That vintage feeling

Hercule · Sep 14, 2012

I've enjoyed reading through the thread asking what gives you that vintage feeling, and am curious to know just what exactly that vintage feeling is for you. Describe the sensation or however you experience it, and what it means to you. Maybe this has been done before, but people change and views evolve.

CAVEAT: There are no right or wrong answers, nor can there be any or arguing or persuading, innocent or otherwise. Do not feel you need to justify anything, it is what it is for you.

LizzieMaine · Sep 14, 2012

The ability to forget, even for a moment, that the slobbering monstrosity known as "The Twenty First Century" has its greasy hands clamped tightly around my throat.

Hercule · Sep 14, 2012

For me there's a certain comfortable deja vu that I get, whether its an old black and white photo that I feel like I could just crawl into and experience with all my senses; the static, clicks, pops and garbled speech of AM radio that instantly takes me back to my childhood and my perception of times beyond; that certain old, not really musty, but "old" storage trunk smell that I associate the saved "treasures" from my parent's childhood; that time-capsule "feel" of a room or building that seemingly hasn't changed in decades; the slam of a wooden screen door against the jam; or even a very descriptive account of a past era that I can relate to. Sometimes it's even just a sense of time, like this moment has happened for me before - a few times it has actually stopped me dead in my tracks. Of course there are many more things that trigger the feeling, and its always one of comfort, as if I've been there before and can still sense it all even now. In a way I find it kind of calming and reassuring.

Addendum: Many often talk about music triggering a certain vintage feeling. Oddly enough, I find that music doesn't lend me the same affect (as distinct from effect). Though I have a doctorate in music, and have specialized in early music, there is a lot of music and many musical styles that do indeed speak to me, but there's not one that I can say truly transports me to another time or even evokes that "vintage" feeling in me. Makes me wonder just what the "vintage feeling" actually is and how it comes about. Is it (or can it be) a learned response or does it only tap into associative memories (ie., childhood memories of grandma who played Glenn Miller all the time)? I'm probably reading too much into it and should just go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

kiwilrdg · Sep 14, 2012

I think the vintage feeling for me is a feeling of comfort in my surroundings from knowing what things were. It reduces fear of the future because you know that good things from today will still be there, just as good things from yesterday are still here.

1930artdeco · Sep 14, 2012

For Me it is, and this may sound strange, but it makes me feel at home. Call it the previous life thing or what not but it makes me feel comfortable.

Mike

St. Louis · Sep 15, 2012

That's exactly it for me too. A sense of comfort and homeliness. Also a sense of decency. I know that things weren't perfect then, and there were a lot of terrible human tragedies, but there are today as well. And there are some things we've lost (okay, setting aside medical advances for which I am genuinely grateful) that I feel are irreplaceable. I was thinking about this as I was sitting on my couch this evening reading, dressed in reasonably nice clothes (= not sweats with naughty sayings printed on the rear end) and thinking about how nice it was to have a pleasant conversation with another living human being face to face, in complete sentences. I miss the sense of quiet civility and decorum. No, I don't think it's completely gone, but it's harder to find now and sometimes it seems to take much more effort.

I'm not especially enchanted with the idea of prescribed gender roles, otherwise I wouldn't have my present job, but I do love it when gentlemen occasionally stand up when I enter the room (okay, it happened once, six years ago, but I still remember it) and I do still feel that there's value in being ladylike. I mean, just for me personally, not as a rebuke to anyone else or as a standard for others to aspire to.

All that aside, there's something about the aesthetic of the 1930s and 40s that really speaks to me, but I don't know that I can ever articulate that.

Great question, M. Hercule.

Laura Hunt · Sep 15, 2012

For me it's a feeling of deep security, belonging, 'rightness' if you will...that freedom from worry and burden that you have as a little kid. Which is kind of weird, because as a little kid my feet were very firmly planted in the late 20th century. It almost reminds me of the feeling you get around Christmastime, when everything's cheery and decorated and lit up and relatives are coming and people have the Christmas spirit. (Probably because Christmases in my childhood were very traditionally spent with Bing and the Andrews sisters!) I feel like this is where I belong, where I fit in, and I find a deep sense of security in that. Almost a 'coziness', if you will.

Edit: it's funny, most of the answers seem to be along the same lines

scottyrocks · Sep 15, 2012

I think for me to obtain a vintage feeling I would need to live on my own. The values of the people in the house I live in are far from vintage. I'd need to be in my own cocoon, decked out the way I wanted it to look and feel, me living under my own value system with no modern interference.

The Soph Gent · Sep 15, 2012

When I first started to read the first few posts, I was agreeing with them and was going to quote them with my response. Then I read some more and realized that what everyone stated was the same sentiments as me.
I am fairly new to vintage. I started a year ago and am now hooked. I have remodeled a spare room to house my newly acquired vintage items. The more I hunt the more I want.

