Beltane to Memorial Day Countdown: Tiniest Tank for the Coldest Day

So today was supposed to be a fantastic spring day. I had a whole line-up of fabulous outdoor spring things to do on my Saturday off—a trip to the farmers market to stock up on my summer herbs (decided after last summer's heinous yield that I am forgoing veggies and only planting herbs this year), a spin around the Seward garage sales and an afternoon BBQ at my friends' Grant and Sarah's place.

Guess what?

I woke up on this most glorious of May 14ths to find....46 degree temps and rain.

WTF to the max.

So, rather than letting the weather get me down too much (we are still doing the BBQ at the very least and substituting other outdoor activities with painting and a viewing of Bridesmaids), I am flipping ma nature the bird and presenting my most tiny, summery tank I've got:




The Lux Floral and Lace Camisole.

I couldn't believe my luck, as on one trip to Value Village last spring I picked up this piece, my rope pattern Jonathan Martin tank from a few posts back and another, even more favorite tank that you will need to wait to see (get excited. As excited as you can get for a tank top).

While such a tank isn't as versatile as some tanks are, having strappy cotton tops like this are a MUST for those rare, but extreme, summer days when temps reach the triple digits and the humidity index makes you feel like you are swimming in a puddle of your own sweat. Not only does a tank like this allow for maximum breathability, it is beyond cute. The floral print and lace are a bit girly for my tastes, but I love the pink and gray on navy action. I also believe that when you are dripping in weather that is leading to the occasional hallucination, a little touch of feminine charm is totally acceptable, as it can be one way to offset the decidedly unsexiness of extreme heat.*

*Another option, of course, is to just wear your birthday suit, but as far as I know, you can't thrift that.

BELTANE to MEMORIAL DAY countdown: Austin TX Special Trip Preview

This next tank top, my #10 TOP TANK TOP, is a little preview to my coming feature (next month, after this epic countdown), my special trip to Austin, Texas. The deals were abundant, the fashion, fresh and exciting, the breakfast tacos, bean-filled and satisfying. To tide you over until my feature on Austin TX, in case that breakfast taco reference wasn’t enough, I give you this lovely bold African-printed tank!

I picked this guy up at a thrift store (which will remain anonymous, I am under strict orders) that was conveniently located across the street from my motel, for a whopping $2. I spend quite a bit of time in Austin, and I find that this place is always reliable for tank tops. In fact, I think I have only ever bought tank tops there, oddly enough. But I digress. What makes this tank top great is not only the fantastic geometric stripe African-style print, but how it is asymmetrically applied. Not only that (again!), it has a slightly off-center pleat with a vertical boarder stripe, making for a really interesting composition of the wearers torso and chest. Who doesn’t want their torso redesigned? I mean, come on.

That is A LOT of design for one tank top, and $2, and a short trip across the street. Even cheaper than a breakfast taco.

Beltane to Memorial Day Countdown: Back to the Basics

While Laurie is having a quarter + fourlife crisis about seeing her 20's slipping away (three words for you: pitchers of margaritas), I have been contemplating my own existence. More specifically, my style existence. After a five day migraine, one failed attempt at a gluten-free diet, one vomiting/pooing dog, a viewing of American Beauty, a haircut at the hands of my beloved and a well deserved Party Pizza, I finally remember who I am. My next daunting task, however, is to revisit the piles of clothing in my room and continue the process of my spring time purge (yes, I realize this has been going on for about a month now. I am very busy).

One of the most tedious things about purging a closet filled with thrifted finds is deciding which gems are actually gems that I will wear and which gems are actually just chunks of coal that haven't quite gotten to the diamond stage of their lives and are more likely to get there hanging in someone else's closet. As the most exciting thing about thrifting for me (I said it. The MOST exciting thing about thrifting) is finding the most crazy, unimaginable pieces you never even imagined existed, I have a lot of pieces that require major effort to incorporate in my daily wardrobe.

