Prestige: The Fashion Society hosted the ‘Throwback Thrift Fair’ on Thursday Nov. 9, featuring several local vintage shops with a wide variety of clothing racks to shop from.

Ebony Dunn,  co-founder and president of Prestige, was enthusiastic about hosting the event.

A play on ‘Throwback Thursday,’ the event was intended to replicate the energy of thrift and vintage shopping, something that students do often in more recent times. Thrift shops from Nashville, Clarksville, Knoxville and local shops such as Vette City Vintage made appearances. Due to the inclement weather, the event was moved indoors to DSU Nite Class. 

Dunn emphasized the accessibility of the thrift fair for WKU students.

“Some students don’t have the opportunity to go out or to have a car and be able to shop,” Dunn said. “So we brought the thrift shops here, where it’s the Nite Class, a central area in DSU that a lot of people come to. It’s homecoming, we have a lot of WKU gear, so why not have people spend some money?”

Prestige is a co-ed fashion organization, largely centered around modeling, featuring a modeling troupe that does pop-out shows, fashion shows and more. They work as a collaborative unit to make outfits and vision boards for one another. In the past couple of weeks, they brought their version of fashion week to WKU, with several creative-oriented events. 

“Pretty much, we are just a co-ed fashion organization that loves, sleeps, and eats fashion.”

Jameia Johnson, model for Prestige and junior professional legal studies major wanted to branch out with their types of events. 

“Since we are the first and only co-ed modeling troupe on campus, we kind of want to bring something different to campus, you know, something that not everybody else does,” Johnson said. “So, us having this event is kind of like, we’re here, this is what we have and are bringing to the table.”

Johnson stated that they are going to try and make the event annual, wanting to host something similar to this every year. 

Cody Dilaura, junior psychology major, had their shop “Starryeyedseraphine” set up at the thrift fair. Selling handmade jewelry and secondhand clothing, their booth featured a bounty of beautifully beaded accessories and clothes. Dilaura finds the handmade jewelry-making process to be both fun and therapeutic. 

For Dilaura, owning a small business combines their hobbies with a way to make money. 

“It’s super fun. I love, like, creating things and doing things that I’m passionate about,” Dilaura said. “It’s just a lot of fun to be able to basically make money off of my hobby.”

Their favorite items in their shop are their jewelry pieces, describing the jewelry’s style as whimsical and fairy-type. When finding items to sell, they have multiple methods. 

“I find them through estate sales, Goodwill bins,” Dilaura said. “Also, a lot of it is stuff from my personal collection that I’ve just sort of grown out of and I just figured I could make a little shop out of it.”

With a love for alternative styles, Dilaura was keeping their eyes peeled for vintage slip dresses and skirts at the other vendors’ booths. 

Another vintage clothing seller at the event, ‘Fashiongirlvintage,’ otherwise known as Emily Carney, had racks of clothing and shoes displayed. 

Carney explained that her favorite clothing to find for her vintage shop is ravewear and clubwear from the ‘90s. 

“Ravewear and clubwear from the ‘90s, is like, my holy grail like that’s my soft spot,” Carney said. “Because it’s like, I feel like that’s where you find the most unique features in clothing like you have all the buckles, the pants are so wide and oversized. There’s so much more detail to those clothes than anything else that I’ve found.”

Emphasizing her care for the environment, Carney described her shop and motivation for creating one. 

“I try to specialize in ‘70s and Y2K. I try to find things that are from past eras that are still, like, trendy and applicable to today’s market,” Carney said. “And try to help slow down the fashion cycle by finding pieces that already exist rather than focusing on new clothes.”

News Reporter Apollo Menéndez can be reached at [email protected]