How To Become Vintage

By: Lee Grayson

Break Studios Contributing Writer

Knowing how to become vintage is a planned design. It's not something that can simply happen by wearing one outfit. The vintage look comes from a certain hair style, clothing selection, accessorizing and even glasses or makeup. Research is part of the overall design plan.

Required items:

Vintage magazines
Vintage books
Retro clothing, shoes and accessories

Select an era. The first step in how to become vintage includes discovering a favorite time period. Select a general decade since some the popularity of some fashion and accessories continued through the decade.
Do some research. Grab some books and magazines from the era you've selected. Vintage style from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are simple to research. Most libraries carry books from the period and magazines from many of the decades are found on internet trading web sites. How to become vintage from other eras requires more research. Consult online scholarly sources, such as universities and specialty fan sites, to research styles from earlier eras.
Select a decade. Once the basic research is done to determine the general era that attracts your vintage eye, select a decade and narrow the look down even further. You're looking for a vintage attitude that matches your own personal style. For instance, if you love the twentieth century and love to wear business suits, narrowing the decade to the 1930s, 40s, 50s or 60s is a good start using the research for the peak popularity of the business suit. Next, decide on the type of business suit that matches your style. Do you like loose-fitting or snug-fitting suits? Loose suits were all the rage in the 1940s. Think zoot suits. Snug-fitting suits were popular in the late 1950s and early 60s. Think the television show "Man Men."
Make up a wardrobe. Becoming vintage means making the style your personal style. You'll need business clothes, formal wear and casual clothing. Research and make photocopies of period advertisements with your personal selections. Make files for all the clothing styles even though you might be focusing on only one group at a time.
Accessorize. You'll need accessories to match your clothing. Go back to your research and search for advertised accessories. Scan the internet to look for photos of popular figures of the period to scan for accessories. Shoes are a big part of how to go vintage. Be a stickler for authenticity. It will make or break your look. Wristwatches were an important part of the twentieth century. Pocket watches before that. Pierced ears were a hot item for Europe during the Victorian period. Don't mix your vintages if you're looking for a pure vintage look.
Go shopping. You've made your plan to become vintage and now you'll need to shop for the items. Check out sewing patterns and locate a tailor or seamstress to create some of the designs. It may be tough to find items. For vintage fans of decades earlier than the nineteenth century, vintage mandates having clothing made from drawings. There are two pattern companies both owned by one parent company that incorporate modern sewing techniques (seam allowances and darts) into their offers of vintage pre-nineteenth century clothing patterns.
Get the hair done. The hair is an important part of how to become vintage. Go back to your research and pick out several hair designs. Be a bit flexible because one hairdo may not fit your face or head structure, especially if you're going way vintage.
Go for vintage glasses. If you wear eyeglasses, match your frames to become vintage. If you've selected an era before eyeglasses were worn, be flexible or go for contacts. It's not pure vintage, but you must be able to see.
Make your ride vintage. Short of buying a horse in carriage, you may also be out of luck in going vintage if your era is pre-automobile. If you've become vintage during the time of cars, finish the look with a period ride. It puts the package into the "Wow."