who mixes it up?

[kamikat]

Since I don't do vintage everyday, I haven't taken the plunge and cut my hair. Back when it was shorter, it looked great in a typical 50's hairdo. Now that it's long, it will do a great 40's do, no problem. However, after trial and error, I have decided that 50's clothing styles suit me better than 40's. I think it's the built-up shoulder. On the other hand, I prefer the 40's shoes. The thicker heel is so much more comfortable ad easier for me to wear. What to do? Right now, whenever I wear a 50's dress, I just put my hair up in a quick up-do and forget it. Should I just not worry about it? Do you mix and match your eras?

 

[Blondie]

Hey KamiKat,
i mix and match era's and i mix and match new and old.
For me , it's about a sense of fun, putting my own twist on stuff, i mainly have 50's clothes, shoes, purses etc but do have some great 40's pieces like overalls, cute blouses and some nice suits & jackets. I also love bakelite, rolled hair, and 40's shoes.
So for me its more about enjoying what i wear and not so i fit into a box to be labeled !!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Mixing and matching was not at all uncommon during the Era itself -- many women, especially during the Depression and war years, would wear past years' clothing for as long as it was serviceable, so for example it wasn't at all rare to see a 1930's dress on the street in 1942, or a pair of mid-forties shoes still being worn in 1951. Same thing with hairstyles -- a lot of women tended to stick with what they were used to rather than rushing to adopt whatever trend was on the cover of Harpers Bazaar. My grandmother wore a simple late-30s era hairstyle her entire adult life.

 

[thebadmamajama]

A lot of times I curse it that we aren't actually in the past so that we have the joy of that full-immersion of a period, but I think it's almost better that we have the benefit of being in the present (at present ) so that we CAN pick and choose what's best for us in any given era. I think it's a real blessing and allows for total creativity. Maybe those rolls DO look better with the pencil skirt. It's all you and who you are, so start picking and choosing and have fun with it.

 

[The Shirt]

I definitely mix it up. I have a lot of modern clothes that have a vintage feel. I would have to make a whole lot more money to walk around completely period correct. What I have found for myself is that I can complete only a handful of vintage era hairstyles. Certain outfits look better with my hair up or vice versa. Personally I tend to wear and be attracted to 40s-50s items and I think they tend to overlap a bit to the lay person's eye. If it's not a matching era - it has never really bothered me. I suppose I think about women today walking around sporting a "Rachel" cut - it may seem a bit out of date if you really think about it- but it's never really bothered me. If someone looks good and wears something confidently - I say to each their own.

 

[Liz]

Personally I tend to wear and be attracted to 40s-50s items and I think they tend to overlap a bit to the lay person's eye.

I always tell myself that when I'm wearing '40s-style shoes, my '50s glasses and a '60s coat. Unless you're wearing something costumey that screams a certain era (like a poodle skirt and saddle shoes), I really don't think the average person knows the difference between a '40s or '50s outfit or hairstyle, so just go with what you like the best! That's what I do.

 

[TheKitschGoth]

I always tell myself that when I'm wearing '40s-style shoes, my '50s glasses and a '60s coat. Unless you're wearing something costumey that screams a certain era (like a poodle skirt and saddle shoes), I really don't think the average person knows the difference between a '40s or '50s outfit or hairstyle, so just go with what you like the best! That's what I do.

This is true, I went witrh work to a murder mystery party which turned out to be based in the 20's, and I was wearing 40's rolls in my hair. According to everyone at work I fitted right in. [huh]

 

[RetroModelSari]

I´m a mix and matcher, too. I´ll wear whatever will look good and suit

 

[ShortClara]

Yes, I love mixing it up! I think Blondie said it well - if it's not fun for you, what's the point?

I have longer hair right now, and when I wear my 50s stuff (mixed liberally with modern shoes or whatever) I usually do soft waves in the hair with the curling iron. Easy-peasy and it all goes together I think. Think late Veronica Lake more than Ethel Mertz

 

[NoirDame]

Most people who don't follow the fashion like we do will not be able to discern between eras. To them, it's all an "old Hollywood" look.

