Where were you in 1997? Or rather what were you wearing in 1997? I can remember exactly where I was; I was working as a sales assistant at Harvey Nichols saving up for ‘travelling’ and for the first time in my life I had a taste of luxury, designer clothes and cocktails after work all on a £12k salary, how did I manage it?
I remember 1997 was the birth of Tom Ford for Gucci, this incredible man transformed this classic brand into the most sought after ‘It’ brand; every model, actress and singer from Kate Moss to Madonna was wearing his jewel toned velvet and satin combinations and they looked sensational! The next two years saw everybody following the trend, myself included. I remember buying this midnight blue backless velvet dress (for the Xmas party) that most definitely was a showstopper and most definitely was a dress I couldn’t afford but I loved it! It was one of those dresses that all of my girls just had to borrow and squeeze into!
Roll on 20 years and Tom Ford has now become a household name and the velvet trend is back in full glory with Tom Ford’s current AW17 collection paying tribute to his Gucci debut. I’m not a fashion stylist but what I know of fashion is that trends have a 20 to 25 year cycle. The exact clothes don’t return but the fabrics and colours definitely do. No one can miss the jewel tone satin dresses and tailored suits that are out in the stores right now but instead of mixing velvet with satin as we were 20 years ago we’re going one step further colour blocking velvet with lace and the velvet trousers are less likely to be boot-legged but instead are a shaper tapered cut.
So I found myself looking through my suitcase of old (valuable) clothes and there it was, my blue velvet dress and a flood of nostalgia returned, great memories of great nights out. I’m not sure I’ll be wearing this dress this year but I’ll definitely keep it, who knows one of my nieces may borrow it in 20 years time as it most definitely will be vintage by then. Items like this dress in my opinion should be kept; not necessarily placed in my daily wardrobe but packed away. If however I kept all the other clothes I was wearing back then in my wardrobe I would have rooms full of closets.
This is the reality when I do wardrobe edits for so many of my clients, they have closets packed with clothes, some items that they have kept for 20 years but haven’t worn and unfortunately most of them wouldn’t be given a cool ‘vintage’ label they’re just old and worn out. Of course I can appreciate some clothes are of emotional attachment and are associated with happy memories but if these items are clogging the space in your existing wardrobe, you’re probably living in the past and I urge you to create some space and create new amazing memories in 2018, not just with your clothes but in every area of your life too…