Wednesday, February 15

vintage vs. retro


what is the difference between vintage and retro?

example: i was just on Etsy and saw a shirt listed as: "Vintage 80's..."


to me? 80's is retro... maybe not even that!

weren't the 80's just a couple of years ago? i could have sworn the 80's were just a couple of years ago... (and i just pulled the exact shirt out of my closet with the whole "oh my gosh - this thing is from the 80's?!!!" shriek as I threw it in the burn-this-NOW pile.)

cindy lauper
really bad hair bands with the coolest hair evah!
duran duran *sigh*
keds and 4 pairs of socks (1 for each color in your outfit - all layered up... do you remember that?)
bangs that stood a mile high with so much aqua-net in them there was no way those poofyliscious works of art were going to de-poof...


SHOULDER PADS.


are the 80's considered "vintage"? if so... i'm changing my birth certificate immediately.




vintage vs. retro. what is the defining date-line/age bracket?

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where i'm walking like an egyptian...
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15 comments:

  1. class of '85 ... I'd like to know if I'm vintage or retro !? ... I'll just keep thinkin' I'm "like a virgin" .... heee-hee ; )

    xoxo
    Jill

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  2. 40's and earlier is antique. 50's is retro. 60's plus is vintage. why? (I'm so glad you asked!). because I was born in the 60's and I refuse to be antique or retro! vintage I'm okay with cuz I like that word!

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  3. OK, I have a sneaky feeling this is defined by our "age". I've always considered "retro" to be anything from the 40's to 70's. Any decade that I was an adult in, definitely is NOT included. LOL!!
    Hated 80's fashion, but still my fave when it comes to music. My kids and I would watch MTV nonstop, when MTV WAS MTV, not a bunch of hooey like it is now. Vintage is older for me, anything from the 20's to the 50's. Great post, Robelyn!!

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  4. Okay...you asked for it and I'm gonna throw my two cents in. Antiques need to be at least a hundred years old. Retro is funky, but quality. Vintage is quality period pieces. Clear as mud?
    The key word here is quality. As far as I'm concerned, anything made after the mid 80's is gonna have a hard time falling into any of these categories because 85% of it was shoddily made. It won't stand the test of time or taste. Fact of the matter is...IMHO...most things being produced today are firewood before they ever hit the stores. So much so, I've thought about doing a post on this same subject.
    You know how much I hate to think...you little thought provoker you!
    Deb

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  5. OMG The 80's were so fugly! lol I had the biggest hair and scrunched socks.lol Great, Robelyn, now I'm gonna have nightmares!lol
    ~Debra xxx
    Capers of the vintage vixens

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  6. I lost the 80's... I had 3-small children... the only 3 things I remember from the 80's... "MASH", "Born in the USA", and Billy Idol... that's it.

    I don't think I'll live long enough to define the 80's as vintage or retro... to me... retro is 1950-1960s... Vintage 1910-ish - 1949... everything over 100-years is an antique... I think the 70's may fall into the retro age too... but I find it difficult to view even the 70's as retro... the 1980's are retro only if you were born in the 1990's... and... I wasn't.. ;-)

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  7. I think it works like this... "Vintage" is the real thing... the real item... a Fender tweed amp from the 50's is 'vintage'... my Peavys covered with fake tweed, manufactured in the 90's... are retro. The 'look' goes back to an era... whereas with 'vintage,' the item itself goes back to an era.

    Now, 'antique' versus 'vintage'... I think that is defined by the product itself... furniture is antique... would we call old furniture 'vintage?' Guitars made in the 50's/60's are considered by many to be 'vintage'... I don't think we would ever call them 'antique' guitars...

    I'm not sure on those two, but I am comfortable with my explanation for 'retro' vs 'vintage.'

    ~shoes~ (who is vintage... definitely NOT retro...)

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  8. I prefer to think of it as retro..... vintage would describe my grandmother!! And I am not old enough to be a grandma am I? Don't answer that. But my boys dig my 80's hair band music, and I do know all about aqua net..so I'm ok with retro! And save that shirt to make something fabulous out of!!

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  9. gaaaaaaa that means I am vintage I was taking care of babies in the eighties and so it's really just a blur! I was not hip though, that's for sure! I did have major bangs for awhile and always wore keds, still do! Two of the kids like the eighties stuff but I like to go back even further, that top magazine cover is more my style! t.xoxoxoxoxox

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  10. ... Like OH, My G-! Gag me with a spoon...
    We're Vintage?
    Who knew?

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  11. 80's is only considered vintage on etsy..where the definition of vintage is 20 years ago or more.

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  12. Simple, simple, simple.

    I am vintage. You are retro.

    The end.

    Mal

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  13. It all confuses the heck out of me! I just call all my old stuff JUNK!
    tot

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  14. I use to wear all kinds of pins on my jackets and sweaters in the 80s...from crayons to frogs to rainbows. Can't believe you made me remember that!!

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  15. I like to search the internet and this is what I found on apt. therapy http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/age-defining-an-130615

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