Partying at Mancini's: Thrift Fashions for the Swanky Supper Club Set

So while Laurie was bouncing all over the world wide web and New York trying to right her thrifting wrong, I had the pleasure of reveling in one of the best things about thrifting: having a wardrobe filled with outrageous pieces that can create the perfect look for a situation you wouldn't normally encounter.

Yesterday was an amazing day for many reasons, least of which was that it was 37 degrees and I was able to take a bike ride for the first time in several weeks (I should also share with you that some possibly homeless, clearly not right in the head, man started screaming at me that he "loved" my outfit, which consisted of this long furry jacket, my huge Sorels, huge navy chopper mittens and my pink thrifted bicycle helmet. All very sexy). It was also an amazing day because it was the day before my dear friend Mary W. (otherwise known on blogger as "Momar")'s birthday. Which means that we get to go to Mancini's.

Now, for those of you not familiar with the Twin Cities, Mancini's is a bit of a St. Paul staple, or, as they state on their website, "a St. Paul tradition." It's this amazing swanky supper club that serves steaks, is covered in mirrors and shiny railings (but in a old supper club way, not a strip club way), has a whole wall of photos of "F-list" celebrities like Ashlee Simpson(-Wentz), all with music from the Midas Touch, a middle aged rock band that does covers of things like Bruce Springsteen and pretty much anything from before 1990. Needless to say, this sort of atmosphere invites all types, the most common of which are elderly drunk veterans and their middle-aged, trashy girlfriends/wives/mistresses.

What does one wear to such a soiree? Well, I decided to take a cue from Patsy on Absolutely Fabulous and rock a 90's drunk, rich, trashy woman vibe. Despite what you may think of me, I don't normally dress like this, but with a closet of thrifted treasures like I have, you bet your sweet bippy I could come up with such an outfit!



So for the first item of business, I had to start with my head. This is the only place that I feel could have been more Mancini's-appropriate, as it was clear that the hairdo of choice is a dried out, feathered, bleached blond look. As I had worn a headband that everyone said resembled a pair of underpants on my head last year, I thought it only fitting to wear another headband—this time one fashioned from a thrifted jumpsuit that I cut the legs off of and a large bead from a bracelet that was included in a thrifted "grab bag" my friend Mary D. gave me for my birthday one year.




Next, I was ecstatic when I realized that I finally had the perfect place to wear the drunk, trophy wife, bejeweled sweater that I picked up this fall—Mancini's of course!



Outside, I wore this fake fur coat, from the same fall trip I found the sweater at (a close runner up was my reversible leopard cape, but I deemed it as too cold, despite the more balmy temps).



I finished off the outfit with a high-waisted black pencil miniskirt from work (courtesy of H&M), my fold-over black leather clutch (which, as it turns out, can fit an unexpected amount of junk) and these electric blue suede pumps.

Total success! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY!!!!!!!!!!

Day 3: HOLY CATS! #1 Find Vintage Faux Fur Coat

There seems to be some sort of connection that Operation Sparkle has with the rest of the universe, because as luck would have it, we are in the third day of the countdown, and it is the third, glorious day of old man winter. Synchronicity in numbering aside, yesterday I made a pact to stop the dangerous winter fashion slope I had been heading down—resorting to wearing only jeans, hoodies, sweatpants (I do not practice Nina Garcia's "rules of fashion" and thereby leave the house wearing whatever I want. I have no illusions about the possibility of someone taking a picture of me and putting it on the internet.), my down parka and Sorels.* I am not taking winter laying down! Instead, I am going to take advantage of my vast thrifted wardrobe to keep the magic alive all winter long.

Which brings me to my #1 pick, one which thanks to Laurie's post on wanting to punch me in the face, I am sure you were all anticipating eagerly: the vintage, faux fur coat. I can't wait to wear this tonight on public transport to pick up my littlest brother from the airport this evening—talk about classy!







