Vintage Desecration - Things Altered/Repurposed, and a Vintage Treasure Lost Forever.

[dakotanorth]

Shabby sheik? shique? spelling please!

Someone told me there is a TV show where a woman does that with furniture- she'll buy a late- Victorian cupboard, then cut off the bottom, paint it white, and wall-hang the cabinets with dolls and toys in it.
I think this comes down to people seeing it as "used" while others see it as "antique". There is still a great belief in the US that "Old is bad, new is better" and it falls into everything.
From this person's perspective, they are taking an "Dirty old blazer" and giving it a "fresh new look." See?
So, dare I say, this comes back to education? Sometimes it might make a difference to say "This blazer is actually from the 1950's, and it's a very rare color/cut/size/etc, so it could actually be worth more untouched."
Don't get me wrong, I do believe that ultimately, THINGS are meant to be USED. One of the biggest reason I collect vintage clothing is because I can wear it! But still, a bit of information can go a long way....

 

[dhermann1]

"Shabby Chic"

I've seen the show. The lady knows the difference between a "good" piece that should be restored, and one that would not be a sacrilege to "modify". That's the problem, too many people don't understand or recognize quality.

 

[ShooShooBaby]

here's the thing though about creatively revamped clothing... most of the stuff that ends up reused in this matter is literally on it's way to the landfill, to be shredded and used as insulation or what-have-you, or to be resold for a small profit in africa. i know several people who make and sell this type of clothing, and they don't buy this stuff from vintage stores or even standard, $5-an-item thrift stores. my friends (and me, when i've done stuff like this) buy it at places like the Goodwill Bins, where it costs $1 a pound and is literally the last stop for clothing to stay in the country in their current forms. this stuff is on the floor for less than a day, then gets transported to much less preservation-y fates. if they don't buy it and make something wearable out of it, chances are no one else will either!

after working in the thrift industry, i think the price-per-pound centers and creative re-use is a godsend to vintage clothing, compared to the stuff that gets trashed on a daily basis in most thrift stores. my coworkers and i regularly stole things out of the reject bins - stuff that would never even hit the salesfloor - vintage levi's, navy uniforms, velvet 30s dresses, etc. - at the potential cost of getting fired! the company we worked for didn't have a clearance center either... it just got sorted and sent either overseas or to be shredded, or went directly into the trash.

sorry if none of this makes sense... i'm in a hurry to go to class!

 

[The Kid]

I happen to be a fan of what some above have called "70s abominations" and I've seen a lot of terrible things done to perfectly wearable vintage western shirts. There's a lot of the patches and lace stuff and all that but then there's the I'm going to cut the bottom half of this shirt off, tie the ends and be a cowgirl for Halloween and the screen printing and all that. Also Larry the Cable guy is a repeat offender of taking H-Bar-C shirts and cutting the sleeves off.

 

[resortes805]

I was at a thrift store that was selling a skirt made from about 2 dozen vintage ties sewn together vertically.

There is an example of this in the Fit to be Tied book. I've also seen pillows done up in this fashion, and they look cool!

Also Larry the Cable guy is a repeat offender of taking H-Bar-C shirts and cutting the sleeves off.

OK, now this makes me really mad!!! Hopefully it's the 70's polyester shirts and not the gabardine ones!

 

[Feraud]

This morning my wife showed me how some artists are destroying porcelain from Sweden’s post-war
designer Stig Lindberg.
Here are examples of his work.

The porcelain pieces are purchased and broken to create sellable items.
A few example of the destruction of the pottery in the name of Kitsch.
http://www.huset-shop.com/kila-ring-bersa-p-121.html
http://www.huset-shop.com/kila-bracelet-bersa-p-99.html
http://www.huset-shop.com/kila-broach-bersa-p-115.html
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19976436

I cannot help wonder why people choose to destroy pieces of work from a significant designer as opposed to copying the pattern and designing their junk from Femo or some other molding compound.

One site has the gall to claim, "From mid-century modern Swedish porcelain, which several generations have used in their lives, " Is this a selling point to anyone? Some people have no shame.

 

[thunderw21]

Yesterday at an antique mall I saw a good condition WW2-era blue navy uniform top (whatever those things are called) that had been 'artfully' modernized: multi-colored stitched dragon head on the back, swirls of rainbow stitching on the front, panels of denim sewn into place to form pockets and one of the interior name tags sewn onto the left breast.

While these uniforms are still easy to find, taking a perfectly good historical piece and turning it into such ugly unwearable crap boggles my mind.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The typewriter-key thingies really bother me -- it strikes me as somewhat akin to killing an elephant for his tusks. It bothers me so much I've found myself "rescuing" typewriters from thrift stores just so they won't get into the hands of key-choppers. I made my living with a typewriter for a long time, and to seem them cut up and ruined for the sake of hipster fashion is really upsetting.

