Wearing Recycled Chic
By Heather Staible
March 25, 2009
Houston Chronicle

Fashion, like everything else, comes in cycles.

Shoulder pads, popular in the ’80s, are coming back. Fringe, an important style element in the 1920s, is hanging around again, too.

But designers rarely repeat verbatim. They take an idea and tweak it for today. Vintage devotees and green-loving style mavens can do the same, updating and preserving older pieces with a little creativity and care.

Vintage items are a different breed from thrift-store buys, says Seth Weisser, co-owner of What Comes Around Goes Around vintage boutiques in New York and Los Angeles.

“If you come across a great vintage piece at Salvation Army or Goodwill, you are really extremely lucky. Thrift stores have secondhand clothing but normally not vintage pieces like a Pucci or YSL,” Weisser said. “There are people who specialize in antique clothing, shopping estate sales, who know what they are looking for and what something is worth.”

Weisser, an avid vintage concert-T-shirt collector, parlayed his interest into a SoHo store he opened with friend Gerard Maione in 1993. Dedicated to the vintage lifestyle, they hand-select items that reflect current styles in some way.

“Fashion is the best way to be unique, and vintage is a great way to have individual expression,” Weisser said.

He and Malone launched the What Comes Around Goes Around Collection in 2006 for men and women, using modern fabrics and silhouettes that draw from vintage elements. Tootsies hosts a trunk show of their latest looks next week along with a workshop showcasing 60 updated pieces from coveted labels such as Pucci, Alaia and Chanel.

“We will break down the pieces and explain how we retranslate them,” Weisser said.

Local vintage expert and fashion stylist Dawn Bell also knows how to reimagine clothing from the past. She’s drawn to ’ 50s cocktail dresses and ’ 70s floral-print maxidresses, both of which adapt to modern looks.

“With a little imagination you can rework a piece. You just may surprise yourself,” Bell said. “Go into the closet and see what’s just sitting there. If you haven’t been wearing it, you might as well play with it and see what you can come up with.”

Drawing from this season’s trends, Bell suggests finding an ’ 80s shirtdress and taking off length, bringing it to just above the knee. Cut the sleeves, too, and cuff them. Or borrow from the boys and hunt down an old men’s suit that you can remake in a new feminine look.

“Find an old pair of men’s suit pants, cut them and cuff them up. Find a vintage nightgown and make a camisole out of it. Throw on a tank top from Target and add a belt for a look that is cool and current,” Bell said.

It sounds easy enough, but what if you don’t know how to sew? Bell suggests starting with scissors, a needle and thread, and buttons.

“You can never have too many buttons,” she said. “If you don’t sew at all, buy iron-on hem tape.”

If doing your own design work on a pricey vintage item makes you nervous, take it to a seamstress. But Denise Hazen, co-owner of Cheeky Vintage boutique, advises interviewing seamstresses and tailors first.

“If you are going to have something restructured, you need to make sure the person sewing knows how to do more than sew a hem. Do they have a design background? Do they know how to change the line? Do they know when something can’t be reworked?” Hazen said.

Bell and Hazen both say it’s important to keep any fabric cut from a garment. It can be turned into a belt, bag or hair accessory.

Updated or not, vintage items often need some TLC. Hazen said care varies depending on when a piece was made.

In the ’ 70s, many fabrics were made with synthetic fibers; they can be thrown in the wash.

Something made with lace would be better served at the dry cleaner’s. But handwashing and line drying are best, Hazen said.

“Seams can sometimes be brittle, and stains can be hard to remove.”

She likes Oxyclean and Febreze for washing. She also recommends steaming vintage items to freshen them and eliminate musty smells.

“The My Little Steamer ($29.95 at hsn.com) looks like an old-fashioned teakettle and works like a dream. I took back my expensive one,” she said.

If you’re sending vintage clothing to the dry cleaner’s, Hazen advises covering buttons with tin foil.

Don’t be lured into a vintage buy just because it has a famous label on it. Think of it more as an investment.

“It has to be timeless, and you have to know your era, familiarizing yourself with designers of the time. Can you make it a part of your wardrobe? You are building something that has intrinsic value beyond fashion,” Weisser said.

Unless, of course, it’s a Pucci shift or Hermès scarf.

“Special things fall into the Cinderella concept. You find your glass slipper that was made just for you,” Weisser said.

Even if that “made just for you” item was really made for someone else 40 years ago

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