The Downtown Thrift Shoot
I’ve always been interested in the history behind clothing and the different lifestyles and backgrounds that certain thrifted or vintage items can represent. As a regular thrifter and fan of vintage clothing, it always excites me to think about the former lifetimes that certain articles of clothing have had, as well as what their former owners could have been like. There are so many different kinds of secondhand clothing: thrifted goods, vintage items, DIY alterations, and even family heirlooms. And there are countless one-of-a-kind items handed down through families or found in random donation bins nationwide. I have many friends for whom secondhand clothing (thrifted, vintage, family heirlooms, etc) serves as a major part of their closet.
So I collected a ton of them, and we all headed downtown on a fine, early winter afternoon to shoot some photos and raise some havoc. The purpose of this post (and the future posts that will be part of this blogging series) is to highlight secondhand clothing, and the varied ways they can be used to supplement or enhance a closet.
Printer’s Alley
We headed downtown to the historic Printer’s Alley with a couple cameras, a tripod, and 7 bodies worth of steeze. Some of those bodies have been on the blog before: Michael, Diana, and Alex. Patrick, Evan, and Jenn Sun (of the Sardoreialist), on the other hand, are all new to the site. We arrived at Printer’s Alley in two separate parties, gathered around in a well-dressed circle, and began taking pictures of each other while talking about our clothing.


diana liu and jenn sun
After compiling some preliminary blog fodder, we began to wander the city in search of some food. Nashville is pretty diverse when it comes to cuisine; downtown has many fine offerings. Wandering all throughout the city in the hunt for food eventually led us to a restaurant strip called the Arcade, where we found a mom n’ pop pizzeria called House of Pizza.
House of Pizza
It was pretty dope to see the owner of the store making my pizza in front of me, after I ordered it. That’s not something you necessarily see often in Nashville.

We talked to the owner of the store, whose name I forget. He’s a native of Queens, NY and has been making pizza for the past 35 years, over the last 20 in Nashville. And you could tell when you watched him work. House of Pizza has a familiar, homely feel to it, with dim and charming lighting. The pizza was cheap and made by a pretty pleasant family.



Retired New York Police Officer
I’m not sure how many native New Yorkers currently live in Nashville, but we were just running into them all that day. While sitting around and eating pizza, we ran into a talkative, retired New York City police officer.


He was cool. He spent about 15 minutes telling us about graduating from the police academy and how great the retirement benefits of the force were. And of course, he tried to convince us to ditch our expensive college educations and join the police academy.
There’s just something about New Yorkers and their personalities; they all seem larger than life, kind of like the city itself.
On Cities
New York is a pretty unique city, but in a way all cities are more or less the same. They’re just microcosms of ethnic culture, gentrification, poverty, crime, and innate beauty. I guess what differentiates one city from the other is the unique combination of elements that give it its character.
Nashville is a beautiful city. Just walking around the day of our shoot, we encountered dope street style, Ron Paul protesters, great ethnic food, and some interesting imagery you’d only find downtown in a city.



The Downtown Thrift Shoot will be a multi-part series. I’ll be releasing style profiles in the future of everyone involved in the shoot, as well as other visuals. Everything told, we all had a blast that day. And we captured some pretty beautiful imagery. I hope you guys are as excited as I am. I think you’ll enjoy this.
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