I’ll be honest: I mostly posted this outfit because I was having a Very Good Hair Day in these pics. You guys know my stance on VGHDs — shout them out from the rooftops or, as the case may be, all over one’s blog. Consider it SHOUTED.
Ahem.
The outfit was ok too. At least 8/10, solid effort. I kinda got lazy with my choice of footwear, but it was mostly practicality-driven. I knew I’d have to stand a fair bit that day, and these CK wedges are, bar none, my most comfortable non-flats.
Yes, friends, it has come to this: I now have to dedicate an *entire* post to things I did NOT thrift. Never fear, there’s a separate post coming up detailing my actual scores.
What, did you think I hadn’t bought anything? Come now, you know me better than that.
I’ve also started to do a bit of thrifting for friends, and I have to say I’m enjoying it tremendously. It’s really fun to try to spot things other people (with different tastes and needs than mine) might like. It’s a whole new kind of challenge … and you know I love me a good thrift challenge.
Speaking of which, I now kinda regret not getting this eShakti dress for a friend — I just found out she loves owls. This was the first time I’d ever run into this brand locally. I call that “thriftspotting”. There’s always a first time for everything, as they say.
This J. Crew Collection was cute, but two sizes too big and also strapless. I don’t do strapless. I have no idea why Goodwill priced it individually as a “special” piece, since far better brands have ended up on the regular rack. Maybe because this looks vaguely bridesmaid-y, and those sorts of dresses tend to get marked up at GW.
Cute separates (that kinda go together!) but not really my style.
Brand new Geox sandals — very cute, but a little too girly for me.
I have a funny story about this dress, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear all about it. For now, I will say that I was sad to see that this dress was a size 10, because I’m not.
I have this blazer in the coral version, and the green would have been tempting but, alas, wrong size again.
This was super cute (and 100% silk), but I’m generally not big on pussy bows, so I passed.
Wrong sizeitis strikes again … but I talked Nicole into buying it.
… but I was not able to talk her into this Plenty by Tracy Reese blazer. I’m sure it found another good home.
I think Aryeh is an Anthro brand — correct me if I’m wrong, peeps — but this dress was definitely not my style. I’m proud of myself for resisting the Anthro lure.
VV’s denim-pricing strategy eludes me. I’ve bought Paige, J Brand and AG denim for under $8 (without discounts), so I have no idea why old True Religions would be going for over $30. Boggles the mind.
You know what else boggles the mind? The cut of this DVF dress. That was … very unfortunate. I like to think I have a reasonably good figure, but this dress did it zero favours. I would never have thought I’d pass up DVF for $3.50, but I couldn’t think of a single person who would look flattering in this dress.
This dress might look like something your toddler would wear (reluctantly, after ample bribing if she’s like MY toddler), but it’s in fact a Very Special Dress. The label is legit — I googled it and it does appear that a version of this dress was worn by one Bella Swann in some Twilight movies. By which I surmise that Bella Swann has terrible fashion sense.
Another dress that fit weirdly around the middle. Not as egregious as the DVF dress, but not great either. I can see this being cute on someone else though.
This scarf caught my eye because of the print, and I googled the signature just for fun. (I always look for signatures on scarves — you never know what treasure you might find.) It turns out this is a Canadian designer, whose vintage scarves sell on Etsy for $25-30 a pop. If I was in the re-sale business, I might have been tempted.
I’ve been waiting to find a pair of Miz Mooz shoes in my size for ages … so it figures that when one finally turned up, it would be a pair of peep toes. Sigh. I have sworn off peep toes for good, so I couldn’t let myself buy these, but they were very cute.
Another thriftspotting first — Saint James!! I was pumped to find this cozy cardi-jacket, and even more excited to buy it for my mom.
I ended up buying this without trying it; I was in a rush, it was new-with-tags, and I remembered it from eBay (having been tempted to buy it before). Sadly, when I got home, I realized that I was not crazy about the fit on me — too straight up-and-down. It’s a nice dress (BCBG knows how to do an interesting print), but it’s better off in someone else’s closet. I returned it.
This was wasn’t a thrift find, but I figured I’d add it here. I impulse ordered this floral tunic from Zara, and then hemmed and hawed for a week over whether to keep it or not. I loved the print (it reminds me of the Gucci Flora print I’m obsessed with) and the fit of the dress, but I hated the side slits and the slight sheerness of the material. Not to mention that it was 100% polyester fast fashion. Oh, and $70 to boot. Do you know how many dresses I can thrift for that amount? Needless to say, this dress went back. It’s Gucci or bust, baby!
