Why We Love Retro Style

The world of fast fashion can be challenging to keep up with. Luckily, embracing retro styles is a tried and true method of keeping your wardrobe fresh and timeless. Without worrying about keeping up with a myriad of new fashion trends, embracing retro styles can help you look stylish and fabulous.

What is Retro Style?

Thanks to numerous decades of recognizable fashion trends, retro style can take on a wide variety of meanings. What’s more, you have the unique freedom to mix and match throwback styles from multiple eras, creating your own timeless style.

Anything that evokes the recognizable style of a previous era can be considered retro. In today’s fashion terms, that typically means anything from the 50s to the 90s can be regarded as a retro throwback.

Embracing Retro Fashion

A general rule of thumb when embracing this style is to use moderation. Pick a few retro main pieces or accessories and match them with some current styles. This mixing and matching is the key to avoid looking like you are wearing a costume. For example, if you find a cute 70s dress, go ahead and match it with more modern shoes, accessories, and a current hairstyle. Vice versa, you can match a modern outfit with one of a collection of antique watches or a throwback hairstyle. Either way, you toe the line between fashion and costume.

Choosing the Perfect Retro Items

As with any fashion choice, you’ll first have to look at what trends you enjoy. Then, you’ll have to figure out if these trends genuinely match your style. With such a wide range of fashion eras to choose from, you might find yourself with a lot of work on your plate. Luckily, there will likely be a slew of fashion photography from the era you’re interested in online. This will make doing your research much simpler, helping you find models with a similar body type or style to replicate the items that look best on them.

It is also helpful to think about the crossover between some retro styles and modern styles. Some items can easily pass for things that are currently en vogue, bringing just enough of a retro twist to remain subtle. Taking the time to look for items that fit into these categories can help you feel more comfortable rocking retro styles as a part of your everyday wardrobe.

Vintage Items vs. Vintage Style

When it comes to dressing in a retro style, you will find that you have a few options. Vintage shops and thrift stores are a great way to find legitimate items from the era you’re hoping to draw inspiration from. However, depending on the type of vintage you’re interested in, these items can be slightly pricy. What’s more, they can prove to be impractical for daily wear. For example, an actual dress from the 50s may seem cute in theory. However, it will likely require a lot of maintenance and undergarment correction.

Instead, there is a bevy of websites out there that specialize in creating throwback, retro-inspired fashion items. These clothes are meant for modern, casual wear, but remain inspired by retro styles. These items are new, so you don’t have to worry as much about wear and tear. However, they sometimes lack the charm of their original counterparts. There’s nothing wrong with incorporating both legitimate retro items and throwback-inspired items in your wardrobe, especially when you are just starting to experiment with wearing retro styles.

Choosing Retro Accessories

Retro accessories are some of the best fashion investments you can make. These items are often quite timeless, surviving fashion changes from era to era. For example, antiques or vintage items can result in providing your wardrobe with a new staple item. These items are timeless enough to wear casually, but often have a small twist that makes them unique. These accessories stand out, allowing you to make a statement without purchasing multiple fast-fashion items. Other items, such as antique jewelry, can provide this timeless look while giving you a quality not much seen in modern fashion.