When I was a little girl I wore my favorite dress nearly every day. It had been my mama’s prom dress and it was long and flowy and floral and i deemed it the most beautiful dress in the world. Me and my brother and sister would play outside for hours. My favorite game was “prairie girl” in which i lived out my Laura Ingalls Wilder fantasy, quite literally. We ran ( barefoot, yikes!) on gravel, splashed in the creek, climbed trees and ate pop tarts that I pretended were “vanity cakes” while pretending to be lost kids or hearty pioneerfolk. And for most all of our playing I wore my mama’s long, ethereal dress. Needless to say it got, well, kinda sorta basically thrashed. The hem was a mess from getting stepped on and the lining was ripped clear thru to the waist. The corset ties were MIA and the sash was hanging by a thread. I somehow revived it so I could wear it for 2 different school plays. That dress was my favorite and I felt so beautiful in it. But eventually i grew older and got into bellbottoms and glitter lip gloss and stupid boys and I stopped playing make believe. Though I still loved long floral dresses in my heart, my mamas prom dress lay forgotten in the play chest.
One of my greatest joys of becoming a true vintage seller has been going thru my clothes and my families old clothes now with the sharper eyes of a pro. The first season I was selling vintage I took my kids back to my ma and pa’s house on Panther Creek Road and after they went to bed I pulled the old play clothes out of the attic. Before I even found the old prom dress my heart was racing with anticipation. Knowing what I knew about vintage at the time I was wondering if the dress was as special as i remembered. I dug thru the trunk and I spied the ivory fabric with pale, dainty blue flowers. I pulled the dress out eagerly and raced to look at the tag. If you haven’t already guessed by now, yes, my dear vintage pals, my mama’s prom dress was a collectible Gunne Sax dress. Gunne Sax, the much-coveted, highly sought after brand of victorian revival dresses from the 70s. Designed by Jessica McClintock and worn by barefoot hippies and city gals alike and donned by my small farming-town Wisconsin mom to her prom of under 100 people.
I brought the musty dress downstairs and confronted my mom in disbelief. “I can’t believe you let me wear this!” I said. “Its a Gunne Sax dress and people pay a lot of money for these babies!” She looked at me with interest; “ Yeah I know. What?? is it worth a lot of money?” Oh bless her! Bless her dear heart! I immediately started stripping to see if I could still fit into the dress, tattered though it was. I couldn’t zip it ( the zipper was busted anyway) , but I could get it on and immediately i felt the power of the dress pouring over me. Gunne Sax peeps, you know what I’m talking about! I felt beautiful and feminine and powerful and delicate all at once. It felt so timeless! With only a slight sigh I took off the dress and asked my mom if I could take it. Always willing to pass on anything not bolted to ground my mom told me to take the whole trunk if I wanted. She explained that she never thought much about us wearing her fancy clothes as play clothes and didn’t mind that they got used and perhaps even abused.
Since taking the dress home and washing it (but not mending it cuz damn its gonna be a project!) Ive thought a lot about what a gift my mom gave me by letting me wear her dress. You see, as a vintage seller I see a lot of vintage exchange hands. And remarkably some of the clothes that get sold are 40. 50, 60 years old or more and still in basically unworn condition. That is truly gold as a seller and collector! But I see a lot more clothes that are torn, ripped, stained, busted and thrashed. And I can’t help envisioning whoever wore that garment just living their life and spilling the wine or catching their sleeve on the door, or their kid stepping on the hem. It oddly makes me happy to see a dress with stains and tears!
And now I have a closet full of incredible vintage that feels very special. And the impulse I have is to save them for the right day, the right time, the perfect place to wear them and feel like a knockout. But we are also living in a global pandemic during which I haven’t gone to a dress up event in almost 2 years. Yikes. And to be honest, even before this stupid ass pandemic I was a new mom who had a very committed relationship to sweatpants and my man’s flannels. These magical events that give me reason to dress to the nines and feel fabulous are just pretty sparse in this season of life. And thats ok! But I’m finding now that letting my special vintage clothes sit lonely in my closet is rather silly.
So, I’m talking a page out my childhood self. And I’m taking inspiration from some of my favorite instagram accounts and I’m finding ways to just wear the damn dress! I’m finding that I don’t need a reason or excuse and I’m loving it. I’m not saying I’ve given up my sweats! Oh no, definitely not! But at least a few days a week I will grab a 70 psych dress or a 80s jumpsuit and roll out the door. I’m a stay at home mom by day. So most of my vintage is comfy and stretchy and they all have low necks to allow for easy nursing when I was still breastfeeding. Most of them can be thrown in the washer, which is key as well. Ive found my vintage is easy to wear and makes me feel fabulous for my everyday life of finger-paints and fruit snacks.
While there is a myth that vintage is delicate and fussy and hard to care for, Ive mostly found the opposite. They are made to last and they’ve already lived a life of eating and drinking and nursing babies and cooking and dancing and LIFE! Ive stopped fearing ruining them and instead learned how to repair and wash my clothes. If you are too afraid to wear something cuz you don’t want to “ruin” it then you are missing out on both feeling fab, and letting future wearers of your clothes feel the fab that you felt while wearing it! Spread the good vibes: wear the vintage. I really have to thank my mom who allowed me to play and be a kid in her gorgeous dress and for showed me that clothes are made to be worn and lived in. That Gunne and me sure had some good 'ol times.
So now, please allow me to put on my bossy mom voice for a minute: Just wear the damn dress! Wear it to school, wear it to work, wear it to grocery shop in Wal-Mart at 2 am. Wear it to hipster brunches and your local public library. Wear it to wipe your babies butts and to scoop kitty litter. I can’t tell you how much joy I both get and give when I wear a loud-ass 70s psychedelic dress to shop for bread and milk on a Sunday afternoon. Many elderly people smile at me! Its awesome! So open that closet and wear the damn clothes. Yes, even the collectible pieces or the family heirlooms that your great great great aunt handmade. Unless they belong in a museum or for certain times only, I urge you to do your ancestors and your future ancestors proud and infuse those clothes with the love and joy of actually LIVING in them! Dance in them, fight in them, paint in them and parent in them. And yes, you will likely have to wash them and sew buttons or repair seams. But you were gonna have to do that anyway. No big deal. If you ever have questions about how to take care of your vintage absolutely message me and I can help you out.
Get your Gunnes hunnies! Its vintage time and we ride at dawn to the grocery store in our amazing vintage.
With love from Panther Creek Road,
Glenna