So I got a lot of questions from you guys on, like, Ummm, How do I even start with wearing vintage, cause it's so stressful? You're afraid of people's reactions and you don't know how to start. Basically I thought the easiest way to explain it is by using my example, because obviously I don't know how other people got into it because I'm not them. So, yeah, I thought we would just move back in time a little and see how it all happened in my case. Yeah, let me just get my laptop. (*Coughs*) Get ready because some of them are really pure gold. I would just keep through early school years because we all know no one has a fashion style when they're in, like, sixth grade. It's impossible. We all wore really crazily ugly things, especially if you're born in the 90s. You probably had to go through a really cruel phase of wearing some really disgusting stuff. So I'll just keep that; I'll move straight on to eighth grade, which I consider is the moment when you're starting to get into "fashion" and you want to try out different things and you want to have your own style. So I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready for the pictures, honestly. (*Laugh-sighs*) Okay, wow. You know what the scariest thing is? I feel like I still look the same. I'm, like, fourteen in this picture and I feel like nothing has changed. Even my makeup skills are probably the same. A lot of you guys asked for makeup tutorials and I'm, like, (incredulously) Do you even know how bad I am at makeup? Oh, God. Oh, wow. So basically this was the period when I was sort of trying to look pretty. I really wanted to look pretty but I had no clue how do I do that. The reason I'm showing you this picture is because it's a part of a "photo shoot" that I posted on DeviantArt. I bought this dress during holidays and I was super proud of it because it had, like, those boob pads, so I was feeling, like, grown up. I'm not sure if I actually knew there was any kind of retro influence in the design of the dress. I just liked it. It was fun. Oh, God. Yeah, I'm moving to the next picture now to show you the dress. Wow, some hardcore ballet right there. What am I even doing with this dress? How is stretching it like that supposed to make it look good? Can you see the things behind me? They actually look better than I do. Oh, my god. They actually do look like my hair. Check this out. They literally look like my hairstyle. Wow. Anyway, I think it was, like, one of the early moments when I wore something retro-related and I felt that it was generally something I enjoyed. Let's just forget that 2008 ever existed. Okay, let's go ... let's move on to my high school days, where I was desperately trying to be fashionable. I was so into, like, I don't know, Teen Vogues or H&M. I don't know, I was just so into fashion-- I even got into fashion-designing contests at some point-- but I just had no clue how to do it. Like, you know, I had literally no sense of what's actually fashionable, so I would go around buying cheap stuff from thrift shops, thinking that it kind of ... I just found myself thinking that it kind of looked in a similar way as, like, the fashionable clothes that I couldn't afford. So I would just basically buy everything that's fashionable but the cheaper versions, that you can tell are not actually fashionable, if you know what I mean. Fashion is always inspired by something that has been worn already, so I would just go search through thrifftttt (*blah*) thrift shops and I would be, like, that kind of looks like what I've seen in this H&M campaign and it never did. So, yeah, I even had a fashion blog at some point. I was such a fashionista, you have no clue. So I was, like, yeah, I'm experimenting with my style and I want to try something different. I want to be original. But the point is ... I did it wrong. I know some people do it and it works, but it didn't work in my case. So I guess around third year of high school, I sort of realized that it doesn't work. I just gave up. This is like my second year of high school, I think. I wore braces and glasses at the same time and I had this super short fringe, because stupid hairdresser couldn't tell where my eyebrows were. So anyway, I look really awkward. I kind of like the fringe, though. I mean I know it's not very flattering Ah ha ha. That's a very delicate way to say it. Anyway, I'm wearing my secondhand blouse here and H&M pants that were way too big for me so I had to put a belt around it. That's pitiful. This is like ... that's a very pitiful sight. I remember, though, that's like New Year's Eve picture and I remember thinking "I look so glamorous tonight, like, I'm gonna slay." Okay, so .... Ha ha ha ha. I just can't ... No. Oh, gosh. Okay, so what's happening here is that's my prom. And let's move on. No, to be honest, though, the reason my prom outfit was so terrible was it was kind of last minute and also-- yeah, that's a priest, by the way: deal with it. The reason my outfit sucked is because I wanted to have, like, a custom-made dress for my prom, but I had a design that was way too complex. I mean it had some, like, cut-out pattern at the back of the dress ... it was actually supposed