Friday 15 March 2013

Recognisably vintage

Over the years my weight and girth increased to a deplorable extent. Clothes ceased to fit, larger ones had to be made or bought. Eventually there were many garments which no longer fitted me, but which I was reluctant to discard. My wardrobe contained far too many garments.

In the last few months of Dr P's life, and in the months following his death, what with all the shock, grief, and stress arising out of all the legal issues and struggles, the weight suddenly melted away. Suddenly I could fit into some of the clothes which had been hanging forlornly for years in my wardrobe. Not all of them looked good, what with the changes in fashion, and the alterations in my figure, but there were some successes. And, what with the summer sales, I bought a few dresses, and have enjoyed wearing them, instead of my usual uniform of black stretchy pants and t-shirts, festooned with various shawls and scarves.

Today I wore a skirt and jacket which dated from many years ago. I had bought the material from a fabric shop, in the days when such still existed, and were not Lincraft or Spotlight.  I even bought the same fabric in even more lurid colours - both fabrics were so pretty, I thought, and still think, that they never got donated to Vinnies. I have worn them a few times, and today wore the less lairy colours. Off I sallied to the Knitting and crochet group, which seems to be appealing to more and more people. We have so much fun we have to close the door, so as not to constitute a noisy nusiance. Today we attracted a Canadian man, a tourist,who came along with his knitting - he was using four needles and was making a Christmas decoration, in a fine wool, in black and white. We were all most impressed, especially when he told us he managed to do his knitting on his international flights.

After the sustained good fellowship  and overall hilarity of the knitting and crochet group, which seems to be attracting more and more participants, I set off to do the food shopping. At the checkout of the fruit and delicatessen shop, the young Asian girl on the checkout asked me had I got my outfit from the vintage shops specialising in clothes from the 1970s? I had to admit that the clothes have been lurking in my wardrobe all these years. And I recollected that on the day which I wore the more brightly coloured outfit in the same fabric, the young man across the road had complimented me.

But I must say I was quite cheered to be regarded as trendy enough to be sporting vintage clothes. And to be considered fashionable.

Female vanity dies hard. I am not even blushing.

Wonders will never cease.

5 comments:

molly said...

I'm trying to thin the contents of my closet out to hold only those garments I actually wear, instead of having it look like a vintage clothing museum! Even though it's bulging with clothes, my usual lament is that "I have nothing to wear!" I need to buy things as outfits, not just random tops and bottoms.....I bet you're happy about the melted pounds! Much healthier not to be carrying excess baggage....

Frances said...

Congratulations, Persiflage. Well done on three counts: I hope that you are very pleased with yourself.
Any chance of photos?

Gillie said...

And so you shouldn't (blush)! Well done being a style maven! Love the noisy group, go for it! I knit on planes now, much easier than stitching.

VioletSky said...

Was that young check out girl too young to remember the 70s?! You go girl!!

Elephant's Child said...

How wonderful. Revel in it.