VINTAGE IS THE NEW CULTURAL COOL.

BURO MIDDLE EAST, JUNE 2021

WORDS BY LARA AKKARI

Out with the new and in with the old. That’s the new style dictum for those in the know. And frankly, it's catchy...

Full disclosure. I’m a little bit of a vintage freak. I don’t have many pieces, but the ones that I do, I wear with pride and the snug satisfaction that Brenda over there can’t get her hands on it, cause honey, it just doesn’t exist anymore (tight smile).

Vintage, which had associations with musty, thrift store cast-offs, is now the badge of bragging rights, championed by celebrities, stylists and Instagrammers (guilty!) all publicly posting their profound love for preloved.

The desire is real folks. According to research, the UK second-hand clothing market is estimated to be x1.5 times bigger than fast-fashion by 2028 propelled by eco-conscious millennials and “Gen Zers” relinquishing fast fashion for more considered novelties. The resale market is also projected to reach $64billion in 2024, almost tripling its growth from 2019. Enough fancy facts, you get the point. Vintage and secondhand fashion are HOT.

So, what happened? When and why did old(er) become cool(er). Well, for starters, it was ALWAYS cool, and I could rant endlessly on vintage’s inherent superiority to seasonal, trend-led fashion and potentially derail this whole conversation. But for the sake of clarity and word count, I’ll condense it to 5 key points on Vintage’s New Cultural Cool.