The idea of vintage fashion is not a new one. However, the skillful art of tastefully refashioning an old outfit is a newer trend; a revolution if you will.
This modernisation of old clothes or “fashion hacking” as the French call it, has reached such a height that some fashion followers are actually pledging to an online blogging site to “refashion, renovate and recycle pre-loved items” for the term of their contract. Even Levi Jeans are in on the act with a blog dedicated to the customisation of the jean.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) fashion lecturer, Kathleen Horton, says vintage is a way for the fashion conscious to be individual. “Vintage clothing present[s] a way of wearing unique and beautiful clothing without simply subscribing to following the latest trend.”
The other advantage is the financial one; second hand is much more economical. “Many of the current trends towards customisation are inspired by a concern for the wastefulness of the fashion industry,” Horton says.
Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach, an Austrian writer, once commented that, “So soon as fashion is universal, it is out of date.” That is until half a century and a few creative tweaks later when it becomes very much in fashion, again.