There is something inherently contradictory in how busy summer is. After suffering through six months of winter (seriously), the idea of summer is ripe with images of lazy days at the beach and backyard BBQs—a virtual paradise of chilling to the max. Suffice it to say that soaking up the summer sun is not what has been keeping me from sharing my awesome thrifted finds (just some of my "fun" summer dealings: cat peeing all over our bed while I was in NYC (she is such a bitch) and destroying my first "adult" bed I have ever purchased. A mold infestation in the basement. A heap of issues with the MPLS police department involving motorized vehicles, the least of which is a drunk driver totaling my car while it was parked on the street in front of my house. Can summer begin yet, please?!).
With everything going on (and yet nothing actually getting done, which I am told I can blame on the three eclipses that took place last month, followed by Mercury going into retrograde), thrifting has, sadly, been regulated to special occasions, which in some ways is a serious bummer. On the other hand, it makes thrifting trips all that more special! Not only do I feel less guilty about coming away with piles of awesome finds, but the whole experience in itself is all that more enjoyable—kind of like how x-mas morning wouldn't be nearly as exciting if happened every week.
When I was out in NYC last month, we decided to do some thrifting, my first excursion in the sport since Laurie and I hit up GBC on Memorial Day weekend*. This means I hadn't thrifted for an unprecedented one and a half months. Needless to say, the stakes were high and Laurie was sweating.** Thankfully, the thrifting goddesses were on our side the day we hit up one of Laurie's secret spots. Granted the prices were a bit steeper than in the Midwest, I still found so many gems that I had to find a bag three times the size of my original suitcase to get them home.
As it often happens, I noticed some trends that popped up after combing back through my deals. Lucky for you, my finds were so awesome and so thematically bonded that you are going to get not one, not two, but FOUR posts about the awesomeness that I found thrifting in NYC.
First, the outliers.
Not quite a piece of clothing, but a useful guide to both my thrifting and my actual job (please forgive the generic online photographic evidence, I brought the book to work to share with everyone and left it there, thinking I had already documented it.). Thanks to Lars for grabbing this for me. I've since been reading the book and am convinced that Terry McCormick was the 1987 predecessor for Operation Sparkle. Though her focus is entirely on vintage, she describes what we have termed "thrifting freak out" perfectly: "sky rocking blood pressure, increased pulse, and inability to touch the ground with my feet." She goes on to insist that "if the powers that be ever found out how much fun we are having, they will either make it illegal, tax it, or decide it's carcinogenic" (p. 4). So true.
A vintage lace print dress. Simply beautiful.
A classy, expensive silk shrug. While Laurie apparently went through a major "shrug phase" with our friend Cortney*** back in college, I have always operated on the pretense that shirts that go over other shirts and aren't crop tops are ass. I was willing to open my mind for this one, however, mostly because of the color, but also because of the ridiculous tag. Rich people are so enlightened.
Then we have what may be my most questionable piece—a short sleeved, Chanel-inspired, vintage, white and yellow boxy jacket. Originally part of a set (I, in an attempt to save room, donated the skirt back because it was nothing worth posting about), this jacket might be impractical (oh the conundrum of short sleeved cold weather clothing!), the fabric is kind of starchy and the whole deal too grandma-y, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it is classy art chic. For the eccentric Upper East side grandmother in you.
*See? You know something is off balance when moi hasn't been able to thrift for a couple of months. Clearly, not all is right in the world.
**Though as it turns out, she found the perfect sweatsuit outfit during this trip, which I think all of you should harass her about until she posts something about it. Because it is that awesome. It has toggles on it. Just saying.
***A big Op Sparkle shout out goes to Cortney and Andy, who just got married this past weekend! It was fabulous and even more thrifting came from it, so look forward to that!
No comments:
Post a Comment