Young fans of preloved clothing in Dublin, increasingly conscious of environmental issues, share their experiences of shopping second-hand
“I find more in vintage shops than charity shops because I’m a more colourful person,” says O’Connell. “They have more unique bits.” She buys most of her pieces in Nine Crows and Lucy’s Lounge in Temple Bar, Oxfam on George’s Street and Patrick’s Curiosities in Dún Laoghaire.
Inside, Dublin Vintage Factory retains some organised chaos amid a mishmash of styles. Its contents are older and more curated than those in a charity shop. Idly browsing around is 21-year-old South African student Mela Nowack. She tells me she is inspired by her mother’s style . “It’s just the idea of mixing and matching even things that don’t really match, but they kind of do harmonise. Fashion always comes back every few years in cycles. [My Mom’s] just really out there – very wacky.
“I think it’s a lot better to buy things that you can use for 10 different outfits than buy one thing that only goes with one other thing that you have,” she explains. “And I think it’s just better than having 50 different T-shirts to have five that you can wear with everything that you want.”This weekend, for the first time, the content of The Irish Times Magazine will be written entirely by teenagers.