"If you're tired of style, you're tired of life"

Do you recognise the quote? If you've seen the second episode of the new series of Downton Abbey, you might remember Carson said these words in response to the family being tired of putting on the 'show' of the formal dinner. The quote really struck me at the time and I kept thinking back to it for a couple of days. Having style and being stylish is something that vintage enthusiasts talk about quite a bit, but what does it mean to have style and why do we often say that people in the past had more style?

An obvious element is of course the fact that in the past people followed much stricter dress codes and there were strong conventions guiding what people wore, and when and where they wore it. These sorts of conventions still exist but have been relaxed quite a bit. There was also a much stronger sense of conformism when it came to styles of dress. Perhaps at the time, with the small (but probably significant at the time) seasonal changes and trends, it would have been clear who was at the cutting edge of fashion and who was wearing a style from three seasons ago. To us, now, these small changes are hard to spot and date (unless you're really trained in fashion history). Looking back it's easy to think it was all just really stylish, that everyone had great style and always looked their best. It's quite rate that I see vintage clothing from the 40s or 50s that I think are 'bad style'. I'm not sure if I ever have actually, which is funny considering that I'm sure women at the time would have had very strong opinions on different cuts, patterns and designs. When it happens it's usually an 80s dress in disguise (sometimes by unknowing eBay sellers! Or knowing ones for that matter, tsk tsk). Perhaps this is because it's hard to be really discerning when a dress in good condition, in your size and for an affordable price doesn't come along every day! Or perhaps my enthusiasm for absolutely any 40s or 50s dress (or at least most!) is more of a characteristic of a hobby and general fascination with a period in history than just a desire to dress well.

What made me think about the question of style though, was what struck me as an interesting dichotomy between the way we view past dress sense and the fact that dressing well at the time was to a larger extent than now about conforming to cultural guidelines and expectations, set by social status, class and position and the social occasion. How much would the ladies of the 40s/50s frown at some of our outfits and love for over-dressing and flair on the most average of days? I'm sure what a lot of us love about vintage is the opportunity to add a bit of flamboyance and dressyness to ordinary life. Not forgetting that dressing vintage is the sign of a subculture today, that dressing in vintage head to toe is a statement about not situating oneself in the mainstream, which makes the way we consume vintage fundamentally different from how people consumed fashion back in the day.

Style for me is daring, having the confidence to be flamboyant and break the mould a little bit. The blog Advanced Style is a great example of this kind of definition of style. Joyful daring and zest for life. Style is a performance, and the best kind of style I think has nothing to do with vanity or trying to conform to normative standards of beauty, it's pure unselfconscious aesthetic enjoyment.
I don't want to suggest that people with no interest in style aren't living properly or don't have a zest for life, perhaps the difference lies in how aesthetically or visually oriented we are. I for one love beautiful things, or things that are quirky and interesting and it makes life more colourful, but I also enjoy things that push boundaries and are subversive.

What is eroding my enjoyment with vintage a little bit lately is how much it is creeping into the mainstream. The promotion of the 'vintage brand' is tiresome and feels like a cheapening of what I enjoy about vintage. Remembering that subcultural style depends on contrast to the mainstream, the popularity of "vintage" - in the form of cup-cakes, excessive pastelly polka dots, vintage styles flooding the highstreet and all the fake ageing of shabby chic paraphernalia - is eroding the subcultural 'power' of real vintage, since it doesn't have a clear distinction from the mainstream 'vintage marketing machine'. Maybe we don't all want to wear vintage to make a conscious statement or feel like we ever belonged to a subculture (I know many, like me, have very few 'real life' friends who are into vintage), but I know that many who are into dressing in vintage have a background in other subcultures (goths, punks etc.), so obviously enjoy the aspect of being different as well as have a genuine interest in vintage and social history from the period.

What do you think: What is special about vintage style to you and do you feel like vintage style is compromised by its filtering into mainstream fashion trends?


all images from google.