Why Do People Shop At Red Light?

Vintage fashion clings to a selected reading of the past.

Red Light sells to people who want to say something about the past through their clothes. Sometimes, the reading of that past is something people do ironically, like when they buy an old college t-shirt that says something very honest on the ridiculousness of college culture. I'm not talking about wearing one of our own college t-shirts because we want others to realize where we went to school...I'm talking about buying someone else's old college t-shirt because it says something about their life that we find amusing. Maybe its something about beer, or something about homework, or something else entirely...

We buy these kinds of t-shirts because they imply we know something about our own American culture, and we wear it around town as a kind of status symbol. I'm also talking about buying a shirt that says something about the way a city wanted to be portrayed in the 1970's, and wearing it because the city's advertising was so misguided, or ignorant as to why people move to certain cities, that it makes the t-shirt (and it's wearer) appear hilahhrious.

Other items at Red Light are not bought out of a love for ironic humor, but out of a genuine love for something in the past that is no longer made; something like a particular brand of cowboy boots, or a band's old t-shirt, or a suit you can no longer find tailored a specific way.

Or maybe some people are looking for a particular color that went out of style, or really anything that went out of style. Red Light also attracts throngs of people during Halloween because there are so many people who want to embrace a figure of the past during Halloween.

I do not think that people will stop shopping at Red Light but I'm starting to have less and less interest in shopping there myself. Unlike most shops, Red Light cannot suddenly adopt a new style, or court fashion designers or labels who are creating new and interesting fashions. Because Red Light is a store that is all about the old, it will forever be filled with the old.

Unlike Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads, and Value Village, Red Light doesn't traditionally accept clothes someone bought just last year. No no no, the clothes must be from the early 90's, or the 80's, or the 70's.

Every time I go into the store, I see pretty much the exact same fashion, the exact same ideas, the exact same ironic jokes.

Is this what we want from a fashion store? Or do we want stores that can evolve?