Keeping this in mind, sometimes it is best to look for basic pieces while thrifting. Sure, they aren't the most exciting things to write about (or photograph), but while your turquoise dress overcoat with a flower on the shoulder that is the size of your head haunts you until you are ready to come to terms with parting with it, basics will never do you wrong. They will never hurt you, or make you angry every time you open your drawers. They will be like trusted friends, who are always there when you need a foundation for a totally amazing outfit or to conceal your boobs in that sheer top.

Such is the case with my second Jonathan Martin (unicorns!) tank in this countdown—a black silk camisole.

Yawn, right? Even if I was the most amazing photographer in the world, with the best camera money can buy, I probably still couldn't photograph this top in a way that would make you want to thrift it. Yet, the uses of this cami are endless—I picked this up for a few bucks a year ago and it has been an excellent go-to for topping crazy bottoms, for wearing underneath tops that need a nice base layer, or for those days when I feel like I am in the Ab Fab minimalist skit*.

Even if it isn't much to brag about, I know for a fact that this will be staying in my closet for years to come—and that is why sometimes it pays to thrift for the basics.

*I tried for like eight minutes** to find a clip of this video, because it is one of my favorites and I think everyone deserves to see it, but because the BBC Worldwide corporation apparently is more concerned with money than enhancing the world by sharing creativity and humor (excuse me, humour), I can't. Sorry.
** Eight minutes spent googling "Absolutely Fabulous minimalism" is like 160 minutes in real life.

BELTANE to MEMORIAL DAY countdown: On Tank Tops, and Existential Dread

There are moments when I suddenly realize that I have been living in New York for a long-ass time/ I am getting old. Usually, it happens when I am suddenly reminded of something or someplace that used to exist, or that I "always used to" do or go to. Then I realize that that place or thing hasn't existed for at least three years, and that I used to go there or do that "all the time" five or six years ago. Then I begin to wonder how the hell it is even possible that I have been sucked in to the k-hole that is New York City for going on seven years now, my twenties are almost over.....and cue the existential crisis.

What, you might wonder, does existential dread have to do with tank tops, and where this all going? Well, my next tank on the countdown, my #11 TOP TANK TOP, a blue chambray tie waist cropped button down sleeveless top with jumbo notched collar, triggered such an episode upon recently rediscovering it. But first, the top:



For such a tiny piece of clothing, there is a lot of action happening here. Just look how long and rambling my description of it is, to include all of it's fabulous features? To recap; it's light blue chambray, which is, if I had a segment to categorize such suitable commonplace phenomenon, a good thing. It is cropped with a tie waste, which is retro to about 3 different decades (I would argue, 60's, 70's, and 80's at least), and best of all, has a giant floppy notched collar. Moving on to existential dread.

When I recently rediscovered this piece, I realized that I got it at the Avenue A flea market in the East Village what must have been about 4 years ago. The Avenue A flea market was this adorable little flea market in a church parking lot that was pretty affordable and always entertaining. My boyfriend and I would often go before or after weekend brunch and see what we could find. I scored this top for a mere $1 from my favorite vendor there, a sketchy setup, were a few guys would dump a huge pile of clothes on a couple of folding tables, many of which were from Urban Outfitters, and charge $1 a piece no matter what it was. I would often buy a bunch of the Urban stuff and resell it to Beacon's Closet for a profit, because I hustle like that.

Now, the crisis part comes when, as I hear myself explaining this scenario, it sounds so old-timey New York that I can hardly believe I lived it. I mean, come on, $1 clothes? At a flea market? In Manhattan? If anyone has been to that hell hole they call a flea market by all the half-empty Williamsburg condos, they will agree that this seems utterly impossible. But I lived it.

