What is the Single Most Useful Thing This Place Has Given You?

[pigeon toe]

For me it's definitely been the idea that it isn't really that much harder to dress vintage, so stop being lazy and just do it!

 

[RIOT]

how to tie a tie

 

[Diamondback]

Well, along with so many of the things y'all have listed before me, I'll add:

1. Something beginning to approximate a "life"
2. A number of connections and acquaintances who I'd like to meet in-person someday, see if y'all're the same in person as ya come off across the Net--I'm most reluctant about calling a person a friend unless they pass an instinct "gut-check", which can only happen in a face-to-face scenario

My deepest appreciation to all of you.

 

[Snookie]

Help with doing my hair, which was always my bete noir for achieving a vintage look.

Hot Sticks have changed my life.

 

[CharlieH.]

A number of connections and acquaintances who I'd like to meet in-person someday.....

...My deepest appreciation to all of you.

What he said.

 

[carter]

The opportunity to connect and converse, share knowledge, learn, banter, and have some really good laughs with some nice Ladies and Gentlemen on a frequent basis.
This is an opportunity not often found in the day-to-day business environment.
You're a special group of people. Don't ever forget that.

Carter

 

[Kishtu]

Confidence.

I'm not a freak after all!

 

[Zemke Fan]

GMTA

Ditto that. I've made really great connections with the sort of people I think I've looked for throughout life.

Nathan, Scott, and Lauren have it right (at least for me) when it comes to the most useful/valuable attributes of this cyber-timesink. It turns out that my interest in vintage "things" (besides WWII uniforms, old watches, and a few fedoras) is at its nexus. The friendships, on the other hand, are just getting up to full steam.

 

[PADDY]

Friendship...

...and knowledge, a winning combination.

Doesn't the world feel a closer, smaller, villagey community when you come on here.

 

[staggerwing]

First of all, knowledge. About collars, armholes, and a host of other things that I would not have paid (or known to pay) attention to before that now rise to the level of a obssion!

Second, the shared experiences, knowing I'm not the first guy to be called a gangster (with an "r" at the end) or "Indy" for wearing a hat.

Third, a level of comfort that comes from seeing so many folks who are trying to preserve the manners and customs of a time that, while not without its flaws, was far more attractive to me than the "it's cool to be mean" times we live in now.

And finally, the pleasure of hanging out on the only site of its kind on the web where people don't insult one another and there's no name calling.

Thanks, all of you, for all of the above.

 

[Spitfire]

Knowledge, help and - most of all - friends I did not know exisited.

 

[deanglen]

An opportunity to be a new friend to others. And promote hat wearing.

dean

 

[Spitfire]

Hey Bartender - nice avatar!:eusa_clap

 

[Edward]

For me it's definitely been the idea that it isn't really that much harder to dress vintage, so stop being lazy and just do it!

lol That's the truth! It's also convinced me that I can take the elements of vintage style I like and incorporate them into daily wear, whether that be fitfties style casual, or a 30s style suit... Before I discovered this place, I thought those thingfs were all great, but especially the suits I'd have been too concerned would look like a costume. My real lesson here is that they don't have to.

I've also learned a lot about correct styling and looks from the period, more than I ever bargained for about leather flying jackets, and so on.

My vintage-inspired wardrobe is growing very, very slowly... partly due to funding issues, and partly down to a need to be realistic about justifying repalcing exisitng wardrobe pieces as I go along.

The next lesson I need to learn is how, once I know what the "rules" are from a specific look / period, I can feel confident about breaking them a little with choice of accessories, for instance.

 

[deanglen]

Hey Bartender - nice avatar!:eusa_clap

Thanks, Spitfire, RBH made it for me, for my self modified copy of a Stetson Stratoliner.

dean

 

[jgilbert]

knowledge, information, friendship

 

[fourstarbanner]

Reassurance that I'm not the only one out there who has love and appreciation for this time period. You are all amazing.

 

[AlanC]

Hats, hats, hats.

 

[deanglen]

Hats, hats, hats.

YES!

dean

 

[duggap]

As Alan said, "Hats, hats, hats". Actually I was a hat wearer from before I got to the Lounge but I have found some very valuable tips on where and from whom to purchase a good hat. Coming in "from the cold" the only thing I had to buy were the commercial brands that are just not that good. Oh, and the people here are pretty durn nice, if I do say so.:eusa_clap