Vintage [adj.] - 'of old, recognized, and enduring interest, importance, or quality.'
Thrift [Verb] - 'to shop for or buy used goods especially at a store that specializes in secondhand merchandise.'
-As Mirriam Webster defines.
Honestly, I'm complaining and being contradictory in this entry. "You want Y2K clothing but for cheap?" You might guess as you read this, and I respond with "Yea, but that'll never happen". It's a Time is Money standard when it comes to finding stuff, and also because of a second reason.
In terms of my thrift store experience, if you want the brands that you want, you have to dedicate the time and energy to keep your eyes peeled. If there's a thing priced relatively cheap, you bet it's going to get snatched up by the next person that comes across it, either to wear or to profit. Given that most of the stores that I come across are non-profit and donation-driven, I'm not going to get the pinpoint subjects that I want to get. Y2K is barely on the cusp of being deemed vintage, and I bet that the owners aren't exactly going to part with their belongings just yet as a 2000's revival is getting into the swing of things.
Alternatively, if you don't have that broke mindset that I have, you can always go to a vintage store and get the clothing that you want like that. The price is going to be a little steep, but that's the way it works. It wasn't easy finding and cleaning worthwhile clothing to sell again, it's like a social interest stock market. They probably had to fistfight someone at the Goodwill bins for that Godsmack tour shirt to be in your prospective hands. Depending on how savvy (or just bold) the vintage storeowner is, you could see like-new prices on slightly worn clothing, or witness a nirvana shirt be priced in the quad digits because Nirvana is a fashion icon. If you're going to spend that much money on Kurt Cobain's mug, then you have to sit down and listen to Incesticide. Yes, the compilation album, not a studio album. Anyways, clothing.
My cheap ass is complaining because I want stuff like Marc Ecko or Skater Apparel for like under 20 dollars. Maybe I'm a sucker but I already know that everybody else also wants one for cheap because that's the intent, they were designed as fashion apparel, you must be this steezy to fit this fit. I'm falling for 2000's marketing again, but that's what it is, marketing old clothes in a new direction.
To unleash my true age, I was but a little babby with little consciousness during the end of the 2000's, so I got the hand-me-downs of my older brother as I aged. I never got into much social media or other social trends because I was mostly a loner during my elementary years and I got scared to bits from using any form of internet in 2013. Also, daycare, so that's like a cultural equivalent of a sealed terrarium. To me it was me inheriting the end of the trends of the 2000's and the start of the 2010's, and thinking that it was wicked. I think at one point I had like some sort of walmart gamer shirt, I'm talking the 'My mom told me to play outside' type of shirts.
Most of the shirts that I got were stuff that I didn't pay much mind to, because it wasn't 'loud'. My surviving hand-me-down was an element sweater and a quicksilver shirt, and the most that they displayed is their logo on the upper torso area. I may not be a fashion expert, but even I know that it was about layering and appearance, and less about the article in of itself. I'm talking button ups (My family called them 'Dave' shirts from Alvin and the Chipmunks, guess who plays Dave) Graphic tees over longsleeve, and jeans of somewhat fitting size. Take this with a grain of salt, this is coming from the man who started to wear jeans regularly about 3 years ago. If you thought that everybody was walking around with either a tapout shirt or a frilly blouse, no, just the ones in the annoying cliques. It's more plain color like Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, or Hollisters back when they used to spray perfume on the merchandise.
Hater speech aside, I think it's kinda silly that even with the throwback in full swing, I still can't find any clothes that I want to pick up. The pant slack and the loud design is great, sure, but jeez can it hurt any of these brands to be a little colorful? Splay that decal all over the shirt, I want that overdone gothic background, or a Punk-like shirt where it looks like somebody just swung a trashbag full of mascara onto a stone wall. It's like trying to find a colorful car in traffic, you're lucky if you can even find a red car.
Maybe it's a sign for me to start making my own clothing designs, but I have to figure out how. I don't like the iron on sticker technique because that makes for a great moisture condenser. I think Sublimation is better? I don't have that much hobby money to spare, so I guess it rules that out, unless I make some connections. I want to say spray paint but I'm not daft enough to go in my backyard and just spray the fence paint onto a shirt. Mark my words, my next post is going to be me showcasing my shirt attempt.