Vintage: a portal to fashion’s sustainable future

Over the years, I’ve become somewhat of an op shop (thrift store) aficionado with a deep love for vintage (clothing circa 1940s – 1960s) treasures like this grand pink ball gown. I started op shopping at age 15. The love for vintage happened in my childhood from watching style icons of the vintage era in classic films.

About 90% of my wardrobe is either vintage or preloved (secondhand). When I first started this journey, it wasn’t really cool to wear secondhand. People just thought you were either a hippy, poor or just freakin’ weird! It thrills me to know that vintage clothing is increasingly becoming more popular and it has had 46% growth in sales compared to 2017.

A league of its own

Each country in the global North has their figures but in Australia alone, over 501 million kg of unwanted clothes go into landfill each year! Another 94 million kg gets exported overseas but some of that also ends up in landfill, albeit on another continent. Why am I bringing this up? Because these figures include vintage clothes! I haven’t figured out the precise amount but it irks me nonetheless to even think of vintage being wasted like this. Vintage clothing is in a league of its own. Here’s why: vintage usually lasts at least 4 or 5 decades longer than most contemporary clothes. Secondly, if your wardrobe is blessed enough to be graced with quality vintage pieces, you possess a little piece of history that might hold clues for a sustainable fashion future. And finally, incorporating vintage pieces into your wardrobe is like style on steroids! Exhibit A: my pink ball gown. No, it’s not a costume even though I look like I’m on set of an 1800s period drama!  

Everyone can wear vintage

Vintage fashion is certainly not limited to ball gowns like mine and the ones you see on screen sirens like Elizabeth Taylor or Grace Kelly. You can find daily vintage-wear ties, scarves, shirts, dresses, pants, skirts, brooches, hats, etc. Each item brings its own special kind of magic. Some pieces give you all the ‘feels’ of the era they were made. Even though vintage can range from thousands of dollars in cost for luxury designer items, all the way down to merely just a few dollars in cost, the value of a vintage piece is not in the price. It’s in the magic of that piece. For instance, the way it can set your wardrobe ablaze with stylish inimitability and the power it has to turbocharge your serotonin levels when you get dressed.

Mainstreaming vintage

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ll know that I abhor trends. Trends are short term and therefore fuel textile waste. And the implication with trends is that people are to wait for a celebrity or advert to dictate or bestow permission to wear something, whether or not that thing is right for you. That choice belongs solely to you and your intuition. So, instead of making vintage-wearing another trend, let’s make it part of our daily culture by giving ourselves the permission to wear it throughout life. Take back your personal power (if you haven’t already) and normalise the habit of incorporating vintage pieces into your wardrobe. The greater goal here is to for it to become an everyday thing for as long as humans are wearing clothes.

How to wear vintage

I’ve been pondering upon what it’ll take for vintage to become as ubiquitous as fast fashion with all age groups. Start with baby steps by incorporating one item at a time to mix with your more contemporary pieces. My ensemble below is an example. This white denim jacket, tan cross body bag and sneakers transform this dress from ball gown to more casual everyday wear. I literally wear this look to lunch, dinner or to hang out with friends. The next time you need something in your closet, try searching through online vintage stores, your local vintage shops, op shops or even save the dates of the next vintage markets in your area.

When we all rise to the challenge of #DailyVintageWearing, we’ll be heroes for preserving these treasures that hold the exquisite craftsmanship of artisans from past generations for the future generations to experience. And on some level, we’ll buffer the environmental burden created by clothing manufacture and textile landfill waste.

STYLING

Outfit sourced from:

Rose pink vintage ball gown: Op shop

Tan Belt: Noffs Op Shop

White denim jacket and tan cross body bag: Hand-me-downs

♥ Nina Gbor

Instagram: @eco.styles

Images by Najah Onn

Exposing fashion's Jedi mind trick

It's many years ago that I started working in ethical & sustainable fashion. I feel like I really hit my stride this year with defining my career.

Today I'm going back to basics. Back to my first and original eco styling messaging and ethos of getting off the fashion trendmill. It means personal style (individual preference, lifestyle) alone should be the premise for choosing our clothes and NOT TRENDS. The concept is psychological, environmental, spiritual and also rooted in social justice, self-awareness and confidence.

