Lampoon, Photographer and creator of street style Instagram page Watching New York, Johnny Cirillo, documents the city’s thrift culture
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Documenting New York Street Style: Johnny Cirillo and the revival that never died

Thrift Culture in NYC: A Sixty Year History of Anti-Fashion and Environmentalism – New York born photographer Johnny Cirillo and creator of @watchingnewyork increasing popularity of thrifting

The Genesis of Thrift Culture

The worsening consequences of climate change has resulted in a record breaking boom in thrifting and vintage shopping, as environmental concerns grow. Hand-me-downs have forgone their negative stigma and risen in social and economic value. Online platform ThredUp estimates the global resale industry to be worth USD$119 billion in 2022, with predictions to rise to USD$218 billion by 2026. North America is responsible for $82 billion of this growth which can be traced to the continent’s fashion capital, New York City.

In the Sixties, with the political-fashion movement of the hippies, young New Yorkers frequented Army/Navy stores and pawn shops in search of vintage goods. It was a time when ready-to-wear was on the rise and the department store was becoming a staple in mainstream shopping. These patrons wanted to rebel against this consumerism and saw thrifting as a way to express their anti-establishment fashion views. In 1965, the first official vintage store was opened in Greenwich Village by local Harriet Love, and by the seventies the charity shop had given way to the vintage collector. It soon popularized and continued to spread to high fashion and into the general public. Designers such as New Yorker Ralph Lauren, would work with vintage buyers to gather inspiration for his collections. Eventually, Vogue took to watching what the young clientele of these thrift shops would wear. Street style was born from this and today, thousands of publications and social media pages continue to devote themselves to this aesthetic.

Lampoon, Many of his subjects wear local designers in conjunction with thrifting
Many of his subjects wear local designers in conjunction with thrifting

Watching New York with Johnny Cirillo

Photographer and creator of street style Instagram page Watching New York, Johnny Cirillo, documents the city’s thrift culture. Born and raised in Long Island, and now residing in Brooklyn, he’s a New Yorker through and through. He started photographing in the early nineties, after he was given his first camera at age 14, and then started taking classes at his high school. After moving closer to the city at 23, his subject matter turned to the people and scenes of New York. In the years between, he photographed everything from weddings to portraits, rarely working outside his home state. He started @watchingnewyork as a side project in 2016, after New York Times (NYT) fashion photographer Bill Cunningham (1929-2016) passed away. Mr. Cunningham spent his career as a fashion photo-journalist, working for Women’s Wear Daily and the Chicago Tribune and most well-known for his NYT series ‘On the Street’ that ran for 27 years. 

Whilst the account took some time to take off, it has since amassed 757 thousand followers, reaching cult status among the fashion community. The account began as a way to honor one of his personal idols by continuing the art of everyday street style photography. At its genesis, Cirillo was a self-proclaimed newbie to the fashion sphere, yet his fresh perspective was what drew people to his account. «When I started this, I knew nothing about fashion. The reason I looked at Bill Cunningham’s photos was because it was New York, with locals showcasing their personal style – something that I was drawn to».

Making a Statement

What’s notable about this account is that each subject sports at least one thrifted item. When he isn’t focused on capturing trending pieces, he seeks out what he terms, «the artistic, the creative, the bold, the people that are going for it and making a statement». These terms are synonymous with vintage and thrifting. Cirillo chalks this up to three key reasons; there is an increased social consciousness of the younger generation. Gen Z wants to minimize their individual consumer impact by recycling clothes, but more critically, boycott conglomerate brands that fail to do the same. Secondly, it’s the creative statement of a unique piece of clothing that incites conversation. And finally, he often finds his subjects intrigued by the romance of vintage. It’s about the story of the piece and what it meant to the person before, where it went and why it’s here in this store. «There’s history and there’s something nostalgic and ghostly about it, that is romantic».

Thrifters are proud of the way in which they’re different. They are unmoved by fast fashion’s endless cycle and represent a history of activists making a statement against consumerism. Thrifting has long been present in Cirillo’s work and life. When he first moved to Williamsburg in 2003, thrift shop Beacon’s Closet was a fan-favorite. «I was thrifting in high school in the Nineties, even out on Long Island. It’s always been a thing, but in the last five or six years, it has exploded. The more aware people are of what’s happening to clothing and where it goes, the more popular it becomes».

Lampoon, Many of his subjects wear local designers in conjunction with thrifting
Local designers in conjunction and thrifting in NYC

From the Outskirts to Mainstream

Thrifting has lived at the heart of different  subcultures as they went through the transformation from outskirts to mainstream. In the seventies, it was punks rebelling against classist society that was popularised at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s London store SEX. High end fashion brands are following suit by pulling archival pieces. In 2021, pop star Olivia Rodrigo sported a 1995 Chanel Spring/Summer skirt suit for her presidential visit, Bella Hadid attended the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in 2002 Jean Paul Gaultier, and most recently, the vintage Marilyn Monroe dress worn by Kim Kardashian at this year’s Met Gala. This marks yet another era of vintage making its way from bottom to top. And according to Cirillo, it’s here to stay; «I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I cannot imagine. I would say with great confidence that other things would go out of style before thrifting».

High End Brands are Following Suit

Many of his subjects wear local designers in conjunction with thrifting, if not works by friends and family members. It comes back to the value and meaning embedded in the piece that cannot be bought. Since the rise of ready-to-wear, this storytelling has been lost in large fashion brands with a focus on production. Yet, Cirillo counters by citing one of his favored designers, Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, «there are certain brands that make a memorable product. That is enough to sustain them forever. Gucci’s Alessandro Michele creates appealing designs and that is enough; it is artworks». Gucci, along with other brands, are capitalizing on the vintage revival by taking stake in the resale market through platforms such as Gucci Vault. Vintage and thrift culture are not a threat to the brands, but rather a lifestyle that must be adapted. 

Cirillo will continue to capture this evolution in New York, perhaps earning a name and legacy for himself akin to Mr Cunningham, diminishing stigmas in favor of authentic and individual style. «He loved ‘the kids’, he said, who wore their souls on sleeves he had never seen before, or in quite that way» (Hilton Als, Bill Cunningham Saw Us All, The New Yorker, 2016).

Johnny Cirillo

photographer and creator of @watchingnewyork (c.2016), captures the fashion of everyday New Yorkers as the self-labeled, ‘People’s Paparazzi’. Mr Cirillo has spent the last twenty years photographing the city and its people, gaining recognition for his other works such as the ‘Quarantined Window Portraits’. 

Sabine Henshall

The writer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article.

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