Kate Moss rarely goes a week without it, Beyoncé collects it, Lily Allen sells it and millions of us want it. What is it? Vintage, daaahling, vintage.
But vintage is just a euphemism for old, isn't it, so what's all the fuss about?
Well firstly there's the glamour and the joy of it all. Everyone loves a good excuse to dress up and have a good time, and perhaps loving all things vintage provides the perfect opportunity. If you ever go to a vintage fair you'll see swarms of happy young ladies wearing full circle frocks and bright red lipstick with their hair in fingerwaves and beehives. Rifling through the rails is only to work up an appetite for a nice pot of tea and – the best thing of all about vintage – a slice of good old-fashioned home-made Victoria Sponge. Beats munching on carrots in your skinny jeans.
Then there's the romance of it all. When True Vintage Fans see a 1950s cocktail dress they can't help but get swept away by the history of it. What sort of parties has it been to, what occasions has it celebrated, what scandal has it been part of? Vintage is for the Creatives of this world with imaginations that can run wild dreaming up stories of the past. One person may see a hideous yellow meringue that smells funny but a TVF will see a lemon cupcake dress that once twirled around a dance hall with a dashing young war hero. One man's junk and all that.
Social status could be another motive: a 1940s Madame Grès gown in excellent condition will be extraordinarily valuable and accessible only to the elite, but optimistic vintage lovers simply don't give up on finding a decent piece at a bargain price. The sad truth is, though, that we are unlikely to stumble across a genuine gem for 99p in Oxfam so most of us aren't even buying vintage, just the idea of it. Anything genuine needs to be pre-1980s yet you'll find “vintage” Topshop jumpers online – mass-produced in 1998, ripped and stained, but “vintage”. Hmmm.
The exclusivity and individuality of vintage clothing is surely another reason to love it. Wear a Zara dress featured on the front page of Grazia last week and you're running the risk of turning up to your university reunion in the same outfit as your ex-boyfriend's latest squeeze, but if you're wearing a 1920s flapper dress you will be the belle of the ball. Everyone will ask you where it's from, so you'll have to practise your nonchalant oh, this? Oh, it's vintage. There will be gasps and jealous sneers, and you'll feel like royalty.
Coco Chanel once famously said “Fashion fades, only style remains”, and I think she was onto something. The stylish 1940s clutch you bought for half a Franc at a Parisian flea market will be the envy of others until the day you die, but the meat dress you bought on eBay last week is already way past its sell-by date.
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