to be quite retro, I guess, but we had no time to do it and, like, the seamstress that we were trying to get to do it she was, like, "oh, that's kind of impossible," so eventually we were just ... oh, no, I just can't. How on earth, like, I was so skinny, so how on earth ... this is the only type of dress that makes me look fat. I was, like, uhh uhhh, I'm gonna look fat on my prom. Well, we just saw this dress and I was like "Pride and Prejudice!" and basically my mom bought it because it was cheap. But the good thing is, that my prom and my prom outfit were so terrible that that actually got me into, like, historical costuming, because I thought, "I need a *real* ball this time." So since then I've been on, like, countless historical balls. That's, um ... that's my first year of college. I'm wearing my favorite sweater ever that I got right after my last, my senior year of high school. I think I might still have it actually. It's very loose and long. So I would wear it, like, every single day for the first three years of college. At this point, I was disappointed with fashion and was, like, I don't have the money to be fashionable and it's stupid, because something that's fashionable this year is going to be lame the next year. I really didn't like the idea of changing my whole wardrobe just to make people feel better, so I was ... I kind of gave up. I had, like, this one pair of black jeans that I would wear every single day. So, yeah, I would just wear, like, shirts, long, long sweaters. style Yeah, I was kind of lame. It's really hard to describe if I had any sort of style. I had these moments, I remember, I saw some fashionable things and I was like I want *that*, but that was like my personal decision rather than I want that because everyone has that, you know. Actually, as soon as I noticed that someone else has what I just bought I would stop wearing it. Like as soon as I saw other people wearing it all the time, I was, like, "Nooooooo!" Like, that's too mainstream for me. But, yeah, that's pretty much how I looked. I also had some trouble with my hair because it was kind of wild. That's still a good stage, though. It used to be much worse. That's a genuine representation of what I looked like on my second year. That's when I figured out that middle parting is quite flattering. That's what I thought. My skin was so good, though, like, no acne. I was not very stylish. Also, in my second year I was already into costuming, so I was into, like, historical stuff, but obviously I wouldn't wear that stuff every day cause that would be freaking weird, okay. This is a picture from a historical sort of event that I went to. Don't be bothered by the Nazi on the left. Okay, it was a second world war event, okay, guys -- chill. I just put some stuff together and it was supposed to be like 1930s look, which, um, from the time perspective it sucks. That hat is completely unnecessary, though, it's a completely different period. But you can tell that I kind of tried. Okay? I tried! This is so bad. Um. So that was also second year's summer. That was I ... I just had a sort of retro picnic with my sister. She was already sort of wearing retro style at the time, so I'm sort of trying to copy her. So, yeah. I wore my mom's jacket in this one. This dress is just horrible. I ... I was trying to make it look good, but I just couldn't. It was just so wrong in so many ways. The .. the pose, though. What the hell? What is that, like, supposed to mean? I also did my hair. Obviously I didn't curl it, because I thought you didn't have to. Oh, no. This is so bad. This is so freaking stupid and miserable. I don't know, I always feel like I have sort of 40-years-old arms, so it's really not a good idea for me to wear something that ends right at the start of the arm. Oh, noooo. Um. This was summer. I think that was still the same year. So basically that was the first summer where I started sort of trying to style myself in the vintage way . I kind of felt it's only applicable for my summer outfits, so as soon as the summer ended I went back to my usual self, which is tight jeans and loose sweaters. You know, it was already my third year with the same people at college and I felt like if I came to the classes wearing vintage they would just go, like, "what the hell" and I really don't like bringing attention to myself in that way, so I felt really insecure about it. The pose, though. These pants were actually men's pants that I found at a thrift shop. I just took the waist in, but they're way too short, as you can see. Oh, God. It looks just ... It looks so bad. Just the silhouette, it doesn't work. See, this is my issue. If something doesn't really fit me I'm desperately trying to make it work. That was the case with these pants. That's the case with my prom dress. That's the case with everything else. Oooh. Oh, work it, girl. Mmmm. Okay, so this picture is a very accurate representation of what I looked like on my third year So you can see it's super warm oversized sweater and black jeans. That was basically my everyday look. I'm always the kind of person that's always super cold. I would just wear something warm throughout the winter and I ... then I kind of tried to improve my style over spring, but it never worke, because I was used to looking bad. This is my spring look. I just noticed I have fairy lights in the background. Does that make me a legitimate YouTuber or ... ? I guess it does. Like if you don't have fairy lights, you're not a YouTuber. This is still my third year.This is, like, May. I think I actually like this picture. I like the way I look in it. I remember this was sort of the moment I tried I started to try and look more elegant. So I thought the way I have to deal with my style issue is I should just pick some-- Jesus, my window is making really awkward noises right now.