Comments on: Pretty in… Vintage?

By: Long Island

Long Island — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:40:06 +0000

As a youngster in the 80s I loved the vintage. I still do. However, now I contain myself to wearing hand-knit sweater or silk scarf.

Economics have nothing to do with wearing vintage clothes. I certainly wasn’t rich but it was being different and the quality of workmanship of the clothes that is attractive.

And as much as I loved vintage clothes in the 80s I hated that dress Molly created. She had a perfectly nice vintage dress and turned into a really ugly typical 80s ill fitted frock.

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:13:11 +0000

Just ahead of your time, my friend.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:52:49 +0000

Raincoaster, worse: I never skipped out of University for anything … at least, not until I ran out of money. Then I skipped out on graduating. As far as the Beatles are concerned, though, I neither knew nor cared when they split up. (See, “Not fashionable,” above.)

Sigh. Geeky, unfashionable, and old.

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:42:08 +0000

Ah, La BellaDonna, did YOU skip out of University to line of for Nirvana tickets before their first album came out? Do you remember where you were when the Beatles split up?

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:14:18 +0000

I suspect I’m a WHOLE lot older than you are, Raincoaster, and I was buying vintage at fleamarkets when I was in grammar school, many long years ago - and wearing “goth” long before “goth” started.

However, there’s no denying that I absolutely was NOT one of the fashionable.

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:28:38 +0000

Gee, I must be old. When I went to school, only the Goths shopped vintage. Everyone else called it “Used” and shunned it.

By: dgm

dgm — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:56:30 +0000

Obi-Wandreas is right that kids have been buying vintage and thrift all along, but in some places (San Francisco, for example) it is more common than in others (like the OC). In the latter, Glinda is right–teens over the last five years have been more likely to sport new and expensive designer clothing.

I don’t shop exclusively vintage and thrift, but I do love purchasing from those stores. In a place where so many people dress alike, it’s nice to not wear something no one else has.

By: J

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:31:50 +0000

I’ll hop in and say that tough times are indeed here for many. They will eventually pass, as they always do, but that doesn’t mean that they are imagined or just psychological.

My mom taught my brother and me about how to shop for clothing by giving us a clothing allowance, and when the money was gone, that was it. I will admit to spending a bunch of money on the ‘it’ jeans one year, a decision I regretted when I realized how much more I could have bought had I been less trendy. A cheap lesson to learn so young, I would say. Thanks, mom.

By: Glinda

Glinda — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:15:09 +0000

While I agree that there has always been a certain segment of the teen population that shops at thrift stores, I wouldn’t have necessarily called it a “hot trend” in the past five years or so.

And, economic times are indeed tough for many people, I don’t think it is a fabrication created by the Times.

By: Obi-Wandreas

Obi-Wandreas — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:12:28 +0000

This is not anything new. Kids have been shopping at vintage stores and the like for decades now. The LA Times is just trying to create another story about tough economic times, knowing that if it’s parroted enough, people will believe that everyone’s in misery.

There have always been kids who buy expensive clothes and kids who buy inexpensive or older clothes. These are simply typical clueless reporters. They notice something for the first time only when it fits the paradigm of what they want to think is true.