In 1979, the ever-insightful fashion historian Anne Hollander captured a cultural shift bubbling under the surface.
But by the late 20th century, something had changed.
Mass production, Hollywood, and the magic of the moving image combined to immortalize fashion.
Photographed by Martin Parr,Vogue, December 2022
As Hollander observed, We uniquely possess, intact, our ideal visual past.
Fast forward to 2025, and Hollanders observations feel practically prophetic.
Vintage isnt merely a niche pursuit anymore; its a cultural juggernaut.
The appetite is insatiableand the supply chain is fast-evolving to meet it.
And yet, amidst the obsession, its easy to lose track of what exactly counts as vintage.
The word gets tossed aroundoften interchangeably with “archival” or “antique"but there are important distinctions.
WhatIsVintage, Exactly?
That places the current vintage sweet spot anywhere between the 1920s and early 2000s.
Yes, the low-slung jeans, barely-there tanks, and slinky slip dresses of the Y2K era officially qualify.
The category, elastic by nature, stretches as each generation adds its own sartorial past to the roster.
Antique, by contrast, applies strictly to garments over a century old.
An Edwardian tea gown from 1915?
A beaded bias-cut evening dress from 1935?
The difference is not just academic; it reflects how and whether a piece can realistically be worn today.
Then theres archival, a term that has become increasingly fashionable in its own right.
Archival pieces refer to specific items pulled from a designers or brands past collections.
A look from Pradas Fall 2010 runway, pulled from storage, is archival but not technically vintageyet.
All archival pieces may one day be vintage, but not all vintage pieces are archival.
Metal zippers, usually sewn into side seams or up the back, were standard until the late 1960s.
Plastic or nylon zippers became prevalent starting in the 1970s, especially in mass-produced clothing.
If you spot a chunky metal zipper, chances are youre holding something mid-century or prior.
Fabric composition and labeling offer further clues.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission mandated fiber content labeling in 1960.
If your garment lacks any indication of fiber content, it may well predate that rule.
Earlier garments lean toward natural fibers: silk, cotton, wool.
These union labels evolved decade by decade, and comparing them to online charts can narrow production dates significantly.
Size tags, too, are revealing.
Pinked seamsthose zig-zag edgesare a dead giveaway of pre-serger machine manufacturing, common in the 1940s and 50s.
