Vintage
So when you hear the word 'old' what comes to mind? For me it's a cute old white lady with grey hair and liver-spots sitting in a rocking chair. Not quite sure why that particular image comes into mind but there you go...
For a lot of you I'm guessing the word old has a lot of negative connotations: death, weakness, boring traditions and outdated things. And you may be right but one instance where the word old is anything but boring is fashion!
Now I'm sad to say that I don't often bother looking back to previous decades for inspiration. Unfortunately I can get quite wrapped up in the right now, what's on the high street. I know that fashion goes through cycles but if it's not in a high street store than in my mind it doesn't exist. That's why when I decided to go to a vintage fashion fair at the end of last year it was very horizon-broadening (if that's a word).
What's great about vintage clothes is that they're not attempting to follow a particular current trend because they're from the past and that I feel gives them more flexibility on how they can be worn. Little rules apply; sleeves don't necessarily have to go all the way down to your wrists and trousers can sit literally wherever they please on your legs. I think vintage clothes are a great way to bring out the creativity in people. There were a lot of interesting good quality clothes that were sooo much cheaper than what you would find in an official store.
After a lot (and I mean A LOT) of browsing I decided to buy a pair of Levi high-waisted denim shorts for- brace yourselves- £14!
The other thing I learned from the fair was that old doesn't always mean boring. A lot of the skirts were quite modest in terms of length, in fact in the whole fair there weren't really a lot of super revealing clothes but they still looked stylish and some of the dresses still very sexy. I think that's one thing our generation could definitely learn from the prior; that shorter is not always sexier and lots of cleavage will give you many pairs of eyes on your possibly very cold and exposed pair of boobs. And ladies it's okay to aim for more than that in life. I think that it takes more effort to look sexy and stylish wearing a bit more clothing (that's why I love love love how men do it so well in suits) and I think that is definitely what we should aim for.
I did a shoot for a vintage boutique called Factory 45* and for it I wore some outfits that you definitely wouldn't find in my wardrobe. But that's not to say they didn't look really good. It taught me that I shouldn't be so opposed to what is 'old'.
One of the dresses I wore was a long brown pleated one. Not to say that I'd wear it for everyday life but I liked the length and felt so elegant in it.
I am absolutely loving these flared midi skirts that are in fashion right now, it's a nice step away from the booty cheek shorts era. For you tall girls that suffer from every remotely short skirt becoming teeny weeny on you due to your leg length, well midi skirts are a Godsend to you. They're beautiful and femenine and you can bend and sit in them without fear of the ultimate exposure- you know what I'm talking about girls.
And last but not least The LongLimbedLady now has a Facebook Page (search fb for: The Long Limbed Lady). So feel free to like it and tell your friends if you've liked any of the posts so far and feel they're useful. And if you think they're not then let me know how you think I could make them better, I'm all ears.
*These photos from Factory 45 were taken by the awesome photographer Bart Achron. http://www.achronphotography.co.uk/ Fb: Achron Photography