While I found a great faux fur coat earlier this fall, it does not compare to the beauty that is my #1 pick.** The silky, black, faux fur is so thick and sensuous that my boss was almost duped by its (non)authenticity. She also told me that the coat's brand, I.Magnin, was some sort of big deal back in the day (a little bit of wikipedia research taught me that I.Magnin used to be a fancy department store and was later bought by Macy's. I've also learned that a I.Magnin real fur jacket can sell for over a grand. Yowzah!).

Beyond its pedigree, my #1 pick wins extra points for the amazing gold details (adorable black double breasted buttons trimmed in gold, and the forgettaboutit chain that links across the waist to finish the belt, which is made up of the faux fur on the backside), a huge furry collar that I can pop up, and a perfect***satiny, floral print lining.

I can clearly understand why Laurie wanted to punch me in the face.

*When people complain about how Midwesterners have no style, I would like them to try being stylish and living in the coldest metropolitan area in the continental United States.
**Another great thing about thrifting? There is no limit to the number of fabulous vintage fur coats you can have!
***While the coat fits me very nicely, it is a bit tight in the armpits and apparently was made for someone who was not expected to have to grab things from their backseat, scrap ice off windshields or do movement of any kind.

Day 12: Faux Fur and Redemption

Holly can officially keep her top on/ not destroy her computer, because although it was 52 degrees in NYC on Sunday, it is 22 degrees today. There is nothing quite like a sudden 30 degree drop in temperature to make you better appreciate both your crop tops and your super warm outerwear.

Which brings me to my #6 top pick of Black Friday Thrifting, the warmest coat ever, this $8 shiney black faux fur shawl collar coat.

First of all, I was pretty amazed to find out just how warm fake fur actually is. This particular coat is impenetrable to the coldest winds, while looking a hell of a lot cooler than those awful puffy nylon coats everyone else wears.

But this coat also represents something much bigger: redemption. When our day 0f Black Friday Thrifting first started out, I felt I was being put to shame by Holly and Molly. They were finding tons of stuff and I felt I couldn't even focus; I was too overwhelmed by the pressure, and I was hardly finding anything. These feelings of thrifting insecurity were at their peak when Holly pulled what is quite possibly the single most bitchin faux fur coat in the world* off of the rack--the rack that I had just been looking through--and held it over her head while doing her weird freak out victory dance. This sent me immediately to the "dark place". As I walked away from the fur coat dance freak out scene, Molly heard me mutter under my breath, "I'm gonna punch her in the face". And I knew that at the time, I meant it. Not my proudest moment.

Fast forward to 20 minutes later, when in utter desperation, I file through more of the coats, praying to the thrifting gods to throw me any kind of bone at all. Just then, I find this fantastic coat. I knew immediately that it could not really hold a candle to the amazing coat Holly had just found. My coat was kind of Holly's coat's hard partying, worse for wear younger cousin. But without that to compare it to, it could definitely stand on its own. And it served as the turning point for my psyche that day, and for that, I am grateful.

*I refrained from further description of said coat as to not steal Holly's thunder; it will surely be very near the top of her list.

H.P.: Wizarding Fashion

Last night I went to go see Harry Potter and witnessed a group of teenagers who were dressed for the occasion, my friend Molly pointed out, as though they were on acid. And it was true—the whole lot of them looked like some sort of hippie/fairy/pagan/wood-nymph cult. They all had "wands" and crazy spirals painted on their faces to accompany their "wild" get-ups. What was even better was the fact that they were clearly having the time of their lives. It all made me feel really jealous that when I was their age, I was listening to alt-rock and shopping at Hot Topic.

So, in a nod to my garishly dressed teenage fellow film buffs, I've decided to fashion my own outfit suitable for the viewing of HP VII, part I.
























First, you gotta get some Luna Lovegood hair.* This chick has totally banging hair—her wild bunched mane made me resolve to start taking fish oil again and to keep growing mine out.



This crazy faux fur hooded coat was a find at the Dig'n'Save in Madison. The trim has gotten a bit matted from the years of wear, which kind of grosses me out, but as it happens, this coat is perfect for winter dog walks and biking, so it is totally worth the $1 or whatever I paid for it.



