Second-hand shopping has claimed more column inches since we fell into recession, but while the impetus for the growth in popularity of charity shops, boot-ique sales, and vintage fairs may have come from necessity, such outlets have flourished thanks to the increasing number of people searching for the unique in a consumer market saturated by fast-fashion and mass-produced style statements.
Not only is second-hand shopping often cheaper than the high-street, the experience can be constructed as a sport. Where it may be easy to find stylish home accessories in Habitat, for example, it takes a more tuned eye to spot the gems in a car boot sale, or down the local Oxfam store.
Our increased inclination to peer fondly backwards rather than strain forwards – this season’s top fashion trends; body-con dresses, statement shoulders and leggings all made their catwalk debut in the 1980s; and Cath Kidston’s 1950’s-housewife-inspired prints have found appeal well beyond the yummy mummy market – has also helped propel second-hand shopping into the mainstream.
Fashion seems to have become self-referential to the point where we have come full-circle – when wondering which defining trends from the noughties will make it onto the moodboards of future designers; you have to ask which trends from the noughties didn’t borrow from eras past. Thus it’s only natural for full-skirted 1950s dresses and kitsch homewares to have become more fashion-forward than fuddy-duddy.
To me, second-hand shopping is a discipline, in which to excel I have to put in the hours, but from which the reward - the buzz of finding that unique item to help create my individual style - becomes slightly addictive. And if said item originates from my favourite decades in style – the 1960s and 70s – all the better.
A few of my favourite vintage finds from around my home:
Bought for £3.50 from a Brighton flea market.
Dressing table, bought for £40 from Gumtree. Vintage bags £3 and £4 from a charity shop.
Coffee cups and saucers, bought from a flea market in Amsterdam - 10 Euros for the set. Flask £1.50 chairty shop. Clock £5 Ebay.
Metal tea pot bought from a charity shop for £2.50. Cup and saucers part of the above set.
JH Lynch print, bought from an street market in Amsterdam for 7 Euros.
Old knitting magazine cover, bought from a Brighton flea market for £1.50 and framed.
Bought from a charity shop for £1.
Bought from a charity shop for £1.
With two flyers for vintage and second-hand clothes events having taken pride of place on my fridge door for the past couple of weeks, this weekend was one eagerly awaited, and it didn’t disappoint.
Posts
