2021 OCTOBER - BOOK REPORT
WHY FRENCH WOMEN
WEAR VINTAGE
AUTHOR: ALOÏS GUINUT
Report by: Andrew Sia
Why French Women Wear Vintage
Author: Aloïs Guinut
Available from Amazon
Hardcover at $19.99
Kindle at $3.99
I would like to make this book report by quoting the extracts that I have noted when I was reading the book. First of all, choosing this book has to do with the other piece of the article in this month’s issue —Sustainable Fashion Report – France and lately I found that by quoting sustainable, wear the second-hand clothes is very doable and can also fit the purpose as well. Then I started to look for books for ideas to allow me to explore more into this subject.
I ask you to please follow my thoughts as we start to go through this book.
Extracts
Leaner closet means:
own fewer clothes
know more about what you own
Clothes can bring back happy memories, nostalgic, but what do you need exactly?
the dispensable ones and those unwanted will need to go
Clothes carry memories, but say goodbye to those when you can’t wear them again
Eco-friendly = Eco-consciousness
Basic means fundamental, they are the pillars of your wardrobes
Fast fashion clothes have no resell value
Online secondhand store is time consuming with very little money
Consignment stores are picky
There is the French saying: “loin des yeux, loin de cœur” means “far from the eyes, far from the heart”. It is like “out of sight, out of mind”.
Fashion is a heritage
Family heirlooms, you can alter it to match your style
Fashion through internet is supplying continuous information of all kinds through Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube for new inspiration and role models
Before it was the designers and the fashion magazines who set the tone, but now we find thousands influencers offering their own versions of fashion, be it is vintage or contemporary
“Eco-conscious” we can find bloggers in France, and one of them is Clara Victorya, twenty-something, with 100,000 followers
Vintage lovers can find Newal Bonnefoy, or Francine Monzemba
A hundred years of prêt-à-porter has generated enough nostalgia to inspire generations of stylists
As decades have passed, the French trends changed steadily:
the Thirties defined a new femininity;
the Forties and Fifties saw the rise of modern glamor;
the Sixties, a youthful style
the Seventies, both hippie and bourgeois vibes;
the Eighties empowered women to enjoy both feminine and masculine dress codes;
the Nineties, fashionable streetstyle, while glorifying minimalism
the Noughties, from 2000 to 2009, it was all about being fun, fame and rock
Closing remark
It is an era that fashion has been found guilty for being the second most polluting industry in the world. And yet we still continue to produce sumptuous, luxurious attire whose appeal will be outdated in the following season.