Beltane to Memorial Day Countdown: The Tale of Two Tanks

There are moments when I feel really connected to my creative partners, and this is one of them. I spent my whole morning dog walk musing over which tank top I wanted to share with you today, and decided on, after much contemplation, what follows. So imagine my surprise when I found that Ms. Laurie Marman already beat me to the punch! Two tank tops! Well, my take on the two tank post is a bit different, but I wanted first to recognize that there is really something to be said about how creative energy works between people, even if it is across the country, and through the internet.

So, that aside, I present you with The Tale of Two Tank Tops!

Now, as I have often lamented, thrifting can have its dark side. For me, it becomes a bit dangerous when it plays too much into my hoarding tendencies. In particular, I have found myself accidentially thrifting pieces that, as it turns out, are pretty much identical to something already hanging in my closet. When this happens, and I realize that I truly am becoming a hoarder, I momentarily suffer a panic attack and shame myself for being greedy in my consumption.

The fix? Easy—eliminate one of the pieces.

Here you have two tanks. Both are flowy, darkish teal and slightly boxy in shape. I do not need two flowy, darkish teal, slightly boxy tank tops. No one does. So here comes the challenge of deciding which of the two tops will be of better use in my wardrobe, and which one should be let back out into the wild marketplace.

Witness Tank #1:



Purchased during our Black Friday Thrifting escapade of 2010, I was immediately drawn to the sweetness of this top. The embroidered floral detail on the bust was a bit much for me, but I thought it was simple enough to be able to wear without feeling like a 12-year-old. I am a huge fan of blue and green shades, especially teals, so I often find myself thrifting items in this color palette. As I have mentioned before, when I find a flowy, cute tank I almost always buy it, so with this one, I did.

Witness Tank #2:



Jump ahead two months to my special trip to Forest Lake, when it was twenty below outside. In two months we had been hit with snow storm after snow storm (one which blessed the Twin Cities with 18 inches) and had been enduring weeks of zero degree temps—hardly tank top weather. I blame this for why I did not remember my #1 teal tank when I found this number.

Like my first teal tank top, I was drawn to the #2 tank because of the color and cut. It is also silk, which I have a major affinity for in tanks (and life). I may or may not have also been swayed by its Casual Corner origins, because that store always reminds me of the first time my mom and I went shopping together on a "girls day out."*

Upon realizing this slight duplication in my wardrobe, I had to make a decision. Which tank would be on the chopping block? Which would stay and become my prized teal tank?

After much deliberation, I chose to part with my first tank. While there were extenuating circumstances that lead to my forgetfulness about its existence when I purchased the second tank, I do believe that if a piece really meant something to me, it would surface in my mind as I came across a piece similar to it. In the end, the floral detail was too much for me, and the darker shade (and silk) of the second tank won out. Logic aside, I also had to listen to my heart. Did it want a youthful, 90's teal tank or did it yearn for something a bit more sophisticated that a 70's college art professor might wear? The answer was clear: the number two tank is now my number one.

*I came away from my first girls day out with a small potpourri stuffed cat and a denim Blossom hat. I still have both.

BELTANE to MEMORIAL DAY countdown: From Zero to Fluorescent in Two Tanks

Lately, I have become increasingly aware that, for a long time now, the flexibility of my wardrobe has been extremely handicapped by the fact that it is nearly entirely black. Time and time again, I reach for some new multicolored top or bottom, and, out of my sea of clothes, can come up with nothing better to coordinate it with than a basic black something or other. The results are at best boring and often totally stupid. This is even a little embarrassing to admit, considering fashion is somewhat a thing of mine, or I like to think so. Regardless, the first step to solving any problem is admitting you have one, am I right?

Not only have I admitted to myself that I have a problem, solving my problem is the core of the primary tenant of my Spring/Summer 2011 thrifting excursions; to find color, color, and MORE COLOR. If I die trying.

I would like to illustrate the fruits of my hard self-improvement efforts with my #12 TOP TANK TOP(s), these two fluorescent cropped tanks!

