The Origins of thriftalina part 2 - Thrift Stores, Vintage Clothes & History Boxed Up

Once I got to high school it was the big thing to be getting all your clothes at the Thrift Store...well before that Macklemore character & Brooklynite inspired fashion being the trend. We would go on these thrift hauls in groups usually, spreading out to cover every section and start scoping for "The Find". (there will only ever be 1 per trip, more on this phenomena to come)
I had to start first always in the clothing sections. A lot of the clothes I ended up gravitating towards were well before my time, I always loved the "grandpa plaid pants" and the random brand emblazoned tees but I would tend to buy a few extra stand-out pieces that I just felt like, damn..at that price- I had to have whether I wore it ever or not.

I'm not afraid to show you my high school  pics - I'm on the right  in one of my favorite s of all those logo emblazoned tees I accrued. 

Since I was crafty I wanted to collect these clothes to alter for sewing & upcycling projects, but also my magazine obsession had led me to adoring fashion of all kinds; and by this time in my teens I had a professional Canon and a good few shoots under my belt. I would seek out my most fashionable friends to play in front of my camera or sometimes when at my house we would dress up in all the funky vintage stuff and shoot- little did I know this would be called "styling" - but yes, playing dress up - or well putting your pretty friends' hair into those little "bjork" knot thingies, plastering her with silver makeup and dressing her in vintage 70's disco attire to stand in front of the bright pink sleeping bag I'd hung as a background was where I began this long running incorporation of my hobbies.

Not bad for a disposable camera my first time ever styling & setting up a shoot at age 12 with a friend  to model

Are you keeping track of all this storage space yet? Yep...the "magazine princess" turned "poster kid" now had a deep collection of vintage clothing to boot...add this into not living in the same space for more than a few years and well almost every bit of all this amazing stuff (that I was able to keep, anyway) had been packed up like a Pop Culture time capsule. When I'd move I would inevitably give away tons of the vintage clothes and probably more than I would care to think about even further...because you know, sometimes I do still remember that Rainbow Puffy Vest and White Plaid Polyester Grandpa pants and wonder if they are loved. ( that reminds me..who has some vintage stuff I gave them long ago? Id love to see!)

While all this stuff sat in boxes I had started accumulating more in my jobs and thrifting adventures, more posters and stuff from the Record Stores I worked at and/or visited..well- CD Stores...MUSIC Stores...(yes, they existed as a place one would go to buy music!) For the longest time I didn't have all of this stuff in one place and at times, probably didn't even know what I had anymore.

I find something old that was packed up long ago, almost every day. 

After many years of storage I was finally to get my entire collection in one place and start digging! I am still digging now and always finding some treasure...either a collectible, a random piece of vintage clothes I couldn't believe I'd worn, or some awesome crafty thing or half-done project that was forgotten.
I'm lucky to be able to share the findings and now have been able to turn the discovery and creation into the great projects I work on today.

 I always knew that someday these pieces would have an ultimately greater creative purpose for me, whether to be sold and newly loved, upcycled into something more, or given away. I'm only so very lucky to be able to share them online & with my projects.