Dispatch no. 15 - Updates Podcast

I work in a consignment/thrift shop. We have regular consigners who do the same thing with garage sales. They comb garage and estate sales to find stuff they can buy for a quarter and sell at our shop for a whole lot more. It’s a great racket, as the income is not taxable. We price most of the donations pretty cheap, but the nicer stuff is priced higher. We try to hit the sweet spot to where if you are a reseller, you can make a profit but we get enough to keep the lights on and keep the computers and printers current and buy barcode tickets, etc. We are raising money for military kids and spouses.

Yup, Vertigo is creepy AF. Rear Window is much better, although creepy enough. Plus Grace Kelly in delicious 50s couture dresses. Recommend: Mildred Pierce (dangerous Joan Crawford in great clothes) and Imitation Of Life (Lana Turner, looking fab) both featuring ungrateful daughters.

Not a classic film but I would watch Mad Max: Fury Road instead of Vertigo. Cinematography✔️ Pacing✔️ Editing✔️ Dames✔️

Thank you for the description of how US thrift stores are so different from UK charity shops! You mentioned the little shops in London... some of those are (or used to be) patronised by the cognoscenti, particularly in areas like Kensington, as a place to get genuine designer clothes!

Apparently I've been sleeping on old Hollywood films for fashion inspo - *smacks forehead* although to be fair, my film taste pre-1970, or well always really, tends to skew musical. I am furiously taking notes on all these classic films to check out! I think the discussion around thrifting should be just that - a discussion. There really won't ever be a one-size-fits-all answer because it's not a one-size issue. As a few people have said, it should be talked about when relevant in the course of a conversation. Everyone should be encouraged to consider how they view thrifting, what they think it's purpose is and should be, and what's considered appropriate and what's not. We're all going to have different view points of course, because we've all lived and experienced differently! Also, don't mind me -- I'm new here, and I get my first vaccine tomorrow, so I will have all weekend to keep myself busy devouring all this lovely new content! >:) *drums fingers in front of face a la Mr. Burns....*

Excellent points! I finally watched Cover Girl. Sheesh! I'm in LOVE with the outfits. Can't wait to see the hat videos 💙

People unsubscribed because they were butt hurt by your opinion? Pffft - haters gonna hate. You keep doing you Bianca. Plenty of people think you are wonderful just as you are

I get all kinds of excited with the videos, regardless of content, so I'm here for a thrifting ethics video. My thoughts: the resale "problem" isn't one in my opinion. It's small scale capitalism. We get mad at the people who are finding a niche and going for it, but not at the large scale capitalist endeavors of our modern age..... feels... hypocritical to me. Like, keeping each other down and focusing on the "wrong problem."

