Last week I found myself rummaging through the racks of a secondhand vintage shop in Antwerp. The name of the store is Think Twice. What started out as a shy and slightly awkward window shopping endeavour, quickly grew into an addiction after my first visit. Though secondhand vintage shopping is a highly praised activity in the fashion industry for cultural reasons, I stayed away from it until last week.
Very often when people would tell me of their awesome finds, the thought running through my mind would be, ‘how could you be satisfied with something that has been used?’ I know it sounds elitist but as a child growing up, I was told by my elders to not wear the clothes that were worn by other people. As I grew older, I learnt that those warnings were associated with old wives’ tales and strange beliefs. My godmother had also warned me off giving clothes away carelessly. She would often say ‘people can use them to bury the dead or stuff the coffin.’
