Fashioning authentic selves: Second-hand clothing and the materialization of enduring values

Fashion is often conflated with transience and novelty, demanding that individuals update themselves regularly in keeping with these changes. In this article, however, I argue that fashion is a way for individuals to articulate an enduring sense of self amid life’s changes. Based on material values evident in second-hand clothing, individuals draw parallels between themselves and the clothes, where old clothes objectify their personal values, of who they are, who they were or who they aspired to be, creating what I call, fashion-as-authenticity. Through old clothing, individuals access selective and imagined realities of different times to authenticate the self and its transformation throughout the course of their lives.