4/27/2022 ALL THINGS LEATHERHello and welcome back to Revived Vintage. One of the best things about vintage fashion is the durability of the materials used in their production. Certain materials like leather and denim never fully go out of style, and so a good vintage leather jacket is a timeless edition to your wardrobe. Have you ever wondered what story your favourite leather jacket can tell? What era was it originally from? Was it considered stylish at the time? In todays post, we will explore the history behind leather jackets and see how we can style them today. Leather jackets, like bell-bottom pants trace back to military wear in the early 1900s. During the First World War German pilots began wearing brown leather ‘bomber’ jackets which continued to be worn throughout the Second World War. These military jackets were deemed a convenient and sensible choice of outerwear for pilots who worked through extremely cold temperatures at high altitudes. The leather jacket was first introduced as a fashionable piece in 1928 by designer Irvin Schott. The designer was innovative in his work and adopted a zipper closure in his jackets despite button closures being popular at the time. This transformed the leather jacket and for the first-time lead people to believe it to be a wearable, trendy piece. It was not until the late 1950s that leather jackets really took off in popularity. Hollywood heartthrobs such as James Dean and Marlon Brando fashioned the jackets in both their films and on the red carpet. This led to the jackets being highly sought after and soon after became a staple in most men’s wardrobes. An association between leather and rebellious behaviour was soon created in people’s minds after seeing their favourite bad-boy celebrities wearing the garments. Even today, leather jackets are synonymous with the rock and roll lifestyle. By the 1970s, leather jackets had become symbolic of the socio-political liberation through the Anti-War movement, Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Liberation Movement. Leather was now associated with social and political justice as well as rock and roll. During this decade, leather jackets became staples in women’s wardrobes as well as men as they explored their newfound freedom of self-expression. In 2022, leather is still a staple in all our wardrobes and is one of the most wearable vintage pieces you can find. Check out how I styled some of my favourite vintage leather jackets below.
Hello all and welcome back to Revived Vintage. Through my research of vintage fashion, I developed a curiosity around how the vintage-selling industry operates. Where do merchants source their pieces? Are second-hand and vintage shops sustainable? These were among many other questions on my mind and so, I organised an interview with Ruth Dempsey: owner of vintage shop ‘Finders Keepers’ in Bray.
Ruth has always had an interest in vintage fashion, taking inspiration from her fashionable great-aunt and grandmothers’ career as a dressmaker. Growing up, it was always engrained in Ruth to have something that’s great quality, built to last and made from natural fabrics. Ruth has been selling vintage for over 10 years now and regards it as her true passion in life. Before Finders Keepers, Ruth sold hand-picked vintage items online through a Depop shop. In 2016, Ruth ventured out of online business and began renting a shop in Bray. Here, customers could come in and shop vintage physically, something Bray had not seen before. In November of 2021, Ruth announced on her Instagram page (@finderskeepersbray) that she would be moving into "Finders Keepers 2.0": a bigger space located down the road from her original spot. Owning a vintage shop has allowed Ruth to watch trends come in and out of fashion over the years. Clothes that were once worn to symbolise larger political and social issues are now stocked and sold to regular people through vintage stores like Finders Keepers. Confident that there were great stories to be told running a vintage business, I sat down with Ruth today to discuss her business journey and passion for vintage clothing. Finders Keepers is open 11-6 Tuesday to Saturday and is located on the Quinsborough Road in Bray. Cant make it out to the shop? No problem, you can also shop weekly drops online on their website: www.finderskeepersbray.com. Click on the link below to listen to this weeks podcast on the inner-workings of a small vintage business featuring Ruth Dempsey. 4/24/2022 DISCO FEVERThe 1970’s was a decade that welcomed inclusivity. As previously mentioned, this was a defining era for social and political liberation. As ‘disco’ music and club culture rose across the US, there was a demand for modern eveningwear, suited to groovy dancing. Disco music, being of African American origin, influenced the design process of these styles dramatically. People turned away from floor length poodle skirts and shift dresses popular during the late 1950s and 1960s and began to wear figure flattering fitted pants or jumpsuit pieces. As the Civil-Rights Movement grew in following across the state, American pop culture began to consider African American culture more seriously and began to view black-culture as “cool”. We can see these connotations throughout many advertisements from this era. In what was known as the polyester decade, satin, sequins, and velvet ruled the dance floor. Female liberation was thriving at this time, leading women with a desire to express their femininity and sexual freedoms in new and glamorous ways. In the early seventies, women could be seen figure hugging one pieces, sparkling halter necks and hot pants to the disco. Platform 'Go-go' boots were also a huge trend piece during the disco era and were no stranger to the dancefloor. As disco rose in popularity throughout the decade, an opportunity for the genre to be explored through other artforms presented itself. Disco had an agreement with music, film and fashion. One aspect would inspire and reflect the other, leading to thriving intertextualities. A well known example of this relationship between disco and pop-culture can be seen in John Badham's 1977 cult classic 'Saturday Night Fever'. This dance-drama film stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from Brooklyn who spends his weekends dancing at a local Disco. The film is built around a variation of disco classics, consisting of mostly Bee-Gees tracks. The film had a remarkable impact on 1970's pop-culture, showcasing the most defining aspects of the Disco genre; dancing, the subcultures of the disco era, sexual-promiscuity and of course, the grooviest outfits. Music historians Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton wrote in their book "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life": "The Bee Gees did for disco what Elvis Presley did for rhythm and blues, what Diana Ross did for soul, what Dave Brubeck did for jazz; they made it safe for white, straight, middle-class people, hauling it out of its subcultural ghetto and