Vintage Lifestyle VS Re-Enacting VS Cosplay

[Juliet]

I think - and please note, I'm hardly an expert on the matter - cosplaying is more about becoming your favourite character from a book/film/anime/manga.
Now, even if we only take those people in consideration, who just happened to stumble into vintage - well, I don't think I've come across a person who'd believed themselves Gene Tierney or Clark Gable (I know, I do lead a sheltered life!). I think they adopt a style that suits the persona and not the other way around.

All cosplayers I know ditch the outer shell of their character at home. They do not clean house or meet friends for coffee in a Sailor Moon costume. I think that's where the difference starts - once it is something you are adopting in public and shedding in privacy.
Personally, I curl my hair and dress "like an old lady", even if I know for sure that no one will see me that day, or in fact for several days, as I'll be staying at home. I'd just feel so very uncomfortable otherwise. Same thing with manners.

 

[O2BSwank]

I would aspire to dress better in contemporary clothing with a vintage flair. Wearing a fedora is pretty much all it takes. I would dress in some vintage clothing if I could find it! Large sized vintage is few and far between but I keep my eyes open.

 

[Renault]

After forty years (this year) in some form of constant reenacting from 18th to 20th century. I had best keep my comments on the subject to myself..............

However,,,,,, I will say that reenacting is probably the most internally political "hobby" out there, with only the possibility of tying a very close first with those poor little girl beauty queen's mothers you see on the reality TV shows. Certainly the egos are similar.........

But , I enjoy the visitations and appreciate the ability to post on this site as I have found it to be the most civil forum out there. Kudos to the thread masters and those who keep it "nice"!

Renault

 

[1961MJS]

After forty years (this year) in some form of constant reenacting from 18th to 20th century. I had best keep my comments on the subject to myself..............

However,,,,,, I will say that reenacting is probably the most internally political "hobby" out there, with only the possibility of tying a very close first with those poor little girl beauty queen's mothers you see on the reality TV shows. Certainly the egos are similar.........

Renault

Hi Renault

With all due respect to your experience, I would bet you haven't spent a lot of time in Kid's Sports. The Colonel's Wife demanded that her son play Catcher in spite of his being tall and skinny with LONG legs like the world's most perfect first baseman. The funniest one I heard was when I mentioned to the Head guy with the Young Marines that at least he shouldn't have that much problem with ego, but he said that the Mommies wanted Junior to be George Patton in 3rd grade. Not that there isn't politics in Civil War Reenacting (and others), but I sure don't think they have anything resembling a Monopoly.

Years ago, I was a Private in Company B of the 9th Texas commanded by then Sergeant John Beck.

Later

 

[The Good]

Great thread. I respect the dedication it takes to carry off wearing fully or mostly vintage clothing, whether from a point of aesthetics, or if one is into reenactment and history. In any event, it's a hobby. Generally, I appreciate (but not own) a wide range of styles associated with any decade from the 1920s to 1960s. There are things I could see myself wearing, and likewise the reverse is true. I'm not so sure about moving towards a completely or mostly vintage wardrobe. Most of my interest here is in the hats, outerwear (mainly leather), and suits in roughly that order, although I own nothing of the latter yet (not vintage, anyway). I don't see myself as dressing in costume, but most of the time I'm just wearing modern clothes with a vintage or retro looking element. About as authentic vintage to any decade I go is when I wear either my Stetson St. Regis from the late '40s or early '50s period, or my brown James Dean style Anti-Freeze nylon jacket probably from the '60s. My collection of stuff is gradually growing you see, but I don't think I could be devoted to wearing vintage stuff 24/7 like some here can. I guess the label cosplayer would hardly apply to me unless I'm wearing everything I've got that could resemble the full Indiana Jones outfit (and I own a reproduction hat, jacket, and semi-accurate safari shirt, as well as generic khakis and brown shoes). My current approach is to dress classically inspired, but relatively timeless.

 

[Renault]

Hi Renault

With all due respect to your experience, I would bet you haven't spent a lot of time in Kid's Sports. The Colonel's Wife demanded that her son play Catcher in spite of his being tall and skinny with LONG legs like the world's most perfect first baseman. The funniest one I heard was when I mentioned to the Head guy with the Young Marines that at least he shouldn't have that much problem with ego, but he said that the Mommies wanted Junior to be George Patton in 3rd grade. Not that there isn't politics in Civil War Reenacting (and others), but I sure don't think they have anything resembling a Monopoly.

Years ago, I was a Private in Company B of the 9th Texas commanded by then Sergeant John Beck.

Later

Sorry, I was just refering to what I personally experienced from the 3 original themes as mentioned in John's original thread. Reenating being the only one I was familiar enough with to comment on. Probably should have made that clear.

Last ACW reenactment I attended was in 1977........

Cheers!
Renault

 

[reetpleat]

Interesting thread. I would say that while there are those that say, "I have always done it this way" the fact that some of them put effort into seeking out certain artifacts, or put effort into using things, or even buying, making or mending clothing suggests that they are living in a way that is intentionally contrary to mainstream living, which is reactinary. What I mean is, a person who was living exactly like a person in 1940 would go to the nearest store and buy clothing that was being sold there. In the same way, a person living just like a teenager who built hot rods and listened to hybrid black white rock and roll music in the 50s might resemble a kid that hops up his honda, and listens to rap music. A guy who wears vintage style jeans, and restores 50s cars is nothing like a guy from then in many ways. he would be like a kid in the 50s who was into the 1890s.

