Has anyone been thinking about the meaning the retro and the vintage give to the fashion and design of today? Something one may have considered old only a few years ago is getting a completely new meaning today.
I personally consider myself infatuated with all items that are so-called retro, antique and vintage. But what do these words really mean? The meaning of these three words. is hard to determine. You can try googling the terms and you will end up with a lot of different definitions, none of which sounds really convincing.
Generally, I have found a meaning that seems to be generally accepted.
Vintage is usually defined as anything that is older than 20 years.
Anything older than the 1920s is considered antique.
Retro (deriving from the word retrospection) can be anything that looks old, reflecting on the past, or inspired by the past eras.
The era we live in today is allowing a big variety of styles and tastes. This way the 'new' and the 'old' can easily coexist. This makes something your grandma would wear appealing to the younger generations. Likewise, it opens up new antiquity shops, directs new movies related to the subject and familiarizes us with the past.
After speaking to people like my mother and my grandmother I noticed: it wasn't always that way. We used to live in a fashion community in which something was ''in'' and something else was ''out''. Every season brought something new into the picture. Lately this has changed, and a lot of what we like to call old stuff will be compeletely imcorporable into the new.
In the near future I hope to explore the phenomen of new and old further more, but until then I wish everyone a very nice day. :)
