Shopping with Brandon Dunham

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Hello, my name is Brandon Dunham. I am a graphic design major at Grand Canyon University. I started thrifting when I was a teen because it afforded me the opportunity to purchase items at a fraction of the retail cost. I like to change my style so often that it allows me the flexibility to buy pieces I can pair with other staples in my closet and change my style even more. To me, fashion is a form of visual art that allows one to express how they feel for a day. I don’t like to be boxed into one particular style, so my style vastly ranges from vintage, sporty, casual, street, and sometimes a mixture of all.

For my outfits, I look for items that pair easily with other clothing and create multiple styles. For example, gray trousers and black jeans. Both are versatile and staples I can add to my wardrobe to create multiple looks. For the gray trousers, I was able to alter them to fit me better and create a cropped look, then pair them with three different tops to create a totally different style with each of them. This is also the case with the black jeans. Black jeans are really versatile and can be worn with almost anything.  It just takes some imagination, and you can pair them with other clothing and create a great style of your own.

For my first look, I went for a simple street style. I wore the gray trousers that I had altered for a cropped fit and paired them with a vintage Iron Maiden band tee with my navy-blue coat.

My second look is a tropical/Hawaiian style. I wore a Hawaiian button-up and paired it with black skinny jeans and my blue overcoat. Again, black jeans are a good staple in which you can dress up or down to create multiple looks.

My third outfit I went for a more casual look for a stroll around the city. For this outfit, I wore a branded crew neck and matched it with black skinny jeans and an oversized blue flannel for good contrast.

For my fourth outfit, I chose a casual streetwear style. I wore the cropped gray trousers again with a vintage stitch pullover with a sherpa-lined denim jacket for an added layer.

The fifth outfit is a more semi-dressy style. I wore a vintage golf polo and paired it with the cropped gray trousers.

So, with my two main staples, cropped gray trousers, and black skinny jeans, I was able to create five outfits that can fit on most occasions.

Finally, here are some tips I’ve learned when shopping at Goodwill.  Always go in open-minded because you never know what you will find.  If you stay open minded you are certain to find at least one item that you can use to build your wardrobe.  Second, when searching for vintage t-shirts, you need to research the types of tags before shopping.  There is a lot of information on the internet that can help you gain knowledge about vintage t-shirts.  Finally, always try on the clothing, as some clothing may have shrunk, or if it’s an older item, the sizes could be much different than today’s sizes.