An article by Andromeda Renia-Karoni
Don’t we all love a good thrift day? Looking for hours and coming home with amazing, unique finds—touching the fabric, imagining what the previous owner was like, how they had once styled the item. While it is much easier to browse online or look at pre chosen pieces in stores, thrifting is more of an art form—a fine balance between patience and imagination.
Often, we find good clothes, but just don’t know what to do with them. How to work the clothes, style, alter or layer them. Too many pieces linger in our own closets, unappreciated, even when there is nothing particularly wrong with them. Maybe it is that our motives and choices in picking them were off, although the clothes themselves were perfectly fine—just waiting to be rediscovered. Nowadays the past is trendy. Many fashion trends from the nineties and early 00’s are resurfacing. Y2K fashion has become a widespread term almost everyone has heard of. Clothing items that we may currently view as ‘cringe’ in our closets can become our new favourite items within a few months, trust me I speak from experience. As I was cleaning up my closet a few weeks back, I found many clothes that I used to dislike a few years back were actually really cute, my fashion sense was not perfect at 14-15, but some pieces that I disliked a few years back I really like right now. A pair of super wide high rise jeans, I ended up wearing as low waist casual jeans and trimming the bottom so the low waist fit worked better. Instead of buying a new pair of low waist jeans, I just used an old pair of very wide jeans I already owned from around 2019.
The key to curating a wardrobe is not just about purchasing, but also about keeping those purchases for a long time. What you choose to dump today you may want to repurchase in a few years—leading to unnecessary waste.
Here at The Violet Post we aim to motivate readers to reimagine their idea of fashion. As a fun exercise, try thrift shopping in your own closet. The idea may sound silly, but it will help you with your current wardrobe and teach you insightful tips about thrifting. Take out some clothes you don’t wear anymore or regret buying. Really sit with the items and study them, look at certain fabrics and fits. Why did you buy the item in the first place, has your opinion changed? If the fit is not what you wanted, try exploring different ways to wear the item or perhaps to alter it slightly with a sewing machine. Blouses can be worn differently, try cinching the waist or layering a simple top underneath. Aswell for skirts, a long skirt can be cut shorter or the vibe altered by creating an asymmetric cut.
Try different fabrics and unique fits together. Don’t stick to what you know or have seen, experiment. Give clothes their own life. Try weird combinations of clothing pieces you already own. That way you will learn what works for you and what doesn’t, alongside with what you want to get out of your clothes. The art of thrifting is simply seeing potential in something. Either you take it as an experiment or try to alter it, or leave the clothing piece forever. Even wrong combinations and unflattering outfits from your own closet will teach you a lot about your current style and past mistakes.
Pretend that you are in a thrift shop, your closet containing all different kinds of clothes- some you love, some you’re doubtful about, and the most fun kind: pieces you think are terrible. Regretful purchases. Clothes you thought you loved but never ended up wearing. Try to find potential in each piece and learn from past regretful purchases what to avoid when buying new clothes. You’ll be surprised at what exquisite styles can come from the clothing pieces that you already own.
The Violet Post 
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