What vintage won't you wear?

[W-D Forties]

50's full skirts make me look huuuge! I can't wear 60's or anything with an shift or Empire line cut - I always look pregnant. Don't do manicured or long nails, I hate the way they feel and not suitable for my job either. Love shoulder pads though, it's a 40's cut all the way for me!

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

My style trends towards the 20s, 30s and 40s. I mentioned earlier I couldn't do victory rolls and full vintage, another vintage style I couldn't do are those 40s wedges. I found one pair in my closet that I must have bought when I was off my rocker but I can't even walk in them without my foot/ankle rolling over and me almost falling.

 

[ArtGirl]

Interesting that many people are mentioning things I can't wear, either.

I used to wear 1920s fashions, but as I've gotten (just a little!) heavier, I can't wear them. I'm working on slimming way down, so I'm looking forward to being able to wear them again.

Capped sleeves make my arms look heavy. Never been able to pull off the no-sleeve look, either.

60s styles have never worked on me, even when I've been my slimmest. The dropped waist is a no-go with any sort of curves, IMO.

I tend to stay away from too much from froufrou, flounce, bows and overly girly stuff, because it's not me. But I will wear a baby doll dress, which seems to work.

I like reasonable 50s dresses with a bit of a crinoline sometimes, just not the FULL skirts, which I think look ridiculous on me, being petite with thick legs. Actually I don't think the full skirts are very becoming on older women, either.

Giant shoulder pads are no good on my petite frame, but the smaller type of shoulder pads are ok.

As I've gotten older, I feel a little ridiculous going as costumey as I used to, can't seem to wear the red lips, and I find I am forgoing many of the hats I used to love, the bows and flowers in my hair, and have pared down the outfits to a bit more simple style. One day I'll get my avatar updated to reflect my current look. I do still love gloves, though.

I've never been great at fussing over hairstyles, so I keep that simple. Never felt comfortable in full victory rolls so instead I go with a simple hair comb 'do.

I keep trying to do bullet bras, but I feel too conspicuous in them. I don't feel like girdles do what they are supposed to on me (maybe because I already have a small waist?), but I love a vintage waist cincher to tighten that baby down another inch (whereas I don't feel a corset does this because of it's bulkiness).

I can't do dresses without heels because of my curvy leg shape, so many times I just don't feel like wearing them, unless I'm dressing up for some occasion. I'd rather do jeans or pants with a vintage top or sweater for casual wear.

 

[NicolettaRose]

Hey everyone, I am back after not posting for a couple of years, here is some vintage I don't really wear:

Usually I am pretty liberal when it comes to the eras I wear, I have everything in my closet from 1900's-1970s, but I tend to go mostly for 1930s-40s and some fifties and some cute Jackie O inspired 60s for everyday wear and for special occasions I pull out my 1920s and 1910s. Seventies has to be really exceptional piece, or I don't wear it generally.

First off, I don't wear heels. I'm a flats/wedge girl, heels hate my feet and my feet hate them. I'm fine with being petite. Women who can wear heels get my praises.
Second, I don't like any kind of itchy/heavy polyester
Third: I can't wear cashmere, wool, angora, this is not by choice, my skin just gets itchy when it gets within one inch of my skin. I can wear orlon which is a nice alt.
Forth:I don't really wear a lot of black, to me its too somber, colorful vintage prints make me happy.
Fifth: I do wear crinolines with my fifties dresses, but I wear a small period one, not the huge full ones, just something to give my dress a nice shape. I don't like the huge, huge ones, they just look kind of silly unless you are wearing a formal/cocktail dress.
Sixth: I don't wear heavy makeup, I prefer the "sweet old fashioned girl next door" look as opposed to the starlet/pinup girl, so I go more for this look and wear pretty, natural, classic makeup.
Seven: I don't wear victory rolls, I don't know how to do them and to me they look a little to "done up" for me, I prefer 40s/50s styles without them.

 

[fgradowski]

ArtGirl---Cap sleeves are horrible! They almost never fit me right and they make my arms look massive. Bleh. It doesn't matter how cute the rest of a dress is, if it has cap sleeves I won't even consider buying it.

