As the title suggests, this month’s thrifting did not start off strong. I’ve been put off lately by Value Village’s increasingly aggressive pricing and gravitating towards consignment instead, which probably doesn’t help. You know the deal: the more often you thrift, the more stuff you find. My visits have dwindled and I’m finding I have less patience for sorting through racks thoroughly. I’m not sure why, except that I’m pretty happy with my current closet, and Netflix is my new “therapy”. Anyway, all of this probably explains why I didn’t find (or buy) much this month. It’s all fine and good. If I have learned one thing from the past 2 years of thrifting is that there is always an amazing score just around the corner.

For now, let’s look at what I spotted recently.

Lots of good brands out there, but I’m getting more and more picky about style; much is left behind — treasures for another thriftanista to discover.

I haven’t been buying Anthro with quite the same frequency as before, but I still spot it here and there. This Weston top looked quite comfy, but the whimsical print was, well, too whimsical for me.

Pretty dress, but I loathe that shade of blue-green.

Another very cute Anthro top, this one too boho for my taste.

I love the idea of this jumpsuit, but its proportions were ALL WRONG for my extra long torso. I contorted to get this photo so it would not look half bad, but I assure you the whole thing was tragic (and painful) in real life.

More BCBG; cute dress, but again not my style. Also, the ridiculous VV pricing. Practically every dress is $17 and up. Ugh.

I was tempted by this; a year ago, I would have bought it for sure. But I didn’t love the poly fabric, and I didn’t see myself wearing this enough to justify getting it.

I was very, very tempted by this jacket, and I will probably regret not buying it. It was real leather for about $20. My rationale came down to wanting to split my wears. I love my current black moto leather jacket, and it fills that particular hole in my closet. I rarely wear my Mackage jacket. A third leather jacket would be de trop, especially since I don’t wear a lot of brown.

I’ve been pondering LBDs, but I couldn’t get myself to pull the trigger on this one either. I love wearing black, but black dresses are, for me, somehow better in theory than real life.

Cute (and tiny!!) bubble skirt. The silhouette looks dated now, but it will probably be back in style in a few years.

I was tempted by this top, but the front was too low-cut and the fabric too thin. Pass.

I almost bought the butterfly top on the left because … butterflies! But in the end I decided the print was a bit too “juniors section”. The Tahari top on the right was a bit too ladylike for my current aesthetic.

More “misses”. I think this was my first time spotting Haute Hippie. I think it’s one of those surprisingly pricey brands that gets features in magazines like InStyle.

How gorgeous is the embroidery on this vintage (?) cardigan. I rarely wear cardigans, especially such ladylike ones, but I admire the handiwork.

Fridget is a local designer, and it’s always fun to find one of their pieces. It’s not usually my aesthetic, but I liked this cardigan/jacket. It was a XXS, so I couldn’t make it work, sadly.

I don’t know if this was an authetic Loewe bag. There were some red flags for sure, but on the other hand … is Loewe a brand that gets knocked off these days? Though cute, I didn’t love this little cross-body enough to research properly.

My first time spotting Poppy Barley! Another local designer who is getting bigger and bigger every year. They just opened a new flagship store at Southgate Mall. These flats were cute but way too small.

A cute pair of cargo pants that were sadly also too small for me.

Sweet Chemise is a Canadian brand I used to love. Their clothes are always very nicely tailored; as my style has changed, their aesthetic doesn’t work for me as well as it used to, but I would recommend them for quality.

This dress was so, so terrible. Terrible fabric, weird and terrible fit.

Readers, I bought this. Yes, it is big and chunky and mostly unflattering, but it’s also comfortable and … did I mention big and chunky? Because that’s my jam.

I bought this blazer because I love the shape of it, not to mention the colour. I thought it would be better quality than my old H&M (burgundy) blazer, which I’d been looking to replace. Well, it looks good. The quality on the other hand? Not much better than H&M. Oh well, at least it was only $8.

I bought this as a layering piece, and it’s borderline scandalous — which is too bad, because I would have loved a similar but less risque option for the office.

This was my one big “score”, designer-wise. I love Phillip Lim’s aesthetic generally, though this skews more athleisure than my usual style. I like how it looks, but I am not 100% sure if I’m keeping it.

Stay tuned for more thrifting adventures next week, and don’t forget to share your recent scores in the comments.

Thrifting has definitely picked back up after a slow start earlier this year. Funnily enough, my shopping has slowed down quite a bit around the same time; I am (finally!) getting better pickier in my thrift choices which is good news for my on-going wardrobe curation efforts. But the hunt is always fun, as is writing these recap posts. So let`s get to it!

