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Archives For January 2013

Rainbow Remix

January 29, 2013 — 10 Comments

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I’m going to level with you folks here for a minute: if I had it my way, I’d be at the thrift store at least three times a week. I’d hit up Salvation Army on a weeknight, Talize on a weekend, and Bibles For Missions sometime in between. The thrift store is my happy place, my hobby, and if I don’t watch it, it could become my home because Matt will kick me and all my pretty vintage dresses to the curb for blowing our mortgage payment on the Toonie sale at the Sally Anne.

That hasn’t happened yet, though, because for all my frequent stops, I always have a monthly dollar limit in the back of my mind.  For the most part, that number keeps me in check. But for reasons I can’t quite explain, January was a different story. I blew right through that limit before January even entered its second week. Thrift shopping is an economic way to build up a closet, but not if you do it too much. And I realized early on this month: I did it too much.

So, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve tried* to avoid thrifting more clothing, until mid February. I didn’t, however, swear off the thrift store in general, because that would be insane, and I recently procured a $0.99 rainbow necklace that is sure to tide me over until then.

At first, I was worried I’d have to abandon blog until then as well, since so many entries begin with my latest thrifted find. I couldn’t think of an entry’s worth of material around my necklace, and while I’m sure I could have squeezed out a Rainbow Brite tribute, who wants to read that? (actually, that sounds awesome, I’ll do that next time). Instead, I worked this necklace into an outfit that’s the result of a different kind of shopping: the kind you do in your own closet. The outfit is unique in that every item of clothing I have on is one you’ve already seen before on the blog:

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(Original looks here, here, and here).

I find this kind of shopping to be much more of a challenge. Scooping up $2 sweaters and $7 sundresses is easy, but making those finds work beyond the blog post is the real trick. I’m really quite pleased with how this all came together, although it wasn’t easy. Remixing isn’t something that come naturally to me, but it reaffirms what I’ve learned from thrift shopping as well: Things work out better when they take time. Call it my way of participating in the “slow fashion” movement.

I’ll admit, I always feel a bit out of my league when I enter into “advice mode” on the blog, because I’m fumbling my way through textures and colours like everybody else. Yet that’s really the best advice there is when it comes to shopping your own closet: fumble around until you find something that works. That moment right before you’re ready to throw all your clothing in the trash and denounce carby foods for all eternity is usually the moment it all comes together. And even if it doesn’t, February isn’t that far away ;)

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*There was a Toonie sale last week and I got two sweaters. I am weak.

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Pajama Day

January 24, 2013 — 14 Comments

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There are two ways I can describe this outfit. The first is as follows:

A cozy winter combo, made up of a thrifted poncho ($7.99), a thrifted vintage shirt-dress ($5.99), a thrifted Ralph Lauren Belt ($0.99), and finished with a thrifted Tony Poretti purse($9.99).

The second, more true-to-reality description goes something like this:

The absolute closest thing to wearing pajamas in the daytime, while still allowing for a modicum of dignity.

Straight-up, you guys. I have solved one of life’s great challenges: Getting dressed like you didn’t actually get dressed. I’d like to say I solved this quest by way of happy accident, but that would be a lie. When I dress for laziness, I do it with intent.

For starters, this dress: I thrifted it in December, and everything I thrifted that month HAD TO be Christmas-y. What’s Christmasy about a striped shirt dress? I thought it looked just like Scrooge’s night shirt (hey, sometimes I thrift for quality, and sometimes I thrift for things that look like the pajamas of beloved fictional characters). You guys are lucky I wasn’t pressed for content in December, because otherwise I would have blogged this dress much earlier, under the title “A  Dickens of a Christmas!”. The poncho was thrifted only a few weeks ago, and as soon as I saw it, I thought “why the heck don’t I have one of these? It’s a snuggy for grown-ups!” (…and we all know I already have an actual snuggy).

When it came time to pair my big red blanket with something (because, let’s be honest, that’s all ponchos really are), putting it with the item that is essentially a men’s night shirt made perfect sense. And here it is, in all it’s pajama-like glory.

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I’ve since worn this combination a few times over, even wearing it to work (with black tights instead of nylons – Scrooge likes his nightshirts a bit on the short side). And I can tell you, it’s quite freeing. The only other time I’ve experienced something similar would be the actual Pajama Day in grade school. Although, upon reflection, those days were always a little bizarre. While the “pajamas at school” thing sounded awesome, seeing everyone else in their Ninja Turtle onesies was actually very uncomfortable. Suddenly, the whole class was put on this strangely-vulnerable level with one another. Just weird, really. No one needed to see my Bullwinkle pajamas but me. So, perhaps faux-pajamas really are the best solution.