If you’re not experiencing thrift overload, check in tomorrow to see what things did end up finding a home in my closet. Spoiler: it’s gonna be another long post.
Grechen recently posted her answers to five style-related questions, and a few others bloggers (including the lovely Nicole) followed suit, and since I found their posts very interesting, I decided to do the same. Bandwagon jumping at its finest, you might say. Feel free to play along at home.
Q1: What if you had to choose ONE brand (money no object) to buy clothes from, what would it be?
This question is very difficult for me because my style is not fully encapsulated by any one single brand’s aesthetic. For example, if my closet was 100% Anthropologie, it would probably not fully reflect my workwear needs. On the other hand, more office-wear oriented brands — from J. Crew on up through the designer stratosphere — would not necessarily reflect my more whimsical side. Last time I was at Holt’s, I fell in love with quite a few of the pieces from the Boss collection, but I still wouldn’t commit to (happily) only wearing that brand forever and ever, amen.
If we change the question slightly, I can answer more readily. If money was no object, I would happily SHOP at Nordstrom exclusively. All day, every day. They carry such a wide selection of brands, plus their customer service is fantastic. Since money IS a relevant consideration in my life, if I had to pick one store at which to shop (exclusively) for the rest of my life, it would probably be my local Goodwill. What can I say, the thrift habit is hard to break.
Q2: What’s one thing you’ve purged from your wardrobe you wish you had now?
This one is super easy: my purple YSL Besace messenger bag. If the eBay gods smile on me, it will be mine again at some point.
Q3: What’s something you’re hanging on to, but sort of wish you had the courage to let go of?
Oof. There are quite a few things in this category. A lot of them are things that are too big for me at my current size, but which I am reluctant to purge either because (a) they are dressy clothes which I did not get to wear a lot beforehand, or (b) they are office staples which I might need to re-buy if I gain weight in the future (think pants and blazers). In the first case, the stumbling block is guilt. I’m having a hard time letting go of that, for sure. In the second case, I’m trying to be practical. I figure that if my weight doesn’t change for another year or two, then I might safely let those things go. Until then, they’re just insurance.
Q4: If you had to choose 5-10 things from your wardrobe (including bags and shoes) to keep and you had to get rid of everything else, what would you keep?
If this question is intended to get me to commit to a wardobe of 15 pieces max, my answer is: hahahahaha! I’m not even going to attempt to answer that. Honestly, given my lifestyle (and geographical location), 15 pieces is simply not reasonable, especially if shoes and bags (and coats!) were included.
However, if the question is “what 15 pieces of your current wardrobe would you keep if you were forced to start over” (i.e. you could buy new clothes to supplement), that I can answer. I would pick the things that I adore AND that I would have a hard time replacing for the same price I paid originally. So:
Clothes (9): MaxMara camel coat; Burberry trench; Phillip Lim navy dress; Moschino floral print dress; J. Crew Factory tweed blazer (only one has ever fit me so well, and I don’t fancy taking my chance with eBay on finding it again); Anthropologie/Moulinette Soeurs poppy print skirt; Ferragamo red Flavia pumps; Manolo Blahnik white pumps.
Bags (6): Louis Vuitton Alma; Louis Vuitton Dentelle Speedy; YSL Muse II; YSL Besace (grey); Mulberry Bayswater; Mulberry Audrina; Ferragamo Sofia.
Picking which bags to keep was hard, you guys. I love all my bags, and they tend to be the items on which I spend the most money, so this was a question of which ones (a) I would absolutely want to replace and (b) would be the most expensive to replace. (I probably would not replace my vintage Chanel bag, in case you were wondering.)
As much as it may seem that I didn’t really answer (the spirit of) this question, I will say that it has inspired me to consider a new approach to purging. Instead of asking the KonMari question of “does this spark joy” (my joy-meter might be broken, to be honest, because everyDAMNthing in my closet registers some sort of spark), I am going to ask myself “would I replace this if I had to re-buy it at prevailing eBay costs?” I think the answers will be rather enlightening …
Q6: What are you wearing right now?
Picture this: a ratty old pair of black Old Navy sweatpants/joggers, and an old J. Crew t-shirt that’s gotten too slouchy to wear out of the house. You really don’t need to see this majestic ensemble, so enjoy this much cuter outfit instead.