I recently found this great hooded sweater overcoat at my new favorite Salvo Army. I love the colors and the deer/moose pattern. Very hippie/fairy/pagan/wood-nymph-like!



This black longsleeved scoopneck Lux top from Value Village might not look like much, but I threw it in because going topless to the movie theater is apparently illegal.

Then we have these nifty accessories:



A light olive woven scarf like this one is perfect for keeping the draft out, as well as looking like you are one with the earth.



I admit I don't remember where this rabbit skin pullstring sack came from, other than some point in my childhood, but I simply couldn't offer up this outfit to the H.P. gods without it. And you'd probably need some place to stow your lip gloss and ticket stub (for scrapbooking).



I believe this necklace came from Unique and it is one of my favorites as I am huge fan of simple, geometric jewelry, especially in earth tones (pagan) like gold and brown.



For the fairy/fantastical element, this sparkly/lacy skirt will do the trick.



Again with the basics, but you know, it's cold so your mother probably won't let you out of the house without your black Cuddl Duds** leggings from the Halloween Bootique.



Of course, where would you be without your lace-up, suede, fringe Minnetonka booties (though one of the girls was actually wearing a pair like these, so I can't take total credit)?

Add some random knitwear, a wooden stick (i.e. wand) and a copious amount of patchouli and you are ready for some H.P. movie magic!

I only wish I could be/was this cool. For real.


*In doing a google image search for this photo, I found out that there is Harry Potter illustrated porn. I must be getting old because this shocked me. Here, I thought HP was a pure obsession of peoples'. I need to go scour my eyeballs now.
*Actual spelling. I know.

Urban Outfitters is TOO Hilarious

Even though I used to spend hours and hours perusing the sales racks (and the cute sales boy, Jared, who is now apparently a born again Christian) at Urban Outfitters in college, now I get a migraine every time I step into one. The thing that pisses me off most about UO is how blatantly it co-ops thrifted style and jacks up the price about five million times (all while making the goods in sweatshops). Every time I go into one, I am constantly gravitating between finding myself thinking "I could so get this thrifting," and wanting to poop all over the self-referential/self-loathing hipster merchandise.

So imagine my surprise/delight when I opened up the most recent UO email (I get it for work. Research. You know.) for "Holiday 2010" and found several pieces that I have already thrifted. Some of these might be a bit of a stretch, but I found them close enough to see a resemblance.

First....the long sleeved, crushed velvet, black mini dress:


The UO version will set you back $49, mine (below) was about $2. It is worth noting that this week, I almost picked up a velvet leotard for $2, the top of which looks very similar to UO's "Cope Velvet Tank Top," also priced at $49, but decided against it as I am sick of completely disrobing every time I need to pee.



Then we have the short black and white geometric sweater:



I suppose technically, mine is gray and black, but it still looks a lot sweeter AND was about $57 less than the UO version.

And then there are the little leather riding boots:

I see the UO ones as a mix between these two pairs but for a fraction (about 5%) of the price:





Apparently, according to UO, long sweaters are also in style this season, as seen with these:



Kind of reminds me off this sweater, except that mine was $4 (as opposed to $69 and the absolutely insane price of $98) and looks about one million times cooler:



And then, finally, we have the faux fur coat.



Not only do I not look like some washed up prom queen in it, but mine was $4, instead of $168 (do they know that you can thrift real fur for less than $50??).

Fall Time to Get Wacky

After a brief foray into neutral preppy fashions, I have decided to return to my roots with a more "rock'n'roll, homeless, Stevie Nicks, bohemian, sparkles" kind of look. A look that can only be accomplished with a successful trip to the Salvation Army, where, of course, I was able to stay under my newly self-imposed $10 limit and still come home with some majorly awesome pieces.



The "Stevie" dress that really "spoke" to me.



Sparkly cocktail sweaters scream drunk trophy wife.



Geometric Union Bay (!) pencil skirt adds an extra "wtf" element.



The $4 faux fur coat that promises to get me through the winter.