Vintage Nostalgia

In these uncertain times, an escape to the sartorial aesthetics of the past is increasingly sought after by many. This chapter explores the concept of vintage fashion, which certainly caters to the demand for escapism but also arguably holds a problematic tendency to romanticise traumatic eras of history. This provokes many stimulating and energetic possibilities within historical costuming, but also runs the risk of heightening those misconceptions that designers and historians battle against. To what extent can this propensity affect academic rigour and accuracy? To what extent does it influence the design of period dramas, and their – leading directly to our – interpretations of history? Viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses is not a purely 21st-century trait, but the craze for vintage – while entertaining and ideally educational – can be discomfiting and bears closer examination.