My obsession with vintage clothing has been a large part of who I am for about as long as I can remember. Sure, some could interpret such an obsession as my just being superficial, but I like to think of myself as someone who has an eye for quality and a love for pieces that have stood the test of time—pieces with history, with love literally worn into them. This obsession has given me quite the wandering eye over the years. I know that sounds naughty, but it really isn’t. It just means that I’ve fallen for pieces that I can never own. Pieces that I’ve glimpsed as their owner rode by on a bicycle, strolled by on the mall, or stood next to me at a bar. Sometimes, I have to say something, simply must let their wearer know how amazing their piece is-- which is what happened with Zed’s boots.

Zed is one of the students in the French class that I recently started taking, and it did not take long for a vintage lover like me to notice that he has a pretty darn impressive collection of great vintage pieces—especially his square-toed boots. Dark leather and worn in just enough to look worn without looking broken down, they are of a style that lends itself equally well to dressing up or down and, aesthetically, they are quite possibly perfect. Zed has such a knack for wearing vintage clothing, and for making it his own, that I simply had to ask him to share his thoughts on shopping, and wearing, secondhand. I’m glad that I did, because I believe that you’ll agree that he has quite an interesting take on the merits of secondhand sartorialism.

Name: Zed Ireland
Age: 22
Occupation: Full Time English Student
Hometown: Denver
Shirt: Vintage Shop
Jeans: Friend
Shoes: Vintage Shop

Do you wear a lot of vintage? A fair amount. Roughly half of my wardrobe is vintage or secondhand.

How long have you been into vintage? I got started off thrifting a few years ago but have really gotten into it in the past year.

When getting dressed, are you generally drawn to your vintage items first? Are they the “building blocks” of your wardrobe? Yes, I consider my vintage articles to be the staples of my wardrobe as well as the most fashionable.

When you go to a secondhand shop or sale what do you check out first? Sometimes I’ll have something specific in mind (i.e. a shirt or vest) but most often I just head towards whatever catches my eye.

Do you have a favorite piece that you ever found at a thrift store, yard sale or vintage shop? Yes, my red leather jacket. It’s absolutely my best find yet.

It recently occurred to me that I need to devote some time to talking about how to shop for vintage clothing and not just encouraging our readers to do so or spotlighting stylish individuals who have devoted large portions of their wardrobe to vintage goods. While shopping for used goods is nearly innate for some people, others often find it to be intimidating, overwhelming and even a bit frustrating. Some fear looking like a total fashion throwback, wearing pieces that should never experience a swan song, while others fear just making the wrong choices and purchasing pieces that are neither flattering nor fashionable. So, today I’d like to give you guys a brief and basic rundown of some of the things that I have learned during my near lifetime of thrift store shopping. Tips follow after the jump.

The Democratic National Convention is finally here and the city, as so succinctly stated by my friend Holly-Kai, is “a-buzzin” with energy. I met up with Holly on Sunday after attending the After 5 Jazz and Blues Fest in Five Points, where African-American and African vendors from as far spread as Albuquerque and New York had come to set up shop, hawk their wares, and celebrate the historical significance of Barack Obama’s presidential run. At the festival, which will continue throughout the duration of the convention, Obama T-shirts abounded in every size and color, as the smell of dozens of varieties of scented oils filled the air and the sounds of a gospel choir thundered through the Points. After spending some time mingling with my fellow celebrants and soaking in the general atmosphere of optimism, I spoke with Holly about why, time and again, she chooses to wear vintage clothes, and often mixes them with beautifully creative pieces of her own design.
In the spirit of the construction that is going on next door to my house, she picked up my broom while we chatted and I snapped a few pics.

Name: Holly-Kai
Age: 33
Occupation: If we must do titles can we just say Artist?
Hometown: Denver
(Where’d you get your) Shirt: I made it.
Skirt: The thrift store.
Shoes: I don’t remember.
Glasses: Optical shop.
Bracelets: Gift.

