It’s the double-edged sword of looking current and fashionable: Yes, you want to be up on the latest trends, but if you’re wearing the same stuff as everyone else, the monotony can cramp your style. The key to separating yourself from the pack? Working more vintage pieces into your wardrobe.
Secondhand pieces are not only a great way to save some money when shopping for new clothes, but it’s an easy way to instantly give any outfit a shot of uniqueness. Because that cardigan, pair of cargos or camp collar shirt is unlike any other that guys are wearing around you. It’s got some history, some provenance. Maybe it’s got a backstory—it’s always a good idea to make friends with the shop owners. They tend to have intel on the coolest pieces they sell and they can help you wade through the mountains of vintage clothes to find the garments that work for you.
The thing about pulling on a vintage piece is that much of the work has been done for you. It’s like a cheat code to looking cool. Because a well-worn pair of jeans or a beat-up leather jacket will always be inherently more interesting that one that’s brand new, right? So finding a pre-worn piece with some imperfections—a nick or hole here, a small repair there—makes it look like you’ve had this item forever. You’ve been through things and came out stronger.
At the end of the day, its all about the mix. A well-polished pair of shoes tends to look really nice when worn with some rugged, patched vintage chinos. A crisp white Oxford shirt never looks as cool as when worn under an old cardigan or slightly stretched out sweatshirt. Why try to find a brand new Rolex or Omega watch when you could find one from your birth year? This is what I did when I decided I wanted to find a simple Air-King and now, with each year, as the Rolex goes up in value and only looks better and better, it’s a reminder that I shouldn’t sweat aging as much as I do.
Where once “box fresh” was a vital component of a investment purchase, these days having an item with signs of wear is often seen as a key element of cool. Just look at brands like Bode. Designer Emily Bode takes dead-stock cloth and old, rare fabrics, and reimagines them as beautiful work jackets or hand-embroidered trousers. Something that began life as a quilt or a curtain is now transformed into a one-off item.
And look, without getting all “eco” on you, there is a helpful sustainability angle here, too. The fact that you’re buying something secondhand and giving it a new life is a lot smarter than buying a trendy piece for a season and tossing it. Or worse—letting it languish and just gather dust in the back of your closet. The fact is, if you start vintage shopping, you’re a lot more likely to start reselling the clothes you don’t wear. It’s a healthy cycle that keeps clothes out of the landfill and frees up space in your wardrobe to try new things. And that’s what this whole fashion thing is about … trying new things in order to find what makes us feel good and like the best versions of ourselves when we leave the house.
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