There’s an overwhelming sense of excitement in finding or rediscovering something that you love.
In recent years there has been a widespread resurgence in Op Shopped fashion. Adopted into subcultures of skating, music and further popularised by your favourite nostalgia driven TV shows, it looks like Recycled style is here to stay. Hit up your local vinnies and you’ll almost definitely be graced by the sight of gaggles of youngins rocking the grandad chic look. Second Hand fashion deserves a theoretical round of applause for its diversification, accessibility and celebration of the unique in a society obsessed with season by season fast fashion and hyped branding. I could rant on with hundreds of fun facts and figures about the ethics of thrifting and hand me downs but let’s just leave it at; recycled fashion is good for society at large.
‘Quit Playing Cool’ was thrown together with these ideas and values in mind.
Laneikka and I rolled up to the location of my less than Oscar worthy, high school venture into slasher films. This particular production was climaxed by the killer’s stoning of a watermelon (equivalent in size to my good friend’s head) placed inside a hoodie. With a painfully embarrassing nostalgia already buzzing in the back of my head, the two of us set out on a collaborative effort in styling these 80s to 90s inspired thrifted outfits. The final looks came in the form of ‘Heathers’ inspired shoulder padding to Hand-me-downs of the Spice Girls Phase that Laneikka’s sister and most of us went through at some point in our early teens. Our editorial piece was shot on a nifty little film camera I’d picked up from a garage sale for $50 (Let me grasp at some more DIY street cred, thanks). A week later through the expertise of the crew over at Rewind Photolab, our ode to thrift was ready for the world and here it is.