And it introduces a whole new generation to fabric glories of the past. Today, Gentle and Gradante have set up racks at Wesleyan University. Gentle is wearing a mod burgundy velveteen coat trimmed in fake fur $10 at a thrift store. Gradante looks spiffy in a gray-checked coat, onto which he’s affixed a peace-sign button. About that button: The two met several years ago on a trip to an anti-war protest in Boston.
Target has hundreds of costume options for both men and women a mere five-minute drive away. For women, they vary from a sexy “deck hand darling” to Penny Pingleton from Hairspray. For men, Chewbacca …
There is some wild cowboy stuff, he said. This designer, Nudie, was big in the rhinestone-cowboy era. It s the Jerry Lee Lewis kind of stuff, with piano keys up the side and all. Then we will have boots from every beast imaginable: buffalo, rhino, what have you. Some are inlaid with playing cards. It is fun.
Every Friday morning at 11, Robbie Fultz is in the same place, looking to get his records fix for the week. Fultz, a Lexington resident, is one of several collectors waiting to dig through the weekly set of new arrivals at POPS Resale Shop. The store, with a supply of about 100,000 records, doesn’t just have a dedicated local fan base - it attracts record-hunters from all over the world. “We have regular customers from Germany, Japan, England and New York,” said POPS owner Daniel Shorr.
Wasteland, one of several thrift stores on Haight Street in San Francisco, sells metallic shoes, vintage sweaters and retro dresses, but the prices are often too expensive for the average teenage shopper to afford.