Jenny Walton’s Advice For Vintage Newbies

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Jenny Walton’s love of fashion began early on.

For the illustrator and designer, her mother’s knack for finding gems at flea markets had a lasting influence on her.

“My mother would always take us to flea markets and vintage markets in South Jersey, where I grew up, with my two sisters,” Walton said. “She was famous for it and very good at it.”

After moving to New York and graduating from Parsons School of Design, Walton began working as an assistant knitwear designer for Calypso St. Barth.

“They let me design right away, which was amazing,” Walton said.

While Walton thought she’d spend her entire career working her way up to become a designer of a brand, her career went in a different direction.

For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Walton shares how she ended up down the path she’s on today, her tips for novice vintage shoppers, and more.

For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.

Let’s start at the beginning of your journey and career. Can you tell me a little bit about your path and what drew you to fashion early on?
My mother would always take us to flea markets and vintage markets in South Jersey, where I grew up, with my two sisters.

She was famous for it and very good at it. We had our big van, [and if] she saw a yard sale sign, she could do a U-turn that would make your head spin.

She would give us each like $5. Then she would say, “Okay, go ahead and, you know, get whatever you want.”

I actually started by collecting vintage smoking pipes that old farmers would have that would still be caked with tobacco.

So normal for a seven year old to be going table to table in a field being like, “How much for that pipe?”

I really appreciated the aesthetics of the curvature. I just thought they were beautiful objects. I started with that.

We all just kind of started collecting things. My mom just really taught us to appreciate and value things. She’s very artistic. She’s an amazing quilter.

My basement was just full of fabric and it was this sewing—I don’t know—workshop crazy space.

She just let us play and learn how to embroider and learn how to sew.

That’s how I ended up then eventually moving to New York and going to Parsons to study fashion design.

Because of all of these things that I had—the fabric and all of these resources—I was then able to start making my own clothes in high school.

That kind of unleashed that love for me of actually being able to make it. I was just always checking style.com back in the days and getting Vogue and putting it all over my walls.

My entire room [was] covered in magazine tears.

I just loved this fantasy world and I wanted to be a part of it. That’s how it kind of started.

What were you learning about sort of both the fashion world and your own personal style in those early career years?
My first job was an assistant knitwear designer at Calypso St. Barth and there were only four of us as designers. It was a small team.

They let me design right away, which was amazing. It was me as the assistant knitwear [designer] and then my boss, the knitwear designer.

We did all of our own tech, as well.

That means we’re doing our whole tech packs of filling out every measurement.

What should the shoulder to shoulder be? What should everything be?

I loved working as a designer. I thought that that’s what I would always do very, very strictly.

I thought, “Okay, I’ve studied fashion design, I’ll be an assistant. Then I’ll work my way up to designer. Then what I really want is to be the creative director and one day I’ll be that. Maybe a VP or maybe one day I’ll be the designer of a brand.”

Then my career took a bunch of different turns instead.

For vintage shoppers who are aspiring to get into this a little bit more, do you have any tips for how to get started? For somebody who’s new to the game, what’s a casual way to dive in?
I think especially if your budget is limited and you’re kind of just wanting to test the waters of it, I do still think thrift stores—if you’re in America—are still great and fun and Goodwill and like going through the bins and just playing around and discovering.

I think if you’re just starting, you don’t necessarily want to invest in really expensive pieces, because maybe you’re still figuring out your style and you don’t know.

Maybe you don’t want to blow $300 on an old Prada shirt.

Instead, you want to take that $300 and go to Goodwill, look [online] you can find some less expensive things.

Try to think of those designers that nobody’s talking about right now, or, you know, think might be coming up. I think maybe 80s, 90s designers that people are less aware, like Romeo Gigli and people like that, that I think are starting to have a comeback now, and people are looking for old Armani suit sets from the 80s and 90s. And you can find things like that [secondhand and] really not that expensive yet.

So I would start there, like sort low to high for the price, and don’t invest too much too quickly on one piece, because you might get it and then be like this actually doesn’t really feel like me, right?

Now that we’re entering fall, I’m curious if you have any looks or any pieces you’re dying to get your hands on?
I love a bunch of things that are happening. Like I said, the Barbour coat, the utility coat, I really love those.

There’s a lot of corduroy happening, as well. I really like the cognac kind of deep brown corduroy pants.

The Row has an amazing pair, but I just can’t buy it it’s too expensive. Catch me and my J.Crew for now, which are also amazing.

I also really loved—between Prada and Miu Miu—they both had this kind of ladylike moment going on.

At Miu Miu, they put the cute little pearls across the neck. At Prada, they had a bunch of vintage inspired hats. Even the closing look was I’m guessing it’s like a nylon, but a nylon kind of fit and flare coat. Had this big kind of 1950s flare to the skirt of the coat.

I like this kind of elegance, but mixed with this kind of utilitarian thing, as well.

I think somewhere in this world is very interesting.

Miu Miu also sent a ton of pajamas down the runway. I did a Substack on that the other week of just I love this idea.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.