This ensures you're likely to love, keep and wear your clothes for much longer. As opposed to following the wear once-disposable throwaway culture that has resulted in Aussies sending 6000 kg of textile waste to landfill every 10 minutes!

Invest in timeless pieces that are ethical, sustainable and ones that you know you'll wear for a very long time to come. Pieces that give you joy when you wear them.

Throughout our lives, fashion has taught us that we're not enough. And that we need to stay current with the latest trends. This brainwashing is the JEDI MIND TRICK that has grown and kept their profits super high for years. That’s because it keeps us in a hamster wheel loop of buying consistently to fill that void of not feeling enough. To get out of this loop, we need to step out of the fashion trendmill.

Meanwhile, fashion trends are the root cause of many of fashion's evils. They do nothing good for the self-esteem, body image and psychology of the consumer. They fuel waste and overconsumption. The fast trend culture also influences the exploitation of garment workers. While many of us don't wear trends, the notion of constant consumption is a CULTURAL TREND we need to address.

This will require shifting our individual and collective psychology, relationship and behaviour around clothing consumption. It's not just about whether or not you have a lot of clothes. It’s about acquiring clothes with a specific plan of keeping and using them long term. And ultimately, how we will dispose of them at the end of their life cycle.

STYLING

The flower on this preloved skirt inspires love feelings. Inspired by its beauty and elegance, I paired it with plain black tops so that the focus remains on the hypnotic beauty of the flower.

To restyle an elegant skirt like this one into something more casual, I’d wear it with a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers like the ones below. I’d also wear less blingy jewellery or no jewellery at all.

Outfit sourced from:

Preloved black top - Salvos Op Shop (thrift store)

Preloved floral skirt - Marketplace

Red, vegan sneakers - Etiko

♥ Nina Gbor

Instagram: @eco.styles

Are style and verbal communication two sides of the same coin?

I was ruminating on verbal communication and it suddenly struck me how much communicating with our words is so similar to communicating with our personal style. Whether it’s professional or personal interactions, the need for authenticity has never been stronger. Moreover, communicating in these two ways can be uplifting or destructive.

They might seem like random and disparate elements, but you can draw parallels between your words and your style when you look at them from the same angles. With these two aspects, the idea is to ensure our communication has a more positive effect. I often write about style so this time we’ll look at these parallels more through the lens of verbal communication.

It’s usually more straightforward when we communicate with our words. However, even though we don’t realise it, we communicate with our clothes too. Experts say within the first few seconds of meeting you, people form a long-lasting first impression. And your outfit plays a big role in this because it’s communicating something about you.

You know the saying, ‘if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all’? (They probably should have put that in the fine print when social media was invented.) The more I think about it though, another concept hits home which is if you don't really mean what you say then you probably shouldn’t say it at all. Purposeless and excessive talking can sometimes either be needlessly time-consuming or can cause miscommunications. On the other hand, when communication is born out of purpose, it can be healthy and more constructive.

Translate this notion into a clothing personal style context and it might sound like, ‘if you don’t need it, then don’t buy it.’ Garments that don’t reflect your personality, lifestyle, character or body shape should have no business on your body because they can miscommunicate who you are and present a false impression. Personal style that stays true to who we really are can bring about harmony within ourselves and communicate the right signals about us. Much like using excessive words, buying too many clothes because they’re trendy or affordable causes waste which is neither good for you nor the environment. Simply put, don’t waste your words and don’t waste fashion.

Letting all your communication resonate and align with your inner truth, will very likely equate to speaking less. And this might not be a bad thing. Social norms are designed in such a way that we’re expected to fill the air with words all the time. Otherwise, we might be doomed to go through dreadful and painfully awkward moments of silence. We’ve all experienced situations where we may have felt pressure to converse when in fact, we didn’t have anything to say. A simpler example is when we utter the word, ‘thanks’. Do you really mean it when you say it, or does it just mindlessly slip through your lips? In other words, do you genuinely feel a sense of appreciation when you use it?

