So, my mom has become quite the vintage huntress of late. She’s one of my biggest blogging cheerleaders and has been out and about, finding treasures that I might like to include in posts (I do nothing to dissuade her, as you’ve probably guessed). So, you can imagine my excitement when an Easter parcel appeared on our doorstep a few weeks back and it was packed full of vintage goodies! Some she had found in her travels, some were her own that I remember admiring as a child, and some stunning pieces belonged to my beloved grandmother, who we lost early last year. As each new piece came out of the box, I was literally swirling in stories.
As I’m sure is true for most of us, there’s been a bit of a clutter of my childhood items lurking in my mom’s attic storage space for years. Every year when I’m home from overseas we discuss how I really need to get up there and clean it out, and yet more important things (like my mom’s cooking and lounging-type activities) usually take precedence. Ironically, I had a few items I really wanted from those boxes, especially some beautiful vintage dresses from my high school years that I was sure had a bit of life left in them.
One in particular I had left behind years ago – a pale buttercream yellow with a beautiful floral appliqué, built in crinoline, and just enough sunshine in her to remind me of those bygone days of summer spent after graduation. I hadn’t fully come into my vintage-loving own at that point, and though I recall wearing her once in college, when I had to make the tough decisions on what would travel over the big blue-green ocean on my move to New Zealand in my early 20’s, this buttercup beauty was relegated to a box in storage.
But I never forgot her. After a few halfhearted digs in the storage unit (and one seriously intense one because I WANTED this dress), I came to the conclusion that she must have been lost. A casualty of the many moves I and my family have done over the last decade and a half.
I just about fainted when I saw, tucked in the bottom of my Easter parcel, my mom had found me a piece of my past. There that very first vintage dress sat, waiting patiently. Some 15 years since I had seen her last, in all her buttercup yellow glory. But just as if not a second had passed. And although it has been over a decade (and, let’s be honest here, over a decade’s worth of wine, pizza, reese’s peanut butter cups, and gravity), by some miracle I slipped her on and zipped her up and she hugged me perfectly, as if she had missed me too.
It’s funny how, very occasionally, the things that you thought were lost can be brought back. As if there are threads that weave through to the past and keep us connected to the things we hold dear. I am one of those people who never forgets her firsts – and I keep those memories locked tight, knowing that more often than not we don’t get to revive those experiences. They stay safely tucked in the past. But every so often, we get a second chance to rekindle the romance.
One thing about collecting vintage is that it often involves patience. You may lose out on an amazing dress, only to come across her twin one day. Or you have an image of your dress soulmate in your mind, only to see her realized in a shop window years down the road. That same patience can also be called to action when waiting for a ‘first’ to return to you.
Today, I got to be reunited with my first vintage love. And it was as if we had never been apart.
When was the last time you had a second chance?
xoxo
Outfit Details:
Dress: Vintage (similar modern and vintage here, here & here)
Necklace: Hollie Point Vintage (similar here & here)
Handbag: Pinup Girl Clothing
Shoes: Poetic License via Modcloth (similar here & here)
Belt: Alannah Hill (similar here and here)
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