Fashion is Important. Here's how to make it yours with second hand shopping.

a love letter to fashion, personal style, and op shopping.

published 04.09.24

Is your fashion truly representative of you? Or have you succumbed to the pressures of the overwhelming trend cycle? Finding your personal style can be incredibly fulfilling, but it certainly can be challenging.

Traditional shopping – with its fluorescent lighting, adorned mannequins and freshly pressed clothing on sparkling coathangers – holds us back from genuinely experimenting with our style. On the other hand, the world of op shopping offers us the opportunity to analyse and confront our shopping habits. Second hand shopping takes away the convenience of traditional shopping and forces us to think consciously about what we like and do not. The clothes exist in their most authentic form – awkwardly dressed mannequins, mismatched hangers and the vague stale aroma synonymous with op shops.

As someone who has called op shopping her number one hobby for most of her life, I have certainly discovered a lot. This hobby has most definitely shaped who I am, offering me opportunities to build confidence, express myself and explore who I am. Teenage years are already full of self-exploration and discovery, and my love for op shopping has amplified this.

‘Style at its lowest ebb is method. Style at its highest ebb is personality,’ a quote from poet Frank O’Hara.

To me, style is an extension of personality. You can learn many things about someone by how they dress. Do they prioritise comfort or practicality over aesthetics? Do they follow what others are doing? Are they minimalist or maximalist?

I am well aware that there is more to life and humans than the textiles people choose to wrap themselves in. You cannot truly know someone just by looking at them. Yet, it is within our nature to make assumptions based on these superficial elements – and we know this. I think we would all agree that we dress differently depending on the impression we intend to make. Most people would not wear the same outfit for a job interview, date, formal occasion or just a regular day. We are always making fashion decisions – whether consciously or not. Some people take these decisions more seriously than others, but they are always there.

This is why statements about the frivolity of fashion bother me. There are many reasons for this judgement: fashion is superficial; it is the outermost layer of an individual; fashion is feminine, as it is and has always been a women-dominated industry and interest; and fashion is everywhere, as it is one of the only art forms that we see and participate in every day.

Clothing is superficial, but this does not mean fashion is superficial. Fashion is an art form passed down from generation to generation. From high fashion designers showcasing their haute couture on runways in Paris to our grandma’s making clothes from curtains or hand-mending the holes in our pants, fashion is a craft. Immense time, effort and thought are involved. Other art forms, like painting, are also somewhat superficial in nature, yet they are not described as such. This is because high art is separate from the average person; it is exclusive and it is intellectual – the average Joe just ‘wouldn’t get it’. Whereas everyone wears clothes. How could it possibly be equal to the art of painting? Fashion can be intellectual and hold deep meaning. No, it does not hold this significance for many people, but this should not undermine its existence.

People have been using clothing to communicate and express themselves for centuries. For example, in ancient Roman society, togas were a status symbol with different colours representing ranks. More recently, the ‘handkerchief code’ popular in the 1970s within queer communities allowed gay men to safely communicate their sexual preferences.

Like many other things viewed as inferior, the culprit for this perspective is our old friend, Misogyny. In a patriarchal world, fashion is associated with femininity, which automatically categorises it as peripheral and trivial. With many of us falling victim to this categorisation, I am sure I do not need to delve into why this is utterly unfair and appalling.

With fashion being an extension of the self, liking your style can make you more confident. Discovering your personal style allows you to express yourself the way you want to, improving your self-confidence. Personal style has no prescribed meaning or form. I would describe personal style as a way of dressing that is uniquely yours. When your friend sends you a photo of something and says, ‘This is so “you,”’ that ‘you’ is your personal style.

So, how do you get there? The answer is with a lot of time spent exploring and experimenting; here’s where second hand shopping comes in. Vintage and op shops are the only places you will be offered such variety. They are an opportunity for your creativity to be unleashed. No longer are you being told what you like by the pretty model in the front window. Now, you are on your own, learning what you actually like. Knowing where to begin can certainly be overwhelming, but just grab yourself an oat latte, a friend and an open mind, and you’ll be okay.

Here are some of my op-shopping tips that have led me to find some great pieces and my own style:

-       Be frequent. The clothes are rotated often, so you will most likely see new things each time you go. And like many other things, practice is the best way to achieve success.

-       Take your time. Each hanger could hold the best piece for you, so take your time sifting through the racks. Briefly glancing along the row isn’t going to help you.

-       Be open-minded. The clothes most likely aren’t going to be in their best form, so you’ll have to use your imagination – How would this look on? What could I style it with?

-       Be mindful. This is not necessarily a tip for finding your personal style, but it is important nonetheless. Due to its abundance and affordability, there can be a tendency to overconsume when op shopping. However, this undermines the reason why they exist: sustainability and providing resources to those less fortunate. Try to only purchase what you need.

WRITTEN BY avivalyn