| I've been taking notice of late of the current trend of "reconstructed vintage" (whatever - clothing, accessories, jewelry, etc.) and the myriad of ways that's interpreted via the internet, commerce wise. Being a die hard "old school" vintage clothing seller I cringe a bit at the thought of someone hacking up a 30s rayon print dress or a 40s rayon gab blazer and making it into a halter top or a pair of shorts. But...that being said there are some extremely novel, creative & fun ways to utilize vintage garments and give them a new life and a youthful perspective. Here's a look at a couple sites I found on the net.RxApparel who's tagline reads "vintage slice and dice & make nice" has certainly an edgy appeal, a bit on the young side for my tastes but obviously a hit by the number of items marked sold. This accessories site aGaiN NYC is more to my particular liking, blending enviormental awareness with recycled vintage materials & "junk" to create some very attractive & useful bags. Which brings me to the title of this post and the subject of bakelite - jewelry in this case. While rummaging through my somewhat disorganzied inventory of old buttons and "whatnots" I came across some vintage carved bakelite buttons & butterscotch bakelite curved, things (for lack of a more precise descriptive name) arranged them in what I think is an attractive display and ta da! I have reconstructed, redesigned bakelite jewelry in the form of a super large brooch & matching screwback earrings. Here's a pic:Now I know this has been done before, especially with bakelite - but it's really my first foray into "vintage restyling" and I know to some, especially bakelite collectors in particular, it's probably something akin to a travesty of some sort. The set does completely consist of vintage bakelite items and to my eye looks much better in it's present form than scattered hopelessly around the bottom reaches of my button boxes.I hope I'm not the only one who thinks this is so |
