but in my experience, people that dress sloppily are also casual about their work. It's not that I'm uptight about appearances - far from it - but I just think we're losing something. I rarely see a man in a tie any more, which makes me sad. My dad wore a suit and tie to work every day, and he was a computer tech. Today's IT techs show up in jeans and t-shirts now.
I knew that I would start missing some things as I got older. But dressing up? Who would have thought it? I used to hate trying on clothes when I was a kid (I still hate it), but I always loved dressing up. So, I'm bucking the trends and doing my own thing. I suspect this will make me a relic one day. I'm hoping that I'll be a well-dressed relic in clothes that flatter my figure - or I may look like a kid that ransacked my grandmother's attic.Labels: vintage clothes |
posted by Melanie O. at 
