What makes you look dated (rather than vintage!)

[ilovecherries]

I've lost a lot of weight recently and brought down a large trunk of clothes from the loft that I hoped would do me in transition (because I've still got 2 stone to go, but I'm 3 sizes smaller than I was). Everything has been irredeemably 'last century' but to be honest I'm not sure what I'm seeing that makes it so. If I could pinpoint what's wrong with it, it still might be worth me getting some of the better stuff remodelled, but all I can come up with is 'it's all a bit frumpy' - and I know it wasn't at the time I bought it. They are perfectly innocuous trousers, shirts, dresses and jackets, but somehow not right.

I'd love to find all my 90s skirts and trousers still in pristine condition somewhere!

We need photos really

I was quite nostalgic actually. My gran used to be a dressmaker (she's dead now, but lived till she was 90). I had been going to shove everything in boxes, but she insisted on packing everything in acid free tissue in an old trunk of my granpa's and she put lavender bags (which she made from her own lavender) and cedar balls in every layer. It was such a lovely blast from the past when I opened it the other day that I had a little cry. Amazing to suddenly smell her about 15 years after her death.

Any chance some of its too smart? I remember chucking a load of stuff from this era because too much of it was dry clean only

I have deliberately not bought a dry clean garment this century

Oh what a lovely gran!

I know exactly what you mean. I saved smart work clothes for approx 12years and when I tried on the odd thing that still fitted I felt same as you. I have a friend who dresses people professionally and she helped. The main thing for jackets was to remove shoulder padding. Lots of dresses can be updated by shortening, also with the addition of a modern cardi or wear with leggings. I couldn't fit into any trousers but I would have thought a plain black trousers wouldn't have changed much over the years.

I've recently got back into vintage - aka my old clothes - mostly 1940s-60s but also some 80s. I think the trick is to mix it up, not to wear any decade head to toe and always to make sure at least one thing is modern (e.g. shoes, jewellery) and that the styling is current. E.g. I've revived some 80s tapered, pleated trousers but I've shortened them to ankle length and I''m wearing them cuffed and with either plimsolls or brogues rather than whatever shoes I wore at the time (can't remember).

I'm not getting on so well with old 90s stuff yet. Some of it just doesn't suit me any more (e.g. tea dresses) and some of it just doesn't look quite right yet e.g. I've kept several pairs of wide legs but (I saying this on another thread) they're very flared which gives them away. Likewise some 90s jackets, as you say, still look dated rather than vintage. It's a fine line but I'm sure they just need a bit more time! I'm very jealous - it sounds like you have a treasure trove.

This is interesting, its a subtle thing
I keep an old expensive pair of Armani jeans for years years and they just look so wrong.

You keep them for years and then just when you've given up, they can suddenly look right. I've got some Armani chinos, high waisted, tapered a bit Annie Hall. I bought them second hand a few years ago when they looked totally bizarre and even I wondered if I was wasting my money. But this summer I've shortened them and they're spot on.

I think clothes move on faster than you would imagine, not just for items we think of as the height of fashion at the time but just for basic items. in conjunction with that there's the possibility that clothes that would have been suited you 20 years ago might not suit someone 20 years older. I'm baffled by the high waisted bottoms, and wide short tops or things tucked in that teens wear now.

I had saved a couple of work suits that were too large after dropping a dress size 5 years ago which were bought maybe 10 years ago, thinking suit styles don't very that much over the years. However while digging them out to tide me over while transitioning into maternity wear recently I found the cut of the skirt and particularly the large lapels on the jacket were terribly out of date. The cut of a lot of trousers and jeans has massively changed too, it just happens gradually so we don't always realise. I do remember how strange my first narrow tapered leg trousers felt a few years ago and how dated a pair of old but barely worn white jeans felt recently when I dug them out and found the wide boot cut ends.

There could be some absolute gems in your haul, hard to tell without pictures, maybe a kind and trusted friend could review with you? I do have plenty of tops hanging around with a LOT of years in them, shirts, dresses etc.

It's getting harder to find the genuinely out of date rather than vintage, but boy do you know when you see it.

