By Kaylee Johnson
Campus News
As a child, my father took me to thrift stores on Long Island every Sunday. While he would search for things to sell on Ebay, testing out VCR’s and desktop computers for hours on end, I would sit on the dusty floors and play with the undressed Barbie Dolls with butchered haircuts. At that time, about fifteen years ago, thrift stores were not trendy. I saw poverty as I patiently waited for my father to scout out gems while I hugged teddy bears with matted hair and acutely observed my surroundings, taking in all of the smells and facial expressions of people passing me by, nodding at the little girl sprawled on the floor with long forgotten toys.
Now, I am an adult, delicately placed in both the world of STEM (education and counseling) and the creative arts (writing and performing). When I went on the first date with my partner, he took me to a Goodwill, which would have been viewed as very strange a decade ago, but now it is a hotspot for young artsy people. I am skeptical of how I feel about the idea of faking poverty and taking away from those that actually rely on charitable resources – there is the debate that Goodwill and Salvation Army offer great prices for quirky items that could not be found in traditional retail stores. The modern art school student wants to appear as offbeat as possible – and that means wearing Youth Gospel Choir shirts and cow print mini skirts in their eyes. No one really needs a Shirley Temple VHS collection or a lamp that looks like a manatee, but the low prices make them impossible to turn down, and the abstract young people have made thrift stores hot, especially on social media. Artsy “influencers” often post videos and photos of themselves sifting through thrift store racks, posing with full faces of makeup. This makes me somewhat uncomfortable, as an educator in an extremely low socioeconomic area. A lot of my students rely on resources like the Salvation Army for back to school clothes, and when fully funded college students romanticize poverty because they have never truly experienced it, they are in turn patronizing and going against their own liberal belief systems. The posts seem to be lacking a supreme amount of self-awareness and taste, especially since the “influencers” can afford the camera equipment to make the videos come to life.
Being in the art community, a lot of my friends rave about their fashionable finds from thrift stores. I would have no issue with this if they were truly struggling for money. The problem is, many of them get checks mailed from their parents on a weekly basis and believe that there is a certain allure in the illusion of financially struggling. My friends that actually came from poverty and broken homes do not brag about their shabby 1991 Apple Bottom Jeans from Goodwill Albany – if they can afford to go elsewhere, they do.
Resources like food banks and thrift stores are specifically meant for those unable to afford basic materials like food and clothing, not insufferable teenagers and college students trying to fit into the current trend, which happens to be extremely insensitive. I will admit that every once in a while, I go thrift shopping with my partner and always end up leaving without anything, because I feel too guilty to take away from those that truly need the assistance. I am young and not affluent, but I can afford clothing and keep food on the table, which is more than a lot of people can do in my community.
Yesterday I saw a tweet that went something like this: “All of the artsy girls at the thrift stores have mullets and Doc Martens now!” That means the people shopping at thrift stores are able to afford $300+ shoes and elaborate haircuts to meet the current trend.
To me, influencers taking photos in thrift stores is as heinous as them having photo shoots in front of murals in poverty stricken neighborhoods – it sends the same insensitive message and leaves a very bad impression.
Kaylee Johnson is a 2020 graduate of the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y.
I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s both equally educative and entertaining,
and without a doubt, you have hit the nail on the head.
The problem is something that not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about.
I’m very happy that I came across this in my hunt for something concerning
this.
What’s up, just wanted to tell you, I loved this post.
It was funny. Keep on posting!