What is Summer for if Not for Dresses?

There is no thrifting prize greater than a fantastic dress. It is as simple as that. Many a thrifting strategy claims "dresses first" (second only perhaps, to "shoes first") as its primary tenant. On any given thrifting adventure, making it to the dress section first can mean the difference between edging out one of your best friends/competitors/total, and surely undeserving, stranger, for one of the more epic finds in the store, and attempting to concentrate all of your inner darkness into the look that you will direct at She Who Got There First. And who wants to deal with that?

As someone who has mentally punched many friends/competitors/total undeserving strangers/Holly in the face for getting there first, I can adamantly say, not I.

I can also adamantly say that this summer I have been doing a pretty damn fine job of getting there first when it comes to dresses, and have quite a few beauties to show for it. Most of these I collected over the course of an extremely fruitful three hours of power thrifing in Green Bay with Holly over this past Memorial Day weekend. The fruits of which were so grandiose, it will take me the whole summer to encompass them all here. So DO stay tuned.

Here are some of my fave dress finds, which, on a totally unrelated note, serve as a veritable Who's Who of 90's mall brands.

In the lead off position I have a dress that I described to Holly as "the All That Jazz dress to end All That Jazz dresses":


There are so many factors that make this dress epic, even for All That Jazz. Firstly is the blue floral denim print, which defines an era. It so defines an era in fact, that some bitch down by the river at the Flea Market That Will Not be Named sells denim skirts with such prints for 50 bucks a pop. All I can say is, if you are that desperate for floral denim, then please, be my guest.


Then there is the sweetheart neckline, which is flattering on absolutely everyone, and the mirrored dome buttons for the cherry on top. And it wouldn't be an All That Jazz dress without some cutout back detail:


Next is another staple 90's mall brand, Paris Sport Club. Paris Sport Club was the coveted store brand of such mall retailers as Maurices (which is still actually around, I believe? I don't get to malls much) and Vanity. But more importantly, who doesn't want to run around this summer in this precious little floral baby doll dress:


The double front and back scoop neck lends a little sexy to the little girl silhouette, and the print is oh so pretty:


And this one I REALLY love. It is from Casual Corner, which is maybe why I feel so grown up when I wear it:


I was totally jacked beyond belief when Holly passed this up over Memorial Day weekend and handed it off to me. Those brief moments that she held it in her hands, contemplating it, passed like an eternity in my mind. As she gestured towards returning it back to the rack, I blurted out that I'd take it if she was passing. And the rest is history.

It is hard to see the better details of this piece because of the optical affect of the polka dot print, but there are lots of good features: the wrap front top, short dolman sleeves, button detail waist, and if you couldn't tell, it's actually PANTS. Yes, it's a jumper. PSYCH. The most elegant jumper, ever.


And it's even work appropriate. The only thing better than an awesome thrifted dress is an awesome thrifted biz-casual jumper.