Differences Between Retro & Vintage Clothing
by Harold Camaya
Fashion keeps the world bold and beautiful. Every day the generous spill of colors around us and deep creativity that the clothes around us carry add a delightful sight making the world more charming. Growing up watching the style evolution is a thrilling experience. Old photographs that stand proof to show the graceful transfer into new fashion eras leaves us with great nostalgia. In fact, we feel like a piece of us has come back when old fashion statements come back in style with a modern twist. Fashion reflects the inner thoughts and attitude of a person through colors, textures, styles, cuts and so much more. The magic of creating enthralling looks and experimenting with exciting styles is a blissful experience.
Even the best of fashion enthusiasts find drawing a clear line to differentiate retro and vintage difficult. From clothing to interior, vintage and retro styles are spread everywhere and these are quite the millennials craze. They attach a little from the past to the present and blend them perfectly to transport you to another world. While the styles seem like it is easy to differentiate but the common elements could make this seem quite confusing. Both these styles have their own benefits and clothing inspired from them can be a great addition to your closet. But the fine line differentiating them if determined can help you pick the right choice for different occasions.
These styles seem to bring in the charm of the old times in their elegant looks. They aim to bring a little from the past to the present. So, what makes them different? How can one determine whether the piece of clothing or an interior style they choose to apply in vintage? Well, here we will explore them both.
Exploring Vintage
Fashion stands to carry the beauty of time with its characteristics touch such as in case of vintage. While we raid our mom's closet, the fabulous pieces of clothing that you grab have weaved an innate charm in them that can never go unnoticed. Even today the look, slightly rustic, soft, classy and most of all majestic is simply amazing to carry to any event. These timeless creations are eye-catchers that carry the elegance of old times. While time has passed their beauty never seems to diminish.
Vintage, in fact, refers to the aging of wine that finely glides in a state of eternal deliciousness. Similarly, vintage fashion refers to creations and designs from the 1920s to 1980s. And in the context of clothing, it also includes the styles that existed since the 1800s. In general, clothing that comes from anywhere between 20- 100 years ago falls under this category. Any objects, art etc, created during these defined periods of time can also be referred to as vintage today. They usually carry the characteristic features of the time and the styles that persisted then. These characteristics could be their cuts, materials used, styles, patterns, colors etc, that bring the essence of the old times to us today.
Apart from having to date every piece of clothing, there are various other characteristics that can help one understand and determine a piece of clothing as vintage. These styles are quite formal and have characteristics appliques, lapels, designs and enchanting cuts from this age. The design inspirations such as patterns from these clothing also reflect the beauty of these times. Some vintage clothing available today are valuable and most importantly, one-of-a-kind. These are unique styles and patterns that blend both utility and style in a subtle fashion like a cable knit sweater.
Retrospecting Retro
On the flip side, retro, is an inspired style. The elegance of vintage style has always left us awestruck inspired and retro reunites these styles and patterns with modern fabrics. Retro can be referred to as a "vintage-inspired look" wherein the fashion statements from decades ago are beautifully embedded into modern fabrics. Retro opens the chance to explore the benefits of wearing clothing style form an olden era in new fabrics that give it a modest as well as a comfortable makeover. These are usually look-alikes of clothing styles from the past that stand true to the word' retro' which means backward. Retro style clothing offers the best of both worlds beautifully weaved together to create an enchanting look.
Retro catches up with the ongoing trends and adds a touch of the past. The use of contemporary material to design elegant outfits that depict styles from the past could be a great example of the retro style. Patterns such as polka-dots give us nostalgic remainders of old-time Hollywood style clothing that when designed in modern fabrics is a retro style. Retro, in fact, aims to keep the designs from the past integrated into the new style era by matching the best features from them both. Recreating such amazing design works from the past in this time can be a tricky as well as adventurous and the work reflects a great sense of style as well as admiration for our ancestral fashion.
This post was written Harold Camaya
She is a blogger who loves to write in different verticals. She co-authored Supercharge Organic Traffic: A popular course focusing on Organic Traffic for Ecommerce. Her hobbies are traveling and reading.
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