Elderly Reactions To Vintage

BettyMaraschino · Jan 18, 2011

The sweetest thing I've heard from an elderly gentleman (he was at least 90ish) was "Are you Nikkiki? You used to work in the hospital when I was young and you looked after me?" (my name is Niki, weird coincidence)
Apparently she was a Nurse at the hospital near mine. He mistook me for her all those years back

In my grandmas fur coat I look the exact same as her when she was 22. Literally twins.

Oh and I am forever getting stopped in the street by little old ladies to tell me they love how I dress/do my makeup. always puts a smile on my face

Snowdrop · Jan 18, 2011

Hey guys, good to meet you all, it's my first post here so I'm kind of nervous, but...
I've had some lovely comments about my clothing from older people and have heard the most amazing stories about their lives. One old lady commented on my hair and then told me about her experiences during the blitz and a romance she'd had with a pilot. It was such a sad story, but I was really honoured that she chose to share it with me, a perfect stranger, all because she liked my hair!

An elderly gentleman who ran a little grocery store in my neighbourhood in Toronto, used to tell me how much I reminded him of Ava Gardner, which was possibly the nicest compliment I'd ever heard, Every time I went in there he'd talk about my clothes or hair and if he saw me walk past his store, he'd throw me an apple or an orange and give me a little wink. His wife used to roll her eyes at him and tell him to leave me be, but I loved our conversations and I got to know all about he and his wife and their lives in Italy, all about their children and grand-children and even great-grandchildren. I really missed talking to them when I moved apartments.

Sunny87 · Jan 19, 2011

Thats nice, do you ever ask them what that time period was like for them?
I would love to one day, if it can ever happen, to talk to a lady who lived through the 1920s.

Juliet · Jan 19, 2011

I think one of nicest compliments coming from an elderly person was from my university professor - "Finally a young lady with matching shoes and purse!!!" Then he proceeded telling the guy he was sharing the room with, how girls these days don't care about looking "proper" and how nice it is to see someone who does.
It felt especially nice coming from a Hungarian, as in most cases, you'll get a thinly-covered sneer for not being the same as everybody else and caring about your appearance.
Most compliments I get here is from people over 60 - and it really gives me a boost in confidence.

Sunny87
That's what I'd love too! Most times I have a lot more fun talking to elderly people about their lives, that with my peers. And the sad thing is, most of them are surprised that someone is interested in hearing about them.

Shangas · Jan 19, 2011

I don't get many comments from elderly people, but I do get quite a few from middle-aged people (from their 40s-60s). Stuff like "Nice hat"/"I like your hat"/"It goes well with you!" to "Nice vest"/"Waistcoat". I remember one lady even asking me where she could BUY the waistcoat I was wearing at the time (I was helping customers in a clothing-shop in this instance). She wanted it for her son. I believe I gave her the address of the shop and that's all I know. I wonder if she ever bought it...

Snowdrop · Jan 19, 2011

Sunny87 - I do! I love to hear about their lives and what is was actually like to live during those times. I always find it interesting when I speak to elderly people in the UK, because they usually tell me that though times were hard during the war, they think it was a much nicer time to be young, despite the food rationing, bombing and all. I think that says a lot about life in the 21st century! lol

Juliet · Jan 19, 2011

Snowdrop said:
I think that says a lot about life in the 21st century! lol

Does it EVER!

Yeps · Jan 19, 2011

My great uncle Tootsie told me that I looked like a mafioso (he might have phrased it slightly differently, but that was the gist of it). Given where he grew up in Baltimore, it was meant as a compliment. They were the only sharp dressers at the time.

On a slightly tangential note, a few years back, when my grandma heard the term metrosexual, and we had to explain what it meant, she said: "Oh, those have always been around. Back in my day, they were called zoot suiters."

Lauren · Jan 19, 2011

Hmm.. most elderly people I have talked to think it's strange or are surprised I like "old junk". lol
But middle aged people think it's interesting and cool- like something their mother wore. Funny!

I<3Tiki · Jan 19, 2011

When I went to my grandfather's funeral last fall, my great aunts said I looked so nice. one of them said my hair rminded her of Lana Turner. At the service, a guy (don't remember who) commented that it was nice to see a lady wearing a hat in church again.

On the same trip, my grandma from the other side of my family also gave me a bunch of her dresses & she was really psyched about seeing me try them on & that I want to wear them. As I was trying them on, too, she remembered where she got some of them or when she wore them.

Marla · Jan 20, 2011

I really enjoy talking with elderly people and hearing their stories. I first discovered that elderly people had interesting stories to tell when I was eight years old and met my great-grandmother for the first time, who lived on the other side of the country. She was almost 100, but had remembered everything that had happened to her, and could talk about it clearly. At the time I had just learnt of WWII and was very interested in it, so she reminisced about her experiences with the Nazis when they occupied her village (near Moscow, Russia).

Thankfully, my both sets of my grandparents are still alive, and I've drilled them all on what the 1940s and 1950s were like for them. I think they're past the point of being pleased and are now even mildly annoyed!

