Are you more of a vintage girl, or a modern girl?

[Sunny]

I'd rather be a vintage maiden aunt. I'm too lazy to be a careerist and don't care about acquiring a big house and SUV. I like a simpler life and I like my privacy.

Sounds great to me! :eusa_clap

 

[BettyValentine]

My grandmother reminisces about the old days when women stayed home. She's still bitter about it. She told me about how she wanted to be a lawyer and would save clippings about how some women were doing that, but her father wouldn't let her. So she went to school for her M.R.S., got married, had 4 kids, and now tells her grandchildren about how she wanted to be a lawyer.

I consider myself to be a thoroughly modern girl, and it's about a lot more than the way I dress or whether or not I would want to stay home. I can do whatever I want - stay home, travel, get married, stay single, go after any job I could possibly want - it's totally my choice. My family would support me no matter what field I wanted to go into. I never heard anything at all about being a girl when I was small. Girl or boy never seemed to come into the equation at all when I was growing up, and it didn't occur to me that might not be the case everywhere till I was out of college. Now that I've seen the way some other people think I'm immensely grateful for my own upbringing, and my thoroughly modern fiance and I fully intend to raise any hypothetical children the same way.

Edit: And I fully agree with the ever-brilliant Miss Neecerie's statement that modern thinking does not make one "not vintage." I think there was a lot more internal struggle with prescribed gender roles than we might think. Also I think the ideology was practiced far less pervasively than period media would have us think. When you get explicit declarations of "how things are" or "how things should be", it is often the case that those declarations are more an attempt to convince their audience (and their proponents) than an accurate picture of the status quo.

BV

 

[Paisley]

Edit: And I fully agree with the ever-brilliant Miss Neecerie's statement that modern thinking does not make one "not vintage." I think there was a lot more internal struggle with prescribed gender roles than we might think. Also I think the ideology was practiced far less pervasively than period media would have us think. When you get explicit declarations of "how things are" or "how things should be", it is often the case that those declarations are more an attempt to convince their audience (and their proponents) than an accurate picture of the status quo.

BV

That reminds me of the movie where Barbara Stanwyck played a newspaper columnist who wrote about life on her genteel farm: cooking elaborate dinners, playing with the baby, gardening, etc. She wrote all of this from the small city apartment where she really lived.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Edit: And I fully agree with the ever-brilliant Miss Neecerie's statement that modern thinking does not make one "not vintage." I think there was a lot more internal struggle with prescribed gender roles than we might think. Also I think the ideology was practiced far less pervasively than period media would have us think. When you get explicit declarations of "how things are" or "how things should be", it is often the case that those declarations are more an attempt to convince their audience (and their proponents) than an accurate picture of the status quo.

I've recommended it before, but it's worth recommending again -- "The Way We Never Were," by sociologist Stephanie Coontz, a book which gets into some serious examination of the structure of American family life in the postwar era, compared to the idealization of that structure in popular media. It's very very eye-opening reading -- especially in pointing out that prior to WW2 it was actually fairly exceptional for a woman to be devoted solely and exclusively to homemaking duties. Rural and farm women generally worked as hard as their husbands on necessary chores, and especially during the Depression, city women often found it necessary to work part time in low-paying clerical jobs even after marriage. The situation could be even rougher for working class city women -- they'd often have to hire themselves out as domestics, or take in other peoples' laundry or mending just to help make ends meet. Not too many bridge games going on there -- that whole upper-middle-class life was largely a matter of privilege, something that a lot of women would never share.

BV, your grandmother's story reminds me a lot of my own grandmother -- she had big plans to go to nursing school when she got out of high school, but the combination of the Depression and an unplanned pregnancy (such things happened a lot more often then than many today want to admit) put an end to those dreams. She was resentful of that loss of autonomy for the rest of her life.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Another small point...

None of us -are vintage-......we do not live in that time frame. It's impossible to do so.

Every single last one of us can possibly take things from that time period and incorporate them in our otherwise decidedly modern lives, where we talk with people via a computer...etc....

So its not an either/or question at all.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Another small point...

None of us -are vintage-......we do not live in that time frame. It's impossible to do so.

Every single last one of us can possibly take things from that time period and incorporate them in our otherwise decidedly modern lives, where we talk with people via a computer...etc....

So its not an either/or question at all.

You are so right
I honestly believe that if I lived during the Golden Era, I'd get by just fine, at least I hope I would. However, if one day I was living in the modern world with all it's amenities and was transported back in time, I don't know if I'd really like the era. Having all of the wonderful innovations taken away with the push of a button would lead to culture shock.

So, I remain vintage at heart, and most of the time it's what's in the heart that counts. But, I'm incredibly grateful for all the modern inventions that I take advantage of on an hourly basis.
No matter how much vintage we incorporate into our lives, we live in a highly innovative world. Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly using these modern innovations, from our coffee pots, sewing machines, microwave ovens and computers. I know not all of us use every one of these items, but we all take advantage of modernism in one way or another. It's practically impossible not to.

