What is Vintage Anyway?

I've been wondering about the actual classification of 'vintage' for awhile now. I've Googled it several times, but I tend to find a different definition on every site I read. The general consensus I've found is that vintage is any piece of clothing that is 20+ years old. But does that include a plain singlet with no label and no defining features from like 1991? Or what about the crappy trackies my dad still wears circa 1985? I'm not sure! 

When I'm writing about my op shopped goodies, I tend to decide whether something is vintage based on the quality of the fabric, the cut of the dress/skirt/top and, of course, the label. I love Googling old looking labels to learn about the clothes I have scored at op shops and flea markets.

This dress I'm wearing today would definitely fit into my definition of vintage. It's a fantastic retro (another word I'm not quite sure about!) print, a sturdy polyester fabric and an awesome 1970's (I think?) shape. It doesn't have a tag and actually looks like it's home made. I bought it on Sunday at the Melville Markets for $4, from two very hipster looking girls who had sorted all of their wares for sale into two piles, vintage and modern. This dress was in the modern pile, which is what got me thinking about all this to start with! Why did they decide this dress is modern, when I am very certain it's vintage?  

After reading many blogs from ladies who are well and truly committed to 'authentic vintage' and could be described as 'vintage purists' I started to feel a little guilty about labelling some of my clothes (particularly those from the 80's and early 90's) with the exclusive 'vintage' tag. Are they actually vintage? Or am I just jumping on the vintage bandwagon? I don't know! So when I write about 'vintage' this and 'op shopped' that, they are merely just my definitions of the bits and pieces I find, nothing technical, nothing official!

Let's get on to the rest of my outfit, my shoes are trusty Sportsgirl sandals (on sale for $50) and I picked up my head scarf from the Markets on Sunday for 20 cents!! Madness! Before leaving the house but after taking these pictures I also slipped on some orange fimo bangles I made recently. 

P.S check out the scarf in my hair! I'm totally loving my four goals challenge, going to tackle number two this weekend.