Stopping the checkout aisle of the grocery store, I look up and see
an old-familiar friend: Victoria Magazine. The charming periodical
highlighting vintage elegance is back after several years off the
stands six times a year.
I have kept several issues from the
1990's and looked through them fondly from time to time when coming
across them in my storage shed. But until I perused this new issue, I
hadn't realized how much this magazine informed my sensibilities as I
grew into womanhood.
It was founded in 1988, my sophomore year in high school. I was
already a bit of a junkie of historical novels, having grown up with
LIttle Women, Anne of Green Gables, and Little House on the Prairie.
But when Victoria came out, it just seemed to fit what I was about.
I remember reading in it once that the trick to wearing vintage
clothing in a modern context was to have just one or two pieces that
recalled a by-gone era, thus giving the aspect of a throwback without
being too specific. I took that to heart when buying dance dresses
and jewelry.
My love of pretty costumes now. . . so many years after the fact. .
. makes perfect sense in the context of my love of Victoria magazine.
I always wished I could wear some of the lush fabrics and styles
featured in the magazine. Perhaps someday I'll be skilled enough to
make a few wearable garments for holidays and special occasions.
I was also an avid reader (hello, English major!), so the quotes
from 18th and 19th century authors were recorded in my spiral notebooks
and looked up the next time I was in the library at school.
Occasionally I had to go to the city library, of course, bit it was a
good primer for a high school girl who will be reading a lot of
Victorian literature in a few years.
I was also reminded of how the magazine reinforced my love of letter
writing. . . something I've lost in the last few years. And sadly so.
I actually first read Alexandra Stoddard's essays on the epistolary
life which led to pouring over her book like a bible of
letter-writing-virtue.
Stoddard's essay in this new issue made me realize how much I've
missed my little desk overlooking my yard where I would write letters
to my grandmother, my German pen-pals, my boyfriend (who was also a
letter writer and lived in L.A.).
Obviously, this led to a late 90's morphing into blogging and e-mail
correspondence, but I still miss the joy I took in my pens and the best
stationery I could afford-- usually Cranes cotton paper in robins egg
blue.
So, yes, I rejoice in the return of Victoria Magazine. And you should, too.
