Fashionable? Use What You’ve Got
While fashion in general still conjures dreams of beauty, sophistication and fame (like how what people wore on the red carpet gets more press that who actually won) the apparel industry is beginning to show the strain of increasingly common PR nightmares. The Kathy Lee/ Walmart expose (1996) and the Nike boycott (1997) shocked consumers into caring not only about what their clothes looked like but also about how they were produced and by whom. It seemed that you had to choose a side: buy the cutest dress no matter the social cost, or stick to sweatshop-free clothes even though they made you look a bit like Stuart Smalley.
I found hope in second hand clothes. In my neighborhood (I grew up in Manhattan but choose Brooklyn as home), folks leave unwanted clothing hanging outside the house for other people to take, rather than throwing it into the trash. If no one takes your clothes, you can cart them down to a second hand store (if they're trendy, Beacon's Closet or a vintage joint in Manhattan, and if they're… um… less trendy, the Salvation Army or Goodwill. If they're so gross you'd feel guilty asking anyone to wear them, then as long as they're made of 100% natural material (cotton, linen, hemp, silk, & wool) you can actually rip them up and use them for compost!
My point here is that there is no reason to throw away clothes. Ever. There are enough clothes on planet earth right now to last us for generations to come. Have them tailored, dye them, sell them, donate them or use them for worm-food, but don't trash them. Following this idea, there is a good argument to make as much of your wardrobe as possible out of other people's pre-loved goods. Far from the Stuart Smalley days of the 1990s, second-hand clothing can be fashionable, flattering, and even social. Clothing swaps are a way to hang out with friends, get cool new duds, and spend barely a dime in the process. The most expensive swap I've ever been to cost $10 to attend and I walked away with Lacroix shoes and a jacket that reminded me of a young Jackie O. To put this in perspective, I shelled out $12 to watch Take the Lead in the theater. Which do you think paid off more?
There is also, of course, the issue of a unique person needing unique clothes. How original, creative, or hip do you look when your wardrobe changes to fit each trend? You look cute, granted, even I happily window-shop at H&M, but everyone else looks cute in the exact same way. Mass-market cute pales in comparison to custom cute. There is a feeling of true accomplishment when you find the perfect dress in a mass of imperfect dresses, each one completely unlike the next. When you find clothing that fits your mind as well as body, it will (and should) last a lifetime. Putting time and energy into your clothes (instead of pulling something off the department store rack, only to trash it next season) brings with it pride, bragging-rights and, of course, the look of a true original.
So, my vision of hope for the apparel industry is that it shifts from producing dresses that cost $10 new (and paying kids 10 cents an hour to make them), to marketing pre-loved garments and learning to admire tailors. I mean, really, how much cooler would it be to see everyone walking around in vintage, custom tailored Levis than Wal-Mart knock-offs? Imagine how fashionable (and how sustainable) our future could be.
For some local second-hand stores check out:
The Salvation Army (east coast stores)
and more...
And for some awesome ideas of one-of-a-kind versatile threads check out (previously) local Andrea Zittel's Smock Shop.
