I started buying my clothes in thrift stores when I was an art student in college. With the exception of us students and bohemian types ( I was both – my Grandfather was from Bohemia) thrift stores were not frequented by the middle class. To use a phrase from that era, they were for “the down and out”. Hand-me-downs were a stigma then, not recycled treasures.
Thrift shopping might not have been popular, but I instantly knew it was for me. Simultaneously loving fashion and design and being nearly broke, I loved shopping someplace where everything was possible. Plus, thrift shopping is nothing more than a giant treasure hunt, and my design classes were training my visual awareness. Why not put that knowledge to practical use?
Another reason to be a thrift store shopper presented itself when I was a young married woman. Whenever I visited my parent’s house and wore a different outfit, my mother would immediately ask, “Is that new?” I doubt that she meant to induce guilt, but that was the effect. My parents both lived through the Great Depression and considered buying lots of clothes or anything else as frivolous…money’s main purpose was to be saved. I didn’t have to feel like a hedonist when wearing “new” clothes from St. Vinnies.
Many decades have gone by, I still love fashion, I’m no longer broke and I have come to understand that most women my age from early on were conditioned to feel guilty for loads of stuff we do or don’t do.
Covid put an end to thrift shopping for a year and a half, and I did miss treasure hunting for bargains. However, two realizations hit me. First, I have enough clothes to last me forever, and second, I could up my game when the thrift stores reopened. Since I need nothing but the fun of the search, I could shop almost exclusively off the $1.00 or $1.50 sale racks. And I will not feel guilty for an occasional splurge of a dollar or two more.
I am well aware that thrift shopping is not for everyone. My husband, for example, always opts for taking a 20 minute catnap in the car as I am happily scanning the racks in a Goodwill or Vinnies. He does, however, appreciate the $1.00 designer shirts I find for him.
And, finally, I must note that many young women in my granddaughter’s generation have embraced thrift shopping. I see them in the aisles of every store I visit. And they are laughing, happy and having fun with their friends. No guilt or stigma in sight…some things do change for the better.
This is so much fun to think about!
It is fun for many of us and very relaxing, too. But I understand why it is not for everyone.
Mary–Yesyesyesyesyes!!! It’s so much fun! I, too, have enough clothes to last “forever.”
And dishes and knickknacks . . . but it’s so very enjoyable to spend time in a thrift store!
Treasures to be had!