Speaking mostly with intention and purpose is a powerful stance that gives your words more weight and value. So that when you do speak, there’s more effectiveness and hopefully an upbuilding quality to conversation. For this reason, perhaps an awkward silence need not be awkward after all. What if we turned those awkward silences to golden moments of connection where we’re comfortable enough to be present with each other in our silence? What if in these moments we turned the vibe from awkward to chill by smiling more, showing empathy and kindness even with our eyes? This should be a mood. I reckon it’ll feel strange at first. But it’s okay because we’ll get to listen more and add to our wisdom. The effort will be worth the reward of feeling a better sense of balance and alignment both internally and with the outside world. This could mean less pressure, less anxiety and more authenticity.

In the language of style, intention and purpose look like deliberately wearing clothes that express yourself as opposed to following a trend because you feel you have to. The pressure to dress for your age or peer group can conflict with how we actually mean to present ourselves. This can feel awkward and people can sense it. What if we ignored peer and overconsumption trends in favour of a personalised wardrobe that was almost as unique as a fingerprint? Much like those golden moments of silence I described earlier, it would mean feeling less pressure to conform to a mere social expectation. So, whether it's your words or your style, let your communication have meaning and purpose. They can both have tremendous value if applied in the right way.

Authenticity stems from letting go of the fear of opposing norms and expectations for the sake of just being yourself. Once we’re able to navigate the waters of everyday life without the social pressure to say meaningless words for the sake of it, we’ll have more peace. Likewise, when we stop acquiring excessive amounts of clothing that does not always represent us, we minimise ecological problems.

Be it through style or words, our communication has the power to spread harmony or cause pain and disaster for ourselves and others. Therefore, communicating authentically might just be the superpower that brings more fulfilment into our lives.

STYLING

The black and gold military jacket paired with the red VW print top and red vintage patchwork skirt is a tailored piece over a playful outfit. Finished off with a pair of mint sneakers. Might be fair to say it expresses a playful nature coupled with a formal streak? What do you think?

Outfit sourced from:

Black & Gold Military Jacket - Marketplace

Red VW Print Top - South Melbourne Community Chest Op Shop

Red Vintage Patchwork Skirt - Red Cross Op Shop

♥ Nina Gbor

When you pivot in the right direction, good things can happen

Recent happenings have shown me that when you move towards a bigger purpose, life can take your mission a little further than you anticipated…

With a few of my recent articles on topics like how we can mitigate the impacts of climate change on women and banning secondhand clothing, I’ve been pivoting into my background in international development. I still love my work in style and sustainable fashion. The deeper I go, the more I see intersections between the social and environmental issues of sustainable fashion and issues of international development. Widening the scope of our conversations towards development means broadening horizons that will hopefully bring more holistic solutions to issues.  

What I’ve learned from this new experience is that when you take steps in the right direction, life can throw opportunities at you that put your goals on steroids. So it’s essential to keep seeking growth and new ways to bring positive change in the world. Because you might meet others that carry the same volition. And this might be how we can all make things better. By following the internal compass that leads us to a greater purpose, then joining forces and growing communities aimed at changing the status quo.

Now this does not mean you’ll stop seeing my stylish outfits (like this one). Style as far as I can tell will always be part of my wheelhouse.

STYLING

I’m wearing another colourful preloved ensemble but this time I put on PANTS! My wardrobe is all skirts and dresses, so pants are a rarity! Styled them with a random, cute, t-shirt I found in an op shop which I guess is a tourist souvenir from Hua Hin Province in Thailand. In the previous photo I topped the look with a blue vintage Shanghai China silk ‘Peony’ coat.  

Outfit sourced from:

Blue Vintage Shanghai Silk Peony Coat – Hand-me-down

Arty Pants - Suitcase Rummage Vintage & Preloved Market

Colourful T-shirt – Salvos Stores Op Shop

♥ Nina Gbor

The perks of secondhand fashion (from a lifelong fashionista)

I’ve been wearing secondhand clothes since before I can remember. First, it was through hand-me-downs from my brothers during my childhood tomboy days. Later in my teenage years, it evolved to crafting my own personal style using the super eclectic range of clothes in thrift stores. It was a rare and unique opportunity to find my passion at an early age, playing dress-up by mixing vintage and trendy pieces. I loved secondhand shopping and styling so much that I built a career on it!

