Owen Cook is most known at school for his performances in Emma, The Crucible, The Little Mermaid, Music Man, and various other stage productions. But what you might not know about him is his love for fashion.
Fashion has been a worldwide connector for thousands of years. It helps us understand the past and allow cultures to come together as one. Senior Owen Cook has found a special love for the clothing that connects our community.
“I’ve always had a love for clothing and its role in history. Being able to define an era of time through the threads people wore and distinctly be able to point out moments in culture through them is fascinating,” said Cook.
Cook has had the opportunity to connect with various and diverse groups of people through the shared love of clothing. This group calls themselves ‘collectors’ and this vast community of people can be found all over the state of Virginia. “Being able to share rare finds, and just meet a mosaic of interesting characters pushes me to continue.”
Collecting has allowed Cook to meet and experience people he might’ve never gotten the opportunity to had he not discovered the world of vintage clothing. “I have some friends at Riverside, Jack Olsen and Krishnan Patel that [I] met through [our] shared interest in collecting,” said Cook.
Because of his passion, Cook has been able to travel up and down the East and West coast. He’s been to locations such as the Dulles Expo Center. Cook has also been on road trips to West Virginia and the Outer Banks, hitting different thrift stores and vintage shops along the East coastline with friends and family members. “It’s just it’s been a really good opportunity to kind of build community around myself.”
Joining a community hasn’t been the only way Cook expresses his interests. During the height of Covid in 2020, Cook began to sell his clothing through websites like depop and Instagram. Selling his clothes has been a way for Cook to further immerse himself into the complexities of fashion and enjoy its various aspects. He learned about things like brands, styles, manufacturing practices, and how to use certain materials. “Selling really was just a means to fund my own personal collection, but it was fun to monitor current trends within the market and community and see what people today wanted to wear,” he said.
But clothing isn’t where Cook’s opportunities and advantages stop. Alongside his friend Jack Olsen at Riverside, Cook has been creating music. “We dropped a song together on all platforms.” Something like this was never anything that he thought he’d find himself enjoying before meeting Olsen. “Being able to meet Jack has really affected my life positively.”