With catwalks no longer an insider’s secret, and collections now exposed for public dissection well before they hit IRL and online department store shelves — the democratization of fashion, as the phenomenon is lovingly called — fashion’s inherently exclusive nature only finds ways to reinvent itself. With a new mainstream appreciation for niche and archival fashion in recent years, the latest finds vintage designer aficionados fixated with the notion of hunting down and purchasing items from runways past. “Prada S/S 1994”, the caption to an Instagram or High Fashion Twitter post will read — Behold, a new kind of elitism. Forget IYKYK. The idea is now: “I know more than you.”
Fashion’s current partialness to vintage clothing can, in large part, be tied back to the onset of the pandemic in 2020, a time that influenced consumers to consider their rate of consumption, and its impact. During the pre-pandemic era, Depop and Poshmark were widely regarded as user-friendly reselling platforms, while The Real Real and Vestiaire Collective didn’t possess the same mainstream cache they do now. Quickly, though, the opportune moment catapulted the online second-hand shopping into billion-dollar-business territory.
As examined by the Vestiaire 2022 Sustainability Impact Report, 33 million shoppers bought their very first piece of vintage in 2020, signaling a massive shift in consumer behavior. Now in 2023, ThredUp’s Resale Report reveals Gen-Z is largely to thank, with one in three items purchased by the demographic being done so second-hand, and 58% of those purchases made online. As the idea of consciously reduced consumption becomes a key aspect in the way we dress, ThredUp predicts that by 2027, new shoppers will account for the majority of second hand sales, demonstrating that this format of purchasing will eclipse off-the-rack retail buying for many people entering young adulthood as first-time investment shoppers.
What many didn’t anticipate was for vintage reselling on the likes of Depop to create lucrative avenues for archivists and content creators. As the accessibility of vintage shopping increases, so, too, does the idea that an item’s history skyrockets its appeal, often also reflected in its resale price. Reseller Arianna Aviram tells Beyond The Pines the idea of vintage is now so mainstream, many consumer’s apparent obsession with a piece’s history lies in their bragging rights for obtaining the piece in the first place, describing the phenomena as a form of ‘virtue signaling.’ “The concept of ID’ing clothing has become increasingly trendy and commonplace, but how authentic is this?,” the archivist says. “In a lot of cases, I find many don’t do their own research, and just regurgitate what is being told to them, which oftentimes is incorrect. They just want to appear knowledgeable about fashion.”
A direct example of this identification can be seen across a number of viral TikTok videos, such as Benji Park’s (@Fashionboy) post uncovering the contemporary house codes key to identifying specific designers, for the consumption of those new to fashion. However, here the creator doesn’t spread misinformation, and the virality of this type of content encourages the appreciation of fashion as a part of cultural history, rather than a superficial frivolity. “On one hand, it is great to see people who are true collectors, or are extremely passionate and excited about certain brands and collections,” Aviram says, “especially regarding their attention to detail and depth of research to understand designers.” On the other hand, other creator’s use of memorization is often used as a shiny and deceptive replacement for integrated knowledge.
Stylist and Balenciaga archivist, Alexandra Mitchell points out that for a many, the fascination with vintage goes beyond the boom created by TikTok. “I was a teen on Tumblr, so the process of researching fashion was very personal and kind of the entire point,” she explains. She notes, however, that the “trend” largely got its start with menswear. For years, male online creators often used perceived intellectualization of a brand as means to justify their interest in a predominantly female-driven industry. Now, in a landscape where the access and knowledge to admire the industry is more democratized than ever before, this attitude has transferred from “Rick-heads’’ exclusively, to the mainstream.
Mitchell is no stranger to neither the former nor the contemporary craze of iconic vintage references, having recently recreated, piece by piece, the infamous Mademoiselle Nirvana shoot for Rollingstone in 1993 with Phoebe Bridgers and Boy Genius earlier this year. However, this creative experience was deeply grounded in her childhood memories as her dad told her she took her first steps holding a Rolling Stone magazine with Courtney Love on the cover. “The whole research element was kind of the point,” she says, (noting that she literally sourced some of the scarves for the shoot from Gene Meyers himself), adding “it was like discovering something, and that process was part of what forged my taste beyond the aesthetics–now. People aren’t going on this personal journey. The playbook has been written for them.” Essentially, the current accepted participation is flash-memory, and the quicker you can identify, let alone buy, an item from Tom Ford Gucci Fall/Winter 2001, the more elite you are in the fashion industry in the eyes of an outside content consumer.
As information becomes more accessible, the funnel has narrowed at the bottom, transforming the specificity of knowledge into the industry’s latest covet. Though there is something to be said about understanding the garments we consume, and appreciating the process in which they were created, the authentic manifestation of personal style, too, belongs in the process of discovery.
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