Now I know this is a little bit cheating, to have two tanks in one post, but I felt that displaying just one would fail to exemplify the pitch of my newfound fervor for color. The fantastic qualities of these tanks do not end at their highlighter shades. The yellow one is, for one thing, the goddamn softest thing in the world, which counts for a lot. Clothes that are worn and aged to soft perfection are one of the holy grails of thrifting. Those are the things you never get rid of and have with you forever. Not only that, but I think it is actually a little boy’s cast-off, well-loved muscle tee, which lends a great shrunken effect to it.

And the pink is a winner because it is cropped with a wide bell-shape to it, which reminds me of my first tank on this countdown. I am really in to this shape, as it allows you to wear something small yet not tight at the same time.

There are just so many endless variations on this theme, I am so IN to it.

Beltane to Memorial Day Countdown: More Stripes, But from The Crew

You probably have guessed that I am not a big mall shopper. I am not. There are, however, times when I find myself going into a what could only be considered as a semi-conscious state, hopping on the lightrail, and somehow arriving at the M.O.A.* While the majority of my time at the mall is usually spent with my mouth open, aghast that stores are able to charge so much for such cheaply-made, sweat-shop labor products (that, after a while, all start looking the same), I have to admit that there are a few mall shops that have "gotten" me.

I don't like to admit it. It is very uncool, in terms of both street cred and conscious consumerism. But I have come to terms with the fact that, despite myself, there are stores that I actually like shopping at. Or at least am somewhat impressed with their merchandise.

These are (and you are really witnessing the surfacing of some very private, oft suppressed, confessions):

1. American Apparel
2. Urban Outfitters (I know)
3. J. Crew

Now, I have to state that with each of these stores, I have major qualms unique to each. You are also free to judge me and associate whatever blanket term to me you would like on account of these confessions. But, I am coming clean. I actually sort of like these stores.

Want to know another great thing about thrifting**? In addition to all the great, crazy vintage pieces, you can occasionally find mall brands, at super low prices.

Which brings me to my next tank top: a simple, but useful white and yellow striped tank. From the Crew.



Now, the only thing I have ever bought new from J. Crew was a swimsuit eight years ago, and I bought that on the internet. It continues to be my favorite swimsuit, and as it is falling apart, I am actually considering purchasing a new one, even it will set me back a cool $100. So I don't actually spend a lot of time shopping at the Crew. But I do know that I have been sucked into their marketing as being a classy, clean lifestyle brand. While yuppiedom isn't something that I covet on a regular basis, sometimes I feel like I want to explore what it would be like to have chosen a life my mother would have preferred me to.

So when I found a J. Crew tank top in cute colors like this for $3, of course I had to get it. Now when I need a piece to finish off the rare sporty casual outfit, I've got it.

*Mall of America. Our public transport rail goes from Target Field, where the Twins play, to the Mall of America. I believe this speaks volumes about what is valued in our society. It was probably just a happy accident that the airport was along the way.
** Gotta also put a plug in for resale shopping here. Places like Everyday People often have tons of recent mall store merchandise in stock, which makes it a million times more affordable.

BELTANE to MEMORIAL DAY countdown: Some Girly Action

Every so often I stray off in to girly land, when a well considered ruffle or bow—design details that I generally find to be trite and categorically barfy—strike a chord somewhere deep within my feminine soul, and call out to me. They whisper in my ear to abandon efforts to be edgy and inventive, and give in to the ease of girliness. I especially tend to hear these whispers when I am hung over, my senses are dulled, and my brain responds only to the most basic aesthetic cues. This tank, my #13 TOP TANK TOP, falls in to this particular category.

I found this guy on a recent outing in Queens, at a small shop in Sunnyside. They had a huge rack of tanks that were all $3 each, and when I saw this piece, it was too good, if a little bit too girly, to pass up for a mere 3 bones. The girly factors of this tank are very well composed. The ruffle edges are subtle, the drawstring tie waist is a nod to bow rather than being one, while the double dose of the floral and the plaid threatens to push it over the edge, the quality of the execution pulls it back before it goes over. But the thing that really sold me on this piece in the end was the sweet textile action. And we all know that I am a sucker for sweet textile action. Let me explain.

