Pink is for Nostalgia

Everything that goes around comes around again. We’ve heard that refrain applied to fashion before. And you know how they say you hate the fashions of the decade you were spent your formative years in? I was a teen in the 80s, and although I have a few fond (and amused) memories I believe it really was ‘the decade that style forgot’. I don’t know who coined that phrase, but it is particularly apt for the brash 80s.

On the other hand, I was a kidlet in the 70s, and look back on those years through rose-coloured glasses. (Pink is the colour of nostalgia.) Of course, the clothes I wore back then were quite different to the vintage 70s garments I own now. A few years ago I even bought a pair of vintage 70s rose-coloured sunglasses with leopard-print frames!

… back in the 70s, my coat was called the ‘Zhivago’ coat (after the famous Russian book of course).

The suede and rabbit fur coat I am wearing in these photos is one of my favourite winter coats. It is vintage 1970s, by old Australian label Stephen Dattner.

A couple of weeks ago I was travelling home by tram very late on a Saturday night after a party. I had boarded the tram, and when I had sat down, a late middle-aged lady addressed me, informing me that back in the 70s, my coat was called the ‘Zhivago’ coat (after the famous Russian book of course). The woman knew this because she had owned one, in tomato red suede and trimmed with black fur. She only had a single tier of fur along the bottom however.

How wonderful to meet someone so dubiously on public transport, and learn such a fascinating tidbit! I told her that I had come upon the coat in a charity shop for only $45 – she was hugely impressed by that price and told me I had a bargain (which I certainly knew already), for the coat had cost hundreds of dollars new. Taking into account inflation rates, that would translate to several thousand dollars at today’s prices.

The original lining was completely shot, and my sister Blossom very generously and expertly replaced it with a plum coloured satin as a birthday present one year. My new acquaintance and I proceeded to talk non-stop about vintage fashion for the next 30–40 minutes as we waited for our tram transfer at the interchange. It transpired this lady had worked in the vintage fashion industry for decades, and had begun her career in a magazine start-up with the Murdochs. Fancy! She knew all the Melbourne dealers, and collected vintage clothing herself, as well as assisting at vintage fairs with styling advice and the like. When I said goodbye to her she urged me to say hello next time I saw her – she had already noticed me before because of my outfits, which was very flattering.

My red bag is also 70s, and though the floppy wool felt hat (Milana), red and purple knit top (Sonia Rykiel) and dusky pink, wide-legged velvet pants (Asos) are all new, they are certainly bathing in the rosy glow of the 1970s.