IT: How has your personal fashion changed over the years?
V: My personal stye has changed with my body, which is bigger than it used to be, and less toned. I show less than I used to, and have to shop more carefully. Everything used to look good on me, but now I definitely have to edit what I wear, and occasionally use sleight of hand. A lot of my personal style was influenced by living in Japan for 10 years, and stays with me to this day. I fell in love with the Japanese minimalist sensibility, but also with their occasionally jarring use of color and shape.
My personal style has also changed in accordance with what’s available on the market. I’ve always liked vintage. Before, vintage was CHEAP, and plentiful! Now it’s expensive and hard to find. I really like jackets from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Obviously, they were easier to come by in the 70s, when I first started wearing them. It makes sense that over time they should become less available, but I miss them. Plus, women were smaller then. Now that I’m larger, even if I find a vintage jacket, the chances I’ll fit into it are much smaller, so I have very little that goes that far back. I hate shopping retail, because everything looks the same. So I continue to buy second hand, even though it’s more challenging than it used to be.
much smaller, so I have very little that goes that far back. I hate shopping retail, because everything looks the same. So I continue to buy second hand, even though it’s more challenging than it used to be.
IT: What trends have you seen reoccur (whether it be from different time periods or cultures)?
V: Almost every trend gets recycled. I don't see the bustle coming back because it would be impossible to sit comfortably in them and they would take up too much room in the modern world. But almost everything else has, or will. I've seen skirt lengths go up and down, both in my lifetime and before. Skirt widths balloon out and then go back to pencil widths again. Red, red lipstick is supposed to be back. That was big in the 1940s, I think. Not sure that flapper dresses will come back in a big way because as a nation we are all larger than we used to be. Fur coats may lose popularity because of global warming. I hope Peter Pan collars never come back. They were never very flattering. You probably don't know what they are, and that's just as well!
The thing about trends, though, is they happen primarily because we all get tired of seeing the same thing. Trends don't have to be new - they just have to be different from the current thing. In WWII, skirts got short to save material. After the war, they got long to celebrate the end of rationing. Then long skirts had the look of luxury, although in the 1920s long skirts looked like the ancien regime. In the 60s, once again long skirts looked old fashioned, so flapper lengths came back, and flapper bodies. But right around 1970, the midiskirt came back, so it didn't take very long for skirt lengths to come full circle.