-- So back to my style. I basically thought if I buy some basic elegant stuff and I just keep wearing it throughout my life, I will be a classy old lady. That was my ultimate goal, So I would wear a white shirt and black pants and I would wear camel trenches. Never mind, I just wanted to be class, so I would wear lots of, like, button-up shirts. Yeah, so this was basically my third-year picture that was around April, I guess. Fun fact: I'm wearing my prom necklace here. So, yeah, I would ... I would wear like buttoned-up blouses with some necklaces. Wasn't too bad. I must admit, that was a huge improvement. I sometimes miss it, though, because it was this kind of like effortless style that makes you look quite okay. So after the third year, we went on a holiday trip to Germany. I think this is the point where I actually started wearing retro, but as previously, I only did it during the summer. So as soon as summer ended, I was sort of too insecure to... to keep wearing that. So this was ... um ... on a family trip again that we had. Because, you know, I don't know why, but people imagine that wearing vintage is kind of ... happens instantly. So, like, you just make a decision, then you go buy all the clothing that you need , and then you just start wearing vintage. So that's not how that works. Like it took me at least three to four years to kind of trans ... trans.... You know it's just all of the things are changing. You buy this one skirt and you wear it all the time. Then you get a nice blouse that you get to wear with the skirt, but you still have all of the jeans that you used to wear, so we wear all of the jeans. So it's not ... it's definitely not like it happens instantly. It needs time. And also, I remember we had this one photo shoot with my sister where I took the pictures and there were so many people staring at us. I remember she was just wearing something vintage-looking. I remember thinking I would love to wear that way, but there is no way I could handle the people's attention and the comments, because we also got some really nasty comments from the guys . I just felt really intimidated by it. I thought I hate drawing attention to myself where I don't want it. It's so ... it also mentally it takes time to learn to ignore people or learn to accept that the reason they're looking at you is not because you look like a weirdo, but because they like what they see. And then sometimes, it's just one comment that makes you think I'm never wearing vintage again, because there is this one asshole that goes like, "what the f***!" That's harsh. But honestly, you can get used to it. So anyway back to the fourth year. As you can, see my hair looks short here, but the truth is it's long. I just put it under my turtleneck, because I really wanted to cut my hair short, but I was growing it for the, I don't know, at least five years. I wasn't sure if I want to do it, because the truth is, I wanted to try out some retro-style hair and it never works with really long hair and at the same time, there were all sorts of historical events that I went to that actually (*coughs*) that actually required you to have long hair, because it's way easier to make a historical hairstyle with long hair. I was sort of torn in between, because I thought, well, if I have long hair I can do historical hairstyles, but not the retro ones, and if I have short hair, it makes historical hairstyles so much difficult, so I really didn't know what to do. So I was trying to, you know, I kind of ... I knew I wanted to cut my hair, but there were so many things that kept me from doing it. But here you can already tell that I sort of ... I did this skirt myself. So I sort of ... I was getting there slowly, if you know what I mean. So then, that was actually last year. Was it last year? 2015. And I cut my hair in December 2015, and that's sort of when I started to, like, transform my style from the sort of classy neutral look to actual vintage. It wasn't all at the same time, so I would wear, for example, I would do my hair, but I was afraid that I would sort of overdo it, so I would then wear jeans with the hair: sort of like really modern tight jeans. So the reason I did this is because I didn't want to scare people. Last year, I also kind of ... I was fed up with my studies, so I spent a lot of time, I don't know. I don't know. I was just walking around the city. I had a lot of time to do my hair, because I wasn't attending the classes. Sort of like I had a lot of time to experiment