My Mother Says...

[C-dot]

I know we have threads on general comments about our vintage looks. But ladies, what does your mother have to say?

My mother will click her tongue, roll her eyes, sign heavily, or shake her head when she sees me in my vintage threads. She criticizes my shoes, lipstick, scarves, and skirts. One time she pleaded with me not to make her go out with me, "looking like that" (because I was wearing a beret!)

Now, my mum is a great lady and I adore her, but shes always got something to say when it comes to my look, even though she likes Film Noir and Anne Taintor. Are your mum's the same, or do they approve?

 

[Inky]

Well, much depends on our own age and the age of our mothers

I am 49, mom is 70. She says I have dressed "funny" since I was a small child and liked to pin all my little animal pins along the hem of my skirts or up my sleeve.

She saw me through an early 70's hippie stage, a late 70's to mid 80's punk rock shaved head stage, and everything in between. She hates my tattoos. She wishes I'd stop having colored hair and take out my facial jewelry and let my earlobes close up.

BUT she loves my vintage look best of all and often wants to know where I buy my clothes and shoes.

 

[hailey greenhat]

my mom loves it, vintage is far more refined than the getups i used to wear when i was little, she thinks its all very lovely and flattering and tells me so.
(i am very thankful to have an indulgent mother)

 

[LizzieMaine]

"A woman your age got no business wearin' her hair that long."

"Take off that stupid hat."

"Are you EVER gonna get a new pair of shoes?"

"Did you know the moths ate a hole in that sweater?"

and of course, not attire-related...

"Don't you EVER answer your @#$% phone?"

"When you gonna get a real job? I hear they're hirin' over to the rope factory."

"You kids give me every one of these grey hairs. You got some nerve dyein' yours."

(My ma is also 70.)

 

[C-dot]

She saw me through an early 70's hippie stage, a late 70's to mid 80's punk rock shaved head stage, and everything in between. She hates my tattoos. She wishes I'd stop having colored hair and take out my facial jewelry and let my earlobes close up.

My mum saw me through some wild stages aswell, always keeping her lip buttoned. She says the same about my coloured hair, facial jewelery and (lone) tattoo.
And should she sees me with rollers in, its "you remind me of my mother *yucky*" Maybe that's her problem! lol

LizzieMaine - That made me spit my tea!

 

[Inky]

"A woman your age got no business wearin' her hair that long."

"Take off that stupid hat."

"Are you EVER gonna get a new pair of shoes?"

"Did you know the moths ate a hole in that sweater?"

and of course, not attire-related...

"Don't you EVER answer your @#$% phone?"

"When you gonna get a real job? I hear they're hirin' over to the rope factory."

"You kids give me every one of these grey hairs. You got some nerve dyein' yours."

(My ma is also 70.)

Well, at least she's not shy about speaking her mind!

 

[Caity Lynn]

I don't dress vintage *blush* but I will wear the red lippy and some ...odd...clothing and she'll just give me *The Look.* or come up with something it'll go about like

"ok, I'm going out, does my hair look ok?"
~ "well...........that's a pretty color shirt you're wearing"


drives me crazy, and she hates makeup of all types.

"I don't particularly *care* for that lipstick "

in a way that makes you feel trashy for wearing it and makes you want to wipe it off. :rage: [huh]

 

[Elaina]

My mom sort of encourages it, I get it looks nice to me, but then I hear these said to other people:

"She has such cute dresses she hardly wears."
"What a waste of really good fabric. That dress is more for a city."
"Can you believe Elaina dresses like it's (whatever era I'm in)?"
"She always WAS into counter culture. At least this is better then the goth she used to be in but not by much."
"She dresses like I did, but gets it so wrong" (esp. on 60s designs)
"She's so smart..." (Not to be confused with the pretty one, of which that is my sister)

When asked if my hair is ok:
"I wore that in (insert year) and I looked better."
"I used to do that with better results." (I reply: yes but I have hair, not wigs)
"You're going bald." (I'm not)
"My hair was so much thicker."

Makeup:
"Your eyebrows are too thin, but it looks okay, I suppose."
"At least I don't have to draw the arch in."

