Student Style Spotlight: Anastasia Bjork

Story by Rachel Bednarz, photos by Rachel Bednarz and courtesy of Anastasia Bjork

In a fast moving society with constant changing trends, sometimes it’s more important to stay unique and true to yourself. This is how Anastasia “Annie” Bjork approaches style.

In recent years, Bjork has made the switch from shopping at mainstream retailers to shopping second-hand.  “The reason that I like second-hand shopping is that the items I get are typically unique,” Bjork said. “Not a lot of people are going to have them.”

She likes to look for clothes in local thrift stores instead of large scale ones like Goodwill. When selecting where she is going to shop, Bjork said that she looks for the places that are going to impact the community the most.

Bjork enjoys shopping at a thrift store in her hometown of Ishpeming, Mich. because they support the local soup kitchen. She also likes the ICDC Thrift Shop in Mount Pleasant, Mich. because they directly support the child care center on campus.

“Another good resource for second-hand shopping is yard sales and garage sales in the summer,” Bjork said. She likes yard sales because you get to know the person that you are impacting and the things you buy are especially unique.

On top of supporting her local communities, Bjork values second-hand shopping because it can positively impact the environment. She says that she began shopping for clothing second-hand after reading an article about the effects of large scale brands overproducing.

“That got me really thinking about the environment and how I can impact it, just by buying second hand,”Bjork said. “Companies like Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe will over produce a lot of trendy clothes and eventually, if they don’t get bought, they just get thrown in landfills.”

According to Bjork, making the switch to shopping second-hand has had an impact on her style and how she shops. “My biggest adjustment is going in to a thrift store without any certain goals,” Bjork said. “Typically when I would go shopping at T.J. Maxx or Target, I had a goal finding a black shirt, or something specific.” With a thrift store, you never know what you are going to find, so you can’t expect to find something specific.

Bjork likes to keep her shopping fun and exciting by getting her friends involved. She says that she likes to bring along friends or family members who have never gone thrift shopping before in order to open the doors for them to do it more in the future.

“Now my best friends, my siblings, even people I don’t know now go shopping at a thrift store before they go to Target or T.J. Maxx,” Bjork said.