My Favorite Thrifts + Secrets

I’m a big fan of thifting.  Be it Ebay, Goodwill, random consignment shops, or the dumpster behind Salvation Army (yeah that's happened)… I’m all over it.  

I thrift for a few reasons:

I'm a college student:  I love shopping, I love name brands, I love looking good - but alas cash is scarce. 

Trends repeat themselves over time: Why go to Forever 21 to buy a newly made accordion pleated skirt when there are a million left over from the 80’s just sitting in resale shops?

Environmental reasons: Clothing production and waste is c-c-crazy.

Decreased spending tolerance: Once you’ve bought an Express shirt for 50 cents, it’s hard to buy the same shirt in the store for $50, thus my spending tolerance has decreased. 

Entertainment & Adventure: Some people hunt ducks, I hunt BCBG.  

This past year has been quite successful in the thrifting department, so I’m going to do a big “no-no” of the thrifting world and share some of my secrets favorite finds with you! I’ve also included my purchase price, along with the original retail price just for kicks, so you can see just how much money you can save by thrifting.

Let the fun begin!

Floral strapless sun dress

Brand: Free People (Commonly purchased at Urban Outfitters)

Thrifted from: Mormon Thrift Store in Kirksville 

Price paid: $1

Estimated Retail Price: $50-70

Vintage Gray Accordion Pleat Skirt

Thrifted from: Salvation Army (Kirksville)

Purchase price: $3

Original retail price: $30 in 1980 dollars (original tag still on)

Red Tunic

Brand: French Connection UK (Commonly purchased at Nordstrom or speciality store)

Thrifted from: Ebay

Purchase price: $6

Estimated retail price: $50-60

Plaid button down with feminine detailing

Brand: Gap

Thrifted from: Mormon thrift store in Kirksville

Purchase price: $1

Estimated retail price: $30

Olive Dress Pants

Brand: The Limited

Thrifted from: Goodwill (O'Fallon, MO)

Purchase price: $3

Estimated retail price: $80

Pink and Cream Blazer

Brand: Old Navy

Thrifted from: Salvation Army (Kirksville)

Purchase price: $3

Estimated retail price: $30

Pink Dress Shirt (+ 3 others in the same style, different colors)

Brand: Express

Thrifted from: Mormon thrift store in Kirksville

Purchase price: $0.50

Estimated retail price: $50

Black Silk Tank Top

Brand: Express

Thrifted from: Mormon thrift store in Kirksville

Purchase price: $0.50

Estimated retail price: $50

Pink Ruffle Top

Brand: Express

Thrifted from: Goodwill on Manchester

Purchase price: $3

Estimated retail price: $30-40

Missoni for Target Clutch

Brand: Missoni for Target

Thrifted from: Goodwill (O'Fallon)

Purchase price: $3

Estimated retail price: $23

1 Liberty of London Pillow (I already had 2, but finding a lucky third one really rounded out the look!)

Brand: Liberty of London for Target

Thrifted from: Goodwill O'Fallon

Purchase price: $2

Estimated retail price: $40

Blue Patterned Sun Dress

Brand: Merona (Target)

Thrifted from: Goodwill on Manchester

Purchase price: $4

Estimated retail price: $40

And of course I found some shoes, in excellent condition! Jessica Simpson, Bandolino, Nine West, and Franco Sarto brands purchased from Ebay, Hidden Treasures Consignment, and Goodwill each for $3-$20 a piece. 

...And that's only part of the damages I've done in the past year.  Not pictured are 4 suit sets (Banana Republic, Benetton, The Limited, and Ann Taylor Loft) and 2 coats (Banana Republic and Kenneth Cole) courtesy of Ebay, as well as some more professional/career type clothes.  

That being said, thrifting has been especially helpful as I build my professional wardrobe.  This summer during my internship, I'll have to dress "business professional" 4 days a week, so it helps to find basic career staples at deeply discounted prices. 

My biggest secret to successful thrifting is to have fun with it, allot a decent amount of time to your adventures, and most importantly to be smart.  Don't buy anything that you don't need, just because it is cheap.  Also, buy things that have high quality and that are in good condition.  And lastly, WASH everything before you wear it or use it (duh).  

