#Tis #Season #Wear #Share #Show #WorthPoint
A good friend of mine loves vintage. She’s a reseller with a small business and is always finding unique pieces, especially from the mid-century modern era. Her inventory is always beautifully curated with scarves, accessories, and home goods that bring a hip 1950s-1960s vibe. She had a vintage women’s coat—cloth, but with ¾ sleeves, a single button, an A-line shape, and a fur collar. It was exquisite. She thought it would look good on me, and she was right, but my first thought was, “Oh no! I could never wear that; it’s beautiful and special; what if I spilled coffee on it, or it got ripped? I’d be devastated.”
Part of what she does when finding items for her business is encourage customers not to hide their treasures. These beautiful items, whether pieces of clothing, a nice set of dishes, or a family heirloom, should be part of our lives. Why have something so lovely that never leaves the closet or the china cabinet? What use is that Mad Men-esque set of lowball glasses or that kitschy kitchen apron if they’re squirreled away in an attic or a box in the basement?
BRING IT OUT OF THE CLOSET
Unless you are a minimalist, with sleek white surfaces everywhere, aesthetically pleasing, and organized cabinets and storage spaces, chances are you’ve got at least one closet or hidey-hole crawl space stuffed with, well, stuff. Our “good” china sits behind glass doors that get opened maybe twice a year, more if you’re someone who remembers to dust now and then. We lock up our treasures because, well, they’re special. The vase that your grandmother left you can’t possibly have flowers in it; what if you drop it, getting it down from the safe shelf it’s been sitting on for years?
My grandfather had a humidor shaped like an elephant. The head was the top, and his cigars, a cutter, and some matches were inside. It now lives on a shelf in my living room, and it’s been in the same spot for 30 years. I don’t dust it, and I don’t take it down for any reason because it’s literally the only possession of his that I have. Also, I’m pretty terrible with breakables in general.
I’ve arranged the space in my living room so I can see all of my favorites. The paintings on the wall are not valuable unless someday one of my kids becomes a famous artist, and the first-grade drawing of our family (that includes an extra kid we don’t have and a cat that never was) that the youngest did suddenly becomes a priceless work of art. They make me happy, though, and that’s all that matters.
I have a few pieces of Waterford crystal, but only ones that came from Ireland. The artisans at Waterford don’t create the crystal there anymore, and I only want it if it’s Irish, so my collection is pretty small. We’ve only used the champagne flutes once, and the lowball rocks glass sits empty. My Irish Nan would be heartbroken to see that the small dish she would put her wedding rings when she would peel veggies or make bread is way up on a high shelf, away from my disastrous kitchen exploits, instead of sitting on the sunny window sill above my sink.
ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN
Why are we like this with some vintage treasures? We lock them up in glass cabinets or see-through boxes. They are zipped into garment bags, sealed against decay, and unworn for years. We think we are protecting them, but honestly, anything could happen. WorthPoint founder and CEO Will Seippel found this out the hard way when Hurricane Ian roared across Florida, destroying his home. It was a total loss of so many precious items, and while he had some records, the insurance process was a nightmare.
It made me think that if a terrible loss like that happened, would I even remember the last time I had a wee dram of whiskey in my rocks glass? Would the check from my insurance company make a rainbow like my Waterford bowl does when I remember to put it out on the table and the light streams through my lace curtains? Probably not.
It seems ironic that these items, many of which are precious to us, have survived decades of holidays. We take them down from attics and closets, dust them off, bring them out of the dark for a few days or weeks, and shove them back into a box. If we like them that much, and if they are that important, why aren’t they out where everyone can enjoy looking at them and remembering the stories behind them?
While we should always care for antiques and other delicate pieces, we can’t lock everything up. In the way back of my closet, there are two cashmere sweaters, one with a real fur collar. They belonged to my mom in the 1950s, and she saved for me to have them. I can’t even remember the last time I wore either one of them, but I will make a point of it this holiday season. What better way to celebrate the vintage pieces we’ve taken the time and care to collect? They should be part of our lives, not part of our storage space.
Brenda Kelley Kim lives in the Boston area. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Tales From the Deep End of Everywhere and writes a weekly syndicated column for The Marblehead Weekly News/Essex Media Group. When not writing or walking her snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard sales, flea markets, and badminton.
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