Imagine yourself in a situation like this:
It’s a typical college day in Galway. You wake up at 10:40am with high hopes that you’ll make your 11am lecture in the Concourse. Quickly, you strip out of your pyjamas and run to your wardrobe (or perhaps take half a step from your bed to your press because you got stuck with the box room this year.)
Flinging open your wardrobe door trying not to knock yourself out in the process, you rummage around trying to find your dungarees and a cute top. Struggling for a few minutes to pull your dungarees up, they have finally agreed to go over your bum. After putting on your newest choker and your worn out New Balances, your recycled 90s outfit is finally ready to face the unspoken battle to be most fashionable in NUI Galway… or so you think it is.
Looking in your housemate’s full length mirror you realise something is missing, but what is it? As time begins to run out before your 11am lecture you take to Instagram for the answer and immediately your question is answered.
“Where is my vintage Adidas jacket?!!” you ask yourself, only to remember you don’t actually have one. Who knew one could have such a fashion malfunction in the space of ten minutes?
But fear not readers, as there are plenty of shops right here in Galway that will always have your back for the latest fad in times of crisis.
Vintage clothing shop Nine Crows, located on Cross Street Upper is a must when on the search for the overly-colourful and over-sized jacket your Mam forced you to throw in the clothes bank when you were a ten-year-old. With staff that could make you feel like a superstar while wearing a black bin bag (a vintage black bin bag, of course) and an online store overflowing with sale items if you just can’t seem to find the right thing in the shop, you are guaranteed to find the jacket sure to put you in lead to becoming NUI Galway’s next Vintage King/Queen.
If this doesn’t tickle your fancy, scoot your retro-ass down to Abbeygate Street Upper to find Public Romance, Galway’s little vintage gem. Known for its wild and wacky bits and pieces, your Adidas jacket is sure to be hiding from you in some corner of the shop.
And of course as vintage collections keep popping up in Topshop shops all over Ireland, it probably won’t be long until you begin spotting these bad boys in all other high street shops too.
So here’s the lesson in this folks; next time your mother tries forcing you to send away a plastic bag full of clothes to the local St.Vincent de Paul you refuse, you throw a tantrum, you chase her with the wooden spoon, whatever it takes to keep your flared jeans that you haven’t worn in eight years. History is known to repeat itself. Those flared jeans will be back, you’ll show her.
Oh, and what do you know? Suddenly you’ve walked through the Concourse, past Sult and over the bridge. You’ve missed your 11am. You’re in town now, you’ve found your bright purple and yellow vintage Adidas jacket and you’re ready to become the heir to the Vintage thrown of NUI Galway. You’re welcome.
-By Katie Byrnes
