Angela McRobbie takes the opportunity in chapter eight of Postmodernism: Popular Culture, to look at the cultural relevance of second-hand style or 'vintage dresses'. Naturally I was quite excited by this, given my love and dedication to vintage clothing. McRobbie contends that the act of buying and the process of looking and choosing remain relatively unexamined in the academic field of cultural analysis, and gives several convincing explanations for this. The first being that the act of shopping in and of it's self, has been seen as a feminine activity. A such it's tended to be thought of as a private activity, part of the private sphere if you will. McRobbie charges "contemporary feminism has been slow to challenge the early 1970's orthodoxy which saw women as slaves to consumerism". I'd like to come back to this in a moment. McRobbie gives attention to the "sub-cultures" that create street style, arguing that designers take their cues from the young, working class, and poor; re-package their styles and creations, and sell it back to the middle, and upper classes at exorbitant cost. Pissed off working class punk kids could not have foreseen Doc Martins selling for over $200! She references writers Tom Wolfe and Angela Carter, who both regard second-hand style as an unconsciously patronizing response to those who 'dress down' because they have to. Lord knows I roll my eyes at the sight of art stars slumming it in north end Halifax. The idea of "playing at poor" however is more complex than Carter or Wolfe concedes. McRobbie draws attention to some of the in betweens. She contends that the cross-section of those who dress second hand style is broadening, and gives rising unemployment and young single mothers as examples of this diversification. While I don’t disagree with Wolfe, Carter, or McRobbie, I'd argue that lots of poor and working class people, paradoxically dress second-hand style in order to look like they have money.
In looking for images to include with this post, I came across the Posh Girl Vintage Clothing Internet store. I found their logo and accompanying "couture to street style" slogan very interesting, and telling of my above point. Couture to street style vintage turns the criticism of street style to couture completely on its head. One of the Posh Vintage store dresses I clicked on was $945! Growing up in solidly lower/working class family, I saved up forever to buy a pair of $200 Doc Martin's; the original staple of working-class punk rock kids. When I was 13, my family had the surprise blessing and curse of moving into an upper middle class neighborhood, where everyone my age had these stupid shoes. I tore my jeans, put holes in my tights, and shopped second-hand so that I might look like I had money. I could not for the life of me understand why this upset my mother. In a sense it was like trying to beat them at their own game.
McRobbie discusses the argument that everything old is new again out of nostalgia and melancholy for the past. The future is as bleak as the present is boring. Perhaps there is truth in this, but I'd argue as McRobbie does, that youth also deconstruct and reinvent the past, and present with vintage and second-hand style. When I got a bit older my tastes in second-hand style shifted from menswear and punk, to 1930's and 1950's clothing. I'm not so much playing with poor now, as I am versions of femininity. I could probably spend days analyzing why I'm drawn consciously and unconsciously to this, but I'm not going to. I While I might not be able to fully articulate it, there is without a doubt, a deconstruction of feminity and gender at work if you happen to catch me traipsing around in a poofy pink party dress.
