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Young loungers

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
As an elder statesman around here (65. . . oy!) one of the things I love about it is the number of young people. It's very gratifying to know young folks who are interested in the reality that is only a few years in the past. Not every young person is lucky enough to have friends of other generations these days.
 

Marla

A-List Customer
Messages
421
Location
USA
While there is really no social acceptance in being young and vintage, you can't let the world judge you too much. I'm RodeoRose's contemporary, and have been wearing vintage everyday for the past several years. Where I live it's actually easier to find than fashionable clothing. The past has always been of interest to me, but I didn't start wearing vintage until a stunning 1940s skirt-suit came into my life. I saw it in an antique store and loved it so much I bought it, and then I decided to wear it out. Just once. I've been wearing vintage and collective old things ever since.
 

Gene

Practically Family
Messages
963
Location
New Orleans, La.
As for finding acceptance among my peers, no one seems to have a problem with it. I just mind my own business and do my own thing, usually getting compliments from older folks or from...girls!
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
As for finding acceptance among my peers, no one seems to have a problem with it. I just mind my own business and do my own thing, usually getting compliments from older folks or from...girls!

Same thing happens to me.

I got four compliments yesterday from total strangers, with regards to my outfit.
 

Mr Vim

One Too Many
Messages
1,306
Location
Juneau, Alaska
28 eight years old and staring down the barrel of 30 (and grinning foolishly.)

Vintage attire is a grand thing to be sure. I started wearing it when I was 26, but I've always been into fedoras and suits. The funny thing is someone stopped me today to ask where I got my clothing, and then told me it was because their son, 17 years old, was wanting more suits and ties and what not, apparently their friends are into as well. I was very happy to tell them where I shop online, that's the youngest age I have heard of in regards to vintage apparel.
 

Chaps

One of the Regulars
Messages
160
Location
Memphis, Tennessee
Reading the posts of our younger members gives me hope for the future. I am not so young (52) but I have always been drawn to the style, movies. music of the '30s-'50s. I guess it was easier for me to indulge in the things of those eras because when I was a kid during the '60s, people still used everyday household items from them. My grandmother's telephone was from the late '40s and she was still using it in the early '70s. Heck, we didn't even have color TV in our house until 1975. During the '60s when I started school men still wore hats and suits fairly regular so when I started dressing like that as I got older, no one really noticed. It is great that there are still young people in this world who appreciate timeless style. Makes an old guy like me feel good.
 

The Good

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,361
Location
California, USA
Age 22, here. I'm very passionate about all sorts of history, and I've been meaning to try to develop my own style since about three years ago. I can't consider my style particularly "vintage," per se, but influenced by the classics. Kind of related to the Ivy League look or trad, but a bit more "non-conformist." There's only two things I own that are vintage, a late '40s Stetson hat, and a McGregor Anti-Freeze from the 1960s most likely. If money (and the difficulty of finding such things) were no object, I would like to pull off that sharp, somewhat slim late 1950s through '60s look, although I prefer somewhat wider hat brims than were most popular during that period. 1920s through early '50s style is great too, but I think more difficult for me to attempt pulling off.
 

Gin&Tonics

Practically Family
Messages
899
Location
The outer frontier
I can relate, The Good. My primary problems in dressing in better style are:
1. money
2. scarcity of any vintage clothing around here
3. time - working long hours, long commute, married with almost-two-year-old and trying to adopt internationally makes time a constraint

There is always the ebay, of course, but those are dangerous waters for the novice in vintage, since you have to be careful not to get scammed and that's harder to do when you can't physically inspect the goods.
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
I'm fortunate in that I have thrift-stores and flea-markets within walking-distance of my house (well, anything is walking-distance if you have the time, as they say). They often sell vintage nicknacks at cheap, cheap, cheap prices.

Waistcoats for less than $10. Braces for less than $5 a pair. Bowties & regular ties from anywhere between 50c-$5 (depending on quality & style), jackets from $5-$20, depending on quality. Hats of quality (Stetson, Akubra, etc) for $20-approx (again, dependent on quality).

I've purchased vintage gold cufflinks for as cheap as $20. The most I ever paid for cufflinks was $80, but they were 9kt solid-gold Edwardians. In retrospect I probably should've backed away from those...but they're soooo purdy...

So I consider myself rather lucky. It's a matter of dilligence and knowledge, to build up a decent vintage wardrobe at cheap prices.

I've also managed to procure other vintage things at cheap prices - Straight-razor for $7, strop for $30, scuttle for $15, sharpening stone + instructions (vintage one) for $30....