This has made me think about so many things! I’m sorry to hear that your Sustainability video resulted in a few unsubscribers. As one of your patrons, I am very glad that you made this video and that you continue to think deeply about the complex and contentious issues surrounding fast fashion and the ethics of thrifting, while balancing a compassion for the unknown circumstances of others whose stories we may never know or fully understand and appreciate. I have a feeling these issues are getting further worked out with the characters in your novels. I wonder if it might be a good idea to hold off making another video like your sustainability one, not because these thoughts don't need to be heard, but rather, given how contentious are these issues, I wonder if it might be effective to gently drop little comments and references about the issues, along the way in your sewing videos. I feel it could maybe be more powerful in the long run, for influencing and getting people to think about these things, particularly if they are new to the issues. You’ve done this before, for instance in one of your Side Husselen videos where you were out at Home Depot getting supplies for your backdrop and you talked about how you’re not comfortable shopping at these large home hardware stores. It seems to me that your goal is to persuade people to think comprehensively about the ethics of thrifting and fast fashion. I am thinking too about your brand, TCH, which, to me is about teaching people to enjoy wearing and making vintage style in a way that is thoughtful and responsible and with a mission to encourage people to be themselves ("you be you" as you often say.) You achieve this by always honing your skills and sharing your expertise, by being vulnerable on camera, sharing your own stories and experiences and being a digital friend. As I’ve mentioned before, I used to sell Steinway pianos. This was a commission based job (eek!) and these handmade instruments easily cost upwards of $100,000. Not an easy thing to do to sell something that expensive to a walk-in, even though it takes nearly a year to make just one of these pianos. I had never been in sales, but even though this position was not the right fit for me, I did learn some things about the art of influencing and persuading people. It was very interesting and there were some things that stood out. One book I was required to read was Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, by Nick Morgan. Maybe you can find a copy at the library, it could be helpful. I just grabbed my copy off the shelf and flipped through it. I am reminded of things like physical gestures and how one can use them effectively. You do use your hands a lot, yay! I know use of the whole arm and shoulder can really enhance one’s ability to persuade and so perhaps that is something to work into your content, maybe even outside where we can see more of you. I know you are self-conscious about how fast you speak (and I am one of the many who love your voice) and perhaps when you are touching upon contentious topics, it might work in your favour to deliberately speak slower. That was another something I remember from my selling days, for me, it was learning to speak lower as well as slower. I’m also feeling a lot of parallels between you and those in the DIY vegetable garden sector. Perhaps there is another YouTuber or local organization you could partner with for a video. Growing one’s own food seems a lot like sewing one’s own clothes and there could be room to make some unique content along those lines. Maybe a video where TCH visits a home garden or greenhouse (oh what you could wear to that!!) and chats with someone in that field about the intersection of your two fields. It would be fun as well, for your fans to see you outside. Your podcast also made me think about some of the things I read from Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian media theorist from the 50s/60s, mostly, and who coined the phrase “the global village.” He would talk about how when you live on the frontier, you have no identity, you are a nobody, therefore you get very tough. He said that this has always been the case, not just since the electronic age, but that in our time, things move so quickly that there’s very little time to adjust. I remember another comment of his about perspective (going back to painting in the Renaissance) and the idea of having a point of view but that in the electronic age one cannot have a point of view because things move so quickly from all around, a kind of acoustic space, I think he called it. McLuhan goes over my head most of the time, it’s deep thinking and a lot of folks I know don’t like his ideas, but they do probe a person. I do get nervous about an increasingly virtual world and it is really difficult to keep up with the speed of things, just trying to do so can work oneself into a “bees in the head” kind of space, as you said. I often think about people like my 83-year-old neighbour, a nice single lady who has no computer or internet, no desire to have one and who rides her bike, gardens and reuses lots of things. I think it’s about balance of consumption, keeping an open mind and always being grateful for one’s basic essentials. I say keep on doing exactly what you are doing. On a lighter note, would you believe that I too watched Vertigo and a Bogey/Bacall movie this past weekend? I thought of you when Kim Novak wears that green dress in the restaurant scene in Vertigo. I agree, that movie is so beautiful to look at and listen to (Bernard Hermann’s score is divine) but the ladies do get treated so ickily. Barbara Bel Geddes is adorable in that. I grew up watching and loving movies from the 40s and 50s from about age 8 and on. You might enjoy All About Eve with Bette Davis (ah, I see someone else recommended this movie!) and another Bogey/Bacall film called Dark Passage. I always liked Lauren Bacall, she was so elegant, quiet and polite and yet strong, smart and no-nonsense. Betty Persky, I think was her real name. Anyhow, yay for you for getting out, even though you didn’t strike gold at the antique mall. I did look up Allyn’s online and what an adorable little building! I did get my first dose of the vaccine (Pfizer) and am so grateful. Keep on keeping on and thank you for your wonderful content!

A "who can thrift" video would definitely be poking the Internet bear! Personally, I can't say I would be super interested- buying clothes second-hand is just what I prefer, both because I try to avoid fast fashion when I can and because my personal style isn't what is being sold in most stores. I agree that it's really not cool to judge an individual based solely on what they buy in a thrift store. I worked in a grocery store for years- just because someone is buying a cake with foodstamps doesn't mean they're misusing them.

Highly recommend All About Eve if you haven't seen it. Also The Women is excellent for costumes as well as Dinner at Eight. I really want to see Shanghai Express and Letty Lynton but can't seem to find them online.

Shouldn't we all be buying used/second hand/vintage? On Etsy or Poshmark I am always blown away by amount of deadstock/NOS/NWT to be had. Could we just have a pause on making stuff for a while? (p.s I just brought two vintage deadstock hairnets on Etsy, cheaper than new, and not wrapped in single use plastic).

