A Twitter buddy flagged up this article titled “Is Vintage Clothing Passé?” in today’s Guardian. 

Here’s my response:

“Fascinating to me that this debate has now reached this forum, as i have been talking & writing about this in my corner of the vintage world for a couple of years now.

What we are seeing I think is the cresting of the “Vintage” wave (as we have no other word I’ll just have to capitalise it) driven by mainstream fashion marketing for about five-ish years. Vintage clothing originated as the preserve of the chronically groovy – Hendrix in his military jacket, Courteney Love in her satin nighties, Kate Moss in a 1920′s beaded thing. Trawling the old school vintage shops was a luxury reserved for arty farties/the fashion confident/people who had the time.

It is no coincidence that the Vintage trend has risen alongside the growing cult of the Stylist, which in itself comes from the shift towards exposing the workings of pop culture. Pop stars used to dress themselves. Then it got slick & they had help. Then the help became stars themselves – Exhibit A: Gok. Then there’s the “Street Style/What i Wore Today” blogs: Sartorialist, Susie Bubble etc, who have made fashion inspiration accessible. And the professionalising (word?) of the charity retail sector, which has made second hand shopping desirable to people who would not have entertained the musty rummage fests of my teens, has also had its influence imho.

I could go on. Old/vintage garments/accessories have always been used in fashion. They just got commoditised.

Enter the High Street Retailers.

Under the guiding hand of brilliant marketeers – Top Shop et al I’m looking at you – the idea “Vintage” became a high street trend; a mix of the “bunting & cupcakes” aesthetic (yawn) and a look festishising Festival wear. The zenith of the madness for me came when West Quay shopping centre here in Southampton held a Vintage Weekend promotion I wrote about it here. John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, H&M, East; not a second hand garment to be seen.

The nature of the fashion business – every business – is change or die. So “Vintage” as an idea was bound to get boring. It is a necessary moment if consumers are going to be tempted into rejecting one trend in order to adopt the next. To spend.

But here in my world – where vintage is simply a definition of age & not any particular style, we will continue to use our nouse & flair to identify beauty in old garments and offer them back to a new generation to wear in new ways. And we will be fine. We may need to find a new word for it though – any ideas?

Oh, and Is it only me that sees the influence of 1960s “Confessions of a Window Cleaner” pastel nylon nightwear in this season’s couture collections?”