When Zack Pinsent was 14, he set fire to his last pair of jeans.
It was a declarative act for Mr. Pinsent, who also shed his purple polos from American Eagle and his other modern clothing in what he said was an attempt to find his own sense of style. He realized, he said, that “the high street wasn’t speaking the vocabulary that I wanted to dress in.”
That moment set him on a journey of finding, wearing and styling clothing from bygone eras. Today Mr. Pinsent, now 30, exclusively wears historical garments, with a preference for styles from the Georgian (1714-1837) and Regency (1811-1820) periods — complete with waistcoats, pantaloons, stockings, cravats, tail coats, top hats and canes. He often makes the garments himself from vintage fabrics he is able to source from those eras.
Mr. Pinsent might be an extreme example of so-called historical dressing. But now that he runs his own clothing business, creating bespoke pieces made to resemble those from the 17th through the early 20th centuries, he has noticed a shift in demand.
“My clientele is getting younger and younger, which is fantastic,” he said. “They’re fed up of fast fashion and the global scourge that it is.” He said they are also pushing back on “wearing beige the whole time” and are “against the minimalist IKEA look.”
Mr. Pinsent is among a number of fashion fans showing interest in period dress, a trend recently boosted by shows such as Netflix’s “Bridgerton” (set in the Regency era) and its spinoff, “Queen Charlotte,” as well as HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” He is partial, however, to “Downton Abbey,” the period drama set between the 1910s and 1920s that ran for six seasons and spawned two films, with a third to be released in September.
Bonhams, an auction house, is looking to capitalize on this fervor for modern pieces made to appear historical by launching an exhibition and auction of costumes and props from the “Downton Abbey” franchise.
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The post For Some, Dressing in Outdated Clothing Is the Point appeared first on New York Times.
