An Overnight Style Sensation, at 79

Larry Pennington, a fashionable former educator, was looking to share some advice on home décor and thrifting. He became an unlikely social media darling.

When Larry Pennington started his TikTok account late last year, he did so hoping to show off his love of antique home décor and thrifted outfits. With a distinctive eye for hidden gems and a classically Southern personal style, Mr. Pennington, a 79-year-old former educator, has been honing his sartorial skills for decades. He thought he could teach the young people on social media a few things.

Mr. Pennington had no idea his account — which features outfit-of-the-day posts and home décor hacks — would grow to more than 225,000 followers in a little more than a month, quickly positioning him among TikTok’s thrifting elite just as that social media platform faces a potential ban in the United States.

Mr. Pennington was born in Charleston, W.Va., to two fashionable parents — his father a corporate executive who wore bespoke suits and his mother a homemaker who opted for designer and couture.

“I grew up with wonderful memories of her clothes and his clothes, and that got me started,” he said in a recent phone interview. Mr. Pennington, who describes his personal style as “classic men’s” — suit jackets paired with sweaters, lots of pocket squares and bow ties, a neatly trimmed mustache — often includes a sentimental tribute to his parents in his outfits, such as wearing one of his mother’s earrings as a lapel pin.

Mr. Pennington’s love for thrifting and antiquing started in earnest in the 1980s, when he was living in Washington, D.C. Now, at almost 80, he’s mastered the art of scouring the internet and social media for high quality vintage items: He frequently purchases things on eBay, Etsy and Poshmark.