How Vintage Fashion Plays in Contemporary Times
The new decade is approaching us fast, and as always, it will bring along many new designers, brands, styles, and trends. But there is no doubt that people will keep seeking after rare vintage pieces as we are continuously exposed to vintage trends on social media.
One of the current trends in streetwear fashion is rocking classic 80s and 90s apparel with modern high-end designer pieces. Needless to say that it is evident that our love for vintage pieces is very much alive.
We will be exploring different reference points that are examples of how influential vintage is within the streetwear culture - including customer preferences, buyer behavior, and our love for nostalgia.
Let’s investigate just how influential vintage fashion is
Dedicated Vintage Retail Stores
Dedicated stores solely focusing on vintage style is a testament into how influential vintage fashion is. We took it a step further and went down to Nordic Poetry to speak about vintage streetwear which can be seen in the video below.
Nordic Poetry was started by Swedish founder Ameli Lindgren who is originally from the Nordic region. The store initially started as an online store, but due to high demand, the owner was able to open a physical location in the U.K.
The store’s hype has since grown so much that many world-class rap artists and designers, such as Swae Lee, have visited the store in the look-out for rare vintage pieces.
Moreover, many larger retail chains, such as urban outfitters, regularly serve vintage looks to the masses, and this can only be down to one thing: demand! Our demand for the vintage aesthetic translates into more pop-up stores, Highstreet stores, and global retailers to serve this need!
Vintage Apparel Make Over
As we said that the first piece of evidence was that vintage stores and retailers, created with the sole purpose to meet the demand of this specific niche, brands want to capitalize on this. Which is why we have seen national and global brands remake pieces to fit the vintage aesthetic.
Past examples of this include:
Champion x Clothsurgeon
(Image Credit: Champion USA)
Summer of 2019 saw both Champion & Clothsurgeon release notable styles from the 50s and 60s such as wool coats, jackets, and jumpers. This collaboration is evident that while champion continues to innovate its sportswear and apparel, they are making a conscious effort to create vintage pieces for customers.
LEBRON 16 MARTIN
(Image Credit: Nike)
The Nike LeBron 16 is known as one of the best high-performance shoes today, which comes in a variety of colors. April 2019 saw an entire makeover with the shoe including graphics from the much-loved sitcom; Martin. The Martin show was a hit in the 90s and what better way to do a makeover and add the vintage classic feel!
Bandulu Remakes
(Image Credit: Bandulu)
Even more impressive is the fact that there are streetwear brands, such as Bandulu, whose entire business model involves re-designing quality vintage clothing. For example, as seen in the image above, by adding hand-created embellishments to vintage pieces from brands, such as Nike, Champion, and Levi’s.
Nostalgia
We are a nostalgia-based society, which seamlessly transitions into fashion trends from past decades coming back to the forefront. Our love for the 70s, 80s, and 90s fashion is not going anywhere, which can also be seen from the Google search trend screen capture below highlighting the 90’s vintage Google search data in the U.S. during the past decade.
From 2010 the term ’90s fashion’ has seen spikes & steady increase in google search, which should not come as a surprise to anyone. From snapbacks, retro colors and patterns, track pants, neon clothes and bomber jackets, these items in particular pay homage to the past decades and are styled today by millennials across the world. Vintage styles from the past will make itself present today in many forms such as music, art, fashion, and everyday life.
From retail stores and brand remakes for our own interests, it’s clear to see vintage fashion and style plays out in contemporary times in many different forms. Whether this is apparent or not to consumers, it’s evident just how influential vintage is today and will continue to be next decade.
Expect to see more of the vintage aesthetic in the next decade.
Text Curated by:
The Author’s Personal Blog:
(Bakez is a Guest Contributor on Hypend.com)
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