 

[LadyBaltimore]

I can't pull off those 60s sleeveless a-line dresses. I do better with either a spaghetti strap or a full sleeve, but the wide sleeveless look where most the shoulders are covered, only serves to make my head look very tiny in proportion to my shoulders, if you ask me.

Also all those mini-dresses and skirts of the 60s, as I have a long torso and long legs, and really those tend to barely cover.

Like many of you, I have felt gloves (especially longer gloves) would feel a little too costume-like (and white gloves I'd ruin, undoubtedly). I don't do much in the way of vintage accessories, although my mother gave me some of her mother's hats, from around the 40s I believe, so I might try those with some of my dresses from that era.

I wear mostly dresses from the 40s-50s, and wish I could afford more 30s, although even the 40s can often be out of my price range many times... I'm really not very adequate with hairstyling and most days just wear my hair down, in a single braid, or in a milkmaid braid, which is my favorite and has a little more of a vintage touch without being over the top, I think. I'm impressed with girls who can do the full make-up and victory rolls and so forth, though. But mostly I just slip on a dress and some sandals and go.

 

[swanson_eyes]

I'd probably try anything, but I don't care for the New Look shape on all but a few people and I certainly can't carry it off with my waist-to-hip ratio.

 

[NorthernLass]

I'm too curvy to wear anything from the 20's, big boobs and hips means 40's and 50's all the way. I love bullet bra's but don't wear them very often, they tend to look a bit out of place at the toddler groups that are my social life right now!!

 

[Mervinwaves]

Nothing after the 1950s! I do not like the 1920s drop waist clothing, the New Look, full 1950s skirts, most hats because I look bad in most of them, really pointy bullet bras because I don't have enough tits to even fill them out the first place; I refuse to wear my hair short like they did in the 1920s and 30s, half moon manicure from the 1930s-1940s, stiletto heels, short skirts and dresses above the knees, dark red lipstick, 1950s Spingolators, beach pyjamas, wide leg pants, and thin eyebrows.
If it does not flatter me, I won't bother with it. The 1940s is my favorite era thus that's what I wear 95% of the time. I also wear some 1930s and 1950s clothes as long as it flatters me.

 

[Bixie Bliss]

Mainly bullet bras. That's the only thing that comes to mind when I think about it. i think most other styles or accessories you can adapt up to a point for whatever your body shape happens to be. New look would be a bit difficult on my body shape, but I'd come up with some approximation of it!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I've changed my answer. I love it all from the 1910s to the 2010s!!

 

[Grant Fan]

I adore the 1920s look, that being said I don't like the waist less or drop waist look on me it makes me look huge, or at least feel like I look huge. Also a no go on the bullet bra look. And even though it looks great on a lot of ladies I think I look silly with winged eyeliner. I am a 1940s girl but being that I am broad shouldered I won't wear shoulder pads, and have been know to disassemble garments to remove them. Nearly everything from the 40 until the early 60s I will wear.

 

[Helena Grace]

What would I not wear? Good gracious..... If it's vintage, I'll wear it if I have it.

Twenties and Sixties are not my first choice in the slightest (they're not even really my ninth or fifteenth choice.....) but if I was able to get either a very good reproduction or an original dress or outfit from those eras? I'd wear it. But I infinitely prefer shaped eras, and will gladly wear underpinnings and shapewear and hats and gloves and stockings and basically anything.

I won't wear sleeveless though, and prefer at least three-quarter sleeves on everything.

 

[asheslaree]

Oh hi, ive lurked here forever but never posted.

Anyhow. I used to say "no 20s anything" but Ive found a few 20s pieces that work with my body type. I guess there is not much vintage I *wont* wear, but I shy away for 60s mod and 70s..anything unless its a "70s does 40s" style dress. Also no shoulder pads! I l know its bad...but I cut the shoulder pads out of everything. I hate them.

 

[jazzcleopatra]

I love the Art Deco era most, but 20's doesn't work on me for clothing, so I do more 30's. I'm petite and slender/curvy, but look really young, so want my waist emphasized. 30's silhouette seems made for me with the slim slinky lines that allow soft curves.

