Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech senior apparel, housing and resource management major Nancy Ballhagen in her section at the YMCA thrift store.

Ballhagen's enthusiasm for thrifting began at a young age when she would accompany her mom to the thrift store. "She would take me and my sister with her and let us run around and look at everything," she said. "When I was little, I wasn't so much about the clothes as the My Little Ponies and Rainbow Brite dolls. But I always loved looking at everything."

Her appreciation for thrifting deepened as she developed a passion for swing dancing her freshman year of college. "It is the love of my life," Ballhagen professes. "I've always liked to dance - I took ballet when I was little, and I did step team in high school, but swing dancing just clicked as something I could really grow in because it's a social dance ... as well as something you can get to be endlessly good at and learn all these crazy moves and tricks you can't really do with a choreographed routine."

Such crazy moves are best demonstrated in "trumpet skirts, which are basically any skirt that flares out around the knee but doesn't flash your underwear, so it looks really cool when you twirl," Ballhagen explained. Exposure to this vintage style swing dancing inspired her current obsession with 1940s style.

"I'm in the process of making a dress from a 1940s pattern," she said, "using some fabric of my grandmas from the '70s."

Ballhagen's unique pieces and strong work ethic are the subject of praise from her professors and instructors.

"Her design work is great, and she puts her garments together neatly and efficiently," said Peggy Quesenberry, an apparel, housing and resource management professor. "I can depend on her to turn in excellent, creative work."

Ballhagen hopes to combine her skills in design and merchandising by owning her own clothing store.

In the mean time, Ballhagen encourages students to give thrift stores a second chance.

"If you aren't afraid to take clothes that your friends have given you that they've grown out of or taking hand-me-downs, there is really no difference between that and the Y other than that you don't know the person," she said. "One wash is the difference between it being theirs and yours."

The YMCA Thrift Store and Thrift Chic Boutique is located on 1000 N. Main St.

The next Y Refashion? event will be held in October.

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