and that's when I sort of started doing it and it was also because I didn't have to go to class every day so I didn't have to ... to worry about what other people only think, so I would just wear whatever the hell I wanted to wear. I made myself a winter coat, which sucked. I think it's really important if you get one item of clothing which is clue for time of the year. For example in winter that's a coat and summer that's a dress. If you get this one item of clothing that's vintage, it's really easy to build your wardrobe around that. So, yeah, that was last year. And then in spring I started going more and more vintage. So I would wear more and more stuff that was sort of, I wouldn't say over-the-top, but you could tell something's wrong with me. (*Laughs*) Before that it was all sort of stuff that you can ... it's still kind of modern, but if you pair it with, like, vinage hairstyle, we can sort of tell that it's supposed to be vintage. For example, like, black turtleneck. That's something that everyone wears, not only vintage people. The moment where I actually sort of "converted" myself was, uh, actually this summer we went to Italy with my family and I just took all the vintage clothes I had with myself and I didn't take anything modern. So that's also a good way, like if you're going somewhere and you only take vintage clothes there is no way you can get around it. Like you would have to buy some modern clothes. So you actually have to wear vintage. So that's a good way to force yourself into it if you don't feel confident enough. And then I changed my studies: I started studying here in Edinburgh and I thought "that's a brand new beginning!" Everything is new and people don't know me here so I can go full (unitelligible). I can just go full vintage here. So I remember before I came here, I actually went on a huge shopping spree around, like, second-hand shops in my town and I would just pick stuff that I found suitable for the vintage style, So that's how it worked. That's how it ... that's how it all happened. My advice for you guys would be to ... because it's like ... it's super easy to say, oh, don't worry about what other people say, but when actually people say things, it's really hard to ignore, and it doesn't really bother me personally, but it just ... it's just .. like, you know, this thought occurs to me, like, do I really want to continue hearing that. But I don't ... I honestly don't bother anymore. It's just, you know, one step at a time, and you just stop caring about what other people say or think. And to be completely honest, if I hear, like, ten people saying that I looked like a weirdo and then there's this one person that actually comes up to me in the street and says "great style" or, like, "I love your look." It just gives you so much power to continue doing it because you're, like, I know these people are staring at me just because I sort of made their day more interesting and that's the truth. Like if I stare at someone, it's usually because they're either insanely beautiful or there's just something interesting about them that makes me want to look at them. So it's not, like, you know, judging or anything, in most of the cases anyway. And if someone says that you look stupid, that's usually because they're not used to it. They're not used to seeing people wearing stuff like that, and it's really funny because if you were retro style, and if you're a woman. I mean, no, it's not actually funny, but you sort of are perceived as more feminine, in a way. Cars always stop at, like, crossings, um, which is ridiculous because it's just the way I ... you know, it's just the way that whole silhouette looks. You know, guys would open doors for you, but also, unfortunately, that attracts the attention of all the gross people that catcall you or anything . It just gives them ... I don't know. It's kind of ... they're like (*TRIGGERED*) There is just something about this look that makes people sexualize women more, maybe. It's definitely not pleasant, but it happens and I think we should be aware of that. For example, if you're traveling at night all alone through the, let's say, city and if you were wearing sweat pants and and a jumper and whereas where you're wearing, like, a vintage attire, the probability of people harassing you is bigger if you're wearing vintage style. I don't know why that is. I think it's because you attract attention, but there ... it's just something you should be aware of. It never actually happened to me, but I've noticed that guys, especially drunk guys, react differently to me when I'm wearing vintage. And I'm talking, like, strangers, not... not my friends, obviously. So ... to sum up that was probably the most personal video I've made up to date and probably the longest one as well. I'm not sure cause I'm about to edit it. Thank you guys for all the nice comments. I had no clue that YouTube is so nice. Hope you enjoyed it, and ... It would be interesting to hear your stories, like, how you are into wearing vintage? What are your feelings about it? What do you think is cool about it? What do you think it's not cool about it? Okay, I'm hungry. Yeah, that's it!
