By Naomi Bajina

@fecalblessings

Welcome to cheapo shopping advice from a professional magpie.

I’m a cheap queen where it counts, and I had no other choice but convert my horrendous charity shop addiction into art. But, officially, I source and make theatrical looks and accessories out of secondhand materials and objects, as well as run craft workshops with this ethos as the focus.

It's a fact that secondhand clothes are the best and cheapest way to source unique looks. If you find it and mod it, no one else is going to have it. In addition, it's also one of the most efficient ways to reduce your carbon footprint - the fast fashion and textile industry accounts for a THIRD of our emissions (shockingly, that’s more emissions than aero transport). The way we can individually reduce our impact and contribute towards fixing this huge problem is pretty fabulous, though!

If we stop buying expensive, bad quality clothes from the goth behemoths and letting those damn vintage shops rob us all in broad daylight, it leaves us with a fresh AF wardrobe and more cash to spend on getting those amazing handmade things from independent makers. And actually, supporting small businesses is great because you're going to want to know someone who can use a sewing machine when capitalism falls. We can have it all, punklings!

Here’s my list for turning you into a stunning and fabulous borderline hoarder.

CHANGE YOUR HABITS & LEARN FASHION HACKS

Ain’t nobody got time for secondhand shopping IRL? Think again! Here are all my tips when it comes to secondhand shopping and customising your clothes.

1) Regularly clear out your wardrobe

Let’s just get this one out of the way! It can be very easy to become a hoarder – we’ve all been guilty of it at some point – but taking the effort to sort through stuff can be really good for your headspace and keep you focussed on what you want to be saying with your style.

After you’ve done that then you can reward yourself by getting together with some pals and doing a clothes swap! It's a really sociable, fun way to clear out and find some gems! Sometimes my local pub puts on clothes swaps so look out for community ones, too.

2) Hit up charity shops

Instead of heading to chains, check out your local charity shops and cut out shopping centres altogether! Just go in for your pants or other essentials and then leave immediately on a cloud of superiority. They’ll be OK without you.

For those charity shop gems, get the bus to the fanciest bit of town and check out the charity shops there - you are welcome. Also, a great time to go charity shopping is when students leave student halls early summer.

3) Find your local community pages for flea markets and car boot sales in your area

You never know what gems you could find! Although this can be an accessibility issue – I don't drive and work nights so often miss these, but I stand by the tip.

4) Offer to help pack when a friend/ family member is moving

Whenever I have to move, I always throw out a bunch of stuff so hit up any of your stylish friends/f am when you know they're moving. Offer to help them with a bit of the move (oftentimes just having someone there is enough if you can't do physical stuff) and you might find some fresh garms for yourself! 

I once sat in my friends living room and binge watched Chewing Gum whilst they packed. I came out with a binbag of clothes I love and am still getting thanked for it to this day!

5) Customise and alter your clothes at home!

Buy a glue gun, a needle and thread, a LOT of safety pins, a stitch ripper or any combination of the above. Now if you find a great t-shirt not in your size you can just cut out the graphic and patch it onto something else.

Same goes for stud detailing/ embroidery/ patches/ cool trim! Start small and don't worry about stuff looking perfect, bun neat stitching and use dress pins to pin where you want stuff to be. Think quick and punk so you hopefully avoid a pile of "should-do" clothes. I like sewing my patches whilst watching really bad reality TV, but my partner just safety pins his on whilst he gets ready.

6) Found your perfect item but in the wrong colour? DIY – Dye It Yourself

I dye my clothes with Directions hair-dye, which you should be able to buy for ~£3.99 a pot. It's natural, loads of bang for your buck and works SO well. Dissolve half a teaspoon in a saucepan (or mixing bowl or anything, just not your bare sink) and soak your garment for 15 minutes, take it out and put it in a plastic bag. Tie the top so it’s airtight and leave in the sun or on a radiator for a few hours, or until you remember about it again. Machine wash, and it's ready to go!