So now I've moved on to befriending elderly people who are not related to me. Dressing in vintage is a big help there. It sort of helps to ingratiate me, and the conversation usually starts with them complementing me. I've met some incredible elderly people that way, who had fascinating stories. It's true, they're always really surprised someone is interested in them. My favorite occurrence is them showing me their collections, mementos, and anything else from their youth that they've deemed important enough to save. It's an in into their world, and I'm grateful, but it's sad how lonely and unappreciated they are.

BoPeep · Jan 20, 2011

I<3Tiki said:
... my grandma from the other side of my family also gave me a bunch of her dresses & she was really psyched about seeing me try them on & that I want to wear them...

I recently had a woman who owns the drugstore in town offer me her mother's coat. She had seen me about town and was so happy to find someone who would appreciate it (no children of her own). It was a gorgeous garnet red with mink collar and cuffs, circa 1930, but far too big on me!

But I now seem to have made a new vintage friend!

flat-top · Jan 20, 2011

I used to manage the men's department in a store a few years ago. One day an eldery gentleman stopped me and pointed at the two tone wingtips I was wearing. He told me that his first purchase after returning home from the war was a pair that looked exactly like the ones I was wearing. He had to have them. He told me he never even wore them and that they were still sitting in his closet to that day.
It was touching to imagine this young soldier so far from home, fantasizing about buying himself this LUXURY item when he finally got back to the US.

Isabel Godfrey · Jan 21, 2011

The best comment I've ever heard from an older gentleman was a few Sundays ago at church. I hadn't gone all out, that happens only very rarely, but I was wearing a cute little modern wrap dress and I had my hair curled and my make-up done, and an older man at church, as he was passing by me into the sanctuary, stopped, took another look, and said that I looked beautiful. Then he said, "If I was 40 years younger..." and continued on his way. I was absolutely thrilled with his compliments, because he's the first to compliment me who lived through the time when the styles I like were new.

Lenore · Jan 23, 2011

Christmas before last, my grandmother-in-law broke her hip. In her delusions of "I'm dyyyyying" she told me that I was to have all her shoes as I would be the only one to appreciate them.

John in Covina · Jan 23, 2011

When dressed with fedora I get complimented occasionally by the older folks.

Old Rogue · Jan 23, 2011

This is a fantastic thread. The older folks in our families and communities are a treasure that most of us don't fully appreciate. They have often lived fascinating lives. Take my paternal grandmother for instance. As a young girl she lived in Alabama. Her father took a job in road construction during the 20's. The entire family followed the road as it was being built, living in what was described to me as a "covered wagon". I imagine it was something like the 1920's version of a pop-up camper. Because of their gypsy life-style she wasn't able to attend a traditional school, but she taught herself to read. I can't even imagine that, teaching yourself to read! Her family eventually wound up in Hopewell, Virginia where she met my grandfather. Sadly, I learned all of this about my grandmother during the eulogy at her funeral. It has been many years since she died, but I often wonder what other wonderful, inspiring, or just plain fascinating stories about her life I missed simply because I never took the time to sit down and ask about the old times. It was a difficult lesson, but one I've never forgotten.

LandGirl1980 · Jan 24, 2011

I think the best one I have ever had was at a county house in the summer. I was lurking outside (probably having a sneeky roll up) and one of the "guides" hobbled over to me. I say hobbled because the gentleman was 91. I thought he was going to ask me to stop smoking (I get confused these days with what I am, and what I am not, allowed to do with my own lungs in a public open space) but instead, he beamed at me and said:-

"You look a treat! Your hair is perfect and you remind me of the girls of my youth"

I nearly fell over.

I have also been complemented by ladies - usually in charity/thrift stores as they tend to be of an older generation telling me how nice it is to see someone dressed nicely. My Grandad also tells me everytime I see him that I remind him so much of his Mum.

Lovely Leah · Jan 28, 2011

I have had nothing but positive comments from senior men and women. One of best came a few months ago at a wedding. I was wearing a 1950's shirt waist dress, hat, black gloves. A very elegantly dressed elderly woman, slightly unsteady, and wearing a contemporary suit told me that in the day she would wear an outfit like mine. She said it is too bad that today many woman have no sense of style. She looked at my cane and told me that if a younger woman can use a cane with such 'panache' an old lady (her words, not mine) shouldn't be afraid to use a cane. Her daughter said to her that settles it we are getting you one

W-D Forties · Jan 29, 2011

I was out with friends last night, and in a busy pub we got seats next to an elderley gentleman. As we were leaving he stopped me as I passed and said 'you look very lovely'. I thanked him for his kind words and we left. My friend said that she overheard him saying to the lady he was with that I reminded him of someone he knew in the 40's. I really wish he would have spoken to me whilst we were sitting there, it would have been lovely to have a proper chat (but when 3 women get talking I suspect he wouldn't have been able to get a word in edgeways anyway!).

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