Josh Holder hangs the newly cleaned and mended ’60s clothing on a rack so customers can buy one-of-a-kind items.
And these clothes are selling fast. Vintage shopping in the Baton Rouge area has grown in popularity the past five years because of an increase in people who want to be original and who want to “go green.””Back in the ’90s, everyone wanted to be the same,” said Holder, operations manager of the vintage store Time Warp. “With 2006 to 2010, everyone wants to be individual. They want to be creative. It’s a really trendy indie wave.”Pamela Vinci, curator of the LSU Textile and Costume Museum, said vintage clothing is more popular because of the unique look that can be created “in place of the ‘cookie cutter’ one seen each season at retail.”When people find something vintage that fits them perfectly, they feel extra confident wearing it, Holder said.”It feels like this unique item was made for them,” Holder said. “There is nothing better than that feeling.”Jessica Pattison, graduate student and teacher of an introduction to fashion class, said vintage shopping has become more popular because fashion is cyclical.”Fashion will always come around,” Pattison said. “We use ‘old fashion’ as a source for inspiration. We’re going to find new ways to wear clothes. It’s manipulating old styles into something new.”Vinci said the retro styles promoted by fashion firms have fueled interest in finding the “real thing” in vintage stores.Fashion designers visit designers’ lines from the ’60s and ’70s to find inspiration for current lines, Vinci said.”A lot of designers are going vintage,” Holder said. “The new things on the runways and the September issues of ‘Vogue’ and ‘Elle’ have a huge vintage influence. It’s the hats and the film noir. It’s this whole influence from older decades.”Pattison said students in particular like vintage because of the history behind it.”It’s been through life already, and college students are wearing things twice as old as them,” Pattison said. “It’s a thrill to find something like that.”Vintage shopping is also considered environmentally friendly.”When you buy something vintage, you aren’t putting any waste into it,” Holder said. “You are also preserving history.”No energy is used when selling vintage items because they were made years ago, Holder said.Cory Vogel, information systems and decision sciences senior and organization liaison for Environmental Conservation Organization at LSU, said anything that can be recycled, including clothing and other vintage items, should be recycled.”It’s a very interesting idea to recycle every piece of clothing so that we could never have to feel bad about the negative effects that the clothing industry has on the environment,” Vogel said. “But this is not a legitimate solution to bad business practices that affect the environment negatively.”Lauren Stiles, geology sophomore, said she enjoys vintage shopping because the stores always have unique items.”I like to dress in my own fashion,” Stiles said. “It’s easy to make the clothes your own, even though they have their own history, by pairing them with articles I already love.”Holder said he will always enjoy shopping for and selling vintage items.”You can be anything you want to be with vintage items,” Holder said.–Contact Catie Vogels at [email protected]