"Mr. Ford" on Vintage & The Trendistas

I (finally) just read the December 2010 US Vogue article "Mr. Ford Returns" .  In a nut shell, he has grown up.  He got off the train at the last stop before it veered off the track to that point of no return and, after what sounds like a much~needed respite, now purports to be the designer for real women of the world. 

Translation:  Grown up, sophisticated, elegant, well~made, tasteful, timeless fashion. 

 
 
I am far from a "trendista".....I try to flip through Vogue, Elle, Bazaar & Vanity Fair every month, not so much to decide what I will wear, but to have some idea of what the "trendistas" will be looking to wear~~at what is "trending" and how to market that in The Red Velvet Shoe.  Most of the fashions in the magazines are just not the sort of thing a suburban Mom wears to the schoolyard for afternoon pick up. . .

There is also that internal conflict of loving vintage clothing and style for it's classic, timeless, tasteful design and trying to market it to trendistas who will buy/wear anything just because it's in the magazines, on the red carpet and in every store window display right now.   "Do not be throwing your pearls before swine...." as the saying goes.  Trendistas are an unfaithful lot.  They only want the latest, the greatest and the up~to~datest.  Trendistas only want to wear vintage if it's "in".   A truly stylish woman knows that it takes a lifetime to build a wardrobe that is grown~up, sophisticated, elegant, well~made, tasteful and timeless.  The woman of style knows it's not always about the thrill of buying something new, but the discipline of keeping what she has and that innate sense of knowing how to wear it well.  Yes, trends help me sell vintage clothing because trendistas love to shop, but I don't know that I'm proud of that.   I think Mr. Ford feels the same way.

"I don't think fashion has to change every five minutes.  I'd like these to be clothes you can wear for a long time--ten, 20 years; pass on to your daughter.  Why buy vintage when you can open your own closet!"  Mr. Ford ~ Vogue December 2010 p. 259

 

Well said.  Welcome back, Mr. Ford.