Magazine Mention : "Old Fashioned at 29"

The other day I was browsing through O Magazine, Oprah Winfrey's own publication and noticed a spread titled  "O, Yes You Can!" featuring different women at different ages showing off unexpected style choices at their age. I was soo thrilled this lovely women was featured. Embracing the Vintage/ Retro look! The woman featured is 29 year old Jennifer McClain who is a sales diector of the NYC based vintage store What Goes Around Comes Around. The article says not only does she wear the clothes, she lives the lifestyle: "My apartment is furnished with antiques, and I organize my closet by decade, I love playing dress up every day." There have been so many times when people and myself why do you dress like this especially at your age? Because I want too! haha Well I've received many more positives then  negatives. I have a friend at school who calls me Granny Goose because of my "granny" style and taste haha but I love my nickname! I think it really is wonderful that we have more people females and males who are embracing this classic style. I think it's much more accepted today then say maybe 20 years ago, even though the 1990's had a huge retro revival. With hit shows like Mad Men (which was a blessing), vintage becoming trendy, and today's vintage/ retro style and burlesque queen Dita Von Teese they all have helped I think bring more of an interest and acceptance of  vintage retro style. However there is a time and a place for everything regardless of age. I know if I was going to something like a serious job interview I wouldn't want to necessarily go like I completely stepped out of a time capsule, I might want to tone it down a little ( I know I have days were I look more contemporary then usual). Also I think age plays a factor how old should you be or allowed to dress like this? Well to each his own, if you want to more power too you. In fact I had a couple of friends tell me there was an episode of the tv show "What Not To Wear" were two stylists make over someone who's wardrobe is deemed horrible by friends and/ or family and our in desperate need of a makeover. I'm familiar with the show, and on this episode  they were making over a 47 year old woman who was a big vintage collector. Now I haven't seen this episode, but they did get rid of her wardrobe which is sad, however her ensembles she came up with were quite questionable. ( Frankly I think she looked much better after. I think that her age has a lot to do with it.)



It's like a love/ hate relationship with the show, sometimes they just take away peoples uniqueness, and I love that Oprah's magazine embraced it! Plus I love that they gave little tips if you want to hop on the retro bandwagon, which are very helpful:
"When looking to capture a specific era or style, the key is in the details, from the print on [McClain's] a dress to [her] carefully coordinated jewelry, hat, belt, gloves and shoes."


* Start with small doses. You can pair vintage costume jewelry with jeans and a tee. Gradually work up to more pieces, like a scarf, hat or skirt.


*Pay attention to fabrics. Clothes from the '20s were often made of thin silk and tend not to preserve well. Later decades incorporated synthetics like rayon, which drape nicely. (Ignore sizing- a 14 then might be a 6 now.)


"People think I dress like Mad Men characters. Nope, just my outfit today!"


 I love it! That's happened to me plenty of times, (funny thing one time I was on set of where Mad Men was shooting and one of the techie guys thought I was an extra haha) and I'm sure it's happened to you too!




-Victoria