The Old Clothes Mode is entirely twentieth century.
For clothes, going out of date used to be an irreversible process.
But “quaintness” is now obsolete.
Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, November 1975
Why do we have this passion, and where did we get it?
Some of it came from the Great ‘Sixties Costume Party.
Our taste in personal looks has been founded on it ever since.
The modes were all united by the magic of cinematography.
Indeed, as it turns out, we can have our sartorial past back, too.
They have lasted, shelved in limbo like cans of film, waiting for these appreciative days to dawn.
Today’s love for old clothes is bound up with today’s love for old movies.
Movies no longer go out of date.
The entire movie past is repeatedly being recaptured, reappreciated in all its fresh, old glory.
Just as new movies now refer to old film conventions, current fashion echoes the elements of earlier styles.
It shows signs of being adeliberatereference to familiar themes, not an authentic rediscovery of basic material.
Most emphatically, it is not the spirit of campy nostalgia that is at work now.
Timeliest Vintage Clothes
Look for boutiques with a pastlike Manhattan’s Jezebel, at 265 Columbus Avenue.
Owner Albert Wright specializes in ‘forties dressessilky, easy-to-wear.
The garments are dressy, strictly feminine.
Fortuny, Worth, Poiret, Balenciaga, Chanel are among the many designers represented.
“All our conceptions of classic modern clothing…were crystallized during the golden days of Hollywood”
