Official Site of Secondhand Wardrobe Week, February 26 – March 3, 2012

 Thrift store jewels that I’ll make into other treasures.  

I’ve written before about how much I love vintage jewelry. Some pieces I wear as they are; others I disassemble to use the components to make something new. Yesterday while I was nosing around my local public library, I found a great new book on how to take bits and pieces of old jewelry, plastic cake decorations and doll furniture and turn them into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, shoe clips and more. The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl’s Guide to Handmade Jewelry isn’t for those who love only pearls, solid gold and diamond jewelry. But if you’d enjoy a necklace made of plastic gnomes, you should check out this book.

I admit it—I sometimes buy new clothing. In fact there are items that I never, ever buy used, and I don’t even look in the areas of the store where these things are located. Everyone has a limit, even me. Here’s what I will only buy new:

1. Any and all underwear, except for beautiful old slips, which I love.
2. Swimwear. I don’t enjoy swimming and haven’t owned a bathing suit for the last decade. If I did need one, though, I’d spring for a new suit.
3. Socks.
4. Gloves or mittens made out of fabric, although I do occasionally buy used gloves that are made out of leather.

As a family, we are very careful to spend less than we have, and buying used clothing is one of the ways we do so. Since we’re saving so much on our clothing bills, we can afford to buy a few brand new things.

I’ve been searching for a pair of skinny jeans for the last year. With all my looking, I’ve found thousands of 80’s acid-washed, pleated jeans, which I left hanging on the racks, but no skinny jeans. Is it too much to ask that this fairly trendy item show up in quantity and in my size?

Some fashions hit the thrift stores in large numbers right after they are introduced. The baby-doll shirts that were popular in the last few years come to mind. But skinny jeans just don’t seem to be making it into the secondhand stores. Or at least they aren’t making it into the secondhand stores close to where I live. Dresses are also supposed to be very popular right now, but they aren’t making it into my local thrift stores either. What gives? Did people bring their baby doll tops home, decide they hated them and then do a mass donation? Are they so in love with their skinny jeans that they can’t bear to part with them? Are they wearing their dresses so frequently that they completely wear out and never make it to my thrift stores? Whatever the reasons, I’m getting pretty sick of looking through racks and racks of pants. If you spot me wearing pair of acid-washed pleated jeans, you’ll know that I finally just gave up. 

The purpose of Secondhand Wardrobe Day is to celebrate the joys of creating a wardrobe from secondhand finds. I’m going to mark the day is by donating the clothing that my family no longer wears to my favorite thrift store charity. We have bags and bags that need to go.

I try to make only excellent choices when I buy clothing, but sometimes it’s only after I wear an item a few times that I realize that it isn’t the most flattering. I could toss it into the trash, but it’s so much more satisfying to take it someplace where it will be used and appreciated. Sending my clothing off to the thrift store is a fine way, I think, to enjoy Secondhand Wardrobe Day.

The above photo is of my Marino Orlandi Italian handbag that sells for $350.00 and up. The price I paid at my local thrift store was three dollars. With bargains like these, who wouldn’t love shopping secondhand? The fact is that many people wouldn’t, and that’s because there is such a stigma attached to buying and wearing used clothing. I created Secondhand Wardrobe Day, which is August 25^th of each year, in order to fight this stigma.

I have begun laying the groundwork for a Secondhand Wardrobe Day celebration in 2009, including contests and competitions which will be posted on this blog. For now, I’ll keep writing about finding the bargains, and hope you’ll continue to join me.

Members of the Press: Leave a blog comment—it will remain unposted and will go directly to me.

Secondhand Clothing Stores: If your organization would like to sponsor a contest for 2009, please leave a blog comment.

The other day I found myself in need of a stack of used long sleeved tee shirts. I do programs for kids at schools and libraries and I’m scheduled to do one next Wednesday where I teach the kids to make stuffed animals from the sleeves of used tee shirts.   

I thought I had plenty of sleeves for everybody. Then I spoke with the librarian and found out that many more kids had signed up for the program than they had anticipated. I suddenly found myself with just barely enough supplies. Thank goodness that Goodwill has 2 for $3 days! 

Yesterday I strolled into the store, went straight to where the long sleeved shirts are located, looked for the ones with the discount tags, and within 10 minutes I had just what I needed. Not only that, I got a bonus for my secondhand efforts—in with the tees that I will use for my recycling program, I also nabbed a few that are in great condition and that fit me just right. 

It’s easy to shop for clothes at Sears and come out with a boring wardrobe. Generally, those of us who love dressing secondhand don’t have that problem, but there are other style dangers that lurk when we go out sniffing around for used bargains.

For one, we have to be vigilant in avoiding clothing that’s stained, torn or looks worn in other ways. That means carefully examining all items before plunking down your two dollars and fifty cents. For another, and I don’t know how to put this delicately, no clothing has the potential for being as goofy looking as clothing from a thrift store. There are so many strange things at secondhand stores, from sweaters with massive 3-D Christmas trees to MC Hammer balloon pants. Don’t get me wrong—I love goofy, but a little goes a long way.

In my last blog I wrote about somebody who offered me a barrage of unsolicited, mean advice about my hair. I did what I believed to be the best thing with her comments—I ignored them.

Unlike my experience with this one individual (who, by the way, is no longer in my life), most people who offer style advice probably have your best interests at heart. So how do you tell the difference between somebody who genuinely wants to help from someone who’s just trying to undermine you? I’ve come up with a few guidelines. You might want to listen to style advice if:

¨      The person offering it has style that you admire.

¨      You find your life isn’t heading in right direction. For example, you’re consistently meeting people who are wrong for you.

¨      Your boss is the person offering the style advice.

¨      Lots of people tell you that your clothing needs to change.

¨      You haven’t updated your look for five or more years.

Someone I used to know always had something bad to say about my hair. I needed a haircut, should color it or style it differently. I never took her advice seriously, partly because her hair looked so terrible, but also because I get compliments on my hair from other people and she’s the only person with something negative to say.

Advice from somebody who has great style, especially when you’ve asked for it, can be helpful. Nasty, sniping advice that’s unasked for, well, it’s just not in your best interest to pay attention to that.

I was one of those teenagers who really suffered because my family couldn’t afford to dress me like the other kids at school. I wasn’t picked on because of it, I just felt uncomfortable every single day. I wish I’d known that there was an alternative so inexpensive that even I, a kid with just a teeny bit of my own money, could have afforded it.  

Now I jump at the chance to speak to groups of teenagers about how they can find wonderful clothing at thrift stores. The kids never have much to say. Some of them are grossed out by the whole idea. But I’m sure that some stay quiet because they don’t want the other students to know that they wear used clothing.  

I’ll keep giving these talks because I understand how valuable it is to know that you can dress well even when your finances are tight. I also keep hoping that some of the kids will learn that donating is a much better alternative than tossing still-good clothing into the trash.