 

[skyvue]

My pet peeve is full-page ads torn from old magazines to be sold individually.

grrrr...

 

[Feraud]

Ah yes.. typewriter keys. Add to that list wristwatch movements slapped on a cufflink or pendant and sold as "Steampunk". I have two comments on that brand of creativity.
A - It's a travesty to destroy watches.
B - That ain't Steampunk! :eusa_doh:

 

[dhermann1]

When I first started getting into vintage clothes, about 20 years ago, I used to go to Cheap Jack's near Union Square in Manhattan. They were forever getting great 40's vintage suits in, and for some reason some lunatic thought it would make then more sellable to chop off the sleeves and trouser cuffs (like 6 inches worth) and add heavy knit cuffs. Indescribably hideous. They did this on a wholesale basis to hundreds of garments. Made me want to kill. :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage:

 

[Undertow]

I certainly hate to see perfectly good items unnecessarily ruined but I have to say it's completely fair.

Unforunately, just because we happen to place great value on these items doesn't grant them immunity from all others' discerning tastes.

Granted, our particular crowd places high value on history, but take into account some of the banter that shoots back and forth regarding modern culture. As worthless as some of us may find Justin Timberlake's CDs, others may see gold (and some see platinum, as in sales).

Would we be up in arms if someone made a lunchbox out of old cell phone face plates? Or would we have a collective heart attack if a house was fashioned from 18" subwoofers and 22" spinning rims?

I guess this brings to mind the old phrase, "One man's trash is another man's treasure".

That all said, I still hate to see perfectly good history (and even some of the beat up history) torn to pieces and fashioned into some garish outfit that some yuppie is going to don for a single night. But what do I know? [huh]

 

[maybelaughter]

the thing that bothers me the most is seeing these 'cute' little purses and things made out of old children's books! i won't even write in my modern textbooks, let alone gut a perfectly good book because you want the cover to be something else.... or the art made out of books/pages. granted, sometimes it's made out of sad books that were already destroyed when found - but i still don't like it. even sad condition old books should be cherished, too!

 

[LizzieMaine]

the thing that bothers me the most is seeing these 'cute' little purses and things made out of old children's books! i won't even write in my modern textbooks, let alone gut a perfectly good book because you want the cover to be something else.... or the art made out of books/pages. granted, sometimes it's made out of sad books that were already destroyed when found - but i still don't like it. even sad condition old books should be cherished, too!

I used to feel the same way about those "book safes" you'd see advertised in the backs of magazines -- a real book with the pages cut out and replaced with a lockbox for your valuables. "Fools the burglars every time!"

I always wondered how it would feel to be the author of a book that was so mutilated. A worse insult than the remainder table, for sure.

 

[skyvue]

If I got a commission on every copy of my book that was converted into a bookshelf safe, I probably wouldn't mind it.

But my humble little hardback was a thin enough volume that it probably wouldn't fit the bill, anyway (that is, it wouldn't hold enough bills).

 

[Guttersnipe]

Altered Vintage - a rouges gallery of abominations

I don't know why it's popular, but it is. Kinda the clothing equivalent of shabby chic. Sometimes called "deconstructed clothing," depending on the price point this is sometime done to VERY high end vintage. Usually do to woman's clothing, but I'm seeing more of it made from men's items lately. Recently I heard about a "gallery" show of deconstructed vintage made out of 1940's rayon Hawaiians, which is almost to painful to even think about:

And the survey says, "WTF?!?!?!?" (photo credit to pdxvintagette for finding this gawd awful thing)

I thought it might be interesting (in a crash crash rubber necking sort of way) to see some of the truly awful things done to (sometime) nice vintage.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Taken from a thread posted by Marc Chevalier

 

[pdxvintagette]

The new term for it is "upcycled" - trying to put a positive spin on the destruction. They see it and market it as an "improvement" to the item.

I can't really afford to trash on Etsy sellers, since I make my business there, but this local gal gets ALL my ire and hatred for those who destroy beautiful things:

http://www.frockyjackmorgan.com

She specializes in wedding and special occasions - her travesties are very popular, and she's been showcased in many national magazines. And she has a booth in one of my favorite antique malls that just turns my stomach everytime I'm there.

I prefer to refer to her business has "Frocky Horror"

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Oh yes,
beautiful CC41 Utility suits here, splashed with paint rollers....and regimental jackets cut to shreds....

:rage:

 

[Methuselah]

I don't have photos, but 2 things that spring to mind are:

1. People who hacksaw the keys off vintage typewriters to use as jewellery.

2. Dismantling old pocket watches, sticking the cogs together with epoxy resin & calling it 'steampunk' - nothing to do with steam, and the cogs usually don't even turn round, never mind provide any function. :rage:

EDIT: Arg, my eyes!!! 35,000 criminal results in 0.22 seconds:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=steampunk%20jewellery&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi