Friday, January 6, 2012

Vintage 2012 Scarf

Happy 2012 to all.

So if the year is less than a week old, how, pray tell, can this NYC 2012 scarf possibly be vintage? The Oscar de la Renta piece dates all the way back to 2005 and resides in the collection of the New York Historical Society.

While the NYHS lends any item a patina of age, to confer vintage status on something not even seven years old, is still a bit of a reach. Even for the fashion cycle. But consider that it was designed for New York’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics, and that scarf starts to look like really old news. There are no doubt events from 2005 which feel like they happened yesterday, but I remember how ridiculously far off into the future the idea of the 2012 Olympics seemed at the time. Perhaps "vintage" adheres to its own laws of relativity. And so much for telling the age of a scarf from the date printed on it.

The 100 members of New York's 2012 delegation were outfitted in Oscar de la Renta for the city-selection event that took place in Singapore. According to NY1, "The attire consists of a printed NYC2012 blouse with matching printed scarf, white blazer, and navy skirt for women while the men will be wearing a navy blazer and solid blue dress shirt, a printed NYC2012 tie and white pants."

Needless to say, the NYHS is a treasure trove of the city and of the country’s past. And they’ve got newly renovated digs.
Their online scarf collection isn't exactly extensive, but here are a few to get us in the mood for another kind of competition--the presidential election this fall!

The George McGovern scarf is from 1972, the year he lost
to Nixon in a landslide. The Nixon scarf, though,
is from 1968. It is described on the site as “designed in
the "groovy" aesthetic of the 1960s…”


Carter-Mondale, undated.

Eugene McCarthy's 1968 peace campaign.


Norman Thomas was a six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. This kerchief from 1932, includes names of Socialist Party candidates for New York State governor and NYC mayor as well.


Constitution-preamble and 10 original amendments, 1941.

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