By: Gianna Sciortino
Millennials are stuck in an “instant” rut. As great as the rise of the digital age is, we now turn to our parents’ generation for trends with staying power. From film photography to mom jeans, vintage is back and better than ever.
Today our iPhones give us an unlimited number of tries to get the perfect snap until our storage runs out. The effort of going store to store, digging through rack after rack to find that perfect dress has been replaced with online retailers that can find you the dress in under five seconds.
Unlike our “instant” digital cameras, film photography gives a detailed, yet grainy exposure. It’s a unique look, not digitally perfect. The film trend is a driving force in the vintage fashion movement. Millennials are over the same, instant fashion. No one wants the same shirt that everyone has. We want to show individualism through our clothes. Brands are making all things old new again by taking vintage items, and adding a bit of magic to them to create one-of-a-kind pieces.
LF Dallas stylist Angela Crise first became aware of the “reclaimed” vintage brand Furst of a Kind, but today other lines, including the Vintage Twin and Girlfriend, have also become popular. The L.A.-based brand, deconstructs and modifies vintage pieces, mainly T-shirts and Levis. The label was one of the first to hit on the popular lace-up trend that was literally everywhere in 2016. They sourced vintage shirts, cut them up and laced them together. This simple combination of old and new is what today’s trendsetters thrive on.
Re/Done Denim is another popular reclaimed vintage label. They take old Levis and add some new rips and tears. They were one of the first to add rips on the back of Levis. Finding vintage Levis can be a daunting task, according to Stephanie Leftwich, an SMU junior. Although she has purchased vintage Levis around the world, she has not found a shop in Dallas that sells them. Instead she goes to the Re/Done website when she wants a new pair. All you have to do is click on your size and pick the style you want and the denim arrives at your door within a few days. Re/Done has combined the need for instant fashion with a hint of the past.
Everything that is currently new, will one day be old. If we can learn anything from those before us, it’s to save all of our favorite things. Generations after us will one day look back at our styles and want to borrow from us.
Tip: For those wanting to try their hand at old-school photography, the Polaroid camera is the easiest go to. Modern-day Polaroid cameras come in multiple sizes, colors and has many variations of film. The Polaroid still gives you that instant result that we’re obsessed with, but gives you the old-school look of film.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSj7t3ygeWN/?taken-by=urbanoutfitters&hl=en
