The fashion buzz word on the street is Vintage! But what does that mean? Is Vintage a re-branding of Retro or is it simply a dressed-up description of second-hand clothing? And why do fashionistas not call it how it is?
As defined by dictionary.com, vintage simply means "representing the high quality of a past time". Just by definition Vintage already rates highly in the fashion stakes. Retro, on the other hand, is defined as "denoting something revived from the past". Now again, with the use of the word revived, we fashionistas picture glamour! Now, we all know and despise hand me downs, which to me perfectly defines "second-hand". Hand me downs give us flash-backs of wearing our older brother's clothes as a child and is never associated with "unique" nor "unusual".
Recently, I bought a "Vintage" blouse and paid over the odds for something that was basically from a stylish dead women's closet. My daughter, who is only 10 but already has an amazing sense of style, described my blouse as "one of a kind". Now to me that sums up all 3 words perfectly and from that moment, I decided to refer to clothing that I buy from Vintage, Retro or simply Second-Hand shops as One of a Kind"!
My conclusion: there is a huge connection between Marketing and Fashion and the second-hand clothing revival is purely down to the re-branding and therefore re-positioning and re-labelling of One of a Kind clothing.
By the way, if you're around the Clapham Junction area, there are a number of One of a Kind boutiques where you can find both high street and designer labels.
No comments:
Post a Comment