I have a curio filled with antique razors. When I open the doors I am immediately hit with the musty odor of years ago. It's intoxicating.

When I look at my other finds, I am somewhat transported to those times. A time where gentleman wore ties to eat at their own table. Where things seemed to matter more. A gentelman held the door for a lady (which I always do to this day). A classic time. Maybe even a better time.

Things were built with quality and care. This is the main attraction for me. I cannot stand most of the junk that is made today. Things today are made with an 'I don't give a damn attitude'. I restore antique fans, typewriters and telephones. I am still in awe of the build quality of those items compared to today. I have several fans that are 100 years old. They will last another 100 years. Can't say that about the plastic junk of today.

I recently wrote an article for my local newspaper describing this very same thing. When I sit in my vintage room, looking at my classic items from years ago, I only wish that I did this years ago.

I sit in that room, listening to a beautifully restored antique Emerson radio that is playing music from the 1940's and I feel like I may be transported back like was depicted in the movie Somewhere in Time.

It's the romanticism of the era. For men, like me, it is why we are all drawn to love WWII movies. I can't really explain it.

To sum it up... It's a time where people and things were simpler, better and classier.

Godfrey · Sep 16, 2012

For me it's when vintage is unnoticeable. Two cases in point.

1) in the front of my property getting the mail when around the corner comes Bill - an old guys from down the road. I hail well met and he responds the same. A few moments later his wife and her friend round the corner. I unconciously take off my cap and wish them a good day. We chat and as they part her friend says how nice it was to met a man who knew to take off his hat when talking to a lady. The whole act had been unconscious - it was just what I did.

2) in the way into work on a tram (streetcar) - akubra Hampton, three piece suit. Hat pushed back and reading a book. I'd dressed in the morning as I always do - nothing special. A guy getting off the tram pauses and says "mate, very cool look". What I liked was that it took me a moment to realise what he was talking about.

It's when being vintage is just being me... And then someone points out how relaxed I am with it.

)

decojoe67 · Sep 17, 2012

I also have to repeat that it is a very warm, comfortable feeling. I am surrounded by my vintage '30's radios, lamps, clocks, etc., and I just simply feel good because of that. The deco style is pure eye-candy. It pleases me. I also agree with the musty smells of old items. I love at car shows sticking my head in a '30's car with an original mohair interior and sniffing. It's a feeling of euphoria! I feel quite sure I lived a past life in the '30's!

HadleyH · Sep 17, 2012

For me is to forget that cells phones, computers, Ipads. Kindle .....blah blah blah blah ................that all electronic strange things exist ... get those outta of here NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

also, to see and touch paper photographs, black and white....

that for starters.

HadleyH · Sep 17, 2012

just bring back the 1920s ....that's all the vintage feeling i want... I want nothing more ... nothing!

Somebody please.... put me out of this 2012 misery

O2BSwank · Sep 17, 2012

The Twenties are coming back, in about seven years! Your turn to do them right.

St. Louis · Sep 17, 2012

I think one reason we like the golden era material culture is that the textures and lines are so beautiful. Looking around my living room, I see mohair velveteen, burnished wood, bakelite, leaded-glass and stained-glass windows, and best of all, no plastics, no modern electronics (I agree with Hadley here) and no junk mail. The natural materials & textures are just more elegant and more pleasing to the eye.

1930artdeco · Sep 17, 2012

I also agree with HadlyH. This last weekend I drove out to Pt. Reyes with My Model A club and enjoyed NOT being connected electronically with the world. I did have a handheld cb to comply with the rest of club-but I fought it as long as I could! We went to old RCA transmitter and receive sites where they would use Morse code to talk to the rest of the world and to ships. They still use the equipment to talk to ships and other ham radio operators using morse code. I even watched an actual teletype typing away from the punch tape!!! But, it was so nice to not have to be around computers, advertising, radios etc...etc...etc..

Mike

filfoster · Sep 18, 2012

For me, it's the (I'm sure purely imaginary) psychic sensation of being one with the past, triggered by some image, sound, or fragrance, even lighting. Like a handstand or attention to a Paul Rudd movie, it's impossible to sustain for long.

texan · Sep 29, 2012

The airshow. Standing, looking up and seeing a P-40 or Spitfire fly past with that customary gut-wrenching sound of those Rolls Royce's. That great vintage feeling < add customary commercial music here > can be felt down to your toes! Airshows have a tendancy to do that!

Mr Lilleythorpe · Oct 6, 2012

The smell of Brylcreem always gets me.

Amy Jeanne · Oct 7, 2012

For me, it's pure FUN. When I get the "vintage feeling" (which is rare) I just go with it have a good time with it. Whether it is walking down the city street at night, reading and old magazine, or listening to Al Bowlly I just realize how much FUN I have with my interest in 20s-40s nostalgia and it makes the moment more enchanting.

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