When off duty our local supermarket manager dresses entirely in Juicy and Burberry check. Can't take your eyes off her.

A line skirts in big patterns, per una, waterfall, wrap cardis, cath kidston, orla kiely - all had it in South London.

I resurrected an ancient Nicole Farhi skirt winter before last but instead of court shoes 80s style, I put shoe boots underneath. Sadly the fit is somewhat snugger than when purchased!

Trousers change a lot - ime skirts are more likely to work.
I have an amazing black wool pencil skirt from the early 80s and I have recently revived an A line navy cotton one I bought in 1990ish. As someone else said, mix it up. If you wear a very contemporary top the skirt looks unusual rather than old.

What suits you does change - I hope I'll know better than to ever wear tea dresses or combats again. But I don't think it's set in stone. Tapered, high waisted trousers say, are kind to my thighs and my waist but can make my arse look bigger and I think whether or not that looks good is purely fashion.

And although there may be nothing new in fashion, not everything comes back. So when I put things away or buy second hand speculatively, as I sometimes do, I don't know for certain whether I'll ever get them out again.

I find it fascinating!

Oh and I think the other thing is, I never, ever try to look vintage. In fact if someone says to me, 'That's a nice jacket - is it vintage?' I know I'm doing something wrong. What I'm aiming for is, 'That's a nice jacket - where's it from?'

This is fascinating. I wear vintage (40s and 50s) and do wonder: this to me is a vintage look (although I do what PP have said: modern hairstyles, shoes. accessories with e.g. a vintage peplum 50s skirt suit or a long slinky 40s evening gown) but at some stage is it going to start looking odd? How do you figure out which things are timeless? Is what I think looks normal now only because Roland Mouret did his whole 2006/7 Galaxy dress thing (a look I adore)? And in 15 years all the money I spent on gorgeous vintage stuff will be wasted because I'll be unable to make it look modern and not costumey?

Ahem. Sorry. Stream of consciousness.

I saw a girl in town wearing a pinafore dress identical to my 90's Monsoon one. Searched the loft and have throughly enjoyed wearing it again with some Converse.

I love the sound of your clothes Gah!!

I think you just have to look at yourself in the mirror very critically and be really strict about whether it suits you and fits you (or can be altered).

Which sounds like the science of the bleeding obvious but when you're trying on something lovely and iconic and quite possibly unique, it's hard to be strict. You end up telling yourself that those giant lapels are ok really or that even though it's not your colour, you can always add a scarf. I've done it loads of times but that's always when I stop wearing vintage and it starts wearing me.

Hm, I think you maybe have the answer regarding not wearing everything together. I've been putting a suit, for example, on as a suit. When I just put the trousers on with a simple linen tee shirt and a leather jacket, it does look much better.

Thank you Flo! :)

It is hard to be strict with vintage. I always think "but I'll never find it again" and yes, all the "if I wear it with a belt/scarf/shoulder pads/have it altered, it will work" thoughts too.

Court heals - they look universally dated now.
Pencil skirts have had their day.
Boot cut jeans seem quite dated.
Cleavage!

this is a timely thread as I'm looking through my work suits and trying to decide whether to keep them or recycle them (I'm not wearing them at the moment for various reasons). I think I'm edging towards getting rid, even though they are good quality stuff

Boot cuts are making a revival.
Pencil skirts are always around and i dont remember a time that they have not been around.
Court shoes -work shoes imo.

I think now is a bit of a key moment in style for MNetters - a lot of us wore 80s and 90s first time round, and nothing makes you look at yourself with an eye to review like that.

I think I have decided to get shot of my old work clothes/suits. All lovely smart investment banker-ish stuff, but now not things I will ever wear again. However, the style is coming around again... just for younger peeps who've never worn such styles.

When I see anybody wearing a boxy, longish suit jacket, of the kind that was popular in the 1980s and 1990s, I immediately think "dated". Jackets don't really look like that any more.

I also notice shoes. Heel and toe shapes vary so much. A narrow, square toe really dates shoes to the 1990s and early 2000s, I think. There aren't many shoe shapes worth keeping. The platform high heeled shoes that were popular from the mid-2000s until a couple of years ago already look really dated.