It is currently a trend, and ironically our aesthetic, that vintage has come back. The problem with that idea is not the return of what actually was sweet, but the misunderstanding of those applying it to themselves.
No, this is not an attack, nor a silly repulsion. This is an observation.
In the classical era, all sports, clothes, drinks and vices were supported by a moral or philosophical lecture. How and why you held your cigar, how and why you poured your wine, and how and why you dressed the way you did.
The underlying reality was, you were distinct.
The majority of the population at the time was stuck in labor force categories. As always the handful, enjoyed luxuries. Your politicians, actors/actresses, gangsters, and businessmen. They were the ones that set the trends. People believe a flat long lapel on a good striped suit, and slick back hair will allow you to be part of this tradition. You’d be very wrong.
Those maybe the traditions of then and theirs, but they aren’t my traditions.
Our hair was long, wavy, and thick. Our beards were well kept, our clothes minimum. Those that wore Western ideals were not part of us. Nor will they be. However, they were the ones that awarded us with our identities in those days.
Ironically, it was Nehru, Gandhi, and Jinnah, that were more favored in their traditional wardrobes than their aristocratic Three Pieces, Top Hats, and canes.
Vintage isn’t a fashion, it’s an ideology. Your 1940s’ were not glamorous, they were filled with war. Your time prior to that was also filled with war. The golden jazz era is sprinkled with crime. Yet you look at it from the perspective of colors and from the perspective of parties. It may be so, that you believe everything was similar to Fitzgerald’s Gatsby. Let me reassure you. It wasn’t. Men roamed different. Women wore different. The children behaved well. The ethos of respect and community was a virtue.
You may claim to understand the classics, with your cigars and your suits. However, remember this. If you are weak in literature, art, poise, class and in elegance. Regardless of how well kept your shirt and tie, you are merely a manikin of what was. The true idea of vintage is tradition. It is the crisp involved in handcrafts. The belief of artisans. The respect, simultaneously extortion, of artists. How the world stitched fine suits, and how you belittle it by wearing it for an Instagram post. Classic cars were about manufacturing, not trends. Classical music was about expression. Art before the liberals tortured it, was about understanding what could not be said.
If these virtues, and philosophies go over your head. Avoid the trend. The vintage era requires these prerequisites.
