Retro-extremists? What are we called?

[John in Covina]

How about

"Cultural Periodist" Period Culturalist

or maybe

"Era Romantic / Era Romantacist"


My friend's wife doesn't really get any of it at all, she just simply refers to it as 'The Hat Club" -that's it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That is what I mean about a line being drawn. Since very few people can honestly claim to be living a fully vintage lifestyle (that's pretty much limited to the Amish and even they have to make some allowances for the modern world) at what point would a person fall within the definition of the term that Senator Jack is attempting to coin?

The next time you go to the grocery store, take a good long look at the magazine racks at the checkout line. If what you see there makes you feel really really *culturally displaced* then you might well be an atavist.

 

[Tango Yankee]

The next time you go to the grocery store, take a good long look at the magazine racks at the checkout line.

I'd rather not, thank you very much!*yucky* Most of what is there is in exceedingly poor taste, I don't care what era you're from.

 

[Fletch]

If culture, as I suspect, must be tribal to be truly meaningful, then anybody who's constructed hi/r own culture is either deluded, phony, or subversive. Sleep on that, why don't you.

 

[Geesie]

::subverts, furiously::

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Only a somewhat general term can encompass enough of us, rather than just Jack, JP, and Lizzie.


My vote is for the term “Selectively Old-Fashioned.”


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[Geesie]

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Only a somewhat general term can encompass enough of us, rather than just Jack, JP, and Lizzie.


My vote is for the term “Selectively Old-Fashioned.”


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"lifestyle preservationism"

 

[Marc Chevalier]

"lifestyle preservationism"

Good one. I'd go for "historical lifestyle perpetuator." lol


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[The Good]

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Only a somewhat general term can encompass enough of us, rather than just Jack, JP, and Lizzie.


My vote is for the term “Selectively Old-Fashioned.”


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Not sure about the "Selectively" in the phrase, but I do like "Old Fashioned." I even refer to myself as that often. In fact, most people are going to know what that means, so I would "vote" for that term... perhaps even over "Retro," as many people today may take that to mean anywhere from (usually) the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, or even sometimes the 1980s, probably more recently of course. Old fashioned might sound negative to some here, but I have no problems with it myself. Of course, another phrase can be "Traditionalist," which I have to admit, I sometimes use too.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... I do like "Old Fashioned."

Wouldn't it be ironic if we ended up deciding on "Old Fashioned": a well-worn, time-tested term that's been around all along, right under our very noses?


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[Senator Jack]

I'm beginning to regret having started this thread, for it seems despite Lizzie's and my own assurances that we're not doing this to be vintage elitist, there's a large factor here that have got the proverbial panties in a knot. Lizzie and I are studying this subculture objectively, from both the inside and out, turning a clinical eye toward ourselves to figure out the subculture's place in modern society. As is my common plea on forums, if a member can't post without being rankled, perhaps out of respect for this discussion, and the other FLers, he or she should perhaps move on to another thread.

Onward:

To define 'passing interest', I'm going to suggest it means one who does not dress period unless going to a period function. A 20s atavist would be one who goes to work, weddings, etc. in period dress while someone with a 'passing interest' would only wear a period piece to the monthly 20s frolic.

As to furnishings, transport, etc:

I put forward that members of the subculture, being of their right minds (as much as one who behaves as though it were still 1920, 30, etc. can be in his or her right mind), work within the limitations of practicality and pocketbook. Certainly, not everyone can have a period vehicle, and one of the most atavistic guys I know even uses an SUV to get around because his vintage vehicles are too expensive to be used as daily drivers. Do I think that's not 'vintage enough'? Nonsense. He's the very definition of the subculture.

Finally, this may be the very heart of the matter. Again, from Lizzie:

The next time you go to the grocery store, take a good long look at the magazine racks at the checkout line. If what you see there makes you feel really really *culturally displaced* then you might well be an atavist.

