1950s Vintage Jewelry
For those of you who don't know me from my Yahoo club or my website, I'm Lei
and I collect/buy/sell Victorian to vintage clothing. Its my passion and
totally consumes my life, I don't know how I fit everything else in! I'd
rather wear my collection than wear modern clothes, they fit and flatter the
figure so much better
My question is, If you collect costume, what eras do you collect and do you enjoy wearing
them occasionally?
Do you agree that costume should be worn?
I don't have any objections against wearing peices that are in good strong
condition regardless of the age, if you wear the proper supportive
undergarments, it fits you properly and you know how to move in it. I
figure, you only live once and why not enjoy your collection, plus its the
only way you will ever know what the original wearer felt like weaing it,
reproductions just don't have the same "feel" to them. Or maybe its just me
What do you all think?
I collect clothing from the late 18th century through the 1920s, plus I have a
few later hats and cashmere sweaters. I wear pieces from the 1870s on for
vintage dance. I also wear various pieces for daily wear, as they are
appropriate for fashion. Lately that's cashmere sweaters (in cooler weather)
and 1910s, 20s, 30s silk slips, stockings, and other lingerie; also costume
jewelry; and occasionally a 1930s or 1950s hat.
I think that (unless you're a professional museum, which most of us aren't)
collecting vintage clothes is a hobby. You should enjoy it however you wish.
What point is a hobby that isn't fun? If you enjoy wearing vintage clothes,
wear them. If you enjoy displaying them in your home or lending them out for
vintage fashion shows, do it. If you enjoy taking patterns from them and/or
using them for research to make reproductions, do it. If you enjoy playing
conservator and keeping them wrapped up in acid-free tissue in the dark on a
permanent basis, do that. If you feel OK about furs, buy and wear them; if you
don't, don't.
I don't think it's anyone else's business to tell you what to do in regard to
your own collection. I do think some people are afraid to wear perfectly
wearable items because they don't know as much as they should about how to
purchase things in good condition (never believe a dealer who tries to pass off
damaged items by claiming all vintage clothes are damaged!). Or about how to
make them fit (if a garment is large enough without you wearing a corset you do
not need a corset to protect it; the appearance/line of wearing a corset is a
different issue). Or how to clean and care for them. (Don't be scared by the
apocryphal story about the one woman who wore one vintage dress once and it
_fell apart on her body in public_! If she'd bought the dress in good enough
condition and it fit well, this would not have happened--also she should have
worn a slip.
I've collected and worn vintage clothes for almost 30 years and enjoyed every
minute of it (except finding places to put more after I've run out of room). My
goal is to get full value out of the money I've spent on them--and that means
enjoying them by wearing them.