yearning for times past

My favourite pastime revolves around learning about and collecting vintage and antique things -- porcelain, linens, jewellery and more recently, clothes. It has proved to be a source of bewilderment among my friends and family, because in an Asian culture, something new is always seen as something better, and in a modern, status-conscious society like Singapore, the latest It Bag, newest car, etc, announces that you are not only In the Know, but at the cutting edge of social consciousness as far as trends go . All of which I think, is akin to chasing after the wind. After all, next season, everybody knows, your It Bag could become the Too Common Bag (and hence lose its desirability).

My first vintage purchase was a set of 12 Copeland Spode teacups. This was rapidly followed by numerous Limoges tea plates, dinner plates, soup plates and cake plates. After this came a season of acquiring vintage linens -- antique tea cloths, Italian placemats, painstakingly stitched and embroidered by patient hands that move no more. Art deco jewellery came next, with its sharp geometric lines and memories of liberated flapper girls.

In an age where everything is made in China, produced en masse, and invariably stuck together with glue, it has amazed me how well these old pieces have held up. Linens were thicker, hand-stitching was stronger compared to machine stitches, and rhinestones were set with the same precision and care that nowadays nobody would give to costume jewellery.

But perhaps it is more than wanting to own something that was made in a more durable fashion, or something that is not seen in any other high street, Topshop or Mango store. Mealtimes were sacred, tables were set, and nobody surely would have been texting, Blackberrying or Facebooking while having dinner. A marriage, no matter how difficult, was forever. Work ended at five pm, and conversation was an art, not a series of annotated phrases on Facebook.

Sometimes, it seems, that along with disposable fashion, our connections with each other have also become more ephemeral -- useful for instant gratification, and to be upgraded or changed when the next new model rolls in.

Photo from www.chintzchina.com/photo.htm