Nobody wants to wear hand-me-downs it seems unless they have to pay for them in stores. A CNBC report said that a growing number of celebrities in Hollywood are not finding what they want in their own closets and going to vintage clothing shops to buy apparel and accessories.
Among the celebrities going the second-hand ... er, vintage route are Penelope Cruz, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker.
"People have done that all along, but no one ever acknowledged it," Ruth von Witenberg Chernaik, co-owner of Out of the Closet, a vintage shop in Bridgehampton, N.Y., told CNBC. "A few years ago, when the celebrities starting admitting they wear vintage and it got legitimized in a sense people started looking into vintage and saw the workmanship involved, the attention to detail, and that the fashions themselves are much more interesting."
Ms. von Witenberg Chernaik said her business sees demands for particular types of items as do new clothing shops.
"The young girls today just want something fun they can relate to, like belts and jewelry, and this year we have more buyers looking at 1950s prom dresses," she told CNBC. "We also sell a lot of Victorian tea dresses to brides who don't want the run-of-the-mill gown. Most of them are white, because at that time unmarried girls had to wear white, so women today use them as wedding dresses -- perfect for beach weddings."
Discussion Questions: How much more or less in demand do you expect vintage fashion to become in the years ahead? Does vintage fashion represent an opportunity for department stores and specialty apparel businesses to build incremental sales and profits?