When you love shopping for vintage clothes as much as I do, the quest for new/old pieces burrows deep into your subconscious and manifests in the realm of dreams. Like the thrift store that I visit time and again in my sleep, pulling incredible relics off of the shelves—each one perfect for me, my sister, or my best friend. Then there’s the dream where a vintage store is closing and they don’t want any of their remaining stock. “Take what you want,” they tell me, “we have more than we need.” And I do, pulling dresses and coats and boots off of the racks, my heart beating with excitement—so much so that it wakes me up, and I find that what my fingers are gripping is not the shoulders of an exquisite vintage dress but the soft edge of my sheet.

Yesterday, I went to a sale that made me feel as though I was living in one of my dreams. I’d been referred to a woman, Linda, who was in the process of liquidating her mother, Lorraine, and grandmother, Francis’s, shared estate and had vintage clothes (some with tags still attached) and shoes, and jewelry and art and books and on and on that still remained from the estate sale. When I contacted Linda and found out that she had 4 closets full of clothing that she wished to sell, I offered to buy what I could and to help her to find a buyer for the rest.

Though I rarely make it out to the Family Thrift Center, in Wheat Ridge, at 3777 Kipling Street, I always find amazing deals when I do, so I keep it on my radar. Family Thrift happens to be across the street from my favorite diner, the Apple Ridge Café, which I like to call Apple Bottom, because it’s so much more fun. In my opinion, any visit to Family Thrift Center necessitates stopping by Apple Ridge for a taste of their amazing pancakes and other assorted tasty breakfast treats. While I recommend breaking your fast at Apple Ridge before going to Family Thrift Center, I also recommend pacing yourself. I tell you this because after stuffing myself on said pancakes and breakfast treats, I found that I was moving a bit sluggishly when I got to Family Thrift.

Family Thrift Centers benefit the SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) Foundation, which provides outreach and educational services for children and families dealing with the disorder as well as therapists who are interested in learning more about helping children dealing with sensory processing issues. “Sensory processing” is a term that refers to the way that the body handles the signals that it receives. In children with SPD, the signals are received improperly, causing their systems to under or overreact to stimuli. Depression, anxiety, social problems and various other issues can result. The money that you spend at Family Thrift Center goes towards helping the Foundation to create a better life for the children it serves.

Monday night I headed down to South Broadway in pursuit of an interesting subject to cover for “Secondhand Sartorialism.” South Broadway is a great area to investigate when you are seeking style inspiration. Hip boutiques, thrift stores and interesting bars abound, filled with people who possess intriguing and inspiring taste in clothes. Eurotrash hipsters, paint speckled artists, starving poets and working musicians peacefully coexist, influencing each others stylistic choices in ways that are both subtle and overt. If you want to see living, breathing examples of how to put your outfits together in new, creative ways, you can learn a lot by people watching on the streets of Denver.
I’ve known since I started writing this blog that I also wanted to find guys to interview about their vintage-inspired style, so I was thrilled to run into my old friend Ben Kronberg and elated when he agreed to be my first male interviewee. Ben, a stand-up comedian who has a loyal fan base here in Denver and nationwide, possesses an eye for fashion that is as sharp as his wit, and incorporates vintage pieces into his wardrobe in ways that make it clear that while some may argue that it is harder for men to find great pieces secondhand, it certainly is possible.

Name: Ben Kronberg
Age: 31
Occupation: Comedian
Hometown: Denver
Shirt: I got it from Regal Vintage or Buffalo Exchange - I can't remember.
Jeans: Regal Vintage
Shoes: Target
Glasses: Eye Vision 16th and Champa

There are probably hundreds of ebay sellers out there who have made a pretty penny by selling items that they purchased at a Goodwill thrift store. Now Goodwill has gotten into the online auction game with shopgoodwill.com. The site was started by the Goodwill Industries of Orange County, CA and now sells items that have been uploaded by participating Goodwill thrift stores all over the country. Revenue from sales benefit Goodwill’s many charitable efforts across the globe—making it possible for buyers to help make a difference without leaving home.