 

[Blondie]

My mother gave up commenting on my clothes by the time i was 17, she would try so hard to get me to dress "normal" instead of wearing "dead people's clothes" from the thrift store. I would superglue barbie doll heads on to the toes of my black school shoes, and wear with dayglo blue tights and wear with my school uniform. I was forever on detention.
She would always say "Just wait till you have a daughter, she will be 10 times worse than you", (i did and she isnt !!!)
But she still persists with the "you had such beautiful hair when you were young, don't you know you will go bald from all that bleaching & will end up having to wear a wig"

 

[C-dot]

This is sounding so close to home!

"You have such pretty hair - PLEASE don't curl it!"

"You can't walk around in shoes like that."

"Take off that scarf, you look like an old lady."

"What is this, the Edie Beale look?"

"You're gonna go bald if you keep dying your hair."

"Must you wear that dress?"

I just give her my sweetest smile and extend the most sincere thanks lol

 

[Elaina]

She would always say "Just wait till you have a daughter, she will be 10 times worse than you", (i did and she isnt !!!)

lol My mom said the same thing, and my son's pretty cool: never cried, is a bit too geeky and the worst thing about him is Hawaiian shirts/rockabilly style which matches my style fine. Then when I announced I was going to be spayed*, they stopped all together, since he's the only one. That and one of the "perfect" siblings has the child from hell.

*I realize humans do not get this done, but it's far more funnier then "sterilization"

 

[SayCici]

My mom will just say I look nice or whatever. Now she sends me 10 ebay e-mails a day asking "how vintage" something is or if it will fit her.

 

[hailey greenhat]

i think it's really sad that no one on here has a mother who *actually* thinks they look nice in their vintage....

 

[Lady Day]

My mother died in '05 (she was 64). She was very encouraging of practically everything I did, within reason (she scowled at the tattoos, but didn't say anything *bad* about them). She was a teacher, so she knew encouraging was vital to happiness.

She was also a seamstress, and I often had her make stuff for me. I bet she would *LOVE* my look now. I think she would love to see me looking like a girl. I was a total TomBoy for a long time. She always dug classic looks, and I was always raiding her old jewelry and cloth.

Im more interested in what my Granny thinks. I haven't been home since I really started dressing this way, and Im sure she would see me as dressed up in my stocking and such, but if I just dressed in my cotton day dresses without saying anything, Im sure she would say somethings like, "You're wearing a dress? Wait, I had a dress like that...."

LD

 

[Caity Lynn]

Something I think we need to bare in mind is, what will we say when our children dress like OUR moms? I mean...think about today's fashion. Those weird "mom jeans" and square neck tops with the large odd jewels that are supposed to be "hip" we mainly all hate them NOW, what will we do when our kids think "ooh, those styles are older and fun!" Can we really expect our moms to like them?

 

[Elaina]

I don't care as long as I can take my kid in public with the least amount of embarrassment on both of our parts. It's kinda 2 way there.

Although my son does dress like my dad did in the 50s now, sans the Hawaiian shirts. He's happy with it, I'm all for it. (He wants to have long hair, I have scissors to fix that.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

When I was a kid, my mother would come to my defense -- in junior high, the school office actually called her because they were "concerned about the fact" that I came to school every day in "obviously old clothes," and I guess they wanted to make sure Ma didn't keep me chained to a radiator down cellar and feed me stale crusts. "What my kid wears to school is my business, not yours," she snarled, and slammed the phone down. Never heard another word from them again.

But the operative phrase was "my business, not yours." She could criticize us to beat the band, but no one outside the family could raise one word against us without catching the rough side of her tongue. And as testy as our relationship is, I have to give her credit for that.

 

[Lady Day]

Something I think we need to bare in mind is, what will we say when our children dress like OUR moms?

Well the HUGE trend now is kids born in the 90s dressing like they are from the 80s lol

LD

 

[Lusti Weather]

My mother has already seen so much weird stuff from me (former goth) that I think she's just come to accept the fact that I'm going to dress different than most people. I think the red lipstick bothers her the most; she doesn't think people with fair skin should wear red! lol

The other thing she totally doesn't understand is my obsession with foundation garments and stockings. She always tells me how happy she was when pantyhose came along and thinks I'm crazy for choosing to wear stockings! As you might imagine, my love for girdles and corsets is completely beyond her comprehension!

 

[HadleyH]

My mother says many things.
Enough said!