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SERIES: 10 Things I Would Do Differently If I Started Collecting Today -

Hollis Jenkins-Evans
Past Perfect Vintage clothing

This is an entry in an ongoing series. We're asking a range of vintage and antique clothing collectors what they would do differently if they began their collecting journeys today. Our experiences can make us better collectors and caretakers.



1) Study the market first to be more knowledgeable about rarity and desirability. And I would avoid the commonplace, no matter how inexpensive.

2) Learn about appropriate care and storage. I unwittingly damaged a few things, and it didn’t have to happen.

3) Be more particular about condition and color.

4) Stop operating from the position of “saving the orphans” and purchasing pieces that need restoration. Just because I can do it doesn’t mean I have to.

5) Develop a collection focus sooner. Whether a period, a designer, type of garment or complete ensembles, a focus really improves a collection.

6) Be patient and wait to find the item I really want. I finally learned this. It took 10 years to find the right 18th Century skirt, but it was worth it.

7) Save up funds to buy the best thing I could, rather than buy the thing I can afford now.

8) Consider purchasing one important item rather than a lot of small things for the same money. It’s about Quality, not Quantity. Too many times I would leave a Vintage Clothing show with a number of small ‘good buys’ when for the same money I could have purchased one really fine piece.

9) Expand my collection focus range to include newer, but well made and interesting pieces that have future potential to increase in value and desirability ( I avoided post 1920s far too late)

10) Be willing to upgrade the collection as I found better examples, selling the lesser pieces to fund the better acquisitions.


About Hollis Jenkins-Evans


Hollis Jenkins-Evans is the owner of Past Perfect Vintage Clothing, and is a 30-year collector of vintage clothing and accessories. A theatrical costume designer and patternmaker by training, she has her BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Louisville and her MFA in Costume Design from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ms. Jenkins-Evans has been in the vintage business since 1992, selling quality antique and vintage clothing from the Victorian and Edwardian eras as well as the 1920s through the 1960s. She opened her online store, http://www.pastperfectvintage.com in August, 2005.



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