Title From Goodwill to grunge : a history of secondhand styles and alternative economies / Jennifer Le Zotte

Published Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2017]

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Description 1 online resource Series Studies in United States culture Studies in United States culture. Contents Thrift stores and the Gilded Age shopper -- Dressing Dada and the rise of flea markets -- Garage sales and suburban subversiveness -- The invention of vintage clothing -- Elective poverty and postwar politics -- Genderfuck and the boyfriend look -- Connoisseurs of trash in a world full of it -- Epilogue: popping tags in the twenty-first century Summary In this surprising new look at how clothing, style, and commerce came together to change American culture, Jennifer Le Zotte examines how secondhand goods sold at thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales came to be both profitable and culturally influential. Initially, selling used goods in the United States was seen as a questionable enterprise focused largely on the poor. But as the twentieth century progressed, multimillion-dollar businesses like Goodwill Industries developed, catering not only to the needy but increasingly to well-off customers looking to make a statement. Le Zotte traces the origins and meanings of "secondhand style" and explores how buying pre-owned goods went from a signifier of poverty to a declaration of rebellion. Considering buyers and sellers from across the political and economic spectrum, Le Zotte shows how conservative and progressive social activists--from religious and business leaders to anti-Vietnam protesters and drag queens--shrewdly used the exchange of secondhand goods for economic and political ends. At the same time, artists and performers, from Marcel Duchamp and Fanny Brice to Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, all helped make secondhand style a visual marker for youth in revolt. --Cover Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Secondhand trade -- Social aspects -- United States Vintage clothing -- Social aspects -- United States Thrift shops -- Social aspects -- United States Used clothing industry -- Social aspects -- United States BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Commerce. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Marketing -- General. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Sales & Selling -- General. Secondhand trade -- Social aspects United States Form Electronic book ISBN 9781469631912 1469631911 9781469631929 146963192X

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