Why Vintage?

While looking around for ethical clothes and where to buy them I started looking at Vintage. With re-using being one of the most important examples of sustainability, vintage is not only cool it is sustainable. We spoke to the wonderful Tassie, owner of Chiffe, about why she wanted to start her own online store. Tassies Chiffe Studio opened its virtual doors earlier this month. Here is what Tassie had to say about why she choose vintage…

My love of vintage probably put down roots long before I started collecting. I’ve always loved the magic in historical costume and remember dressing up as a child and my mum’s skill at making costumes for school plays and trips.

For me there is magic in vintage and antique clothes. I love to imagine the story behind each garment. Of those who made and wore them and who dreamt them up long before they were constructed. When I wear them, I slip away on a journey to another time and place.

In the garments, it’s often possible to see little insights into how our lives have changed and the role of women at that point in history. A Victorian corseted and bustled two-piece is telling a very different story to a late 20th century hand-painted, strappy, low-neck jumpsuit!

They are a small connection to a time we’ll never see and a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors.

One thing I love to do is really inspect the items and to look at the techniques used to make them. Many are handmade and some show signs of being repaired or patched: little records of our development – of old techniques and a marker of how things have changed in terms of technology.

But on the other hand, they act as a reminder of some things we have lost: old skills that may not be used so much anymore such as hand stitching and embroidery and fine lacework, slower manufacture and natural dying. I think the recent Slow Living revolution will find lots of evidence in vintage and antique clothing for its cause. Although made for the same purpose, these clothes were made to last and the slower approach to constructing them creates detail and quality we just never see on the high street.

Taking some time to learn about wearing, preserving and caring for vintage clothes can also teach us a lot about how we select and handle modern garments too. Vintage is a wonderful reminder of a slower, more sustainable and considered way of dressing, which can only be a good thing. I feel lighter knowing I am making full use of items with plenty of life left in them, rather than adding to a culture of waste we’ve sadly allowed to get out of hand.

Another reason I love vintage is that each item is a one off, which is refreshing in our world of mass production and its resulting throw away culture. Without the price tag of bespoke, when you buy vintage you know you’ll almost certainly be the only one stepping out in that look. No instagrammer will be sharing a photo of that same garment!

When so much is so readily available to so many of us the world over, it feels special to hold a one-off piece of history in my hands that I know exists nowhere else.

If you haven’t already, visit www.chiffe-studio.com and have a look at the beautiful, vintage clothes available, and read more about Chiffe and

I initially found Tassie on Instagram, her beautiful and unique feed can be found here.