2. Of relating to, or denoting wine of high quality.
Vintage, antique, retro, repro... these words are everywhere, especially if you are perusing a furniture shop or on the lookout for a new pair of boots. Despite its definition, we seldom use the word ‘vintage’ and ‘wine’ in the same sentence these days.
In fashion and design, something produced between the 1920’s and the 1960’s, is vintage, according to Wikipedia. I think the word ‘vintage’ has become somewhat in a class of it’s own.
A bit like the way we call vacuum cleaners ‘Hoovers’ and one day, probably, ‘Dysons’, the original meaning of the word is really lost now, anything not brand new… we call it ‘vintage’. … and wine? So long as it’s under $25 we don’t mind what we call it.
According to most of the second hand stores in Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and much of Manhattan, ‘vintage’ is anything that looks a bit old, or is old but looks a bit new, or was old, but has now been made to look new, or… it’s just new… and far too expensive.
How has this obsession with vintage become so big now? I thought since we saw less of Rachel Zoe and Nicole Richie in the headlines this year, it may have slightly subsided. But somehow it hasn’t, and now, we have Lana Del Ray taking the world by storm, I think it’s all going to go a bit ‘vintage – a – rama’ again next summer, with hundreds of 'Lolita – esque' young ladies everywhere, draped over chairs in cafes and bars.
In my world, the world of interiors, and, for the more 21st century vintage shopper, it seems Etsy is the place to go. Crammed with sellers of vintage and vintage ‘style’ items, some of which may be harshly overpriced and over - exaggerated for what they really are, but with such an enormous database of sellers, if you have the time to trawl through it all, you can still grab yourself a cute little bargain.
Also taking the US by storm, with its super fast rise to stardom in the world of decorating is One Kings Lane. Not always vintage or antique, but with fantastic price points, true to description products and new sales coming up every day – there is always a vintage bargain on offer.
If you want to really trawl through vintage in a more traditional way, Brooklyn Flea for Brooklynites and GreenFlea if you want to stay on the island, are a couple of gems.
I must confess, I am definitely one of the culprits who has used the word ‘vintage’ loosely as a description of my wedding day. I hold up my hands…there was nothing vintage at all about my dress, shoes, headpiece, or bridesmaids dresses, but they all looked a little vintage, and I was wearing an extremely sentimental and very vintage, in fact probably antique, if we are going to split hairs, brooch, so, vintage it was.
With the classic Italian medieval town, where everyone still sits in the street and drinks coffee in the same outfits they have had for the last 40 years as a backdrop….well, you can’t get more vintage than that… can you?
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