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  • 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 donatingthat's giving money or

  • goods to an organisationhelps 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 todayis 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 answerand 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 menbut

  • 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 victimspeople 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 scumbroor 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 itemsyou

  • mentioned the labels Prada, Versace,

  • Gucci, Supremewhile 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

  • messylike 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 affordbut 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!

Catherine: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute

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