How Would You Define Vintage?
So what exactly is the definition of vintage? We’ve been wondering ever since a buyer friend of ours tried to claim her H&M skirt was vintage cause she bought it two seasons ago. We found an answer to the question on Catwalk Creative, an online UK shopping site that specializes in goodies from a past era.
As a relatively new term, its meaning is open to much interpretation. Dealers haven’t officially established what defines and differentiates vintage from antique, recycled (secondhand) and retro. Consumers – and some dealers – use the word ‘vintage’ as a collective term that defines anything old. For clarification, purists would categorize ‘old clothes’ as the following:
- Antique clothing refers to any garments that pre-date 1920 (the nineteenth century; the Belle Epoque era).
- Vintage is anything that dates after 1920 and up to the mid 1980s.
- Retro mainly refers to Sixties’ and Seventies’ casual wear.
- Recycled (secondhand) is anything post early Eighties – not strictly ‘vintage’ clothing in the generic sense of the word.
If you can’t remember all of the above, remember only this: anything less than twenty to twenty-five years old is NOT ‘vintage’.
So rocking a pair of bleached overalls you found at Goodwill that look like they fell of the set of Saved by the Bell doesn’t make you a vintage queen. Keep that in mind indies as style quickly falls into 90’s. You’re not rocking vintage, you’re rocking recycled.
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I love and agree with that description as a general definition of “vintage. However, I think the word vintage is highly overused.
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Reply to Kristen MayThe term ‘vintage’ is used by everyone these days to sum up something that’s simply been worn before. However, for purists, as the blog suggests, and for most people, it relates to merchandise that’s at least 20 years old (dating from 1988 onwards). Just take a look at etsy.com for evidence of this. Vintage sellers on Etsy cannot list anything as vintage unless it’s at least 20 years old. Therefore, anything made post 1988 should be deemed, plainly and simply, as recycled or retro recycled - it is not TRUE vintage. xx
Reply to LouiseI agree with the “25-year Rule” for vintage. Anything that looks older than that, but actually isn’t, I term “retro,” meaning more that it’s a reproduction of actual vintage.
As for secondhand - I’m the expert on this! Second-hand, re-sale, consignment, or “recycled” clothing (although it’s not recycled in the strict sense of the word) is ANY piece of clothing, shoes, accessories, etc., that is purchased having been already worn or used. That can include vintage or retro clothing, but it might include that H&M skirt from two years ago that somebody donated to Goodwill.
Speaking of which, keep on rocking those bleached overalls. Just save them for special occasions, okay? Ha. -the DCGF
Reply to DC Goodwill Fashionista