Vintage, retro, antique or old?

Do you know what the meaning of vintage really is? And what is the difference between the terms retro, vintage, old and antique? We will clarify it for you so that you know how to distinguish when to use each of them 🥰

A retro object has been manufactured today imitating previous decades.

RETRO: This term refers to an object that has a vintage/antique aesthetic but that has been produced today, making it a new and contemporary product. These objects have no historical value. In fashion, we call retro those garments that imitate the aesthetics of previous decades. Furthermore, there are mega-tacky retro products that have the word 'vintage' printed on them, which makes no sense since the product is not even vintage (this makes me laugh and angry in equal parts!) 🤦‍♀️.

It takes 100 years or more before we can call something ancient .

ANCIENT: To be considered antique, the object must be at least a century old (100 years or more). Generally , these objects tend to have historical value that is linked to the quality of the object and, if the state of conservation is good and they have aesthetic and craftsmanship value , they can have great economic value. Be careful, a product is not valuable just because it is old! 💸 If you are interested in fashion from previous centuries, you can find old costumes in fashion or design museums. In Spain you can go to the Costume Museum in Madrid or the Museu del Disseny in Barcelona (which has the complete collection of the old Textile and Clothing Museum in Barcelona).

When an object is a few years old and its aesthetics have become obsolete, we would consider it old or out of fashion .

OLD : Those products that were produced a few years ago and have gone out of fashion or have a slightly updated aesthetic. Fashion is constantly changing, so there are many products whose aesthetics become obsolete in a matter of a couple of years. In clothing, we would consider a garment from 9 years ago simply old or out of fashion. ⚰️

If it is more than 20 years old, it is vintage .

VINTAGE : is a term that comes from English (and derived from French) that was used by wineries to refer to wines from the best vintages. Currently the term refers to objects that are at least 20 years old with aesthetic value or design representative of the era to which they belong. In fashion, we refer to vintage garments when we talk about garments from the 20s to the 90s and those that stand out are those that have the key aesthetics of their decade. Generally, vintage garments tend to be second-hand and have a history behind them; if they are new with tags, they are a real gem!

Contrary to what is believed, vintage is NOT a style, since within vintage there are different styles and different occasions of use: a pin up dress from the 50s has nothing to do with a crazy printed tracksuit from the 80s.

Did you know all the terms? Tell us in the comments if you want us to talk in future posts about how to recognize a vintage garment 📝👇