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I do have to hand it to my grade school for throwing a good variety of school theme days, though. In edition to Pajama Day, we also had a Hawaiian Day, a Play Day, a Winter Crafts Day,  a Mexican Fiesta Day, multiple Pizza and Hot Dog Days, and, in Grade Six, a Medieval Times Day. Half the class got to dress as Royalty (myself included), and the other half as servants. This was hilarious because the teacher actually made the servants do all the dishes. So, we didn’t so much as learn much about the Middle Ages, but rather that classism was an alright deal if you were on the winning side. I have a feeling that wasn’t what Ms. J. intended.

The other thing I remember from that day is that I busted out a giant hot-pink 80s prom dress, from the Salvation Army, and felt positively regal. I may have moved from Bullwinkle to blue stripes, but some things never change.

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Resolved

January 15, 2013 — 28 Comments

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Tomorrow is January 16, 2013.

That is an important day, friends, and not just for Kate Moss because it’s her birthday. See, tomorrow is the day I shall give myself a hearty pat on the back. Why? because it marks the end of my “No New Clothes” pledge that I made a short year ago. If you were a reader way back then, you’ll recall I made a bold promise to “Break Up with the Mall” for a whole year. Translation? I would buy only second-hand clothing for a solid 365 days. And wouldn’t you know it: since putting my closet on a thrift-only diet, it’s never been healthier.

That pledge was quick decision, born out of frustration with recent Mall purchases, and elation with new thrift scores. While it was a pledge made in haste, it has had a transformative, lasting effect on this blog, how I shop, and the way I dress. Four months into my Mall-free year, I wrote a progress report as a guest blogger. While I considered penning a similar summary today, I would be a near-rewrite of what I wrote back then (and you can read it here). The benefits I listed there—freedom to shop any trend, choose from any decade, wear any brand, and look in any size—have been (I hope) been illustrated by many of the posts I’ve written since.

When I made this promise 365 days ago, I thought that I’d be starved for some clearance rack goodies by the time January 16, 2013 rolled around. But my appetite to revisit the mall has never been weaker. Meanwhile, I have never had more fun getting dressed, and less guilt about where I spend my money that I do right now. And I really mean that. When I look over what’s in my wardrobe, nearly every piece feels like a score. And while not every piece tells a story, some of them tell great ones. And that’s why this breakup is permanent.

So what’s next? Another pledge that lasts indefinitely? An updated button? I don’t think so. Mall shopping is not something I’m “banned” from anymore: it’s just not something I plan to do. Not because I can’t, but because I don’t want do. Really, this is what New Year’s resolutions are supposed to do. You make a resolution, and at some point, it stops being a resolution, and becomes just another thing about who you are. And that’s what happened this year: I am Juliane Claire Van Huizen, and I shop at thrift stores.

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Will I ever buy clothing from The Mall again? I’m sure I will. I mean, I still need to go there for my skivvies, socks, and bathing suits. And there are other exceptions, too: I may still go there for a fine pair of leather boots, and if my friends want to plan a weekend trip to scope out some outlet malls, I’ll shop right alongside them because I love those girls. But mostly, I’ll carry on exactly as I have for the past year: Thrifting things like this pleated silver skirt from Talize, this cozy black turtleneck is from Salvation Army, and this vintage pink (suede!) coat from Granny’s Attic Treasures on Ottawa Street, that cost me a mere $10.

As I list those items, they highlight exactly why I’ve signed up for a lifetime of second-hand style. I never would have sought out a pink suede coat (or pink suede anything, really), and even if I had, I’d be hard-pressed to find one at at the Mall for $10. I’ll take this coat over clearance racks at H&M any day, any year.

In closing, I have to thank all those who’ve shown enthusiasm as I blogged my way through this year. I’d like to think I would have come to this conclusion without a blog, but I don’t think that’s true. Blogging has not only provided heeps of encouragement for my efforts, but a certain level of accountability as well. And for that, I am truly grateful.

…All the sudden I’m realizing that I haven’t made a pop-cultural reference or used an exclamation point in a couple hundred words, and this post is starting to sound like some kind of sad farewell, which is crazy because I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to thrift and blog my way to infinity and beyond! (Whew, back on track). But it is nice to take sometime to reflect once and while, huh?

So as I put the Mall in my review mirror for good, please join me in raising a glass to a brand new year of old stuff (not really though because I don’t want you to spill on your keyboards). And while we are metaphorically toasting, please also toast me for not titling this entry “We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together,” because while thrifting is easy, that was hard.

