Ancestry Magazine

Do you laugh when you see yourself in an old photograph and wonder, “How could I have worn that?” Looking back, it is surprising to see how much clothes have changed in our lifetimes. But the same thing happened in the times of our ancestors.

To understand the seemingly ridiculous extremes of what we call vintage clothes today, you need to understand the evolutionary fashion changes in our own time that turned clothes we once proudly wore into items we later disdainfully discarded.

Remember the 1980s when we wore thick shoulder pads in everything we owned, even sweatshirts and tees? After the fashion reached its peak, we removed the pads, frugally hoping to update our wardrobes. We were left with sagging shoulders, sleeves too wide and too deep, and oversized tops that were suddenly too long. This led to clothes without shoulder pads, followed by jackets and tops deemed “shrunken” because they were so much smaller and shorter than before.

Fashion doesn’t just happen; it evolves. It starts with a look that everyone accepts. Experimentation by fashion leaders expands that look until its mutations reach their fullest development, at which time an opposite, new look replaces it.

This was the case in our ancestors’ time, too. In the 1840s, skirts were wide thanks to multiple scratchy-scratchy petticoats called crinolines. Hoops, wider, less scratchy, requiring fewer layers, were born in 1853. By 1867, after skirts became as wide as seemingly possible, hoops were abandoned, the excess fabric pulled back, and, voila, the bustle was born.

And each style is an example of an evolutionary change that turned old discards into the vintage clothes we cherish today.

Postscript—When the Style Is Out
What do you do when you have a closet full of suddenly outdated clothes? If an outfit is beautiful and a good example of its era, save it for posterity. Attach a note describing when and where you wore it and why you saved it. Store the outfit in acid-free tissue, a prewashed 100 percent cotton pillowslip, or a garment bag labeled “Breathable.” If an outfit simply looks tired and out of style, donate it to charity. And if an outfit looks simply ridiculous, save it for a Halloween party—you’ll get some laughs as people wax nostalgic, wondering “How could we ever have worn that?”