Lately, the wonderful world of thrifting has
left me unsatisfied. I’m happy to report
that this is something that rarely occurs.
Usually, I’m able to find at least one treasure each time I explore
the local thrift store circuit. However, recently I’ve ended up empty handed more often than not. Now, I understand the joys of thrifting heavily revolve around the hunt. Unfortunately,
the hunt really sucks when you find yourself leaving, "the field," with nada. I find myself wondering, “Am I just wearing
the wrong kind of camouflage?”
I can confidently state that, I don’t
believe the problem lies with a decline in my thrifting skills. Yes, I wrote, “skills.” Like any other sport, the activity of
thrifting requires a certain level of expertise. The first thing one must master is the art of
patience. Reading this post now, you
must be thinking that this is something I need to work on. However, I would argue that patience is one
of my strongest attributes when regarding shopping. Especially when I'm in search of one of a kind
vintage items that have a, “Made In Italy,” tag on them. Yep, there’s no better motivation to march onward than that.
The second thing needed for a successful
thrifting trip is an undiscriminating eye.
What I mean by this is one can't walk into a Goodwill store without
expecting to encounter some pretty hideous stuff. Now remember people, these are garments that
other individuals have given away. Not only does it take patience to sort
through the, “outcasts,” of other people, it also takes a certain level of
tolerance to mentally makeover some of these items. For example, when you pull a shirt off the
$3.00 rack at St. Vinny’s and you think, “My God! It’s like this brand tried to
copy Ralph Lauren’s nautical line by having an actual drunken sailor make this
shirt!” Seriously people, I own a shirt
that I believe was a result of this type of thing. Now, I could have picked this item up, laughed
heartily, and returned it to its’ undoubtedly doomed existence among other musty misfits. However, that shirt had no idea who it
was dealing with. I removed it gingerly
from its’ rack, unsure whether to laugh or gag, and instantly started planning
how I was going to style it. Basically the lesson to be learned here is, a true thrifter never walks away from a challenge.
Lastly, I believe thrifting requires a
certain amount of intuition. Okay, lets get real here. I
like to think of myself as kind of psychic when it comes to finding
treasures. “That’s crazy!” you think. “Ha!”…Okay, yeah it probably is. However, I don’t care. I can’t help but believe that I seem to have
some kind of special talent for knowing when something is waiting for me at the
thrift store. It’s like I’ll be driving somewhere
else and my, “sixth shopping sense,” will flare up and command me to hang an immediate U-turn
and head back towards Savers because someone gave up all their vintage western wear!
I guess the point of this post revolves
around the fact that I’m proud of my ability to successfully thrift most of my
wardrobe. Unfortunately, as of late, I
have had absolutely no luck while shopping secondhand.
It had gotten to the point where I had actually started considering
buying NEW clothing. However, I was
majorly dismayed to come to the conclusion that I don’t like the new clothing I see in the boutiques. What can I say, nothing looks like it was
constructed by an intoxicated hairy dude with an anchor tattooed on his chest. I was starting to feel a bit panicked until
last night. I was driving to meet my parents and suddenly I got that
tingle. Despite the fact I was going to
be late for our meeting, I went out of my way to dodge into the old Goodwill. I walked in the door and straight to the
counter where… “Hallelujah!” There they
were waiting for me, a never been worn pair of, Made In Italy, Via Spiga
sandals size 8.5. Now when I hit my next
dry spell I have an amazing pair of shoes to do a rain dance in.
-r.
-r.
(All items
pre-owned except for the shoes and purse.)
Jacket: Gap
Shirt: Mossimo
Supply Co.
Pants: Ann
Taylor LOFT
Sneakers: New
Balance
Purse: Ivanka
Trump
Earrings: Vintage
Necklace: Vintage
(Avon)
Sunglasses: Vintage
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