Category — Secondhand Wardrobe Shopping

I enjoy subscribing to Bazaar (a women’s fashion magazine) especially since it costs only $10.00 to have twelve issues delivered to my doorstep. All those pretty pictures give me new ideas about what shapes and different combinations of colors and fabrics might be flattering to me.  

When Bazaar arrived last month, my first thought, before cracking it open, was, “I’ll bet they’re going to tell me that the gigantic, trendy, tote-like handbags that they have been pushing for the last few years (the ones that can cost thousands of dollars) are now OUT of fashion and should be replaced by a little clutch purse. My theory was based on the fact that the oversized bags are both unwieldy and extreme in terms of style and that I’ve seen little clutch purses show up whenever I read about fashion lately. I turned to the last page of the magazine, which is where they have a synopsis of what’s IN and what’s OUT, and sure enough, it stated that little embellished clutches are IN and oversize totes are OUT.  

The fashion magazines are constantly trying to dictate what we all should be wearing. Of course they are. They stand to profit if we buy what they tell us to. What confuses me is why anybody listens to them rather than developing his or her own sense of style.  

Fashion is dictated while style has to do with knowing what looks good on you and sticking with it, even if it’s not trendy. Style is much more daring than fashion because it’s about finding your own path instead of listening to what other people tell you to wear. 

Even though the dictatorial trendiness of Bazaar as well as other fashion magazines annoys me, they do provide me with some new ideas about clothing. I then approach yard sales and thrift stores with those ideas, which I translate into my own style.

After my friend Shirley lost her wonderful father, 19 years ago, she wanted something of her dad’s that would keep him close. She brought home a few of his big, baggy shirts and whenever she feels down, she puts one on and it comforts her.  

Shirley also brought home her father’s golf clubs even though she has never played golf nor does she have any interest in the game. The bag, clubs and various accessories are still in the cobwebby corner of her basement where she plopped them down 19 years ago. 

When I recently visited Shirley, I had a look at the golf set. The plastic golf bag is torn, but there’s also a pushcart, a few dozen balls and fourteen clubs. Everything is dusty and cobwebby, but except for the golf bag, it all appears to be in good shape.  

Somebody else could be enjoying the set that her dad used with such pleasure. My family is planning a yard sale this summer. Wish me luck—I’m going to try to convince my good friend to dust off the golf set and join us in passing our things on to other people who will love them.

Today I found a pair of new Eddie Bauer pants for $3.00 at one of my secondhand store haunts. I knew that they hadn’t been worn because they had a little plastic bag with a spare button attached to the inside of the waistband.  

There is so much more new stuff at the thrift stores these days than there was decades ago when I first started shopping for used clothing. I’m guessing that the increase in volume has to do with two things: one is that now, more than ever before, everybody is racing around so much of the time that they don’t bother to return clothing that they don’t want; another is that retail stores discount items so often and so deeply that people buy things that they would otherwise leave on the rack at the store. It’s a great boon for us used clothing fiends, but not so great for those who aren’t getting use from what they buy. 

I conjured up a pair of beautiful, Italian, buttery Salvatore Ferragamo boots the other day. I imagined myself finding ankle boots, in brown or cordovan leather with some interesting design detailing. My friend and I were nosing around consignment stores when I saw the Ferragamos, in my oddball, skinny foot size. They were on the ½ off shelf. With some new heels, they’ll last me for years. My Internet search tells me that they would run around $1,000 new. My price was $25.00. I’m generally bigger on the rock bottom, cheapest of the cheap thrift stores than I am on consignment shops, because the consignments usually charge much more. But a $1,000 pair of boots for $25 is a fantastic price by any measure. So hooray for the consignments! 

The other day, when my daughter and I went to our local Salvation Army, we came home with a particularly good haul. We spent $32.24 and brought home eight items. That’s an average of $4.02 per piece:

• 1 necklace (rhinestone, sparkly and irresistible)
• 1 Talbots summer skirt (the tags were still on this one, and the original cost was $58)
• 2 jeans and 1pair of corduroy pants
• 1 pair of pajama pants
• 1 sweater
• 1 tee shirt