In this video, I weigh in on department store neatness vs. thrift store messiness.

On occasion, when my friend Bea and I are hanging out at our local thrift store, she grabs my hand and forces me to touch garments made out of fabrics that are a tactile nightmare. She thinks she’s funny. I’m left with the uncomfortable memory of stiff, itchy fabric.

The purpose of this website is to point out that there is good, sometimes even beautiful, used clothing available at secondhand stores. What I rarely mention is that part of the fun of shopping secondhand is seeing puzzlingly hideous clothing, ugly doo-dads, horrible paintings and pitiful, abandoned dollies. I’m constantly asking myself why anybody would design/make/buy/donate/or put this awful stuff on the shelf, even if the shelf is located in the cheapest-of-the-cheap charity thrift store.

While I’m content to sit and ask myself questions about all of this grotesque stuff, Jacob Williamson, creator of Thrifthorror: Things from Beyond the Bargain Bin, hunts it down, photographs it and then writes about it at length. If you have not yet fallen on the floor laughing today, I strongly suggest that you check out his wonderfully written blog.

As I compose this, I’m at home with a cold, so I’m missing my regular weekly thrift store trip with my pal, Bea. We go on Wednesdays because that’s the day when almost all of the clothing is 1/2 off. By the time I get there next week, at least some the great stuff that I would have found today will be gone, having been discovered by some other bargain hunter. At least I don’t have to worry about missing any of the ugly, hilarious things, though, because they will all still be there.

I recently dropped one pant size and had to replace all of my jeans. For around thirty dollars, I bought six pair at my local thrift store. That’s less than I would have paid for any one of them had I bought them new.

Except for a few tee shirts, everything else in my closet still fit. For people who lose a more significant amount of weight, shopping at used clothing stores can be a real financial lifesaver. As we near the end of Secondhand Wardrobe Week, I suggest that you have a look at this article by Julia Hillegass. She describes how secondhand stores helped both her wallet and her wardrobe when she was facing similar clothing challenges.

Having trouble locating the perfect late 60’s/early 70’s garb at your local thrift store? I’ve got a book for you. The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book by Bordow and Rosenberg, originally published in 1972 has been reissued. Those of you with modest sewing skills or an interest in learning can use this book to give secondhand finds a vintage feel, although most of the book is devoted to from-scratch patterns for items such as caftans and ponchos.

I can tell you that those of us who were young in 1970, when the book was first published, actually did want to look like “…pirates and Native Americans…. We longed to be fairy princesses…”, as one of the authors notes in the 2008 introduction. The designs are definitely representative of what we wore then, but I can’t vouch for the patterns, because I haven’t made any of them. Although I enjoyed dressing like a fairy princess when I was a teenager, my taste in clothing has definitely changed since then.  By the way, check out this shot of the original cover. Now that’s what I call groovy!

My daughter loves her new prom dress

My daughter found her prom dress last Saturday. It cost five dollars at a local thrift store and is in perfect condition. Garments that are only worn for special occasions often are in wonderful shape because they usually only get worn a few times. Except for a minor alteration to the shoulder straps, the dress fits her like a dream, looks nothing like what everybody else will be wearing, and according to my quickie internet search, comparable dresses by the same manufacturer run around $150. And although she loves this dress, since prom is months away, my daughter has time to continue to snoop around the thrifts, just in case there’s something out there that she likes even more. I can afford to spring for another five bucks, or even ten, if it’ll make her happy.