Here`s a quick round-up of brands I spotted in the past month …

… and a few more. I was trying to explain this to a (skeptical) friend from Vancouver, and this is proof: Edmonton is a designer-savvy town. Our thrift stores see all the fancy brands on the regular.

I used to be quite the blazer collector but my current work wardrobe can`t justify an extensive collection, so I talked myself into passing up on this Talula number. The tailoring was great, but the wool felt heavy and constrictive, which are two adjectives I don`t particularly like when it comes to blazers.

I used to be mad about J. Crew, but I haven`t been wowed by their pieces in a long time, either at retail or secondhand. This top is way too bright for me, though I could see it working for someone with a funkier style.

This was such a terrible dress on me. Like, comically bad. Separate from that, I was not impressed with the quality at all; it felt very Zara-esque, which is disappointing given the retail price point for Halston Heritage.

I was really tempted by this odd-duck, embroidered mesh tunic; I thought it had the potential to look quirky chic paired with something like my Rick Owens turtleneck maxi dress. I ended up passing on it in the end because I saw that the appliques were glued on to the netting, rather than sewn on, which seemed like a sure sign of fast fashion quality.

Such a cute top … from the front. From the side — yikes. Way outside my comfort zone.

Here is a bunch of “almost but not quite” dresses. I used to own the Isaac Mizrahi for Target dress (left) in a different colour, and was impressed by the cut and quality. Sadly, like my old dress (since donated), this one was too big for me. It would make a great LBD. The Tabitha dress (middle) is something I would have loved a year ago. The Club Monaco dress was made of silk with a wonderful hand-feel (soooo soft), but the bright pink colour is definitely not in my palette.

More misses. I call these the “damn those hips” edition. I was intrigued by the Judith & Charles dress (left) with its mod-like patches, but it was cut for an inverted triangle (broad on top, tapered on the bottom) not a pear shape. Meanwhile, the Club Monaco shirt-dress (right) took my hips and magnified them like whoa.

I thrifted this exact same skirt for my mom earlier this year. If this skirt had been my size, we could have twinned, but the mix of florals and polka dots is a bit too “sweet” for my whole jolie laide style thing anyway so … no loss.

Too sweet, too small.

Also too small. And the pattern was a bit too much for me. True story.

I was initially drawn to this dress, but quickly realized that it fit really small and the fabric had seen better days.

Yup, that`s Hermes. My first time spotting it “in the wild”, and it certainly required a close look to do it. The shoes would have fit me, but they were in poor-ish condition, so I passed. In the past, I would probably have bought them for the thrift bragging rights alone, so this is progress.

I was really tempted to buy these for my BFF; I think she would have loved the style, but I wasn`t sure that they would fit her and I didn`t want to risk it.

Hey, look: more dresses that didn`t work out. The Maggy London maxi dress (left) was quite fabulous, but the fit was a bit off on me. I also have quite enough cocktail dresses, and not nearly enough cocktail parties to attend, so this dress would have been wasted in my closet in any event. I like a lot of Lida Baday pieces, but this dress (right) was the epitome of boring beige blah against my skin tone.

These are 4 tops I spotted while thrifting in Calgary last month. I bought 2 of them — can you guess which ones?

If you guessed the top right and bottom right, ding ding ding: you`re a winner. I got the Maeve floral number for myself (natch), and the Johnny Was embroidered blouse for my mom. The latter is a brand I recognized mainly from other thrifters` IGs; considering that it probably retailed for something like $200US, it perfectly illustrates one of my thrifting tips: do your research. Or, as in this case, let others do it for you and learn from them.

I hemmed and hawed over this blazer for a bit before biting the bullet. On one hand, I don`t NEED it (see above) and there is nothing truly extraordinary about it. On the other hand, it`s Cartonnier and I rarely walk away from Cartonnier, especially for $5. Sold.

This was one of my fave recent thrift finds. You`ve already seen this top in action, and it`s pretty awesome.

Ditto for this Etro top. I was originally on the fence about the print, but it`s really growing on me. It`s a beautifully made piece, which makes it hard to resist, print or no print.

A sequin jacket is a lot of “look”, but I`ve seen a friend of mine rock a similar one in a totally minimalist-slash-understated-elegant way so I decided to pick this up as an experiment. It was only something like $13, and in shockingly amazing condition considering how fragile sequin embroidery usually is. I`ve already worn it once and I liked it a lot, so no regrets here.

Another thrifting first: Dries Van Noten. It`s always such a pleasant surprise to see something like this hiding in a rack of stuff from Rickies, George, and the like. That`s the thrill of the hunt, you guys. Also, this prompted me to look up Dries stuff on eBay and I think I`m in love. This could be the start of a dangerous (to my wallet) love affair.

Your turn now: I want to hear all about your recent thrifting adventures. And if you have thrifting-related questions, hit me up in the comments.