into the headlight glare of the mainstream." It was through films like Saturday Night Fever that disco thrived and was eventually popularised to be mainstream. As the music spread in popularity, so did the clothing associated with the genre. By the late seventies disco had become a defining sound and style of the decade. Check out how I styled my favourite disco-dancing jacket below! Check out MORE vintage disco styles below4/24/2022 the fine printPrints, prints, prints. Probably one of the most defining features of 1970’s fashions. Colourful patterns and flowing designs swarmed the wardrobes of all it-girls during this time and let’s be honest, if you were wearing print you were more than likely considered cool. From printed smock dresses and ponchos to miniskirts and even tights, patterned clothing was immensely popular and brought colour to peoples lives in chaotic world. During this period, pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein had proved the power of colour to the world through their innovative artwork. In 1962, Warhol began printing his pop-art designs onto clothing pieces, however these were not sold commercially at first. The only event in which these dresses would be worn would be by New York socialites at gallery openings and other exclusive events, establishing these printed pieces as almost a type of couture. After a couple of years, these dresses were removed of their couture-like status and became very popular among the public. A paper version of the ’Souper Dress’ (as shown above) was sold to consumers of Cambell’s soup for just $1, today one of these dresses is worth around $7.6K and are very hard to come by. The Souper Dress paved the way for cheaper printed clothing pieces that soon be found in every home. During the late 1960’s period of war and crisis, colourful clothing such as these prints spoke to those who had just come from years of uniformity. This type of clothing allowed people of this time to connect to that fun, creative side of themselves that they may have forgotten about. It was pieces such as the Souper Dress that ultimately changed the way people dressed and shopped forever.
4/24/2022 A Flare For Change Hello and welcome back to Revived Vintage. As most of us know, the flare-cut is back and more popular than ever. I have probably seen more flare-cut pants on the high street this past year than I have in my lifetime, the ‘70s have well and truly made a comeback. Through both high-street and vintage window shopping, I have seen not only flared jeans resurfacing, but a whole range of flare-cut pieces. From bell-bottom printed leggings to flared leg jumpsuits, this is a trend that seems to be sticking around. As we know from my previous post, we can trace our favourite fashion trends to a period in history and can learn about what said piece represented at that time. When I mention the flare-cut, images of ‘hippies’ and 1970s protest groups may spring to mind. Let’s take a closer look at these pieces and understand a little more about their background before styling them. Surprisingly, the flare-cut originated way before the Anti-War movement of the 1970s. This style dates to the early 19th century and were first worn by the US Navy and sailors as they were comfortable and easy to roll up. This style of pant proved to be very functionable for sailors and so were worn by them throughout the rest of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Jumping forward a couple decades, the flare-cut hit the mainstream in the 1970s. During the peace protests in 1960s/1970s America, clothing became looser, hems became more frayed and styles like the flare-cut became a defining fashion of the era. Any fashions that exceeded the conservative boundaries of the previous decade in the US were extremely trendy among youths. Flares were home to the wardrobes of some of the most iconic celebrities of this era such as Cher, Diana Ross and Bianca Jagger, and so became a staple fashion of this time. Jumping forward to 2022, the flare-cut is still as flattering as ever! Check out how I styled my favourite pair of flares in my recent styling video below. 4/24/2022 Your wardrobe as ArtifactGood morning fellow fashion lovers and welcome to your new hotspot for all things vintage! Did you know that some of your most loved staple pieces are products of counterculture? Sometimes, we all get so hyped up about the newest trends and thrifted finds that we forget to take a deeper look into where our clothing originates from. What era is the piece from? What did it represent at the time? Who did the designers originally envision wearing these pieces? And how do we style these pieces now? These are all questions that I will be exploring throughout my blog. Let’s dive deeper into our wardrobes and listen to the many stories our clothes can tell us about the past. To get us started, a brief background on counterculture fashions. Eras of cultural and political liberation such as the Anti-War Movement of late 1960s/70s America influenced new waves of fashion. Many of our staple pieces today, whether they are vintage or newly made garments, stem from trends that were worn during the peace protests during this time. From bell-bottom jeans to military style jackets and even your favourite floral print shirt, we can link all these popular vintage styles back to this period of crisis. Through an understanding of counterculture discourse, we can view fashion as a cultural mode that people used to express themselves during this time. The Counterculture fashions of the 1960s and 70s moved away from the conformist nature of the previous decade and inspired the inclusion of free-flowing patterns and colours in people’s wardrobes. Trending pieces like floor length poodle skirts, polka dot and monochrome patterns that were popular in the fifties and early sixties were out, and abstract was in. Counterculture is often recognised as a rejection of the materialistic and consumeristic interpretation of the American Dream, an interpretation which many Americans held during this period of war. Lead primarily by youths, counterculture exceeded the boundaries of typical fashions and brought about a new appreciation for self-expression. With little to control during an era of crisis, people used clothing as ways to communicate both their individual identities and political standpoints. The images to the left and below were taken during peace protests around 1969. Throughout the past few decades, pieces from this era have resurfaced time and time again. With each resurgence of 1970s trends, the original meaning behind the clothing seems to be lost. A fashion that was once associated with counterculture, for example flared jeans, have become a staple in many people’s wardrobes. As appreciators of vintage fashion, we should view these pieces as artifacts. So, now that we know there can be greater meaning behind our clothing, lets select a few items in our personal wardrobes that can tell us about the times they first thrived in. |
|