 

[mysterygal]

lol especially with three little one's running around the house, I'm SO grateful for all those modern conveniences!
I've always been vintage at heart. I knew that I wanted to find an old fashion man who would take care of me and I would raise kids. I do however, look forward to the time when I do get a job (outside the house)...how I miss adult conversation!
clothes; modern clothes just don't appeal to me that much. they are either sloppy or slutty. Classic you just can't go wrong. THey tend to bring out the feminity in a woman and in doing so, makes her all the more sexier.

 

[BettyValentine]

This might be odd, but I feel much more modern in vintage than I do in jeans and a sweater. I feel individualistic and iconoclastic. Also it suits my figure, and I'll sacrifice period, fashion, and pretty much anything else to look like there's a good figure underneath whatever I'm wearing.

Anyway, I feel much more stylish and fashionable in my vintage, and I don't feel at all conservative or traditional. ("conservative" "classic" and "traditional" are naughty words in my vocabulary.) Also, they're generally harder to find and thus more exclusive. Everyone on the street here wears very high-end stuff. You can spot the Vogue spreads getting out of cars the next day, and the louboutins and manolos are ubiquitous. Everyone is pressed and ironed and perfect. (Except the tourists in their white tennis shoes and crocs).

I can't afford YSL (till it winds up at Filenes), but it doesn't matter because the socialites can't even *find* my clothes. Vintage takes effort. You can't just throw money at it and come out stylish.

BV

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I'm a modern gal with a vintage edge. I guess we all are.

For example:

-I listen to scratchy old jazz via CDs and mp3s.
-I watch silent films on a television set or computer screen through a DVD player.
-My real vintage clothing only comes out for special occasions. All other times I wear vintage-looking modern clothes.
-I can't watch a 1930's "women's" movie without applying modern liberated-woman thought to it (I admit I shouldn't, but it does make it more fun!)
-My apartment is decorated with reproduction movie posters. Unfortunately, I had to sell a lot of my originals when I was unemployed.
-I work as an operator -- which is a very "vintage" job, in a way But I don't have to plug and unplug lines all day!
-I work, but I also like to sit and listen to my CDs of 30s music and read a vintage novel in the sunlight. I just like to get away from TVs and computers every now and again.
-I'm happily, lovingly married, but I don't live for my husband and children are not high on my list of goals.
-I buy almost ALL of my real vintage things and gain almost all of my vintage knowledge via the Internet.

Those are just a few modern-vintage things that apply to me.

 

[Miss Sis]

The simple fact is, we live now, so we have to live in the now!

I choose to furnish my house with lots of vintage items, not watch very much TV and read alot. I like to cook from scratch, sew and knit, visit friends. Vintage past-times? Maybe. I like peace and quiet and a slower pace of life.

But I also use the internet and don't wear vintage all the time. I might not like alot of things about todays world but I'm sure stepping back 60 or 70 years there would have been other things I wouldn't like too. Yes, it was alot more difficult for women to choose what they wanted to do. Some managed to achieve it but many more didn't.

Of course, in an ideal world, if I had children, I'd like to stay home with them. That's what I trained for so it would be the best choice in my case. I recognise it isn't for everyone.

I guess I have some old fashioned ideals. I also have some 'Modern' ones. What a mix! Hard to say how much in each direction.

 

[ITG]

I consider myself to be more old fashioned in alot of ways. When I have kids, it would be my hope that I could either be a stay at home mom or work part-time out of the house so that I can still be there for my kids. However, not knowing what our financial situation will be when we have kids, it's hard to say if I will be able to follow that path. If I'm in a job that I truly enjoy (I don't enjoy my current job), then I might consider working if the trade off was beneficial (ie. my paycheck paying for daycare and not making any profit beyond that). If I had my rathers, I'd be a stay-at-home mom.

 

[pigeon toe]

This might be odd, but I feel much more modern in vintage than I do in jeans and a sweater. I feel individualistic and iconoclastic. Also it suits my figure, and I'll sacrifice period, fashion, and pretty much anything else to look like there's a good figure underneath whatever I'm wearing.

Anyway, I feel much more stylish and fashionable in my vintage, and I don't feel at all conservative or traditional. ("conservative" "classic" and "traditional" are naughty words in my vocabulary.)

I feel the exact same way! Vintage actually flatters my figure, as opposed to modern clothes, where I tend to look a lot more shapeless. Therefore, I usually feel a lot sexier and prettier, and I know I stand out! I may be dressing like my grandma used to, but I definitely don't look dowdy!

 

[NicolettaRose]

I think it is great that other things besides clothing are being discussed in this thread, It gets a girls mind working beyond what shoes to buy or what makeup to put on her face. Being a Stay at home mom or being a working mom is something totally relevent today,as it was back in the golden age.