UK's Time Warp Wives Live in Retro Styled Denial
Image by George Marks
BBC's Channel 4 recently aired a documentary called Time Warp Wives which features four British women who have rejected the modern world all together to live 100% in the past. They dress in vintage clothes of course, and their homes and husbands are equally vintage in everyway. They all say that the world today is so repulsive that they chose to live in a way that is completely opposite, as a way to hide, ignore, or live in denial.
I first heard about this story through a Daily Mail article that interviews three of the women. I was so shocked, intrigued, and secretly envious that I had to track down the documentary (thank god for the modern world's YouTube). However, the more I thought about it, the more bitter and feminist I became. First of all, none of these women want to have children; one even said that if she got pregnant she would "get rid of it"! That is the MOST traditional role women have, moreso than being just wives, women are "supposed" to be mothers. One of the other women even buys her vintage dresses online! Contradictions such as these take away from the credibility of their lifestyles, and to me are hypocritical; perhaps that makes them even more retro.
The other thing that really got to me is that so many amazing, fearless, strong women have fought so very hard to get women to the place they are today. We are smarter, more creative, and more independent than ever before; why would anyone want to pretend that none of that ever happened? I feel that there is no way that anyone could genuinely live in a time warp in today's modern world, and so rather than being a hypocrite, why not embody the best of both worlds? Dita von Teese is the perfect example of how you can hold vintage values and be an independent modern woman.
To see Time Warp Wives for yourself you can read the Daily Mail article or watch the documentary in three parts on YouTube.
Too true! Embracing yesteryear is great, but it must also fit in with modern times for a balanced life.
I’m not sure any of the couples featured claimed to live “100% in the past”? That’s an impossible concept. It seems to be mostly about preferring the clothing and interior decor styles of a particular era. I’m sure these people will happily admit to that. Hell, they even computers and internet access, would you believe.
I do know that one of the women featured feels that she has been rather misrepresented by the documentary. But then, if anyone watching it seriously thinks that a half hour tv programme can accurately portray someone’s life, I’d be worried for them. These things can only ever be selective.
I imagine that the couples featured are indeed “embracing the best of both worlds”, whatever the programme may have made out.
Regretfully the powers that be at Channel 4 have taken the programme down from Youtube (it was my other half who’d uploaded it to his account a few days back). Oh well.
I don’t mind that these women like to wear vintage clothing and furnish their homes in retro style. I really enjoyed looking at their outfits and furnishings. I do mind that they don’t read newspapers and that they think the modern world is horrible. They must not read much history, either, or they would know about the human misery that took place in the 30s, 40s and 50s, about the wars, atrocities and racism. Every single person in the world needs to be involved in making the right political choices, in protecting the planet, in fighting social injustice. You can do all of those things while still enjoying vintage fashions. Burying one’s head in the sand, however, has never been a smart choice.
I thought it was a fascinating documentary all in all.
It wouldn’t matter if they were goths or Harry Potter fans, there isn’t anything that unusual in going mad keen on something and living it to death. Some people decorate their homes exclusively in IKEA, these women have just gone for another version. It’s all a copy, hardly anything original there. I mean, they are copying another style and seem to lack any of their own.
I think if this show showed anything, it was how people cope with their psychological glitches. The documentary wasn’t that deep, which was a shame. A more closer inspection of these people’s lives (maybe not all of the girls but some of them) would probably find some deep sadness in their background, or ‘family dysfunction’ that has lead them to need to bury their heads in the sand so fully.
When someone is living so strictly like that, it has to be a coping mechanism.
There are much fresher versions of the retro style (Dita being the Queen) and what was sad was that the majority of the women featured in this film looked a bit stale, clownish make up, roots showing etc. Probably with stale ideas too, as what came across more than their style of clothing was their aversion to being ‘in the mix’.
Are they as racist as people were in the 1950’s? Are they as homophobic? I think there is more behind the story, and that while the girls may have been misrepresented a bit, there is probably a far more interesting story behind the surface frivolity.
Anyway, Dita rocks (in style too) and these were pale copies when held up in comparison.
These people defy the modern world they see as soulless and lacking transcendent values of honour and friendship.And they are not totally wrong,I think.
Channel 4 is in no way related to the BBC. It is a totally different channel.
I too have a ‘vintage lifestyle’, my era is the late 1930’s.
First I must say that the women in this documentary felt that they were misrepresented, of course filmmakers want to tell a certain story and cut out everything that doesn’t suit their ideas.
I know, I went to filmschool and had a production company.
So the picture we see in this programme may not be as it seems.
In a way a vintage lifestyle is a bit of escapism, but there are countless ways to escape reality and everyone does it.
I am not a ‘domestic godess’, I don’t do housewife things very well, I’m not married and I have my own company.
But yes, I only dress vintage, have vintage morals, listen to vintage music, dont have a tv or mobile phone.
But I do have a brand new apple notebook, I need it for my work.
And I follow the news although I must confess it interests me not as much as it used to.
I dont like modern society but that doesnt mean I think everything was better in the 1930’s.
But some things were.
I know many people with a vintage lifestyle, some married, some parents, some hard working singles like me.
Basically its JUST a style, but yes look further and you will find people who think that we can learn a bit from how people interacted with eachother in our grandparents generation.
I am also interested in the 1930s and 40s and i am decorating my home in the 1930s style. The items and objects from this era were built to last and have style unlike furniture today, you will not see them around in 50 years time. I feel comfortable around old things, modern furniture is so boring. People often criticize people who like the past, but its a way escaping the modern world and its faults. Things nowadays are made so cheaply and do not have character and i find people are so stressed and always in a hurry and also modern clothing make people look tatty. The interest in the 1930s and 40s is growing each year as people from around the country attend wartime events. These are great fun and everybody is friendly.
I do have some things modern like washing machine, microwave, i pod, and this computer and that’s it there are some things we can have. But i like keeping things simple and not having to keep up with modern trends.
The thing that upset me was the woman who said that the world was such a dangerous place now that she would get rid of the baby if she became pregnant. Very sad that she is so paranoid.
Although I did wonder about the 20 year old with divorced parents who said she liked the 1940s because hardly anyone got divorced. I wish we had heard what her (divorced) father had to say about that.