Why we all want to own a little bit of the past

I CAN remember when it was shameful to be seen in Oxfam, and wearing anything second-hand was sneered at for being slightly grubby and a sign of being poor.

Yet at the age of 16, back in 1981, I embraced charity shop chic and, along with a few other college kids, was a jumble sale regular. My mother was so appalled at my Hattie Jacques-style “granny coats”, baggy old jumpers and over-sized dinner jackets, that she tried to pay me not to wear them Well, she offered to buy me “nice new ones” and I declined.

Now, my mum shops in Cancer Research stores and even boasts about her bargains; and she’s not alone. Everyone, from teenagers to middle-class parents, rich and poor can, be found hunting for cast-offs that have been re-classified as vintage, a term that has morphed into a mega brand embraced by every retail giant from John Lewis and M&S to Topshop and Tesco.

“Vintage-inspired” repros are everywhere. Even cosmetic companies have climbed on the bandwagon, including Boots 17, whose latest make-up palette is called “Vintage Love”.

So what is it that has turned vintage and its close relative, “retro”, into a retail phenomenon?

Sarah Jane Robinson , Huddersfield University’s Principal Lecturer in Psychology, says: “The strength of vintage is that it taps into something in the individual and it means different things to different people.

“Some love it because they see it as a bargain, some for its history. It captures a moment in time and allows you to experience that vicariously, even if you weren’t around for that particular style, even if you were born years later. Of course, the other reason you might love it is because you can’t let go of the past and you look at it through rose-tinted glasses.

“We also have this idea that original vintage items are rare one-offs. You won’t find anyone else wearing what you have. That makes you feel individual and special.”

Celebrity vintage lovers like Kate Moss and glamorous TV series such as Mad Men, set in 1960s’ New York, have also helped boost the brand, says Sarah, who adds: “There is a feeling that old furniture and clothes have more substance. People like them for the same reason they like old houses.”

What I adore is this: I love treasure hunting, I love the quality and the price and the fact it’s different and has had a past – possibly an interesting one. I also like a good investment. My old enamel bread bin is worth six times what I paid for it, my G Plan sideboard has doubled in value in the last two years, as has my fabulous Fifties’ little black dress.

Fortunately, finding good originals is easier than ever before, thanks to the proliferation of vintage shops and fairs.

Fairs are wonderful and offer a trip down memory lane. The background music is big bands and Bing Crosby, and traders sell everything from clothes and costume jewellery to coffee tables and kitchenalia.

There’s tea in china cups and cupcakes along with an abundance of creativity from designers who make buttons into earrings, scraps of fabric into bags and chairs into works of art.

Leeds-based Keeley Harris, of Discover Vintage, organises fairs and co-owns The Vintage Emporium, in York. She also organised the first ever Vintage Wedding Fair and is planning Yorkshire’s first Festival of Vintage, on April 30, at York Racecourse.

She says: “Since the high street started stocking vintage-inspired items and dressing their shops in the same style, it’s encouraged people to look for the real thing. Everyone is getting into it, and the enthusiasm for mixing old and new is enormous.

“At the fairs, we have everyone from students to coach parties of people in their sixties. People assume that only younger people are buying, but it’s all ages. We had a lady in her 80s in the York shop the other day buying the kind of necklace she had when she was 20.”

According to Keeley, nostalgia is the motivating factor for 80 per cent of buyers.

“It might be something they remember from their mum’s house or something they associate with a romantic view of the past,” she says. “Interestingly, the trend is strongest in London and the North. It’s spreading into the middle of the country now, but London, Manchester and Leeds are definitely where this all started.”

How long this latest and most passionate love affair with the past will continue is uncertain.

“It is the height of fashion now and that might fade,” says Sarah Jane Robinson. “But I don’t think the vintage trend will die. There will always be people who are interested in the past and want to capture it.”

I love the past so much that I married in it

ANNA McGregor, 27, began collecting old china when she was 16, and five years ago she began mixing vintage fashion with new clothes.

“I’m the sort of person who can’t walk past a charity shop without popping in,” she says.

Her passion for the past and a desire to keep down costs were the catalysts for a vintage-inspired wedding.

Last year, wearing a 1960s’ dress she bought from Etsy (www.etsy.com), she married Ben at Sheffield Town Tall.

This was followed by a traditional afternoon tea at a cottage she hired on the Chatsworth estate. She put on a spread using her collection of cake stands, cups and teapots and lots of home-baking. They then had an evening meal at a local restaurant.

“Modern weddings are expensive and often generate so much waste for what is only one big party.

“The vintage aspects of our wedding allowed us to incorporate many things we already had at home,” says Anna.

“I wore my 1970s’ glasses and made my hair decoration from tulle and an old brooch.”

Ben wore a vintage waistcoat and brogues with his new suit.

“I love sewing and making things,” says Anna.

“I decided to make all the male guests bow-ties from vintage Liberty cotton and seersucker, and for the ladies I made fabric corsages. It was a lot of work but well worth it.

“The evening meal was at Italian restaurant, Buca di Bragazzi, which has a fantastic vintage feel to the décor.

“We collected lots of old Kilner jars and filled them with old English garden roses and herbs for the table decorations, along with vintage thread spools, which we used as place-card holders.”

The wedding, including the food and drink and the £2,000 cost of the cottage, hired for a week, was £4,000.

“That’s about half the cost of an average wedding,” says Anna.

What is vintage and where to find it

PURISTS would say the vintage label can be attached to anything that dates from the 1920s to the 1970s.

However, others make it stretch to the 1990s. The best selling period is the 1950s, which is why Cath Kidston, queen of Fifties’ florals, now has more than 30 shops, including seven in Japan. This looks set to be boosted by the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, in May this year.

The best places to find vintage are specialist fairs and shops.

Visit www.discovervintage.co.uk, www.roseandbrown vintage.co.uk and www.vintagefair.co.uk