Any extreme makeup looks. I can do a cat eye or bold lip, but never both together and no dramatic eyebrows. I tend to like a natural look for day to day and save more flair for going out. I do like a slightly elongated pointy nail though, go figure.

Overly fussy anything. Again, I'm petite and look young and like looking more sophisticated sexy. So bows and frill don't meet my agenda and overwhelm my frame. Patterns have the same ovely girly effect on me. I do have two chinoiserie patterned pieces that I like for a tropical feel, but plan to switch out for solid pieces in breezy fabrics soon. i just find patterns limit my mixing ability and look too precious on me.

Anything too structured. I love a defined waist but as far as over all feel I like more flowy, yet body skimming if that makes sense.

 

[SwingPrincess]

Hi and sorry about digging this thread up from over a year ago!

Vintage things I definitely wouldn't wear are:

• Anything Rockabilly style
• Huge circle skirts with pastel colours and too much petticoat, which unfortunately is the standard look vintage enthusiasts go for where I live
• The complicated foundation wear and bullet bras!

And that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Apple Blossom]

Hi and sorry about digging this thread up from over a year ago!

Vintage things I definitely wouldn't wear are:

• Anything Rockabilly style
• Huge circle skirts with pastel colours and too much petticoat, which unfortunately is the standard look vintage enthusiasts go for where I live
• The complicated foundation wear and bullet bras!

And that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

I don't really consider Rockabilly to be a vintage look, since it's such an eclectic clashing and mis-matching of different styles and so heavily influenced by punk, goth and the like. It's very John Waters meets Tim Burton meets PeeWee's Playhouse, usually, but I think it's adorable. I wouldn't wear it, either but that's just because I prefer to try for era accuracy which isn't always easy for a bigger girl like me!

What I won't wear:

Real vintage garments -
I prefer reproductions and sewing what I want, rather than wearing real vintage because it's hard to come by in my size but, more importantly, it would get ruined living the life I live! A lot of scrubbing, a lot of dusting and bleaching. And I live with my sister and aging stepfather and he's messier than a toddler, his shenanigans have ruined a blouse or two of mine! So I use real vintage pieces to draft patterns then sell them. The only real vintage I wear are hats, jewelry and other like accessories. I refill my vintage lipstick bullets and compacts, always carry a vintage bag, but I won't wear actual vintage garments.

Winged eyeliner - I tend to follow the 1940s model of 'easy does it' with eye makeup, in general. Especially given that I'm partial to a red lip and both, together, are overkill for my era of choice.

Over-the-top prints - Also very rockabilly and very cute just too modern for me.

 

[St. Louis]

I'm glad this thread was revived. I'm under the impression, reading the older responses, that many (most?) women here like to wear vintage styles from most eras, maybe because of the charm and appeal of vintage, rather than because they're trying to embody a particular era. Would you say that's true of you?

I wear exclusively mid-30s to mid-40s now (my definition of Golden Era) but when I was younger, I'd go from the 1910s through the 1960s. I still appreciate those looks on other people, but now that I'm actually trying to live my whole life in the Era, I've given away all my vintage clothing from other decades.

 

[Apple Blossom]

I'm glad this thread was revived. I'm under the impression, reading the older responses, that many (most?) women here like to wear vintage styles from most eras, maybe because of the charm and appeal of vintage, rather than because they're trying to embody a particular era. Would you say that's true of you?

I wear exclusively mid-30s to mid-40s now (my definition of Golden Era) but when I was younger, I'd go from the 1910s through the 1960s. I still appreciate those looks on other people, but now that I'm actually trying to live my whole life in the Era, I've given away all my vintage clothing from other decades.

I love beautiful fashion from all decades, but I try to stick to the mid-30s through mid-40s as well and am making a valiant effort to be at least somewhat authentic (failing, but trying). I dabbled a bi in the 50s and early 60s when I first started out but quickly decided it didn't suit me. Quite lovely but not my style.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It isn't so much a "period" thing with me as it is a matter of wearing something that doesn't make me look like a dump truck. Simple war-era shirtwaist dresses do the trick. Very simple, efficient, three-and-a-half-yards-of-fabric designs do the trick, while covering things that need to be covered and allowing freedom of movement to do what needs to be done.