Turn That Frown Upside Down

There are a lot of people I know who aren't really into the whole vintage thing. In fact, no one I know, other than my brother David, is into it really. Most of my friends sort of make fun of the vintage I wear, and probably would never be caught dead in the same. The other night I had my brother, best friend, and brother-in-law over for table tennis and drinks. David had been talking to me about this vintage JC Penney jogging suit that he had picked up, so he brought it over me to look at. When he walked through the door my eyes lit up like a lava lamp. The suit was an exact match for my retro Nike running shoes (see the Post-Pre blog). I didn't think I would ever come across anything that would match those red, blue, and white beauties. The only thing that stood in the way of me and that suit was that it was made for a woman. If you know me even a little by now, you would guess that I wore it anyway, and you would be right. I put it on with my shoes and it was fantastic. The waist band was a little stretched in the elastic, but the pants fit fine, and the jacket was a little short, but it worked. I played some of my worst ping pong ever in it, losing several games, probably because some of my attention was diverted to it. Would I wear it to the St. Patty's Day run coming up? Would I wear it to work? Or would I simply leave it on a hanger waiting for that special moment? I wore it the rest of the night, and I think it inspired a couple of naysayers with me. The other two guys in the group have never put on a piece of vintage. They dress very casual--tennis shoes on a night out on the town, for example. The next thing I know, though, my clothing racks start getting pillaged. Notice what happens in the order of the pictures--it's like one of those flip books with the moving animals or whatever. What I love about this is that it reminds me of one of the best television shows ever created in the 1970's--Starsky and Hutch. All of us grew up with it, but nobody mentioned it. In the first picture the guy on the left looking a little unsure of where things are headed is Mike B., my brother-in-law, and the guy on the right, also not quite knowing what to do with himself is Mike C., my best friend. In the second picture, however, you'll notice Starsky jump into a vintage corduroy suit jacket, and then in the following picture Hutch has joined the fray in a caramel-colored faux fur collared leather coat. Compare their faces from the first pic to the second and third pic--regular old smiles to totally different attitudes. Mike C. is now beginning to get change-happy, and puts on a golf jacket. He's not following my made-up theme here. Why he picked a golf jacket of all things I have no clue--but at least he's getting into the fun. My brother becomes Huggy Bear, and the trio is complete. Finally, Mike B. brings things down to a calmer level, slipping into a vintage trench. I, on the other hand, couldn't leave the jogging suit. My reason for this blog, however, is not to point out how my unsuspecting friends dressed up like Starsky and Hutch. It is instead to show that people can have fun in vintage. Kids love to play dress up, and I dare say that adults, maybe at the least just flashing back to childhood, can have fun and feel good in vintage clothing that they normally would be "embarrassed" by. I think more people like my friends here need to give vintage a chance, even if it's only in the privacy of their own homes. Otherwise, my friends would never have lived out their subconscious dreams to be Starsky and Hutch, or whoever it was they had running around in their brains wanting to jump out.