Catherine: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute
English, I'm Catherine.
Rob: And hello, I'm Rob.
Catherine: Now Rob, do you ever buy
things at a charity shop?
Rob: Yes I do. They are a great place to
pick up a bargain and I also donate items
to charity shops too. And a charity shop,
by the way, is a shop where people take
their unwanted items and then the shop
sells them and makes money and the
money goes to charity.
Catherine: Exactly that's good to hear Rob,
because donating – that's giving money or
goods to an organisation – helps charities
raise money. And you might
be interested to know that dressing up in
second-hand clothes is back in fashion –
well sort of - and that's what we're
discussing today – is looking like you're
dressing in charity shop clothes a new
fashion statement?
Rob: It should be interesting but first
Catherine, aren't you going to set me a
question to answer – and not a second-hand
one please!
Catherine: It's a brand new question today
Rob, for you and the listeners at home –
do you know when the first official charity
shop opened its doors in the UK? Was it in…
a) 1928, b) 1948, or c) 1968?
Rob: I'll go for 1948.
Catherine: OK, and we'll find out the
answer later. But now back to our
discussion about charity shops and
fashion. And there's a new look in town,
which some people are calling 'scumbro'.
Scumbro combines the word 'scummy',
which means 'dirty and messy', with the
word 'bro', which is an informal way of
referring to a boy or man.
So scumbro is a fashion for men – but
women can adopt it too.
Rob: It's a bit of an insulting name and
here's the odd thing about this new
fashion style: Being scumbro is about
buying expensive designer brands
that look like they are from a charity shop.
Very odd!
Catherine: Well, it's something Amber Graafland
knows about. She is the Fashion & Beauty
Director for the Daily Mirror newspaper
and she's been telling BBC Radio 4's You
and Yours programme all about it. So,
how did this trend start?
Amber Graafland: Well I think the name
came from a Vanity Fair article, and I think
Justin Bieber, the likes of Jonah Hill to
thank for this look, and Pete Davidson, who's
actually the fiancée of Ariana Grande –
he's definitely one of the founding
fathers of scumbro. And I think, like most
of these trends, they're started by
celebrities and then, I mean look, it's been
picked up by everybody by the sounds of things.
Rob: OK, so the fashion magazine Vanity
Fair invented the name but the trend has
spread because celebrities have been
dressing in this style.
Catherine: Yes and Amber mentioned a
number of celebrities who are the
founding fathers of the trend
– that's a term used to describe people
who start an idea or an organisation.
Rob: Yes, the trend has been picked up –
or copied - by people who you might
describe as fashion victims – people who
have to follow the latest fashion trends.
Catherine: Well Rob, I'm no fashion victim
– but I say, maybe, one day, I might want
to look scumbro – or maybe scumsis! So how
exactly should I dress?
Rob: OK, well let's hear from Amber
Graafland again.
How does she describe the characteristics
of this fashion trend?
Amber Graafland: It's all about wearing
these oversized clothes that are
overpriced and I think it's not just
about looking like you've rummaged in a
teenager's dressing up box. These are
very, very expensive items – you
mentioned the labels Prada, Versace,
Gucci, Supreme – while it's basically
about looking simultaneously like you've
made no effort, but the underlying thing is
you do need to see the effort has gone in there.
Rob: Wow, this fashion trend does involve
a lot of effort! It's not just about looking
messy – like you've rummaged in a
teenager's dressing up box. Rummaging is
when you search for something that's
mixed up with lots of other things.
Catherine: No don't be rummaging! The
trick seems to be to look like you've not
made any effort but at the same time,
you're showing you have made an effort! And
that's the meaning of the word
'simultaneously' – doing one thing
at the same time as another thing.
Rob: And I guess by showing you've made
an effort, you wear designer labels –
showing you've paid lots of money.
Catherine: The issue here is clothes from
charity shops are supposed to be cheap.
Some people even buy these clothes
because it is all they can afford – but the
irony here is some people are choosing to
pay lots and lots of money to look like
they're wearing second-hand clothes
– and the charity shops aren't making any
money from it.
Rob: Well if you're a fashion victim it's
something you have to do.
Catherine: And there's one thing I have to
do now and that's give you the answer to
today's quiz question. So I asked you
earlier when the first official charity shop
opened its doors in the UK?
Rob: And I said 1948.
Catherine: And you are correct this week, Rob.
Well done! The very first shop, run by the
charity Oxfam, opened its doors in Oxford
in 1948, as a direct result of an appeal
launched to help post-war Greece.
Rob: Very interesting. Right, let's remind
ourselves of some of today's vocabulary,
starting with the word 'donating' which
means 'giving goods or money to an
organisation or charity'.
Catherine: Then we mentioned 'founding
fathers' - a term used to describe people
who start an idea or an organisation.
Rob: We also mentioned that Catherine
was no 'fashion victim' – a person who
has to follow the latest fashion trends.
Catherine: 'Rummaging' was a word that
described searching for something that's
mixed up with lots of other things. And
then we had 'simultaneously' which means
'doing one thing at the same time as
doing something else'.
Rob: Well you can simultaneously listen to
this programme and look at our website if
you like. The web address is bbclearningenglish.com.
Catherine: But that’s all we have time for
now. Join us again next time. Goodbye.
Rob: Bye!