Thriving and Thrifting [edited]

There is a certain pleasure in finding an article of clothing that matches exactly what you want and knowing that it was well worn by another. The aesthetics of not just saving money and contributing to charity but to reuse what can be used again. It is the smell from another time; it is not about living through the clothing but to let experiences live again. Thrift shopping is more than shopping for a personal identity; it expresses something beyond shopping for clothes.

It is not just the practice of a certain class or social status, it extends beyond that. With a different ideology emerging, the shopping patterns change. Recently there have been reports of larger number of people thrift shopping, especially with the economy in decline. People are saving more, however this cannot explain the entire increase in numbers. The new scene emerging is centered on a different individual. These people are hipsters, known in the 1940s to mean those against mainstream fashion, music, and the scene. Hipsters are not just about rebelling against a seemingly consumerist culture, but are about renewing a society to recycle and consume less. As a New York style guide suggests, “clothing that wasn’t good enough to be bought on the first go-around is prime pickings.”

This type of identity is not to cut costs or to save money. Many spend hours and hours looking for clothes, using vast sums of money to come up with something that they define as themselves. This different dress is about recreation of something past to be defined by terms we know now. It is about remembering what has been and making it something now. Many of the people that make up this new scene are looking to change the pace and style of middle-class life. These people want to go outside of what is seen as conventional. The idea of looking past older faux pa’s to become someone new can use someone’s clothing to go beyond what is the norm. It is about going beyond and seeing where that takes you.