Even with all the style and excitement, I got from secondhand shopping, it took years for me to publicly come out as a secondhand fashionista. It was social taboo because of the stigma attached to it like the perception of dirty, mouldy clothing and the idea that it was only for poor people. Fortunately, this stigma has shifted, and secondhand fashion is becoming popular and even more fabulous.

One of the most surprising things I discovered about secondhand fashion is that it teaches you to figure out who you are and helps you appreciate yourself. As opposed to following fashion trends, selecting pieces to form a cohesive wardrobe from a plethora of clothes from multiple fashion eras and diverse cultures naturally makes you dig a little deeper beyond the surface to figure out who you are and what you want to express in your style. Eventually, I discovered a few more perks to this wonderful world of secondhand.

1. Social sustainability – Majority of the people who make our clothes are women in poorer countries, mostly in Asia and Africa. They are exploited because they are not paid fair, liveable wages where they can afford the basic life essentials such as healthcare, education and adequate food for themselves and their families. This happens despite working 12 – 16 hours a day. Buying secondhand sends a message to brands that we will stop buying their clothes when they are exploiting garment workers. It’s important that we inform these brands and urge them to pay liveable wages so that the workers do not end up unemployed.

2. Environmental sustainability – Fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world. About 80 - 150 billion new garments are produced worldwide each year, more than double what was made in the year 2000. Of the garments made each year, 85% ends up in landfill or incinerated. Most of this pollution happens during manufacture and disposal.  Secondhand shopping reduces reliance on raw materials, chemical procedures and fashion waste to landfill which all contribute to environmental damage. A circular economy with secondhand is a much better way to go.

3. It’s more affordable – Secondhand is such a great option for your savings and when you’re on a budget. However, considering the vast amount of environmental damage that fashion is responsible for, it’s essential to bear this in mind so that we prevent overconsumption of secondhand fashion. In a previous article, I explained in more detail why secondhand fashion is not about being cheap.  

4. Self-empowerment - I alluded to this earlier when I talked about knowing and expressing yourself in your style. Secondhand can be a relatively quicker and easier way to glide on the path of inner growth and self-discovery. If you choose not to follow fashion trends that have been dictated, you’ll realise your personality, goals, character or lifestyle will be the tools you use when you’re choosing your pieces. It can strengthen your self-image and instil a stronger sense of confidence.    

5. Unique personal style - Needless to say, shopping secondhand means your style is likely to be authentic and different from the usual. If you value individuality when it comes to your wardrobe and outside the box fashion styles then secondhand is your new (or existing) best friend.

This month, Oxfam UK is running a SecondHand September campaign where they’re inspiring people to say no to new clothes for 30 days #SecondHandSeptember. In the UK, 13 million items of clothing end up in landfill every week. In Australia, 6,000 kilos of textile waste ends up in landfill every ten minutes. Oxfam’s challenge is a fun opportunity to help reduce fashion waste by fully immersing yourself in secondhand fashion if you haven’t done so already. To find sources for secondhand clothing that are local to you, you can search online for clothes swaps, thrift stores, markets and wardrobe rental/hire platforms. Here are a few online platforms: Yordrobe, Ekoluv, Depop, Etsy, Carousell, Poshmark, Marketplace and Beyond Retro.

STYLING

With this ensemble, I went for a mixed pattern, monochrome look using a staple tan waist belt to break the monotone pattern. Finished the look with leopard-print stilettos. I added the vintage, red clutch bag for a bright colour pop. The standout features of the outfit are the ruched sleeves on the polka dot top and the monochrome chessboard pattern on the skirt because it demands your attention. When you’re styling yourself, choose pieces and combinations that make sense to you and make you feel good.

Outfit sourced from:

Polka Dot Top - Savers Australia Op Shop

Monochrome Chessboard Skirt – Marketplace

Tan Belt – Noffs Op Shop

Red Vintage Purse - Marketplace

Leopard-print Stilettos – A wardrobe staple 

♥ Nina Gbor

Instagram: @eco.styles