Monday 26 July 2010

Born Too Late


I reckon I was born too late. I dream of catching Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, shopping at Biba and Granny Takes a Trip and travelling the hippie trail overland from London to India through Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran. 


Modern life lacks the colour and energy of the late 60s and 70s, it's too airbrushed, sanitised and neatly packaged. We're bombarded with advertising and the domination of the great British high street by the big chains mean its nigh-on impossible to buy anything individual or unique. Easy credit means posessions are acquired and disposed of without a second thought instead of being saved for and cherished.


Don't get me wrong, there's trappings of the modern world I love; the internet, Wii Fit, cheap air travel, 24 hour drinking, the fact I can choose to be unmarried and childless without being shunned by polite society but, given the choice I'd definately have been born in a different decade.


Until time travel becomes available I'll just have to carry on living the (day) dream, being chauffeured about in our 1970 VW Variant, playing Psychedelic music, chilling in Goa and dressing-up in vintage clothes.

1970's nylon polo neck and Bayeaux Tapestry print maxi (£5 each, local vintage boutique), Vintage Finnish-made leather bag (£2.95, British Heart Foundation), Macrame pendant (My dearest Helga), Bangles (second-hand and inherited)
The Details:

 The groovy motif on my top

35 comments:

  1. Oh I'm a bit of a child of the sixties - if I had a Tardis I'd go back to see the Stones in Hyde Park with Mr TNMA. How cool would that be?

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  2. I was born in '55 so I do remember seminal moments like the Beatles performing live on the BBC. "All you need is love."

    I started out in stockings and suspenders at school just before tights became widely available.

    My mother made my clothes.

    Illegitimacy was a terrible scandal.

    Autism was unheard of.

    My parents owned their own house and thought a mortgage just another form of debt to be abhorred.

    It was a lot more fun.

    The Man from Uncle.

    Black lipstick. Mini-skirts. Mary Quant. Biba.

    Platforms and flares. Laura Ashley maxi-dresses.

    PVC boots.

    I loved it. When I wasn't immersed in angst.

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  3. Adore your skirt. Yes, you're right, Jimi Hendrix would have been brilliant. In the 70s my friend's mum used to shop at Biba and she would take us there. I can't remember what I bought there but I do remember loving my little black carrier bag with the logo on it in gold!

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  4. Have no clue about the 70s but i do love wifi:-)ur skirt is really adorable

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  5. Hi Vix, Your skirt is fantastic. I think the internet is the only thing i would miss if i went back in time xxx

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  6. Hmmm, it does sound tempting and I agree about the disposable nature of modern living, but I would much rather be happy with my Aussie than stuck with my ex-husband because of some societal obligation anyday

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  7. YES YES YES!! I agree with everything you said- for me i love the post war years throught to the fifties, fashion, ethics, morals, make do and mend, i would have felt right at home then!! Drawbacks would be as someone said, autism was unheard of :( where would my little man have fitted in :(

    Sharron x

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  8. Hi Vix, you are so right about some people not truly appreciating things they have saved up for as its too easy to stick something on a card. My Mum was born in 1953 and got her sewing machine when she was 16 as a birthday gift from her Mum and she still uses it now and she has cared for and looked after it so well. I think its so lovely.
    Love your skirt it looks fab!
    Dx

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  9. My art teacher at secondary school said the same thing to me as he knew that I loved classic 70s rock music.

    Imagine buying clothes and make-up at Biba, dresses by Ossie Clark, wearing platform shoes, buying cheap 1930s tea dresses, and going to all those outdoor concerts like Glasto before it became too commercial. Oh - and all those hot looking men with long hair, side burns and scruffy denim flares!!!!

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  10. Time travel sounds great! Fab top - really pretty pattern on it. It's not so far back in time but I wish I'd seen Guns 'n' Roses when they were at their peak. xx

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  11. i wish i could travel in time too!
    gorgeous skirt! love the print on it!

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  12. I feel the same as you most of the time. Such a shame we don't get to time travel :( Love that bag so much!

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  13. Just when I think I've chosen a favorite of your outfits, you wear something even more awesome than before! I absolutely love this outfit, especially that fabulous skirt.

