My Fashion Journey
I’ve been interested in clothes ever since I can remember and shopping secondhand has been a part of my life from the beginning. I love that from a very young age my parents would let me dress myself and I would have so much fun coming up with my own outfits. I totally believe this is where my love of fashion started.
I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and look back on my fashion journey.
So starting from when I was a toddler, I remember I loved layering and putting on many different combinations of clothing. I was also very obsessed with Princess Jasmine so I also went through a major crop top phase.
As I got a bit older I loved anything sequinned or velvet especially dresses. I started dancing classes and I feel like this influenced the clothes I loved to put on. I also loved playing outside and getting messy so I often wore baggy jumpers and jeans.
Growing older still, as a young teen I loved graphic tees, skinny jeans and colourful cardigans. I would search the charity shops for the most random T-shirt’s I could find. (I had a huge SpongeBob SquarePants phase, and I bought a matching T-shirt and backpack) This was around the time I really thought about what I was wearing and tried to put proper outfits together, of course using magazines for style inspo!
Having to wear a uniform for school was painful for me, and whenever it was non-uniform day I would plan my outfit for weeks! I always wanted to wear clothes that would be unique and stand out. I also went through a bit of a grunge/almost gothic stage (didn’t we all!) it wasn’t really extreme, but I definitely experimented with wearing a lot more black and of course edgy scarves!
Into my mid-late teens I went for much more of a hippie/boho style, which still influences what I wear today. I loved a baggy trouser, lots of necklaces and colourful shirts. This is when I really spent a lot of time at car boot sales and charity shops trying to find festival & hippie style pieces.
Into my early twenties is where my interest in not just secondhand fashion but vintage fashion really started. I remember going to a carboot sale where a girl was selling a huge amount of vintage clothing, I fell in love and ended up buying almost everything! Around the same time I saw a Judy's Vintage Fair advertised in my local town and decided to go and have a look. My interest in vintage went to a whole new level. I remember being completely blown away by how much vintage there was available.
After this I actually started selling vintage clothing myself, and this meant being surrounded by vintage and of course it meant adding to my own wardrobe a lot!
I was influenced by a lot of 1950s styles, as I feel these were the easiest to come across. I also really liked the 80s and 90s.
Coming up to today, I am still heavily influenced by a lot of hippie/boho styles and this has increased my love for 1960s and 1970s. Florence Welch, Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell are some of my style inspirations.
I’ve loved looking back at my fashion journey and seeing how early on thrifting and being able to dress myself has influenced my style today. Tell me about your fashion journey! Is your early style similar today? What have you been influenced by?