DIY Upcycler Nicole McLaughlin Goes Vintage Shopping With Jazzelle

In the fourth episode of Complex’s Vintage Shopping, Jazzelle takes it back to thrifting basics with designer and queen of upcycling, Nicole McLaughlin, at the 25th Street Goodwill store. McLaughlin, who used to work at Reebok, is no newbie to the thrifting game. She frequently sources materials for her upcycled designs from thrift and vintage spots. In this episode, she’s sporting a cream knit cardigan, a spackler hat, and a black mini skirt. 

While she and Jazzelle are sorting through selections at Goodwill, McLaughlin takes us through her design process, which originally started with her “thrifting” from her own closet and evolved into finding pieces with imperfections, such as holes or stains, at thrift stores. A major conversation point in this episode centers around the “gentrification of thrifting,” a recent phenomenon where people go into thrift shops and end up selling their hauls on sites like Depop for double or even triple the price they originally paid. McLaughlin says, “I think that there’s a balance because we definitely need to keep thrift stores for the people that really, truly need them, but also there is so much. We have wasted and made so much clothes in the world and we definitely need to try to find ways to shop and buy things that are second hand without sacrificing people’s resources.”