    I often think it would have been so amazingly cool to be around during the 1960s and 70s. The fashion and lifestyles were so much better back then. Life had more meaning it seems and there were more people interested in learning what life was all about or experiencing adventure. I'm not a big fan of this digital age we live in...although, yeah, I use it all the time. Lol.

    Great post!

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  14. I just love this outfit, especially that skirt it's wonderful and as usual you love so cool in everything you wear. You definately have an eye for vintage fashion. Linda xx

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  15. I think people in the 60s and the first part of the 70s believed in a brighter future in a way we don't. Anything was possible, now we just think we are doomed.

    I would really like to go back and shop for clothes and fabrics, otherwise I like living now.
    Your blog is inspiring :)

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  16. Looking very psychedelic, my dear! I'm with you on the trip back to the 60s!

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  17. I still think the 70s were the best - liberated parents listening to Pink Floyd and Janis Joplin, self-made or swapped clothes... But we don't need to be dumb consumers and you could still do the trail, Vix, you look perfectly geared up for it! xxx

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  18. Awesome patchwork skirt you are wearing. I'm afraid tho, you are a tad overdressed for Woodstock!

    I remember the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and then later as a 13 year as our plane approached JFK, I said to the lady next to me...can you imagine what it was like when the Beatles landed here! She thought I was cute!

    xoxo, Bonnie

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  19. I'm with you, i'd love to have been a teen in the late 60's/early 70's, the music, the fashion.... the long-haired men...ahhhh!!
    xxx

    ps. i'm a little bit in love with that sweater!

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  20. O,yes,how marvellous it would be to just have a sniff at what life was really like then.
    At least when we can time travel you will already look the part,my darling!
    LOVE Helga xxxXXXxxx

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  21. Don't we all just love old times?! You look very hippieish-bohoish-1960s chic here!! Love this look of yours! :)

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  22. Ah... I love you and love this top tons and of course the skirt is great! I am definitely rethinking society as of late. The "good" thing I really dig right now is modern medicine, but for the exception that sometimes even that causes undo suffering. But the days of being a free, unbound flower child running through the cornfields sure was fantastic! I suppose I wouldn't trade the net away, nor the microwave either ;)

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  23. Ohhh, and by the way, I picked up a pair of clogs for you a couple days ago. Hope they fit. I'm not sure when I will be able to send them, but they are awaiting you, studs and all :)

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  24. Another fabulous outfit! The maxi skirt looks so beautiful on you!! You're so lucky to work from home :-) xoxoxoxoxoo

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  25. I think you were totally born in the wrong era Vix! but then you rock clothes from times gone by so well now, what on earth would you have worn back then? Would you have shunned Biba as "too high street"? :)

    Love that skirt, and the jewellery as always. And your hair is looking perfect at the moment. Def trying that strain you wrote about.

    X xx

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  26. I often wish I was born in a different era too. I love the leather bag, looks very structured and well made.
    Your outfits are so carefully crafted and put together, I simply adore this whole outfit xx

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  27. I'm just like you !!! Born too late !
    And you're lovely my dear Vix !

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  28. Very cute outfit! I often think I was born in the wrong era too.

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  29. Ive been trying to comment on your blog all day!! Think it was my firefox so had to use internet explorer..weird!
    Whenever I see footage of Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin I wish I lived back then. Being with all the hippies high on acid.
    I lurve your bag vix! Your such a styling woman! xxx

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  30. That skirt is fantastic Vix. I agree with you about the the throw-away culture we live in. I have been guilty of it in the past myself but I make a very concious effort now to hold on to treasures and mend things that need mended. x

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  31. I think you're living the 70s dream in fine 21st century style! Love today's outfit.

    I think I'd have done well in a more old fashioned era. The 40's would do me nicely - is it weird to say I would have liked to live through the war? I can see myself doing v. important WAAF business and losing my heart to a dashing pilot. Or perhaps running a small country estate in the late 18th century.

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  32. Let me know when that time-travel machine is invented! I'd love to go back to 1960!

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  33. I second everything you say! I was born in '67, way too early to appreciate such a brilliant year! xx

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  34. i understand the feeling. everything seems mass produced and COMMON.
    the leather bag is to die for.

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Lots of love, Vix