It's that sense of displacement. A lot of people might shake their heads at these headlines, but then they go home and watch the same thing on Oprah. Or follow those idiotic reality shows where one half of the family beats up the other half. Or actually pay $12.50 USD, cash on the barrelhead, to see the new Adam Sandler movie. Hell, I am culturally displaced. I just had to quit bartending because I couldn't stomach the rave/house/techno/trance music that the staff wanted to play. I'm uncomfortable even being a PASSENGER in a late model car. I am, for the most part, DISINTERESTED in today's culture and affairs of state. If it doesn't fit into my atavistic world, I want no part of it. Do other atavists exhibit this psychotic behavior? That's what I want to find out.

Oh, and about the replies of 'not needing a label', I can guarantee you if we don't label it, pretty soon some smart-arse cultural psychologist will. People like labels. That's how they buy toilet paper.

Regards,

Jack

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Jack,

Do you go to work or attend functions in modern clothes because you're worried what other people think and want to fit in?

As always, you've forced me to go back and read the thread. Recent pictures of me in New York notwithstanding, I don't think I've worn modern clothes (excepting underwear) for a good 6 months. I fear I am an atavist, but i'll read the thread and make some decisions. And if it's a lack of understanding-of/care-for modern culture you're after, i'm your man.

There are various obvious reasons for my mindset. I think Lizzie alluded to the surprising number of people where she grew up in the 70s living what was basically a 40s lifestyle. Much the same was true in rural Scotland in the '80s and '90s. No longer. My father is almost the archetype of the Scottish worker from a bygone era. Everyone I knew spent their time in the summer riding bikes, running around in the forest, or fishing, or fashioning things out of sticks with knives. [Think Hemingway's - that's Ernest - short stories]. It was a very simple life for a kid, and despite the obvious better nutrition very similar to what people tell me of the '50s. Personal computers were very rare, as was cable or satellite TV. More on this later … i need to think more and express myself better.

There must be something interesting for a psychologist or whoever to study in the fact that of a huge group of people who all undergo essentially the same "growing up" experience, only a very few will reject the excesses of modernity.

Should there be something in the wiki about rejection of consumptionism, the idea that the sole purpose of a member of society is to consume? This i see to be the driving force behind the more useless of technological advance (you MUST have the latest thing, you'll just be weird without it, BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY), and really it's quite disturbing.

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Well, if post #191 is anything to go by, Jack is still sticking by Lizzie's term. And the winner (with a laudably modest lowercase "a") continues to be ... "atavist."


Now, if only we can make it into a verb. Such an American thing to do ...



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[reetpleat]

Jack,

modernity.

Should there be something in the wiki about rejection of consumptionism, the idea that the purpose of a member of society is to consume? This i see to be the driving force behind the more useless of technological advance (you MUST have the latest thing, you'll just be weird without it, BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY), and really it's quite disturbing.

bk

Ironically though, living the atavist lifestyle in most cases, requires a fair amount of money spent on artifacts and acoutrement, increasingly expensive at that. So, it can be said that an ativist is partly defined by the acquisition of these artifacts. How much of an ativist is an ativist who just wishes to possess these things and live this way? Consumption of them is implicit too, as, while my suits now sit in the closet and see little use, the daily drivers, wearers, users, will surely consume and wear out these artifacts, well made though they are.

 

[reetpleat]

Fair enough, but what shall be the term for those of us who love, collect, and actually wear vintage hats and clothing, in a desire to revive, at least in a small cloud around us, the golden era?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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As usual, Latin comes to the rescue. We're Preterophiles and Metathesiophobes.


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[Tomasso]

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As usual, Latin comes to the rescue.

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Jesuit trash............

 

[Shangas]

Do you go to work or attend functions in modern clothes because you're worried what other people think and want to fit in?

I don't have a vintage wardrobe, but I do have various vintage accessories (pocket watches, fountain pens, watch-chain, fobs, etc), and I'd have absolutely no problem in wearing these anywhere. I learnt from a young age not to give a damn what others think, and to do what you want.

As to what we are called...

Historical Lifestyle Preservationists sounds good. Or the Stylistically/fashionably (pick one) Anachronistic.

In the spirit of Warner Brothers...

The Retromaniacs lol

Trendsetters.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Oh, heck. We're the Huge Manatees.

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[Carlisle Blues]

Chrono Crusaders

The Chrono Crusade is set in the height of the Roaring Twenties, where jazz is king, bootleg liquor flows freely, and the mob rules the streets. It is a time of prosperity, luxury and decadence.