A Love Letter to Thrifting

  Sal of Already Pretty asked the hardest question in the world the other day:

omg. I spent an hour thinking about this.

  I think even if I make a living wage some day, I will thrift for the rest of my life. This horrifies my mother. :D

Clothes

  I discovered thrift shopping in my twenties and it was like discovering a comforting world of old and laid back. No frightening kiosk people* approached me with aggressive mind-game sales tricks. The stores were never stuffed with crowds, throbbing with headache-inducing club music, or gleaming with oppressive fluorescent light off endless expanses of glossy surface.

There are 10,000 items in here. I will not like any of them.

  Before, I never bought clothes until it became strictly necessary. Even then, when I'd venture out I'd often find that nothing sold that season/year suited by body type or personal taste or element protection needs and a day would be wasted searching through stores filled with things I didn't like. Who has the wherewithal to time her shopping trips on season or to keep track of some narrow window during which you might find something blue? I am just not into fashion in that sense. (Ups to you if you are, though! I just don't have the head for it.)

  Thrift stores don't arbitrarily restrict options to a few colors per season. I didn't have to look like a pissed-off Easter basket if I happened to run out of clothes in spring. They carry a lot of styles, too; I could find clothes even if everything sold in retail that year, or for several years in a row --I'm looking at *you*, skinny pants-- was terrible on my build, instead of wearing my existing clothes to faded shreds.

 Thrift store employees don't care if I buy anything or not, either. At one of my favorite places, they cheerfully greet you, and leave you to shop while they sing and dance to their rockin' soundtrack. You are also welcome to join in**.

  So I realized in my late twenties I really liked personal style and clothes. I just hate retail. :D

And more!

  Sal's question made me realize that my wardrobe is the least of it. My apartment is a thrifted wonderland. I was raised in a single parent home, so I grew up money-conscious, and there are a lot of things my father didn't "get" about domesticity***. As I've gotten to know my mother too, I realize neither of my parents are homemakers, so decorating my apartment has been an adventure of discovery and exploration without a blueprint.

  My jewelry chest? Thrifted. Handmirror? Thrifted. The decorative dragonfly candle was my first thrift purchase when I moved here. It was 99 cents. :D I think the ceramic Hello Kitty shisa was originally for toothpicks.

  I don't have a clue when it comes to artwork, but until I become a grown-up in that sense, I have found pretty thrift wall hangings that make me smile.

  I deep fry karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken) in a thrifted narrow pasta pot that isn't actually any good for boiling pasta. I roast lamb shoulder in a thrifted Dutch oven. My mugs are a thrifted collection of various Asian restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. I drink tea out of thrifted teacups, I eat my tea cookies off thrifted plates.

  When I answered Sally's question, my mind was full of the magic of the lovely Elie Tahari dress and how it's the treasure nested in my wardrobe. Really though, my home life is built on thrifted items. I mean, when I plop my butt down in the main room after a long day, it's on a free sofa:

Thanks, craigslist!

  My friend R when three of us wrestled that sofa bed up to the 3rd floor: "We are better friends than you deserve."

  I love the things I've made my apartment out of, and I love the stories and the memories that each one has. It's kind of hard to look for a favorite thrifted thing in this context, so my new answer to Sally's question is: my life. :D

*Whose bright idea are those things, anyway? I made up a list of excuses I could say while backing away, including “I left my oven on.” and “I don't talk to people that frighten me.”

**What's the legality of naming specific thrift chains? I don't know, so I'm going to call it “FineResolve” and say the logo looks like a LEGO® person peering around a corner.

***Seriously. Furniture that was not torn/broken was a new concept to me when I made my own home.

遅い 大掃除 - Late Housecleaning

  My roommate's out of town for five days. The last time he left town, I turned the entire apartment into Aya's Crafting & Cosmetics Emporium. I even rezoned our balcony for small retail. (It sold fog.) It's probably going to happen again.

  Since the semester ended, I have pretty much no sense of time until I start summer school, and it's only through whimsy discipline that I am still on a diurnal schedule. I set aside today to put my apartment back in order. It really needed it; sleep, food, and housekeeping all stopped around my 3rd research paper and 2nd final presentation.

  Today's outfit is for: housecleaning!

  Still love shirt shells, but avoiding long, trailing sleeves since I'm washing dishes and cleaning a gas stove. I think this one looks a little like a yukata. What do you think?  It was overcast today, so I do not know if the photographs picked up the gold threads running vertically through the fabric. I'm really not a floral person, but I was quite taken with this shirt.

