About 10 years ago, my brother played an unusual prank on a certain Jewish newspaper. He submitted a fantastically out-of-date picture of my parents from 1977 for the paper’s “Engagement Announcements” section.

 The funniest part wasn’t that he captioned the photo with fake names, or that he also sent in his Bar Mitzvah picture (he was 22 at the time).  It was that the picture was actually published. 

Picture of my parents (circa 1970’s) published in the “Engagement Announcements” section twenty-five years later. 

I have to wonder what crossed the mind of the person who received the photo. Could this person really have believed it was taken in the year 2000? The amazing thing about vintage photos, clothes, cars, is that they seem so standard in the moment but as the years go by they become so obsolete that it’s actually humorous.

But the ephemeral nature of vintage is also what gives it value. Ask a collector of antiques  what draws him to an old book and he’ll likely answer that it’s the history bound within its pages. How many people did it belong to and what did it mean to its previous owners?  Ask me why I still treasure the $5 vintage coat I bought in a thrift shop at age 16 (OK, so its utter pinkness and giant fur collar may have something to do with it)

But more than that, it’s the  story beyond the fabric. What kind of woman actually wore such an extravagant coat? Where did she wear it to? And how did an item so beautiful  end up in the back of a dingy thrift shop embedded in layers of dirt and sold for just five bucks?

my pink vintage coat: $5

cleaning bill: $20

shatnez testing: $10

times I actually wore it: 0

owning a part of history: priceless

Vintage expands our life view beyond the present. Especially in light of the upcoming Yom Kippur, it’s important for us to realize that the trivialities we often focus on are short-lived. The woman who cherished her new silk gloves a century ago may not be here any longer;  her once styish fashion accessories are now relegated to the dress-up bin. The clothes of the past help us value not only what came before us, but also what  we are here for now.

(This article originally appeared in the Jewish Press column “Beauty and the Bellabusta”)