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What’s My Age Again?

January 9, 2013 — 21 Comments

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Malls. Home to more stores than one person can take in on a single visit. And you’re not even supposed visit them all, really. The tweens find their tight tees and tighter jeans in Hollister and Forever 21. More mature shoppers stick to places like Cleo and Mexx, and everybody else hovers around Zara and H&M. Malls specialize in catering to these specific demographics. But those strategically-designed storefronts and prohibitive pricing structures can prove quite confining to those of us with a broader approach to style. And to those people I say: come thrift with me. The thrift store doesn’t care how old you are. They don’t care if you’re a Joe Fresh or J. Crew kind of girl. They don’t care if you want fine leather or cheap pleather. They simply want you to enjoy their offerings. The Gucci is next to the Guess. The Dynamite next to Dior. And you can mix and mingle amongst these labels as you please.

Today’s all-black ensemble is the end result of this multi-generational mingling. The three main players (jacket, dress, shoes) in this outfit make a pretty stellar team, but only in the thrift store can they transcend their ageist restraints. Allow me to explain:

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I’ll begin by contrasting my pleather jacket with my leather booties. The jacket originally came from Sirens. Sirens specializes in terribly cheap club wear for teenagers and college girls. Their clothing is essentially disposable, and rarely survives more than two or three washes. I outgrew that store around the same time I outgrew Bacardi Breezers and the Black Eyed Peas. BUT when I saw this pleather jacket in nearly-new condition at the thrift store for a meager $12, it came home with me. I’ll certainly get $12 worth of wear out of it, and my $12 isn’t going to the sweatshop that manufactured it for pennies in the first place. On the very same Talize visit, and for a very similar price, I found these black ankle boots. Contrarily, these boots are real leather, and manufactured by a company called Rieker. Rieker uses words like “sensible”, “long-lasting” and “orthopedic” to describe their product. Their target market? The parents (and grandparents) of the girls shopping at Sirens.

Smack dab in the middle of this leather-pleather sampler is my Zara dress, thrifted for $7 from the Salvation Army a few years ago. If Sirens is the teenager, and Rieker the middle-aged parent, then Zara is the late-twenty something with more discerning tastes and a slightly larger disposable income. Basically, it’s me. So, if we break this look down by age, I’m 19 on the top, 45 on the bottom, and 26 in the middle. But when I put all these items all together, they just look like me. I’m not a teenager anymore, nor am I ready for mom jeans and minivans, but the thrift store allows me to pull from both of these worlds as I choose.

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If I limited myself to shopping at the stores that are aimed at my age group as opposed to the thrift store, I still might have found this dress on clearance, but I certainly wouldn’t have found this jacket or these shoes. And what’s a basic black turtleneck without a bomber and booties? I’ll tell you: very, very boring.

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You Say Goodbye, and I Say Hello

January 1, 2013 — 27 Comments

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Remember when you watched TV on a TV instead of the Internet, and actually used the TV guide? And you’d check the description for your favourite show, and it would have a tiny little “N”(for new) instead of instead of “R” (for repeat), and you’d be all like “YUS A NEW EPISODE!”. And then, you’d tune in all excited, and it would actually be a CLIP SHOW? And you’d be like “UGH THAT HARDLY COUNTS. THE ONLY NEW PART IS THE BEGINNING” (note this was me as a preteen, so I am using all caps to denote preteen-ness). Well, all in a huff, you’d reluctantly tune in because you are 14 and didn’t have anything better to do, and then you’d find yourself actually delighted to relive some of your favourite moments, because there was no YouTube or Tumblr, and you actually hadn’t see a lot of these episodes in a long, long while.

Well guys, this post might have a tiny “N” beside it, but it’s really more of a clip show. I couldn’t bit adieu to 2012 without remembering some of my favourite posts, so I went through the archives, and picked out my favourite posts from each month. Just click on any of the images for the full post. If I had to pick a favourite post overall, that might go to August, but that’s sort of cheating since that entry was a bit of a clip show already. 2012 was a year of florals, denim, belts, and pleats. And while that could be said of every other style blogger on that planet, I really enjoyed the opportunity to put my spin on all of it.

And, since I still have a soft spot for that huffy fourteen year old who just wants a new episode of Friends, there IS something you haven’t seen before at the bottom.

january february
march april
may june
july august
september October
November December

That final look is the last thing I wore in 2012, for some NYE celebrations with friends. It’s fun, frilly, and (of course) thrifted for $10. That makes it the perfect way to say goodbye to 2012 and hello to a brave new year. Happy 2013, dear readers!

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