Certain Vintages Are Just Worth It

Laurie Kajiwara of Long Beach spent more for a ticket to the Flashback Weekend party at What’s Cooking Bistro in Newport Beach than she did on her party outfit.

The event cost her $15. Her clothes? Barely $10.

Apparently, going vintage often means going cheap.

Kajiwara was just one of the 70 guests at the recent benefit for Young Professionals Against Cancer, the Surfrider Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Like everybody else, she was stayin’ alive with disco duds straight out of the silly ‘70s.

Guests dressed up in platform shoes, bell-bottoms, pointed-collar shirts, Mr. Furley pantsuits and enough polyester to keep K.C. and the Sunshine Band satisfied for years. They danced to blaring ABBA under a disco ball as a big-screen TV showed “Saturday Night Fever.”

Kajiwara wasn’t sure what her see-through yellow blouse was actually made of--”maybe polyester, maybe crepe, definitely something funky”--because she bought it at Muskrats, a retro store in Santa Monica, and the tag was long gone. But it only cost $5, and her bell-bottom jeans with a strip of purple and green tulips appliqued along the outer seam were also $5.

Steve Artura of Laguna Beach found his skin-tight, bibbed-collar, velour shirt with a faux maroon vest at DXC Vintage in Newport Beach. “Nothing found in nature helped produce this shirt,” boasted Artura.

Same thing for the lime-green pants, which he got a few years ago for a “Brady Brunch” party, he said. “I washed the pants, and I was afraid they would shrink, but they didn’t budge--they were the same size when I pulled them out of the dryer. That’s the beauty of polyester.”

Artura’s finishing touch: “Gold chain with chest hair. I felt like a Solid Gold dancer.”

Ed Bayuk of Laguna Beach found his brown and tan herringbone pants--”with a velvety feel”--and his striped polyester shirt at DXC Vintage. He was particularly proud of his belt, a thick, leather number featuring dozens of holes, in rows of three.

Just right to do the hustle.