My thrift store hunting began in tenth grade with my friend Sheena; it was our after school activity. We wore all kinds of weird stuff, like tennis skirts, men's polyester suit pants from the 1970's, little boy's soccer shirts, etc. Clothing was our form of expression and we loved to be different; no one ever had the same outfit we did. At the beginning of the year, I created this blog to write about all things I love, and thrift store shopping is definitely one of those things. Thrift shopping by itself seemed too easy, but hunting down good finds at the Outlet Center would be a huge challenge, and worth sharing with you. I had two very big concerns about committing to these weekly posts:
1.) I know nothing about current fashion (as you may have guessed from previous posts or even just reading about what Sheena and I wore in high school)
2.) Could I actually find enough clean, nice looking clothing at the Outlet Center to write about every week?
To learn about styles and trends, I started sifting through magazines, catalogs, and websites. I immediately realized that hundreds of things...just about everything is 'fashionable' right now, depending on how you wear it. Fashion isn't a matter of being trendy or not, its about knowing what you like and deciding how to match and pair it all together. Instead of educating myself on what shoes and purses are in style at this moment, I found dozens of inspiring new fashion ideas. I still wear what I want to, but now I know a little bit more about stylish ways to wear them.
People have asked me point-blank if I ever cheat and use non-Outlet Center items for these posts. The answer is no. A funny thing started to happen: after finding nice, name brand clothing and accessories at .60 cents a pound, I have a hard time spending $60 on a dress at the mall. At this point, almost all of my clothes are from the Outlet Center, and I have A LOT of clothing (excluding socks, undies & swimsuits: I still buy them at the mall, I'm not brave enough to wear some one else's underwear).
Outfit #28 was inspired by bigdropnyc.com. I was searching for a cute dress to wear to a wedding when I found this simple, elegant ensemble. This royal blue wrap dress is gorgeous, and I love the nude heels. My blue dress, heels, and necklace are from Goodwill Outlet Center, all for less that $5.
Look at this amazing blue dress! The rich blue color and 1970's style pleats are perfect, but the style...not so much. To avoid looking like one of the Golden Girls, I removed the shoulder pads, shortened the hem, and opened up the neckline. The neckline isn't as low as the model's, just in case I want to bend over,eat, or move at all when I wear my version. For a few months now, I've been crossing my fingers and hoping to find a pair of nude high heels to wear with dresses like this one. This pair is not too high and has cute open toes.
Now let me tell you about the necklace: its a gold toned lion door knocker, not real of course (its only about an inch and a half tall). I have no idea what its original purpose was but I added a few scraps of chain, also scavenged from the blue bins, and a clasp to make a fun necklace.
dress, Monica Richards
shoes, Alfani
necklace, made by me
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