IT’S a sweltering Saturday morning but Ooi Swiss Tee is decked in a long-sleeved polka dot top with a black high-waist pants to match. The manager of the Battery Acid Club is also sporting a thick cat-eye liner, reminiscent of the 1950s. She’s got the whole look going for a good reason - the artsy coffee house in Damansara Utama is hosting Classics & Obsessions: A Vintage Collectors Weekend.
Here vendors will lay out yesteryear gems, including old suitcases, telephones, cameras, toys, comic books, posters, shirts, accessories, and even an old barber chair! From fashion to furniture and vases to vinyl, the popularity of all things vintage is soaring here.
Over the last few years, boutiques and F&B outlets around the country have reintroduced items and themes from days gone by. At Classics & Obsessions alone, over 25 different vendors are setting up their stalls to cater for crowds looking to find treasures in what was once deemed trash.
GOING RETRO
“We’ve organised modest events in the past that had an underlying vintage ‘feel’, but this time we’ve decided to focus the spotlight on vintage and create a much bigger event,” says Ooi, adding: “We want to build a platform where like-minded people with a love for all things vintage can connect and network. Besides, we’ve never actually had an event like this before, so why not?”
Vintage collection in this country as Ooi explains, is not a new fad. “There have always been vintage markets existing in our country, although they’ve not really gotten the same exposure as the ones overseas,” she notes, citing Amcorp Mall’s long-standing vintage weekend markets as an example. “It has attracted and inspired a lot of similar markets today.”
Since almost a decade, the ground floor of the mall located in Petaling Jaya continues to be a thriving antiques hub with vendors selling many vintage items like cameras, ceramics and most notably, vinyl records which go for ridiculously cheap prices. The same goes for period pieces and obsolescent items found in thrift shops around town and flea markets like Ipoh’s Memory Lane market and the infamous Lorong Kulit market in Penang.
NEEDLES IN A HAYSTACK
The appeal in vintage, Ooi says, lies in the uniqueness of each item. “For us who run the collector’s weekend here, the surge in popularity of vintage items might be due to the rarity of the goods itself,” observes Ooi, using fashion as an example. “Vintage clothes are usually tailored based on a person’s personal taste and is also a form of self-expression; it’s an item that few in the world possess.”
Many who studied the revival of the trend, such as Pieter-Jan Gheysen (a marketing specialist in Nestle), concur with Ooi. “There’s a decline in demand for clothing with big brand logos among the millennials simply because it’s harder to be unique when hundreds of people are wearing the same logo-centric T-shirt. Millennials increasingly want to be unique,” he shares.
His insights are based on a study conducted by marketing and millennials research firm Ypulse who reveal that 55 per cent of people from ages 13 to 34 have a strong need to showcase their individuality. “Because of globalisation and digitalisation, millennials have grown up surrounded by differences. The result has been a change in mindsets among millennials - instead of fitting in, they want to stand out,” he adds.
RETRO REVIVALS
“The revival of vintage is also inadvertently caused by the hipster movement,” shares Michelle Louise Tan, a Malaysian fashion designer based in Orlando, Florida. “The movement brings to fore the whole ideal about being sustainable and eco-friendly. So wearing used clothing is hip. If it’s vintage it’s even cooler,” says Tan, who custom-makes vintage dresses under her label MichyLou.
The popularity of wearing vintage clothes, she explains, began close to a decade ago. “I started designing my own dresses because I became frustrated with the conditions of the clothes and materials sold at thrift shops.”
Sizing was also an issue. “Nobody has a 36-inch bust and 25-inch waist anymore!” she adds with a laugh, referring to a period when women wore girdles. Tan also attributes the current affinity to vintage with the body-acceptance movement which gained momentum in recent times. She continues: “Society is now more open to diversity in body types, so many prefer custom-made vintage than the one-size-fits-all mass-manufactured clothes.”
Wearing used, pre-loved and vintage clothes, to some, also means going easy on the wallet. “There is a distinct shift towards one-of-a-kind pieces that offer consumers the opportunity to be creative, add some character and personality into their space while saving on a whole heap of money,” observes Australian designer Dana Tomic Huges.
Australians, according to a survey in 2013, saved up to A$3.5 billion (RM11.2 billion) from buying pre-loved and vintage items. Many of these people also saw the potential in repurposing old furniture and home decor to add their own personal stamp to their collection.
SPINNING TIMES
But not all vintage items will save you big bucks. What used to cost RM15 for a single vinyl record now costs in the hundreds. The digital revolution ironically, has had an effect on the prices of vintage items.
As British musician and author Bob Stanley remarked in an article published in The Guardian, vinyl, like many other vintage items, is a physical rarity when everything is available at a click of a button. “These days records are more than a mere product - when music is free to listen to digitally you have to fear for the future of the compact disc in a jewel case, but a vinyl record has the cultural weight of a hardback,” he notes.
The fact that you can’t skip a track when spinning a vinyl adds to the appeal of the experience.
Stanley states: “It’s a more enveloping experience than hearing Spotify through your laptop; once you’ve put a record on, it dares you to walk away, or even to skip a track. There are added layers of enjoyment.”
The sun may be at its zenith but it doesn’t stop the patrons at Battery Acid Club from crowding around the striking Volkswagen buses sitting pretty in the parking lot outside the cafe. One is a bright solid red and the other sports a combination of yellow and turquoise with the definitive flower power motifs on it.
“We wanted to include a good mix of vintage items in this event, not just fashion,” Ooi confides, adding that quality of products is part of the screening process when selecting vendors.
Groups of families, older people and young adults take a stroll through the booths, picking up items and looking at them with genuine curiosity. “It is interesting to see the dynamics between different generations as they share their experiences on the same subject. And based on the turnout, we can surely say that there are more Malaysians than you think who love looking at and collecting vintage items,” says Ooi with a contented smile.