6 Ways to Dress Modern While Wearing Vintage Clothing

Revamping your style into a vintage aesthetic can be quite a tricky business. But that’s exactly what makes it so fun in the first place!

Vintage stores can offer some invaluable, high-quality pieces that you can scavenge and reclaim, making them your own. Yet, some pieces are obviously outdated and can hardly be made to work in any clothing combination you can come up with. 

However, all you need to do is shop vintage at Vintage-Rags, and you’ll be able to discover a whole world of pieces that can work in just the right way – if you only know how to style them.

Do you want to look modern and stylish while wearing vintage clothing? Are you wondering how to become a trendsetter while relying on some classic pieces?

No need to wonder anymore – just keep reading, and you’ll find out!

Play it Safe With Some Basics

The easiest way to pull vintage pieces off is actually to go for some basics. A straight-cut, mid-rise pair of jeans? A simple white T-shirt? A breezy summer shirt in some gentle color? They all sound like just what you need!

Resorting simple, essential, and timeless clothing pieces perfectly disguises their timeliness! After all, a T-shirt was a T-shirt back in 1970s fashion and it’s still one now! You can count on the slight difference in cuts or dyes between vintage and contemporary basic pieces to set your style apart from others.

Both you and the woman next to you will be wearing a shirt and jeans combo, but yours will have a distinctive, instantly recognizable silhouette that’ll immediately make you stand out – in the best way possible.

Experiment With Vintage Statement Pieces

Alternatively, you can look modern while wearing vintage clothing by going the exact opposite route, accentuating the statement pieces.

One of the key things that draw us to vintage clothing is its trademark style. Pieces from bygone eras, like the 70’s or 80’s, have a distinct vibe to them, recognizable cuts, color patterns, and styles that today’s clothes just don’t have!

And while these “quirks” can look really awkward and outdated if poorly styled, they’re also what makes your typical vintage outfit pop up just like it should.

The key?

Anchor the outfit with some essential modern pieces – an average pair of trousers from a local retail brand and a simple black T-shirt. Then throw some crazy vintage shirt or jumper on top and accessorize properly!

That’s it! 

You’ve now appropriated a fantastic vintage statement piece, making it your own and making it look completely modern and chic in the combination you opted for!

Have Some Fun – Mix It Up!

By this point, it’s become very obvious that one of the only ways to actually make vintage clothing look modern and, to make it work at all, is to combine it with modern pieces.

However, it doesn’t always have to go along the lines of “basics” vs. “statement pieces.” 

Once you’re more comfortable with different kinds of clothes and you have some experience with vintage combinations, you can start to blur the lines between essentials and stand-out items!

Mix and match interesting cuts! For example, go for some distressed modern jeans in a wide cut, and combine them with a cool vintage shirt underneath a contemporary blazer! Or, go the other way around! Wear something vintage on your legs while opting for some cool, trendy design up top! 

The world is your playground, and once you have a grip on vintage wardrobes, you can literally combine multiple pieces from different eras and create your own, new, unique styles! 

It truly doesn’t get any better and is more enjoyable than that!

The Devil’s In the Details

As we all know, accessories are another essential aspect of one’s clothing.

Especially when it comes to making vintage pieces look stylish, the type of jewelry, Canadian sunglasses, purses, and shoes that you decide to combine them with can be your best friend!

In fact, in many scenarios, they would allow you to go all-out with the vintage clothing, dressing in a thrift outfit head to toe, but bringing it forward to the 2020s thanks to the accessories.

Just look up some recent fashion trends! Do you see a specific style of earrings or bracelets that has been trending recently?

Get them! When used to decorate your outfit, they’ll instantly let people know that you didn’t just emerge from a cave after being frozen for 40 years, but that you intentionally chose to wear what you’re wearing – and that you’re pulling it off; superbly!

Confidence is key, and the details make all the difference.

Make It or Break It With Your Hairstyle and Makeup

More or less, the same goes for your hairstyle and makeup choices in this regard. A retro, puffed-up hair and some extremely eye-catching makeup (in the wrong way), when combined with a wholly retro outfit, will make you seem like a time-traveler gone astray.

Avoid this by styling your hair in a modern way, with, perhaps, some small retro touches to keep the whole thing consistent. The same goes for your makeup, so keep it fashion-forward and trendy, with slight allusions to the vintage trend you’re going for with the particular outfit. 

Remember – at the end of the day, it’s all about balancing it right.

Know the Vibe That You’re Going For and Stick to It

Finally, as an overall comment on this whole question, we need to stress the single most important thing to bear in mind when you’re trying to look cool while wearing vintage – know thy vibe!

It sounds simple, but it isn’t really. 

You need to know your style and the exact vibe you’re going for with the overall outfit. This covers both your clothes and your accessories and your hair and makeup. 

So long as you have a good idea of how all of these parts go together in the whole, you’ll be just fine!