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

[Paisley]

Today, I saw some vintage clothes for sale in a store. The clothes had been re-cut or decorated with rick-rack or lace or other fabric.

I have nothing against re-doing clothes to make them wearable. But these looked like they had been done over: bright white rick-rack on brown tweed jackets, white lace on the waist line of a dark gray jacket, plaid kickpleats on a gray wool skirt, denim pockets sewn on skirts, and unhemmed, bunched-up fabric adorning various jackets and sweaters.

Sometimes older things need to be redone to be pressed back into service. But I think they should retain some of their character. But in this case, it was like putting a bright, geometric sculpture in front of a Victorian house.

 

[melankomas]

i have an uneasy feeling about this, but i must ask...what is "rick-rack", ma'am?

 

[reetpleat]

Well those sound simply dreadful.

Of course we are all sensitive and many I am sure have grabbed a fantasticd suit off a thrift store rack only to discover the collas have been narrowed or somehow it has been ruined.

But my main test is does it look good.

Especially with newere vintage, I don't mind the ruining of it. But it has to look good, and what you describe sounds simply awful.

 

[Feraud]

Oh boy, I have seen some of these. There is a particular name for this trendy new craft style. Some creative types take vintage pieces and cut, add, and modify the garment to suit their liking. I have seen the results and it looks, subjectively speaking, freakin' horrible!!
I was at a thrift store that was selling a skirt made from about 2 dozen vintage ties sewn together vertically. My wife saw my eyes water (with rage) and I had to get out of there!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Ah yes, this phenomenon is known as "re-made" vintage clothing. It is the attempt of the mainstream culture to cash in on (subvert) the vintage clothing scene, as it does to every other scene it thinks has cash-generation potential. Because no self respecting hipster (or skater kid spending their pocket money - like, sooo counter culture, dude!) would buy from a thrift store, they buy at incredible mark-ups from the type of store that does just this kind of, yes, desecration is the right word.

Thankfully, an awful lot of what they do is easily reversible. Since most of the folks doing this to clothing are not actually very good at sewing, the shoddy stitching is rather easily unpicked.

bk

 

[patrick1987]

Why ruin vintage clothes when one can go into JC Penney's and buy the same unflattering ugly junk new if one wants it so badly?
I read an article by Calvin Trillin in the New Yorker about a woman who buys up vintage clothing just to remake/remodel it I assume in this hideous fashion. What a waste.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

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

robes, blankets, dresses. Whew i've seen em all. Thankfully they generally make them out of 70s abominations.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I read an article by Calvin Trillin in the New Yorker about a woman who buys up vintage clothing just to remake/remodel it I assume in this hideous fashion. What a waste.

Well, they can't stand the idea that it might become popular (i mean, REALLY popular, not the niche market it is today) to thrift and not spend ridiculous amounts of money to clothe oneself. It's as simple as that. They're trying to destroy the vintage movement from the inside.

bk

 

[Quigley Brown]

I was at a thrift store that was selling a skirt made from about 2 dozen vintage ties sewn together vertically. My wife saw my eyes water (with rage) and I had to get out of there!

Covering many a quilting bee in my newspaper experience I've saved a good number of vintage ties from a horrible death.

 

[patrick1987]

Well, they can't stand the idea that it might become popular (i mean, REALLY popular, not the niche market it is today) to thrift and not spend ridiculous amounts of money to clothe oneself. It's as simple as that. They're trying to destroy the vintage movement from the inside.

bk

True. She probably has an inside person at the Goodwill to cull all the good stuff, too!!!!!

 

[Feraud]

robes, blankets, dresses. Whew i've seen em all. Thankfully they generally make them out of 70s abominations.

bk

The thing is, as much as I dislike those 70's ties I almost feel bad seeing them chopped up and used in a quilted blanket!
Oh Lordy how I dislike crafty hipsters.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Man, the old women have just as much to answer for. Quilters will be the death of me. Fantastic pairs of trousers chopped to shreds because some old dame liked the patterns and wanted to put it in some pointless quilt to remember her husband by! Good God, have mercy!

bk

 

[kiltedjeeper]

well what do you expect where "fashionable" clothes look like the dog slept and messed upon them, shortly after a skidrow bum wore then for 6 months straight after a mechanic rebuilt a transmission in a diesel truck in them?

 

[Paisley]

i have an uneasy feeling about this, but i must ask...what is "rick-rack", ma'am?

I should have said "fabric trim." It serves the same purpose as lace.

Ah, just the thing to put on a dark tweed suit.

I just remembered that one jacket was cut off at the waist. Cut off! :eusa_doh:

 

[Feraud]

The tie on the right is a victim of "re-making". I saw this at a craft fair in Brooklyn.
Someone apparently thought it would greatly improve the tie to silkscreen a blue star at the bottom.

It was fortunate my wife it for me as a birthday gift. Who knows the horror it would have endured if some hipster bought it!

 

[Babydoll]

i have an uneasy feeling about this, but i must ask...what is "rick-rack", ma'am?

My idea of rick-rack is a bit different than what was shown before (which I would consider a form of lace?). I've always thought of rick-rack as this:

[huh]

 

[melankomas]

I should have said "fabric trim." It serves the same purpose as lace.

i am somewhat relieved, as when i looked up "rick-rack", something far worse was specified.

Ah, just the thing to put on a dark tweed suit.

that's a very unpleasant thing to do intentionally. aren't there enough unintentional mishaps and bits of damage when vintage clothing is concerned?

I just remembered that one jacket was cut off at the waist. Cut off! :eusa_doh:

i don't expect an answer to this, but what possible purpose could that serve?

 

[melankomas]

My idea of rick-rack is a bit different than what was shown before (which I would consider a form of lace?). I've always thought of rick-rack as this:

[huh]

yes, that's the sort of thing i found when i looked it up. i didn't want to believe it, you see, and i shall cling firmly to Ms. Paisley's post that it isn't quite so bad as all that. not quite.

 

[Babydoll]

i am somewhat relieved, as when i looked up "rick-rack", something far worse was specified.



that's a very unpleasant thing to do intentionally. aren't there enough unintentional mishaps and bits of damage when vintage clothing is concerned?



i don't expect an answer to this, but what possible purpose could that serve?

Make it look like an Eisenhower jacket??

 

[melankomas]

Make it look like an Eisenhower jacket??

lol lol lol