7) Buy on Depop and eBay

Stop aimlessly scrolling through online shops right now! Get really familiar with Depop and eBay searches and start favouriting items that inspire you, but only buy things you genuinely want to buy.

Every trend is recycled, so have a look into the history of the style you love to help make your eBay and Depop searches more accurate and hopefully get all that genuine vintage.

While we’re on the topic of Depop and eBay, make use of these platforms to declutter your wardrobe.

8) Start a Pinterest board

Pinterest is actually amazing for fashion history stuff and the most beautiful thing about alt fashion is that it is basically all fashion but dark, so don't limit yourself when thinking about silhouette or styling – borrow a little something from every era!

STYLING & ACCESSORIES

 Let’s get technical!

9) Shop outside the binary

To quote a great tweet:

Don't forget to say fuck you to the patriarchy by checking the opposite binary side of the charity shop for your garms. Slowly, we can turn this around. Fight the power 👊🏽

10) Rehauling your whole look? Start with your most worn pieces!

If you are totally rehauling your entire image, think about your most worn pieces and go from there. Invest time and patience in finding the right things that you will wear to death. For my daywear, I always start with my coats and shoes because England is cold.

11) Start with a plain silhouette and work from there

The best way to nail any image is to accessorise properly over a plain-ish silhouette that you can reuse again and again. If you're searching for a specific alt subgenre look this is the way to do it cheaply whilst still remaining flexible in your wardrobe.

12) Hit up your favourite small and local bands for cheap merch

Band merch is expensive, but most bands sell badges and patches for next to nothing. Check Bandcamp or just DM your fave smaller or local acts, it really does mean loads to them to have you love and rep their music so don't be afraid to ask.

13) Accessorise outside the box

Thinking outside of the box when looking at accessories really is the key to finding cheap bits. There was a trend of really thin belts, like, 6 years ago and charity shops are full of them now for £1 - they make amazing garters. Children's tutu's make great clown ruffs and handbags often have nice straps, rivets or buckles that you can cut off and whack onto your stuff easily. Fingerless gloves can really toughen up a look. Anything can be a choker if you want it to be. More is more, and these are the cheapest things sold in the charity shops and car boots.

14) Ask auntie if you can rummage through her wardrobe or jewellery

Because I make new stuff out of old stuff, I have all my extended family trained to give me their old jewellery, scraps, tat, weird old shit.

You obviously don't have to go to such great lengths, but any older person in your life will probably appreciate seeing some ol’ "make-do-and-mend" kinda spirit they grew up with.

See if you can have a rummage and dispel some of those "wasteful youth of today" prejudices at the same time! I really like incorporating Asian jewellery and embroidery into my work because it's beautiful and cool and doesn't make me any less alt!

15) Don't obsess about being "goth/punk/alt" enough.

I’m dead serious. Wear what you want, craft the wardrobe that makes you feel happy and unfollow that posey IG #goals account that makes you hate yourself. True self-expression is so important; there are countless times my wardrobe has reminded me of me on the bad days where I forgot myself.

Don't let anyone gatekeep the doors of goth/ punk/ alt whatever style - that person or group are just projecting their insecurities onto you by making you feel not enough, and it’s pathetic. You are FINE, whatever you have on, however you dance and whatever music you're also into. There will always be someone at the gig who loves what you're doing even if they're too shy to say.

Aaaand that’s the end of my list! I’ll leave you with this: it took a lot to get you here, so don't let any haters shut you down or knock your confidence! Thanks for reading my list and please show me what treasures you find on ig @fecalblessings.

About Naomi

Naomi Bajina is a multi-disciplinary performer, maker and reality TV enthusiast from Bristol. She makes mythical and thoroughly fabulous costumes under the moniker We Creatures and can be found unsettling unsuspecting audiences with her interactive immersive performance work all over the country. A fan of olives and dogs, she can often be found in pubs bragging about awful things, like being able to guess the plots of films.