Today I was overcome by the urge to abandon my responsibilities and do something fun. So I shanghaied my friend Janci and we took off for Salt Lake City to find Decades Vintage Clothing. I’d been told that vintage clothing stores are the best places to get truly amazing evening wear, and Decades is the only one in my vicinity. I opened the door and the soft rush of air carried with the smell of my grandmother’s closet. It is a warm and comfortable smell part cedar chest, part moth ball, part organic fabrics, and part aged leather. I love that smell. I stepped inside the store and fell in love further. I had come to a place where I could browse through history, buy a piece, and take it home with me.
We browsed the racks, amusing ourselves by pulling out clothes and wondering aloud who ever thought putting gold rope and purple rhinestones on a mustard colored dress was a good idea. Right next to the atrocious things that were always atrocious, were some items that I would consider atrocious except for the fact that I could tell they were genuine. The dress with the zigzag sequins is not something people would wear now, but if I look at it in the light of the 70’s I can see how it was beautiful. And then there were the dresses that are still beautiful, and unfortunately not my size. I am not generally a fan of lots of bead work on a dress, but some of those dresses were amazing. Bead work done right is stunningly beautiful.
As I continued looking, it occurred to me that all of these dresses have stories. Someone bought it and wore it (or didn’t) for a reason. Was the dress worn often? Was it handed off to a friend? Was it shoved into the back of a closet? By what winding path did this dress survive decades and end up in the store for me to admire? Some of those dresses had the aura of the 20’s and 30’s. It was fun to look at the design choices and guess to which era the dress belonged. Janci and I started made up stories for some of the dresses. “This was a bridesmaid’s dress, and she hated it, but she couldn’t give it away for fear of making her friend mad.”
Dresses were not the only things in the store. There were almost any imaginable type of clothing. We saw a white coat made out of and iridescent plastic fuzz with giant pom poms on the ties. It reminded me of a poodle. There were some awesome hats and some amazing shoes. If my feet were smaller, I would have bought several pairs. The jewelry cabinet was the very definition of shiny. Necklaces, ear rings, bracelets, and cuff links were lined up as close to each other as possible. Some were boggling. Did people really wear earrings the size of a mason jar lid that dangled six inches down? Many were beautiful and would be incredibly stunning with the right clothing to match.
In the end I didn’t even try anything on. Just looking at all the history was so amazing it wore me out, in the same way that visiting a museum wears me out and leaves me with piles of new thoughts to sort through. I will be going back and I will buy something there. I love old clothes and the prices were very reasonable. Most of the jewelry was less than $10. Most of the dresses were about $30. Perhaps next time I go, I will take Kiki. She would love the rack of oriental themed clothing.