 

[jayem]

I mix up a lot. When I wear my 20s flapper dress, I usually wear some knit leggings under and ballet shoes. Often I'll wear jeans and a vintage blouse. Sometimes I'll wear a very vintage dress, and have modern hair... or I'll wear a very modern outfit, and have a pin curled, finger waved hair style. Mixing up is half the fun!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I'm another that mixes it up. Most of my clothes are modern, but have a vintage feel. My look has accents from the 20s to the 50s, sometimes something 60s, sometimes something 80s.

 

[Snookie]

I don't mix my eras too much. Once in a while I might wear a vintage coat with jeans, and I do wear modern clothes and try to pass them off as vintage, but I'm usually picking a year (or decade) in my head and trying to get everything to match. I'm not a rule breaker, in any area of my life.

Other people intentionally mixing eras for their daily look doesn't bother me though. When I attend an event that's supposed to take place in the 20's, say, and someone's wearing a 30's dress or a 40's hairstyle, it does strike me as odd. But in those cases, I figure they're wearing what makes them comfortable, which doesn't bother me at all. I'm only really bothered by people wearing (or selling!!) 60's-70's-80's stuff and thinking it's much older (which I know is snobby and shouldn't bother me, but it does).

 

[Antje]

i'm also mixing my styles,
its to much fun mixing clothing hair and shoes toghether,
i wear my hair and make up most of the times more 40's then 50's but when it comes to clothing it is most 50's

i like wearing anything I want just because it makes me, me

 

[Sunny]

I mix it up, but not deliberately; I just do what looks nice to me. I always do my hair in my own version of front rolls, whether I'm wearing 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s. I wear my black suede 1930s shoes because they're black, not because I'm wearing 1930s. Right now I'm wearing a modern lacy tee with a modern cardigan, paired with a brown skirt made from a 1940s pattern and repro brown suede slingbacks. All because it looks right together.

That said, I try to avoid things that really jar, or if I have a choice, I'll usually go with the more period-appropriate option. I do this not because I'm just being hard-line about it, but because to my eye the period look is usually "better."

And in some cases, I wear vintage with modern because that's all I've got. Like wearing my late 1940s full-skirted coat over jeans when I played laser tag. It was very cold outside, so I wore my heaviest coat. The fact that it was vintage was just incidental.

 

[Lauren]

Ditto what everyone else said. Most of the time I wear 40's shoes even with 30's just because they are so much more comfortable. I have a few pairs of 30's shoes I reserve for very special occasions just because I know they're getting rarer and rarer and anything old sooner or later will fall apart. If I'm going to a vintage event I try to be as true to the specific period as possible, but like Lizzie Maine said, just like now eras overlapped. I know I still have some things ranging from now back to late 90's that I wear in my day to day wardrobe. They would have done the same. I guess it just depends on what you're going for. While the wealthy woman or popular movie starlet in, say, 1942, could afford head to toe perfection in season and style (and believe me, modes and fads changed just as fast then as now) , the average woman could not.
In day to day I wear what I like. I'll wear pants I made from a 30's pattern with a modern button up shirt and my Pendleton with a 50's pin and my hair up in 40's. Or everything modern except my shoes and purse. Just do what you like unless you're specifically trying to say "I'm from (insert era here)"

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

I also mix it up. I prefer the 1940s look, and usually dress in that style head to toe, but I love my pencil skirts and of course, as soon as I put on my cat-eyes so I can see properly, I am instantly not 1940s-correct!

 

[ShooShooBaby]

I also mix it up. I prefer the 1940s look, and usually dress in that style head to toe, but I love my pencil skirts and of course, as soon as I put on my cat-eyes so I can see properly, I am instantly not 1940s-correct!

i have 50s glasses too, for reading. no one in my classes knows they don't go with the 40s gear

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

i have 50s glasses too, for reading. no one in my classes knows they don't go with the 40s gear

Well, exactly. As mentioned before, to the 'layperson' it's all generic 'vintage'. I regularly get people telling me they love my '1920s look'!

 

[exquisitebones]

Well, exactly. As mentioned before, to the 'layperson' it's all generic 'vintage'. I regularly get people telling me they love my '1920s look'!

isint that funny... If i dress 40s, they say, oh look at that little 50s lady!
and if I dress 50s, everyone assumes I am a flapper or something from the 20s.. people are so funny about what they remember from history.