Thrifting can be a fantastic way to expand your wardrobe, and can help you add newness and variety to your current wardrobe without breaking the bank.  Then again, this post wasn't meant to be overly persuasive because the more thrifters there are, the more competition there is for me ;)

Stay fabulous!

Sarah

Missoni for Target : Fabulous and Finally Mine!

In 7th grade,  I got a subscription to Teen Vogue and my life was forever changed.  For the first time, I saw fashion as not purely functional but as an aesthetic.  I learned the names of designers and developed an appreciation for their art.  Italian designer, Missoni, especially struck a note. 

In a short period of time, Teen Vogue published photographs of both Mischa Barton and Nicole Richie (halfway relevant celebrities back in 2004) wearing Missoni dresses and I was in love (with the dresses).

Missoni is known for their signature zigzag patterns, bright colors, and retro feel - all of which I all love.

But here's the kicker.  Missoni is going to run you somewhere around the ballpark of $50... FOR A PAIR OF SOCKS.  

Socks!!!!

And thus, my 13 year-old, Teen-Vogue-reading self was defeated.  No Missoni for me.

Except all of that changed this past summer, when I stumbled along a fashion blog trumpeting yet another affordable designer-collaboration line at Target.  

**For those of you who are unfamiliar with designer collaborations, here is a diddy from their PR site:

Designer Collaborations is an expansion of Target's existing designer fashion program and each collection is available only for a limited time. Designer Collaborations is a unique program that features well-established designers who draw inspiration from a collaborative partner, muse or creative element. It is a new and exciting way of delivering the latest styles to our contemporary female guests at the prices they expect from Target.

Sounds gooooood to me. 

Last summer, I had been absolutely delighted by Target's Liberty of London collaboration:

(which I bought way too much of), so I was excited to see how they could possibly follow that up.  Well...

EEEEEK!  TOO.  EXCITING.

The collection was to be released in stores at a set date in September, and I was excited to get me some.

Except, small problem.  I knew I'd be in Kirksville in September.  Kirksville does not have a Target (try not to be too surprised).  In fact, the closest Target is an hour and a half away.  Since the collection was to come out on a weekday, I considered the option of making the early morning drive before my 9:30 class to snag what I wanted when the store opened at 8, but ultimately decided against it.  I figured I would just wait for it to go on clearance in a month and grab some the next time I went home for break.

...

I had no idea that this would happen:

And lastly, the most sad:

Do you think that lady was going to personally wear all of that Missoni? 

Of course not!  She was going to sell it on Ebay.  In fact, the day after the Missoni launch, there were 30,000 Ebay listings for the highly coveted items, all fetching outrageous prices.  

Today, there are approximately 12,000 current Missoni for Target Ebay listings.  

Demand for the Missoni collection didn't only affect business inside of the retailer, but also managed to cause an unprecedented amount of traffic on the Target.com website which the server was unable to handle.  The website crashed, and those trying to purchase online (directly from Target) experienced extreme difficulty and were rarely successful.  

Between the website crash and the hoarding/Ebay issue, the whole ordeal created a PR mess for Target, which I won't really get into now (Doing a quick Google search will come up with several blogs and news articles which have addressed all sides of the issue).

I was honestly super bummed that I was unable to get a piece of the Missoni collection, but I refused (on a fundamentally moral basis) to purchase any of it from the Ebay sellers.  I wanted no part in contributing to skeezy profits. 

A couple of months have passed and I had begun to get over the pain of missing the Missoni for Target collaboration.  I am currently home for Thanksgiving break and so with an abundance of time, and a slight shopping itch (unaccompanied with an abundance of $$), I decided to drop into my local Goodwill store.  I had already been completely successful in my finds, snatching up a pair of The Limited dress pants and a pair of loafers when I nearly had a heart attack. 

This...

.... Was staring me in the face.

With the tags still on.

In Goodwill.

And this is one of those moments where you don't ask "how" or "why" or "for realsies?!", you just grab it and buy it as soon as you can, so that you know it can and will be yours forever.

Curiosity did lead me to look up this little gem on Ebay, just to see how much I could sell it for...

50 bucks. I paid 4. (Retail was $23.99)

I would never sell it. 

So a sad story turned less sad and I am finally the proud owner of the infamous zigzags I have admired for 7 years (35% of my life, mind you).

How fabulous is that.