Week 4 - Qiuying Lin (Britney)

Qiuying Lin (Britney)
ASA 141
Week 4

This weekend, our group went to Sacramento for the interview of vintage lovers. We were so impressed by the good quality of the vintage textile. The customer said each piece of cloth has a special story; although we don't know that, our consumption is conscious. The shop owner also talked to us, she wanted to sell something unique. I feel resonate with these words. Like this week reading of the Hmong textile culture, "Textile arts are an avenue for textile artists, frequently women, to exert influence, portray their own and group perspectives, and contribute to the continuation and change of their culture within the limitations of Hmong patriarchal culture." Vintage fashion and Hmong textile both integrate individual or group value so that people are willing to pass down their motifs. From the interview, we knew that everyone has a unique vintage fashion style. Therefore, vintage fashion is so vivid and contains people's soul inside. Instead, in fast fashion, people always throw away the garments after wearing limited time. They only follow the unsustainable mainstream unconsciously.

Here is a video of the introduction of a vintage shop by its shop owner. We could feel a strong sense of personal value from vintage apparel. She also explains the misunderstanding from people that why vintage clothing is not the costume. Follow her vintage shop tour, we could know that in each period, vintage has different specific style. Thus, vintage lovers could find their most inspired vintage to convey their special personality. In a result, every fashioner in vintage fashion is unique. I really love her words "when I dress like this, I feel confident in myself." As we see, vintage is more than a kind of clothing. It and her motifs melt into one, then become the representation only for her. Therefore, I strongly recommend everyone to explore vintage fashion and to walk around in a vintage shop. I believe you will be thrilled with these clothes and find something about yourself from them.

Works Cited 

McCall, Ava L. "Speaking through cloth: Teaching Hmong history and culture through textile 

art." The Social Studies 90.5 (1999): 230-236.

YouTube. (2019). I'm a Vintage Clothing Dealer | Behind the Seams★ Glam.com. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouFRQGl_A0I [Accessed 20 May 2019].