Just as you said, every thrift store that I've ever been to is absolutely packed with donated clothing. There is plenty for everyone. So much gets thrown out. My boyfriend an I always hit up the local thrift stores to get clothes to dress up. We're not going to wear it but once, maybe a few times and someone donated it after wearing it once (or never). He has so many really nice suits now that cost us less than $20 each.

I could not imagine, regardless of that person's age, background, family money, etc, telling someone what to do with their money. Exactly like you said, you don't know that person's story. So many teenagers with wealthy or well off parents are not spoiled or given lots of money or things and like you said , they are saving for college, a car, or their freedom. Maybe people should stop worrying about the shopping habits of others and focus on themselves. Great podcast Bianca, take care! :)

Congratulations on your regained freedom! I still have a while to go until I'm allowed to prowl the streets of London again, so I'm living vicariously through you. My biggest issue (read: fixation) with thrifting is the whole making mockups out of bedsheets, as someone whose only options in the past have been Primark sheets or charity shop sheets (and chose the latter for ethical/environmental reasons). Those sheets deserve more than being cut up and binned after one use -- but then again, as you said on your reply to my comment about it, the likelyhood of those sheets ending up in a landfill is so high that maybe being used once more as a mockup isn't that bad after all. Complex issue indeed! I have never given that much thought to the "who should be buying thrifted clothes" side of this, which is the far juicier topic, so I'd be interested in watching a video about that! Someone mentioned bringing other youtubers in to discuss the topic, which sounds like a good idea, but unless you're able to also find low-income people who thrift out of necessity we'd still be listening to one side of the argument. While lower income people have fast fashion as an option, should we be forcing them into that corner, when we know how bad fast fashion is? This is one of those situations where it seems the only way to achieve a truly good resolution is to completely dismantle and rebuild the whole system! PS: not to forget that (at least in the UK) not all charity shops give money to the local poor people - many donate to hospitals, medical research, animal shelters, environmental causes, etc.

I inadvertantly bought a hard copy of The Anthropocene Reviewed because it came with the book tour event ticket that I bought. I’m much more of an audiobook person, so I was planning to get it in that format, but I haven’t done that yet. I’m usually not much of a cryer, but John Green knows how to make me cry. I’ve listened to most (maybe all?) of his novels as audiobooks, and all of them have made me cry, even the ones that aren’t actually sad in a plot way. And The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast was delightful and devastating and touching in a way that not much media that I interact with is. I’m glad he got what he needed out of writing and sharing it, and I hope he comes back to it more in the future.

Thanks for this. Personally I wouldn't be wildly interested in a video about the rights and wrongs of thrifting, I am way more interesting in your sewing videos!! That said I really really love your sustainability video, so there's that. Congrats on your escape outside! Here in Australia we've been interacting with other humans for ages now. I sometimes dream rather wistfully of lockdown! But without the associated trauma of course.

Geeze it's time people stop judging each other! Yes, thrift stores sell things to give the funds to charities.

Flower disc hat! 🌺🌸🏵️🌻🌼 I like the idea of the thrifting video but I also agree with your views on it so I may be biased. Perhaps it would be interesting to have a discussion with other vintage YouTubers on the topic? Providing multiple viewpoints would be interesting, and maybe people would be less inclined to react negatively if they felt their own opinion was represented. And congratulations on full vaccination and getting outside! Looking forward to the vlog.

I would highly recommend Cactus Flower, it’s just about my favorite movie. It’s got Goldie Hawn and Ingrid Bergman. It’s 1969 so a bit later than you mentioned but I find it so delightful.

Haha I like Vertigo :) It is not my fave Hitchcock film, but I do like it. I've been obsessed with classic film and TV since I was a little girl, and there are very few classic films I don't like. My recommendations list would be a mile long. I certainly have my faves and am partial to certain directors or actors or technical aspects. But overall, classics are where I live. Looking forward to seeing your upcoming projects, hearing about your thrift/vintage finds, and seeing these hats you speak of.

the only problem i had with moderna, was that i was really dizzy and lightheaded that night, too. i'd stand up and the room would spin. good excuse to not have to cook dinner or do anything. glad you got to get and i shop.