I have been obsessed with knife pleats all year, but it’s taken a while for my obsession to bear fruit. When you’re all about that #thriftlife, it happens — the universe usually provides, but not on any kind of reliable schedule. In this case, as in many, when it rains, it pours. Shortly after finding my pleated Aritzia skirt, I found this COS dress. It’s architectural, and extra pleat-y, so you know I had to have it as soon as I clapped eyes on it.
close-up on pleatsside view
The dress has a nice weight to it, and the pleat work is fine enough to pass for something a step up from fast fashion. This is my first time thrifting COS, so I don’t know much about the brand. Based on my limited experience, I like the aesthetic a great deal. Fit-wise, for anyone interested in tracking this one down, the dress suffers the usual pitfall of sheaths on an hourglass/pear shape: it’s large through the waist. Otherwise, it runs small. This is a size 8, and it’s not noticeably loose anywhere except the waist; in an ideal world, I might have sized down to a 6, but definitely not a 4, which is my typical size in most brands. The waist situation was not a deal breaker for me because I can rectify it easily enough with a belt, which solves any accessorizing dilemma in one fell swoop. Speaking of which, have I mentioned recently how much I love a stretchy, embellished belt? They are accommodating and wonderfully useful. Anthro and BCBG are safe bets, and it’s always worth checking the dress rack at the thrift store. I got this belt from a dress I thrifted for $7 purely for this purpose. Consider that my thrifting PSA for the day.
black & navy
Reader PSA: A lovely blog reader let me know that she has a Plenty by Tracy Reese dress (new with tags) that she would be happy to send to a good home (for the price of shipping) in lieu of simply donating to Goodwill. While the dress is not quite my current style, it is very pretty. It’s a size 10, but fits more like a 4-6. I asked her if she would be comfortable with my extending her generous offer to other readers, and she said yes. So, if you think you might be interested, send me an email and I would be happy to put you in touch.
On a related note, I’ve been mulling the idea of doing a weekly or monthly Buy/Trade post where readers (especially fellow thrifters) could post pieces that they would like to trade, or pieces that would love to find/buy. This seems like a natural extension of both the community here and the focus on secondhand/sustainable fashion. However, I am not sure if that’s something any of you would actually be interested in — I would love to hear from you!
Sweater, Anthropologie (thrifted); skirt, Anthropologie (via eBay); top, Theory (thrifted); shoes, J. Crew
The ghost of my old style still haunts my closet, it seems. Like Old Taylor Swift, Old Adina can’t come to the phone, but, clearly, she can still be resurrected on the blog from time to time. (Sidenote: “Look What You Made Me Do” is a terrible song, and it is catchy AF.) It’s hard to commit to an exorcism when it comes down to pieces like these. I’d venture to call them Peak Anthropologie — which is to say, twee-ness at its best. So many sweet, little details, down to the frills on the skirt lining (which you can’t see), and the underlayers of the tulle hem (ditto). These clothes look like somebody’s craft project, in the best way. I can’t bear to part with them.
close-up on skirta little bit peacock
It’s hard to explain how I feel when I wear outfits like these. They feel more like a performance, of sorts, than a second skin (if that makes sense). It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Even though, with age, I’ve come to lean more and more into the comfort that comes from knowing myself, it can still be fun to “dress up and play” from time to time. I mean, a ruffle tail? What could be more fun?
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.
Spotted not thrifted #1part deux
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.
Weston top
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.
BCBG dress
Pretty dress, but I loathe that shade of blue-green.
ranna gill top
Another very cute Anthro top, this one too boho for my taste.
BCBG jumpsuit
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.
BCBG dress
More BCBG; cute dress, but again not my style. Also, the ridiculous VV pricing. Practically every dress is $17 and up. Ugh.
Rachel Roy dress
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.
Bod & Christensen jacket
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.
DKNY dress
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.
Eva Franco skirt
Cute (and tiny!!) bubble skirt. The silhouette looks dated now, but it will probably be back in style in a few years.
Deletta top
I was tempted by this top, but the front was too low-cut and the fabric too thin. Pass.
Left: Bobeau; right: Tahari
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.
Left: Haute Hippie; right: Anthro
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.
vintage cardigan
How gorgeous is the embroidery on this vintage (?) cardigan. I rarely wear cardigans, especially such ladylike ones, but I admire the handiwork.
Fridget cardigan
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.
Loewe (??) bag
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.
Poppy Barley flats
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.
Daughters of the Liberation pants
A cute pair of cargo pants that were sadly also too small for me.
Sweet Chemise dress
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.
Meadow Rue dress
This dress was so, so terrible. Terrible fabric, weird and terrible fit.
Oak & Fort sweater
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.
Topshop blazer
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.
BCBG slip dress
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.
Phillip Lim 3.1 dress
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.
