POPSUGAR: Tell us about yourself.
Macy Eleni: I'm a content creator and media personality based in Los Angeles, currently focused on reinventing the fashion entertainment space and striving to make it a more sustainable, ethical, inclusive, and fun place to create and consume.
I love the idea of using fashion and used clothing as a vessel for storytelling and spend my days uploading videos all around the internet on thrifting, my personal mental health journey, and being your fabulous self.
PS: What makes you pick up a piece of clothing when you are thrifting?
ME: I'm one of those people that has to look at every single item on the racks because gems are truly always hidden in the most random places throughout the thrift. I curate seasonal thrift list boards via Pinterest, which is one of my favorite ways to thrift manifest, and I let those images guide me in terms of the colors, silhouettes, cuts, and fabrics that I might pick up while shopping.
PS: What do you hope your content shows people?
ME: That being your authentic self is extremely cool and thrifting is a god damn super power. When I was in high school, the girls that knew I thrifted my outfits were so nasty about it. One even told a teacher I "smelled," just so the teacher would pull me aside in front of everyone in the class to tell me. It made me feel so less than, and I'll never forget it.
I never want any of my followers to feel that way about their secondhand clothing. I often say "everything hot already exists," which on its own, is a very privileged statement to make. I live in a thin body that gives me the privilege to fit into most vintage garments, which does make the thrifting process easier.
When I say that statement to my followers, [I mean] that so many of the styles and vibes that fast-fashion brands are producing these days are inspired by the decades of pieces that already exist on this earth. These garments are simply waiting in thrift stores or sitting in a past fashion queen's drawer at an estate sale right in your backyard and still have many more lives left to live.
I know most people won't create an entirely secondhand closet, but my hope is that they will check out a few secondhand options before clicking purchase on the next [fast-fashion item]. At the end of the day, I just want people to leave one of my videos feeling a bit more comfortable in being themselves and celebrating who they truly are.
PS: How will the thrifting boom impact the future of fashion?
ME: Even though we have seen a rise in thrifting through platforms like TikTok and YouTube, there is still so much clothing out there. It's astronomical, the amount of textile waste covering our earth, and I see it most every time I go thrifting. A lot of the thrift stores in my area are bursting at the seams with an overflow of garments and have been turning away donations. By the way, if that ever happens to you, consider taking them to a local shelter, where they are almost always in need of good quality clothing.
I think it's truly amazing that a far more sustainable way of shopping is breaking its way into the more mainstream fashion conversation. It's something I've dreamed of since I was a teenager. It truly is the most accessible option for people who can't purchase from sustainable brands that are on the more expensive side and most of the times don't offer an inclusive size range.