When I accidentally stumbled across the site I was intrigued, and somewhat dismayed, by the array of items available for sale. While the vintage Gunne Sax dress, (a highly collectible item with “Buy It Now” prices on ebay starting at around $130), which had already received 8 bids and was up to $100, certainly made sense, I simply could not understand why anyone would post, or bid on, control top panties-- though the 5 bids that had already posted did give me pause. Isn’t it possible to find something like that at Target, without having to bid on it and possibly make it cost twice as much as it would in a store? Is there any entire population of people who prefer to buy all of their underwear online —trolling the pages of ebay and shopgoodwill.com for the perfect size and color? Perhaps Goodwill is actually fulfilling a need that I didn’t even know existed…

No matter how amazing a piece of clothing is, sometimes it just isn’t right for you. If you’re anything like me, you probably have tons of items of clothing that don’t fit right, or aren’t quite your color, or that you bought even though you knew that they weren’t right for you because you simply couldn’t bear to leave them hanging on the rack at a thrift store, or laying on a table amongst the stained t-shirts and shapeless swimwear at a neighborhood yard sale. When you have more useful clothing than you know what to do with, and don’t have the heart to donate it or (heaven forbid!) throw it away, you are a perfect candidate for a clothing swap—where you can help someone else to look amazing in a piece that is just taking up space in your closet.

When I heard about the vintage clothing swap that Cynthia Joye would be holding in Capitol Hill on Wednesday July 30th, I knew that I simply had to attend. Not only do I have a large collection of vintage clothing that doesn’t quite suit me, I also love to meet other vintage enthusiasts and to learn what it is that they love about vintage. So, I baked up a pan of brownies, packed up a box of vintage gear and headed on over to Cynthia’s shindig—where the punch was cold, the snacks were right out of 50s era home ec manuals and many of the attendees were dressed to the nines in fabulous vintage wear.

While “Secondhand Sartorialism” is technically a street style blog, I simply have to share the incredible taste and style of my dear friend, Naomi Kelly. Naomi, who has a strong sense of personal style and an excellent eye for what suits her, has long been one of my personal style inspirations. Whether she dons exquisite vintage pieces that showcase her innate elegance, modern pieces that acknowledge her playful side, or outfits that meld old and new in unique and inspiring ways, Naomi always looks effortlessly and seamlessly put together. And she has the most incredible closet I have ever seen — a warmly lit walk-in filled with vintage clothing, shoes, jewelry and art laid out in beautiful displays that meld her accessories with little tchotchkes she has collected over the years.

When I mentioned to Naomi that I would like to interview her for “Secondhand Sartorialism,” she invited me into that closet, where I talked to her about shopping for vintage while surrounded by one of the most amazing clothing and jewelry collections I have ever seen.

Naomi Maestas-Kelly
Age: 30s
Hometown: Denver, CO
Dress: Her mother’s from the 70s.
Necklace and Charm: Thrifted. The charm is a tiny bell that actually rings!
Shoes: Thrifted.

How long have you been into vintage? My whole life. (laughs) Ever since I started dressing myself.

Perhaps you know of Habitat for Humanity as a nonprofit organization that helps people in need to build or renovate homes that it then sells to them at an affordable rate, using all mortgage payments to fund future building efforts. And when you think about a Habitat for Humanity thrift store, you may picture used building implements being sold to people seeking to update and improve their homes. While Habitat for Humanity does have a home improvement outlet in the Denver area, the Flatirons Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store (6900 West 117th Avenue in Broomfield) is actually a typical thrift store that sells used (and sometimes new with tags) clothing, accessories, housewares, fabric, craft supplies and electronics at delightfully affordable prices.

I chose the Flatirons Habitat Thrift Store as the site of my first installment of “You Should Thrift Here” (where I will profile local thrift stores and discuss the causes they support and the selection that they have available and, ideally, find a customer willing to allow me to style them in goods found only at that store) because I was surprised to learn, after contacting manager Erik Brack, that the store actually has a considerable clothing section. It occurred to me that other thrifters may also have assumed that a Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store would have nothing in the way of sartorial delights and passed up an excellent opportunity to shop for quality new and used clothing while helping a very good cause.