So I don't know if I've mentioned much about my plans for the shop I want to open, but you'll just have to trust me that it'll be good. Part of my idea is to cater to an audience which I do not think is being served as well as they could be at the moment.
An article in this month’s VOGUE (capital letters means fashin superstar quality, shouldn’t you be making notes?) discusses why older women (and by older, fashin people mean over 40. Sorry) rarely buy vintage. Essentially, it boils down to:
Changing rooms: In your 50s, you may not feel comfortable or happy about stripping off in front of a crowd in an only occasionally cleaned warehouse.
Fit: We're shaped differently today from how women were shaped 50 years ago. Also, most of us don't suffer with girdles and bras which could have someone's eye out, so many things which were made for a 1950s silhouette, for instance, will not fit the vast majority of women today.
I also think that there are a few more reasons, like:
Time: When most women are past their twenties and thirties, they have accumulated a family or a demanding job or both. This means that if you have a free Sunday, you might prefer to spend it having a glass of wine with friends or a nice meal with your family rather than being on your hands and knees rummaging through a bin liner trying to find something to wear.
Trends: A friend made a very good observation the other day, which went a little something like "when a young woman puts on vintage, she looks cool and edgy, but when a middle-aged or older woman puts it on, she just looks like she's had it in her wardrobe for ages". Unfortunate, but unfortunately often true. If you wear the wrong kind of vintage, that is.
So the aim becomes to solve these issues, through design of shop and selection of stock.
The idea for the shop is that the clothing should work on a number of women (and men, if they are so inclined), whether they lived through the time period in question or not. I think it's possible, it just needs some clever editing.
Hopefully all this will be resolved, and of course there is still more to think about. Like why do some younger people not buy vintage?
