What makes us vintage girls?

What defines a "vintage girl" (or guy)? I have been reading numerous vintage blogs for some time now and getting to know a many women who define themselves as a "vintage girl". So what makes someone a vintage person???

Let's take a closer look at this....does one call themselves a vintage person if they have a massive collection of vintage clothing? Does it take owning two hundred dresses and a trunk full of gloves, hats, and snoods? Many of the most known vintage gals out there do any amazing collections of vintage clothing. Some of the gals collections have made many green with envy. But many of these gals really devote themselves to collecting and some even have had others hand down clothing to them through the years.

Does wearing the perfect victory rolls or knowing how to knit or sew make someone a vintage gal? Or how about knowing how to swing dance or make an homemade apple pie? Does that make someone a vintage dame?

I think these are all very good and important questions one can ask themselves.

I do believe it does help to have a few outfits from the era you love because it helps you get into character so to speak. It may also help you to feel prettier, perhaps more lady-like, and truly in tune to the decades past. Do I think you need to have closets full of these clothes-the answer is NO. And I don't feel especially with this tough economy that one should feel the pressure to have all of that. Is it nice to have? Um, heck yeah. Come on ladies-who doesn't want to have a complete wardrobe of the era they adore?

I know my vintage gal friends all have their wardrobes as a work in progress. Continuing to grow, learn, and know their tastes in what looks best on them. Having all that stuff is great but you don't have to have a lot to grasp the look of a decade-especially the 1940's as I am learning. During wartime women didn't have a closet full of clothes-they had many separates and a few dresses and made things work. How they did it and still managed to look fabulous-I am still figuring out for myself.

Knowing how to sew, cook, craft, knit, crochet, garden, and canning are all amazing things to learn how to do. I commend the people I know who do them. Most of them learned from their mothers and grandmothers. Sometimes I feel very lost because I don't have either with me so I am not normally surrounded by women in my day to day life. But reading about all these amazing vintage women from today has inspired me to want to try to do more of these things or learn how to do them. Its great to know but it doesn't necessarily make you a vintage gal-just a very savvy, creative, and talented gal.

Did you  know that there are more classic film fans out in the world than they are people who dress in a specific decade or take swing dance lessons or know how to do a victory roll? They aren't considered vintage guys/gals. And why not? I think people are very visual creatures and if they see someone dressed the part they assume they are that part. I also think most women find it important to look good, dress well, etc because it all a part of feeling good. For women, if we feel good on the outside, it helps us feel good on the inside.

So what I am saying at the end of this long ramble? A "vintage girl" is someone who embraces many aspects of an era(s) and who attempts to express that passion or love either through clothes, makeup, hair, music, writing, photos, etc. And at the end of the day, you really need to sit down with yourself and ask yourself-what makes me a "vintage girl"? And if you don't feel like one yet ask yourself, "what do I need to do for myself to feel more authentically vintage?" For some people its wearing vintage 24/7, for some its knitting 1940's patterns or making 1950's dresses, and for some its modeling and trying to emulate the starlets of years gone by.

I am on this journey for many reasons and one is to become and feel like a true vintage girl. Of course I have my own requirements for myself and I am a work in progress. What no one can deny is that I am full of passion for times gone by. That I have in spades!

xox