#dawnoporter

Last week Ingrid asked for someone to enlighten her regarding the attraction of vintage. Whereas I certainly can’t claim to do that I thought I’d put my thoughts down too.

I do see the attraction of vintage to a certain extent as with a vintage item of clothing you are likely to be getting something that is unique, well made and a bargain. I too loved Dawn O’Porter’s “This Old Thing” and avidly watched it, probably texting Ingrid while doing so. The bit I particularly liked was when they altered vintage clothes to make them fit or to change the stye. This really highlighted the quality of the clothes – their big hems and wide seams allowed for alteration. Though what I didn’t get was a lot of these things were altered quite drastically, often to update them. Does this still class as vintage? Also, by the time the item had been bought from a vintage shop, which weren’t as cheap as I expected, and then the shopper had to pay for alteration, the item wasn’t really a bargain anymore. The fact that it was unique, therefore, would be its only attraction.

I also have a problem with vintage shops. To me, in order to feel really pleased at finding a vintage gem you have to work for it, trawl through charity shops, go to jumble sales or turn up clothes in unusual places. (In the 90s I had a pair of 70s Levi flared cords which I loved and wore until they went see through. My dad found them at work propping up a ladder.) A vintage shop seems like cheating to me. You wouldn’t feel smug about going into a book shop and buying a good book, now would you!

Although I’ve just said that charity shops are the place to go to look for vintage, I also, like Ingrid, don’t get on with them having vintage sections. There’s no pleasing me, is there. They invariably get it wrong and the item isn’t vintage, just dated or whacky and it just seems like an excuse to charge more for something which is crimplene and hideous.

My other problem is I don’t think vintage is very practical. Dawn O’Porter wore some amazing cothes in the programme and looked fantastic. That’s all well and good if you’re on the telly but a bit much for the school run or a trip to Lidl. Also vintage doesn’t seem to include jumpers, I kept thinking, lovely dress but I’d be chilly.

So whereas I do like the idea of vintage, unless I manage to unearth some finds in the charity shops of St Neots (and that would have to include cardigans), it’s not for me either.

I made be showing myself as a bit of a heathen here but I’m a bit baffled by Vintage clothing. I’ve really tried to understand the joys of finding an original 1960’s mini dress that fits perfectly but as yet I’ve not quite got it.

I thought to overcome this naivety, I would watch the wonderful Dawn O’Porter’s programme ‘This Old Thing” on the telly and see how its done. Being a bit of a TV nerd, I watched every single one of them and thought it was great television but how can this be interpreted in my little St Neots bubble? The premise being to try to convince non-vintage peeps that these clothes and style are the way forward. Well it worked on the telly box as they headed to Portobello Road, Shoreditch and Spittalfields to wonderful vintage shops full of amazing clothes, boots, hats and accessories. If I lived there, I would love to spend hours looking in these shops hoping to leave looking like a 1964 Twiggy but more likely to look like Hilda Ogden.

Where I get lost is when vintage moves to a small market town in Cambridgeshire. One of our charity shops recently went all vintage. There was lots of shabby chic bunting, signs written on doilies and clothes in the window that Ivy Tilsley would have been proud of (sorry, no more Coronation Street references I promise). I tried to embrace this new idea and deep down I was pleased they were trying something new well old new. On entering the shop it all went down hill for me. The clothes just weren’t my cup of tea, there were plenty of old clothes but for me Clockhouse was left in the 80’s with a promise never to return. Maybe I am a bit set in my ways and at 40 years old I feel quite comfortable saying that. Maybe I just need to admit that I’m not really the target market for Vintage. Having said that, I do have a top from Kookai that I’ve had for 20 years, it doesn’t fit me but I keep it so that one day it will be vintage or maybe it already is.

How a novel helped inspire Dawn O’Porter’s fruitful writing career

“Oranges are Not The Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson is a reminder to be who you are, whatever stage in life you're at.”

Photograph by Alice Hawkins.

Articles written from interviews by Sophie Robinson, edited by Natalie Smith.

   “Mother/daughter relationships have always been painted as this kind of idyllic, supportive, lovely, taken for granted type relationship, and that wasn't my experience of having a mother, because mine wasn't around,” says Dawn O’Porter, whose mother died when she was seven years old. 

 “As a teenager, I sought out people and stories about girls who couldn't really rely on the support of their mothers.”

So this book struck a chord, right from the very first page. 

“Oranges are not the Only Fruit is about a young girl named Jeanette and her very strange relationship with her very religious mother.”

Jeanette is a lesbian, and as a result, her mother completely disowns her.

“She’s a young girl who's absolute in what she feels, and doesn't question, really, the fact that she can't feel the way that she feels. She just is what she is. I think to read a character like that as a teenage girl is very inspiring. You are who you are, and if people don't agree with that, well, that's their problem,” explains O’Porter.

“Jeanette just strove forward. Sleeping with girls, being a lesbian, and doing what she felt was right for her. I found that very encouraging, very brave, and, at the time, quite shocking.”

O’Porter read this book as a teenager in the 1990s, on the small island of Guernsey where she grew up. It was a time and place where to be gay was “a really big deal”. At the time, she knew one gay girl and two gay boys. 

“It was hard for them to come out and be accepted, and in Jeanette's world it was even harder.”

“#THISBOOK is a reminder to be who you are, whatever stage in life you're at.”

 A writer herself, O’Porter has learnt much from Winterson’s work. 

“She's taught me, as a writer, to be incredibly honest and not hold back, and not let an editor – not your physical editor, but the editor in your head – stop you writing about the grim reality of working out who you are as a person. She's taught me to never, ever worry about what people will think when they read the book. She is one of the most honest and most raw writers I’ve ever read.”

Dawn O’Porter is a writer, television presenter and actress. Her second book, Goose, was published in April this year. She chose Jeanette Winterson’s 1985 novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit. Winterson later wrote a memoir called Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal – the ‘true’ and far darker version of ‘Oranges’.