Tinkom, Fuqua and Villarejo's discussion of the complicated ways that people assign value to goods has caused me to return to an issue that I was thinking about for several weeks earlier in the semester in regard to relationships clothes and their wearers. Tinkcom et al. assert that the lack of consumer society's ability to use up the high volume of goods it produces creates a small niche space where thrift operates. In the basic model of producer to consumer first-order shopping values are largely assigned based on where a particular good falls in hierarchical pecking order of its market. Goods in thrift however can frequently be worth almost nothing monetarily and quite a lot to individuals for a complex array of potential reasons. As the authors map out, the age and history of a thrift garment is often something to be embraced unlike in first-order fashion which rewrites its history into complete obsolution almost the moment the goods are produced in order to maintain a market that is constantly in need of something new.
I would argue that women (or people in general although I will use women here) do not write their fashion histories out of existence however. Most women build on those histories as their styles and wardrobes evolve but are not constantly erased as they are on the main cultural and economic stage of fashion. I think women develop complex affinities for individual fashions, and particularly for individual garments.
The archetype of the fashionista who "never wears anything twice" and whose life is a revolving door of looks and garments is clearly very different from the average consumer, and I think for most, not at all the ideal. I think for many women, a garment that fits well and makes them feel good is a rare find and becomes like a friend. They develop an intimate tactile and aesthetic relationship with it and the garment often takes on the character or value of the experiences that occur while she is in it. Unlike the fashion industry ideal in which the closet is a bottomless pit of newness and surprise, the closet of most women is more like a library of cherished possibilities, many endowed with meaning and value beyond their surfaces.