The good thing about the shaving equipment is that once it's purchased, you'll never have to buy more (in theory...), so you save money in the long-run. That's one advantage of going vintage - Vintage stuff is built to last, so once you own it, you'll never burn money on it again (or something like that...), and when you're a youngster who's looking for work, or who has a low-income, any instance of penny-pinching that you can do, or any 'splurging' to aid penny-pinching that you can do, should be exploited to the fullest possibility.
 

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
Reading the posts of our younger members gives me hope for the future. I am not so young (52) but I have always been drawn to the style, movies. music of the '30s-'50s. I guess it was easier for me to indulge in the things of those eras because when I was a kid during the '60s, people still used everyday household items from them. My grandmother's telephone was from the late '40s and she was still using it in the early '70s. Heck, we didn't even have color TV in our house until 1975. During the '60s when I started school men still wore hats and suits fairly regular so when I started dressing like that as I got older, no one really noticed. It is great that there are still young people in this world who appreciate timeless style. Makes an old guy like me feel good.

Being your age, I went through much of what you wrote here. I enjoyed your post.
 

MikeBravo

One Too Many
Messages
1,301
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Reading the posts of our younger members gives me hope for the future. I am not so young (52) but I have always been drawn to the style, movies. music of the '30s-'50s. I guess it was easier for me to indulge in the things of those eras because when I was a kid during the '60s, people still used everyday household items from them. My grandmother's telephone was from the late '40s and she was still using it in the early '70s. Heck, we didn't even have color TV in our house until 1975. During the '60s when I started school men still wore hats and suits fairly regular so when I started dressing like that as I got older, no one really noticed. It is great that there are still young people in this world who appreciate timeless style. Makes an old guy like me feel good.

I had to chuckle at the colour TV in 1975 part. Australia didn't even broadcast in colour until 1975
 

lolly_loisides

One Too Many
Messages
1,845
Location
The Blue Mountains, Australia
I had to chuckle at the colour TV in 1975 part. Australia didn't even broadcast in colour until 1975

That reminds me of this - On 28th Feb 1975 Aunty Jack introduced colour television broadcasting on ABC-TV, beating another channel's first colour program by deliberately starting three minutes early.
"the colour! It's leaking through the window!"
[video=youtube;vIqqiK4ncfs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIqqiK4ncfs[/video]
 
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Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
I find it funny how some people think some things are really new, and some things are really old, when they're not.

Example of 1 - Colour photography (both still & moving) has existed since the mid-1800s (still) and since the birth of film (moving). Granted, with moving pictures, they had to colour each frame by hand, but still, it was colour film.

Example of 2 - The Olympic Torch. Ancient Greek ritual? Methinks not. It was invented by the Nazis in 1936.
 

Gin&Tonics

Practically Family
Messages
899
Location
The outer frontier
I'm fortunate in that I have thrift-stores and flea-markets within walking-distance of my house (well, anything is walking-distance if you have the time, as they say). They often sell vintage nicknacks at cheap, cheap, cheap prices.

Waistcoats for less than $10. Braces for less than $5 a pair. Bowties & regular ties from anywhere between 50c-$5 (depending on quality & style), jackets from $5-$20, depending on quality. Hats of quality (Stetson, Akubra, etc) for $20-approx (again, dependent on quality).

I've purchased vintage gold cufflinks for as cheap as $20. The most I ever paid for cufflinks was $80, but they were 9kt solid-gold Edwardians. In retrospect I probably should've backed away from those...but they're soooo purdy...

So I consider myself rather lucky. It's a matter of dilligence and knowledge, to build up a decent vintage wardrobe at cheap prices.

I've also managed to procure other vintage things at cheap prices - Straight-razor for $7, strop for $30, scuttle for $15, sharpening stone + instructions (vintage one) for $30....

The good thing about the shaving equipment is that once it's purchased, you'll never have to buy more (in theory...), so you save money in the long-run. That's one advantage of going vintage - Vintage stuff is built to last, so once you own it, you'll never burn money on it again (or something like that...), and when you're a youngster who's looking for work, or who has a low-income, any instance of penny-pinching that you can do, or any 'splurging' to aid penny-pinching that you can do, should be exploited to the fullest possibility.

The trick of course is having thrift stores that sell what you're looking for. I hit a couple today and it was very disappointing. I did snag four decent looking tie-bars for 2.50 all told, but that's it. I was awash in a sea of polyester junk! :shudder:

I would absolutely love to shave with a straight razor, but I do not have the time at all. I use an electric :(
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Straight-razors aren't hard to use. If a half-blind guy like me can do it, you should have no problem. If you want help with that, contact me privately (either here, or on our other forum. You know the one).
 

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