Introducing Vintage 365, a daily project for 2011

Have you ever had an idea pop into your head completely out of nowhere and suddenly it’s nearly all you can think about? I had one of those shinny ideas the night before last, as I was on the cusp of drifting off to sleep (isn’t that generally when great new notions suddenly spring up?).

What was this light bulb moment, you ask? How about, my mind pondered, doing a very short, very diverse post here on Chronically Vintage each and every day for the next 365 days?

It really truck me that sharing a vintage find everyday with my reader throughout 2011 would be incredibly fun and immensely worthwhile. Such an initiative would follow in a similar vein to various photography projects (on Flickr and elsewhere) and blogs with the goal of adding one image/post a day each day for an entire year.

So was born the idea of “Vintage 365”, a short daily post in which I share one – just one – vintage related item. The topics of said posts could be anything from a stunning vintage wedding dress I spied on etsy to a terrific vintage ad scanned from a magazine in my personal collection, a great piece of 1940s pin-up art to a a wonderful post I read on another vintage blog and want to share with all of you.

The premise is very straightforward: one post per day (generally published at the same time daily - though this point is a bit flexible, if there's a reason why the daily post should appear sooner or later in the day than its usual time slot), with one image, and a very short (think one or two paragraphs max, as a general rule) blurb pertaining to that image.

As many of my readers know, it’s not always possible for me to write lengthy posts each day, but in less time than it often takes me to research and construct one post, I can put together several days worth of Vintage 365 entries, which means that I’ll be able to share more of what is currently inspiring me in the vintage world with all of you.

Please note that I absolutely still plan on posting longer posts once or twice a week (much as the post rate here has been for the last few months), but now instead of just those posts, you’ll be able to get your Chronically Vintage fix every single day.

I weighed the pros and cons of launching such a project heavily. I didn’t want to rush into something that might not be sustainable , but I figured that life can only ever be lived one day at a time and that, the benefits of doing this project far outweighed any cons I could think.

I love vintage, I love sharing in our mutual passion for vintage, and I love using the content of this blog as a source of vintage inspiration for both myself, and I very much hope, all of you, too.

So without further ado, on the first brand new day of 2011, here is the inaugural Vintage 365 entry. I can hardly wait to share this project with you every day and am giddy with excitement as I think about all the vintage wonderfulness this project is going to be comprised of.

 

✯ Day 1 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

 

I think that a feeling of nearly euphoric excitement swirled with the hope of a better future has been a universal theme for as long as people have celebrated a date on which they dived one year into the next. In this fabulous vintage photo from 1939 (which comes via carbonated on Flickr), we see a throng of merry party goers excitedly catching dozens of balloons as they tumble from the ceiling, the crowd awash with joy and excitement as they ring in the New Year.

It's not every day you see action-packed, candid vintage shots like and I was instantly struck by how very similar the people in it, and all of us festive revellers last night, must have felt, for hope and the prospect of greater happiness are eternal themes that are born anew each January 1st.