How began my journey into the realm of vintage... (part one)

Love for old stuff was instilled in me by my great-grandmother, a veteran of the Second World War. Her youth fell on difficult war years, but her whole life filled with exhausting physical labor can hardly be called easy. She was born into a wealthy family, but the wealth was lost when she was only 7 years old and from then on her hardships began. Therefore, she always treated every thing with respect - she never threw away old clothes, darned and altered them. Until her death, she remained true to the old classics, she never wore jeans or tracksuits or sneakers, but wore dresses, skirts, blouses, coats, shoes and even stockings. Unfortunately, due to life circumstances, many of her things of 1940-1960 were lost and this was a great blow to her. Due to constant money problems, she was no longer able to acquire things like the lost ones. But according to my mother, she had wonderful dresses and hats made of real silk velvet!

Unfortunately she died when I was too little girl and she never seen my vintage outfits inspired by her. I still miss my great-grandmother… so this blog is dedicated to her.

When I started my journey into the realm of vintage style in early youth, these were not quite serious attempts to find myself there and not get lost. Also, back then I had less courage and less opportunity to get something really vintage, except some surviving things (from the period 1980-1990) from my grandmother's and mother's wardrobes. It's good that in those years fashion designers repeated the fashion of the past, so, for example, a skirt from the 1980s or 1990s can look like a skirt from the 1940s or 1950s.

I started in the 1950s and early 1960s because those two periods were easier to portray.

I only had few dresses: one home-made from vintage material (printed cotton – green with white flowers) based on a 1950s pattern, two modern cotton replicas of dresses from the 1950s (blue with white polka dots and black with red hearts), one white linen sundress from end of 2000s and two second-hand dresses (whole black and red with black flowers) from an indeterminate period that combined, with the right accessories, could look like an outfit of the required period. Also I had two skirts – one home-made orange linen full circle and one secondhand white cotton with red polka dot. So all my retro inspired wardrobe was meant only for the summer. 

I had only one hat – my mother’s wide brim straw hat dated by 1980s-1990s. 

But I tried to replace the missing hats with silk scarves, by the way, genuinely vintage and possible from the 1960s! Also I wear home-made hand knitted cotton gloves.

My favorite handbag, the first one I bought was eco-leather little bag in white color with black and white crow's feet pattern on lid and black handle, that perfectly fit into my outfits!

But I experimented not only with clothes, but also with eyebrows and hair. I had both the thinnest eyebrows and the thickest eyebrows, the longest hair and... medium hair, because very short is not mine. Also I experimented with its color – in different shades of blonde. But in early period I had long hair and thinnest eyebrows I ever worn. Now it seems a little creepy to me, something in the spirit of the 1920s and Leonardo's Mona Lisa... but I'm glad that I had such an experience.

To be continued...