Go back to fast fashion? Ugh, as if!

It was the end of 2018, and Becky Hughes had just received her last ever fast fashion delivery. She just didn’t know it yet.

“A lot of the stuff was either stained or broken or had something wrong with it. It made me think ‘I wonder how these clothes are made?’” she says. “When I looked into it, I learned that the garment workers were paid and treated so badly and I thought: ‘actually, I don’t want to give my money to these horrible brands anymore’.”

So on January 1st 2019, she quit fast fashion for a year and started an Instagram page, @theniftythrifter_, to help her stick to her resolution. At first it was tough, “but after a few months I got so used to it that I didn’t even notice. I didn’t feel like I needed to buy anything new.”

In less than two years, Becky has attracted nearly 20,000 followers with her thrifted ’fits and thoughtful posts on everything from workers’ rights to the power of outfit-repeating. She’s a master of colour- blocking, a slip dress aficionado and can layer up a plaid sweater vest like a latter-day Cher Horowitz. Though she was only born in 1996, her personal style straddles both sides of the millennium, taking inspiration from old Steps videos, preppy “golf club chic” and her mum’s old party days.

“I’m never going to be a crisp white t-shirts kind of girl, and that’s fine.”

“When people think of sustainable fashion they often think of buying one simple, plain, probably expensive piece. But you can experiment with fashion and still do that sustainably,” she says. “I’m 100% a maximalist. I love anything sparkly, anything shiny, anything that makes me stand out. I love anything with butterflies on it. For the longest time I wanted to be a chic uniform dresser, to style myself in camel coats and stuff… but I wasn’t being true to myself. I’m never going to be a crisp white t-shirts kind of girl, and that’s fine.”

Like so many of us, Becky spent her teens following the sartorial crowd. “I was a sheep,” she admits. “I would just dress in whatever the trends were of the moment. I was a Missguided obsessive, following exactly what I thought I was supposed to look like. I definitely wasn’t reaching my full fashion potential.”

But like the proverbial butterfly, she emerged with her true colours on show. Nowadays her wardrobe is a pick-and-mix rainbow of (mostly) thrifted pieces, organised to make outfit assembly easier in the mornings.

“it’s a real millennium dress. I like to think someone wore it on New Year’s Eve 1999, listening to Robbie Williams.”

“It sounds so simple but the thing that’s transformed my life is having practically everything, apart from t- shirts and pyjamas, hung up,” she says. “It really helps me make more of my clothes, now I can actually see what I have. First I choose a long-sleeved top, then something to go over it like a tank or slip dress, then the trousers or the tights… it’s like a salad bar of styling.” Can we call jewellery the croutons of the wardrobe?

Becky still loves a bargain, though these days she practices what she calls ‘active’ shopping (“I’m not just half asleep looking through the racks; I have to get my brain in the zone”) and swears by keeping a wishlist in her notes app, of useful pieces to look for while rummaging. Top of the noughties pops right now? “A black turtleneck. If you see one, let me know.”

A teenage muted hero turtleneck? We’ll keep our eyes peeled.

Becky’s Wardrobe Stories...

What’s the oldest thing in your wardrobe?

A beige cardigan from (I think) the 1940s, which has silk lining inside and the most beautiful delicate brown beading. I bought it for two quid in a charity shop in Belfast, where I was at university. A lot of the time I’m thrifting clothes from the 90s and 00s, so finding something this old is really special. I always love to envisage who wore it before me – what did they do in it, where did they go? I style it now with a brown turtleneck and a plaid skirt, for an autumny vibe, but back in the day I used to wear it to clubs with a bandage dress and just shove it on the floor. I definitely treat clothes better now.

What’s your most recent acquisition?

A silky vintage Debenhams John Rocha dress I got from Nuw, which I swapped in exchange for some plaid trousers I never wore. It’s so pretty; deep purple floral with a light purple and cream print and a cowl neck. Sometimes I’ll cinch it in with a belt, and it looks good over a turtleneck with my Doc Martens in the daytime. But it’s a real millennium dress. I like to think someone wore it on New Year’s Eve 1999, listening to Robbie Williams.

Which piece have you worn again and again and again?

I could say something a bit nicer… but honestly, it’s this massive old Bergaus fleece in bright cornflower blue, which I wear basically every day. I found it scrumpled up in a corner at Birmingham Rag Market, which my mum used to go to all the time when she was younger. The guy let me have it for a fiver. It was my staple uni jumper, the jumper for doing the milk and bread run in. I wear it to the gym, I wear it to bed. It’s the cosiest thing, I love the colour, and it’s really nice to have a souvenir from a place my mum has so many memories of.

“It’s true what they say: relationships come and go, but a great charity shop find is forever.”

Tell us the best origin story in your wardrobe...

My friend Moya and I organised an eco-conscious swap shop event in Belfast and raised loads of money for charity. But on the day, about 30 minutes before we were due to host this huge event, I still had no idea what I was going to wear and I’d completely run out of time to go home and get changed. I was wearing joggers and a shirt with a curry stain on it, and I was stressing out. Then a lady in her fifties who I worked with, Mary, arrived at the last minute with this beautiful pristine cream trouser suit, which she’d had dry-cleaned 15 years earlier but had never worn. I put it on, it fit me perfectly and I felt amazing. Mary was my guardian angel.

What item of clothing is closest to your heart, and why?

I was having a really bad day. I’d just been broken up with, I was in bed doing a classic Bridget Jones with tissues everywhere and mascara down my face, when my mum decided to take me charity shopping to cheer me up. I was in such an aggy mood, and I was browsing the nightwear section – as you do – when I found it. It’s the most beautiful thing. A silky lilac slip dress (I think it’s an actual nightie) with yellow and sage green and mauve flowers, and little plaited straps that cross at the back. I cherish it so much, because finding it lifted my mood and gave me a glimmer of hope that things would get better. It’s true what they say: relationships come and go, but a great charity shop find is forever.

Be honest – what garment do you wish you wore more?

I have an incredible 80s colour-blocked shirt that I love (strong Zac Morris from Saved By The Bell vibes), and the only reason I don’t wear it is the horrible brown wooden buttons. So I’m going to revamp it with new buttons that I’ve collected over the years. I have eight identical buttons and there are nine on the shirt, so I’m thinking I’ll have one mismatched button and make it a statement. There’s also a red merino wool jumper with a massive hole in the collar, which I’m currently embroidering daisies over. Oh, and an incredible bias-cut 90s chiffon dress in bright pink and yellow and orange swirls, which I’m just not sure I have the courage to wear at the moment… or anything to wear it to! But it’s my 2021 dress, giving me hope.

Let’s imagine they’re making a statue of you for Madame Tussauds. What would she be wearing?

I could wear slip dresses, turtlenecks and tights forever. I love Christmas (I was actually born on Christmas Day) so I’d go for a red, green and gold combo – a sage-green turtleneck with a mini red slip dress over it, gold jewellery, sheer black tights and my Doc Marten boots. Probably some butterfly clips in my hair. I don’t actually own those pieces, but they’re all on the wishlist…

Follow Becky @theniftythrifter_