The plaid pattern is yard dyed in to the fabric, meaning the yarns were dyed before they were woven in to the plaid design. The floral pattern however, is printed on top of the yarn dye, making this top of a double dose of surface design technique. Actually very sophisticated, thoughtful, and a lot more design process than one ever sees in these days of fast and cheap clothing.

And that, my friends, is why you gotta love thrifting.

Beltane to Memorial Day Countdown: Pink and White Striped Tank

As you may have guessed from the fact that I agreed to allocate an entire month of fashion blogging to the topic of tank tops, I am a huge fan of the tank. There are many reasons for this—the style's association with summer (my most favorite season of all time), my affinity towards bare arms, breathable pits, their versatility, and, above all, the way that most simple tank top can be so awesome that you find yourself going to it again and again. In other words, tank tops are, to me, the security blankets of my wardrobe.

Unlike other pieces of clothing, if I find a tank top thrifting that I like, I almost always get it. I do this because, without fail, I will end up getting tons of milage out of it. Even if it doesn't initially seem like a crazy, standout piece, its usefulness will lead to utter devotion. Plus, tanks are usually among the cheapest clothing you can find thrifting!

Case in point: this pink and white striped boxy 90's tank.



I picked this up thrifting in Ironwood last winter and was initially unsure about the fit. Initially, it seemed too boxy, but I am a sucker for stripes and (as I just explored in my last post) BUTTONS. As it turns out, the top has quickly climbed to the height of my "go to" clothing list. I've decided that the cut is just boxy enough, and the colors and details are both interesting and subtle enough to allow for many different styling options (i.e. what sort of top I can put over it). Though I have been sporting this piece since winter, I am excited to get some mileage out of it in the warmer months, so it can shine on its own. Plus, can you imagine how cute it would look with a pair of shorts?! CAN'T WAIT!

BELTANE to MEMORIAL DAY countdown: Sweaters and Summer are Not Mutually Exclusive

When Holly first explored the topic of sweaters that should have long sleeves but don't, I really had to bite my tongue (fingers?) in order to not unleash bitter and angry commenting all over her post. As it turns out, short sleeved sweaters are one of my biggest fashion pet peeves. You are probably wondering why I have such rage directed towards such a seemingly harmless and playful twist of a design feature. I will explain.

Throughout my many long years of thrifting, I have probably thrifted upwards of 15 uniquely delightful, irresistible short sleeved sweaters, each of which I had nothing but the highest hopes for. Of those 15 or so short sleeved sweaters, I have probably worn any of them never. And eventually, I have gotten rid of every single one of them. For the simple reason that I have never experienced a time when I want to be warm, EXCEPT for my arms. And as a matter of fact, my arms are usually what are the coldest, if I am in fact cold, and need to be warmed by clothing.

Resultantly, I have suffered for every one of those short sleeved sweaters I have bought, holding on to it for years, pulling it out every now and then and trying to make it work, only to be exasperated by my inability to, and finally giving up and getting rid of it just so I don't have to be reminded of my failures every time I open a dresser drawer. And so, by this scientific process, I have concluded that short sleeved sweaters are utterly useless.

That being said, this next tank top, my #13 TOP TANK TOP, is a major gamble. Because it is even more oxymoronic than a short sleeved sweater, it is a SWEATER TANK:


I almost passed this one up on principle, but it enticed me with it's charms. The front and back double scoop is a great feature. The color is fantastic, a deep red brown. And it has the biz-casual factor, which is good for us working ladies. I am skeptical about it being suitable for any weather, especially 100 degree, 95% humidity NYC summers. Even still, it somehow seems less nonsensical to me than a short sleeved sweater...

I think I can make this tank happen.