As far as what i used to do, which was kind of reenacting, kind of cosplay I guess, was going to a swing show in san Francisco where you could be counted on to be surrounded by many other people dressed in vintage, dance to swing music, and pretend you were back in the day maybe. It was kind of reenacting, but not quite, and kind of like a costume convention, but not quite. And, back then, many of us wore the stuff everyday for our own pleasure. It was a hobby to reproduce a vintage outfit, but not necessarily to be seen by anyone. I have dressed up in outfits to just admire my look in the mirror, then change.

Question. If you were the last person on earth, how would you dress?

 

[rue]

Good to see you around again reetpleat!

As far as your question.... I would dress exactly as I do now, because I don't own anything except vintage or vintage inspired clothing [huh]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Same here. Although if I were the last person on earth I don't imagine I'd worry about whether my seams were straight.

In all seriousness, I think of myself as a rock in the stream rather than a twig being carried by the current. The stream surges along, but I stay right exactly where I've always been, and what other people do, or think I should do, is completely irrelevant.

 

[rue]

Same here. Although if I were the last person on earth I don't imagine I'd worry about whether my seams were straight.

Isn't that the truth lol

 

[sheeplady]

Question. If you were the last person on earth, how would you dress?

I'd steal everyone's vintage clothes (since everyone else is gone and not coming back). I'd pick out the best outfits to wear, I could even have the museum quality pieces- heck I could have the real museum pieces. I'd probably not have to wear the same thing twice in my life. lol

Wait... is that not the right answer?

 

[reetpleat]

There was as time I fantasized about that very thing.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

This is exactly how I feel.

In all seriousness, I think of myself as a rock in the stream rather than a twig being carried by the current. The stream surges along, but I stay right exactly where I've always been, and what other people do, or think I should do, is completely irrelevant.

 

[Yeps]

Question. If you were the last person on earth, how would you dress?

Depending on where on the now empty earth I was, I probably wouldn't.

 

[Flicka]

Question. If you were the last person on earth, how would you dress?

Depends. Why am I the last person? What is the climate? What clothes do I have access to?

If I could, I'd probably go naked. Then again, it probably wouldn't take me long to go mad so who knows what I'd end up with.

 

[LizzieMaine]

This digression reminds me of "Earth Abides," published in 1949 -- one of the most thought-provoking of the post-apocalyptic novels. In the story, a measles-like pestilence sweeps the civilized world clean of most people, leaving only those survivors who had some sort of natural resistance. The story focuses on one young man, a graduate student at Stanford, who finds himself traveling the United States looking for other survivors while scavenging abandoned stores for supplies. He starts out on his trip in the ordinary street clothes of the time, but quickly abandons them in favor of blue jeans, light sport shirts, and a cheap straw hat such as a sharecropper might wear (he's traveling in the summertime.) At first he sees no need to wear any shirt more than once, and develops the habit of throwing his shirt away each day and donning a new one the next -- he can always find a new one. After fifty years pass, a small community of survivors has accumulated, and as the remains of civilization have broken down they've reverted to a high Stone Age culture -- except that they're still wearing blue jeans to go with their animal skins and tribal totems. A portrait of the true future to come?

 

[reetpleat]

This digression reminds me of "Earth Abides," published in 1949 -- one of the most thought-provoking of the post-apocalyptic novels. In the story, a measles-like pestilence sweeps the civilized world clean of most people, leaving only those survivors who had some sort of natural resistance. The story focuses on one young man, a graduate student at Stanford, who finds himself traveling the United States looking for other survivors while scavenging abandoned stores for supplies. He starts out on his trip in the ordinary street clothes of the time, but quickly abandons them in favor of blue jeans, light sport shirts, and a cheap straw hat such as a sharecropper might wear (he's traveling in the summertime.) At first he sees no need to wear any shirt more than once, and develops the habit of throwing his shirt away each day and donning a new one the next -- he can always find a new one. After fifty years pass, a small community of survivors has accumulated, and as the remains of civilization have broken down they've reverted to a high Stone Age culture -- except that they're still wearing blue jeans to go with their animal skins and tribal totems. A portrait of the true future to come?

Hmm, a small band of people who have found each other from all over the world, gathered together after civilization has crumbled, still wearing some clothing from 50 years before that they managed to find? Sounds familiar for some reason.

 

[reetpleat]

I love the early scenes in The Omega man, where Charlton Heston goes clothes shopping, buys a new car, etc.

 

[fathergoose]

Roy Chapman Andrews

I'd completely forgotten about Andrews. When I was young, I read and reread his volumes in the All About series of books. Wonderful writer.

 

[Dragon Soldier]

Always thought that Earth Abides took things back too far, as do many other post-apocalyptic tales.

If civilisation ends now *clicks fingers*, you find your small group and start your new community.
What skill sets are you likely to have there, and how would they develop/digress?

As an example, in the book (IIRC) fifty years hence the youngsters mock one of the older characters for still using a rifle, when bows are much more effective (than a fifty year old piece shooting fifty year old ammo). Now, y'see I reckon that if I were a "tribal chief" post event, the group that I built my new society from would have C21 skill sets, from that I would expect to be able to find someone capable of working metal, even using relatively primitive tools, than someone who knows how cut & season a bow. So, powder and ball firearms might be a more achievable baseline 50 years hence than bows.

Whatever we lose, we don't go back to having to bang the rocks together again.