Jessica Cangiano of Chronically VintageHere at Scaramanga, we send out hundreds ofleather satchels and travel bagsevery week, so it’s always nice to see where they end up and how they’re worn. We decided to get together with some of our favourite bloggers for a new series, where they give us a sneak peek into their style and show us their favourite way to accessorise with a Scaramanga satchel. This month, we were lucky enoug to be able to grab a quick chat with Jessica Cangiano from the wonderful Chronically Vintage blog.
1. Jessica, we love your blog for your amazing sense of vintage style - when did you first start wearing vintage clothes, and what attracted you to them in the first place?
Hand on my heart, there isn't a time when I don't remember flat out adoring vintage clothing and being incredibly fascinated with history in general. The seeds of my passion for vintage fashion took root in early childhood and as soon as my parents allowed me to start buying my own clothing as a young teenager, I hit the local thrift shops back in the late 1990s and began purchasing my first vintage items (in those days, one could still find 1930s-50s pieces for a total song sometimes - something that almost never happens for me at my local thrift stores, or anywhere, these days). Though my wardrobe has seen many players come and go over the years, I've not stopped wearing vintage since then and for many years have been wearing genuine vintage, vintage reproduction, or vintage appropriate fashions almost every day of my life.
I think that I was strongly attracted to vintage at such a young age both because of my interest in history and also because I didn't feel like a lot of the clothing I was wearing, even at such an early stage in my life, suited me very well (plus, I thought that vintage clothing looked flat out gorgeous - and still very much do!). I sensed that I would feel considerably more at home in the beautiful fashions of the mid-twentieth century and made a vow to myself as a young girl that when I grew up (even though I had no idea at the time that other people actually did the same thing) that I would wear these kinds of styles. I kept that promise and definitely do feel that such is still the case - more so actually ever since I developed a woman's body with oodles of curves that take to 1940s and 50s like a duck to water.
2. What do you love most about vintage clothing and accessories?
In a nutshell, when it comes to vintage clothing I love their unending beauty and innovative styling, the diversity of the designs and materials used, the fact that so many celebrated and at times even flaunted a woman's femininity and natural shape, and the fact that owning and wearing such items allows me to help preserve and celebrate the past in a very intimate and powerful way every day of my life.
Jessica and our 13 Inch Brown Leather Satchel3. Do you have a favourite era or period when it comes to clothes?
My love for yesteryear fashion extends to many decades and eras, but when push comes to shove, without a doubt, my very favourite time frame from a fashion standpoint is the years comprising the 1940s and 50s. As such, my wardrobe is primarily made up of an array of items from, or which look the part of fitting into, both. I love each equally and have been sporting their styles since I was about 15 years old (which is half my life time ago now, as I'll be turning 30 this July).
4. Who would you class as your vintage style icon?
Unquestionably, my vintage style icons are real world women of the decades I adore most. While I certainly admire and often love the fashions worn by yesteryear Hollywood starlets, I feel like I can relate so much more to real world women, whose lives would have been in line with my own than those of most celebrities of the day (and whose clothing is much more keeping with the styles that I typically wear myself). From my early childhood days onward, I've looked to photos of such women (of all ages) to inspire and delight me time and time again.
13 Inch Brown Leather Satchel, £805. What was your favourite thing about the Scaramanga satchel?
This is a two way tie for me, as I really like both the quality construction (the leather is thick, but still wonderfully flexible; and the bag itself is very well made from top to bottom) and the immensely timeless, vintage appropriate quality to the style I selected. It works smashingly with some of my 1940s and 1950s ensembles, but could just as easily be sported with various looks from earlier and later decades, too, right on up to today - and tomorrow.
To read more about Jessica and her Scaramanga satchel, head over to her beautiful blog Chronically Vintage.
Huge thanks to Jessica for her time, and letting us have a peek into her vintage-filled world. All images courtesy of Tony Cangiano.