  I live most of my life in jeans. I dig skirts and how they dress up an outfit instantly, but to share a bit about myself, I am terrible at being still. I don't sit well for long periods and I don't stand in one place. I spend my time either moving around or lying flat on my back passed out.  Skirts don't mix as well with squatting, sitting splay-legged on the floor, lying upside-down on a chair with my feet on the wall, and all of the other positions I shift between throughout the day.

  What about you? I'd love to hear about how the way you move or what you do affects what you wear.

Shirt shell: Rampage (thrifted)

Undershirt: Express bra cami (old)

Jeans: C'est Toi (thrifted)

Kokeshi necklace: AGATHA Paris (gift)

Shoes: Kelly & Katie Sarabeth flats (thrifted)

Treasure Rock of Ages

  Wow, people are here! Ally wrote about me in her blog and a number of her lovely friends found their way over. Should I have a separate post and an outfit post? I'm not sure what the protocol for multiple posts in a day is. I suppose we just make our own rules here, so I'm flying blind. Blind, but excited. :D

  I'm really looking forward to reading about and getting to know everybody. I read an interview once in which a style blogger said that one is supposed to read/find bloggers who are built like you and dress similarly. I don't know how folks put up the Bat-signal for that ("ATTN: short stocky future fantasy warrior/AZN punk fantasy warrior/steampunk past fantasy person/fairy princess style blogger seeking more of the same") but what I have found in style blogging is a network of interesting, supercool people whose passion and creativity pop out in their writing. It is a fun, organic process of exploration following links, and I'm so glad you guys took the time to say hello and give me more places to explore and read.

  To the outfit post!

  So, here's the deal. Several years back, I had a thing for shirts with lots of studs in them and laces. I'm over it now, but funny thing: if you add extra stitches to clothes, then tie them together with laces, then rivet them together, they do not come apart. I've made my wardrobe, now I have to lie in it for a few decades. Or not, because all of these metal studs are kind of uncomfortable to sleep on. (I'm joking. I took a nap in this shirt earlier and it is fine.)

  This Treasure Rock tank top is from a defunct online shop. After a poke around the Internet, I'm actually not sure the brand exists any more either, but there are brand new copies of this tank top in black on eBay. Or if you really like it in blue, come and talk to me. I layered it over one of my ubiquitous lace racerbacks and wore it with a black miniskirt and criss cross leggings because I am trying not to bore you dear readers into Denim Oblivion, which has actually been the reality for the last 26 years. :D

  Since the Treasure Rock brand's aesthetic is rock/glam and my aesthetic is more huh?/dork, I tried balancing out the outfit with accessories.  First, a pink hoodie. Then, in the event anybody still thought I should be taken seriously, I added a teacup necklace and sun bracelet.

It's hard to be taken for an angry rocker in a pink hoodie.

  I bought the bracelet in Paris several years ago. My friend Cathy and I went in summer, when dawn was at 6 am and the sun didn't set until after 10. It completely threw off my circadian rhythm, having that much sunlight, but I loved it, at least as much as you can love 100+°F in a country without widespread air conditioning or iced beverages.  I thought this gold sunburst bracelet would be the perfect reminder of those times. Then I came back to San Francisco and found the same jewelry company downtown a month later. Hahaha! It's ok though, it's still an awesome souvenir (and I know where to take it if the glittery stone falls out.)

  Thank you to my friend Diana for taking the outfit pictures today. We hung out in Golden Gate Park today, by the Sharon Art Center, where we saw the most beautiful stained glass window we both agreed we'd ever seen.

Tank top: Treasure Rock (available in black)

Victorian Hoodie: Prairie Underground (thrifted)

Criss Cross Leggings: no brand (eBay)

Sun Bracelet: Jeanne by CJ (Paris, old)

Teacup Necklace: (Nordstrom, old) - similar on etsy

Shelling Out on the Town

  My friend Diana visited San Francisco today! I showed her around some of my thrifting haunts in the city in an attempt to aid in her continuing quest for Jeans That Fit.

  Dressing for thrifting's a bit of a trick. You want to wear something tight-fitting so you can try clothes on over it, but you (well, at least I) also don't want to want to join the ranks of folks wearing underwear-as-outerwear. You know what I'm talking about. One of the best things about graduating will be no longer seeing the thinly veiled buttocks of my fellow undergraduates shuffling around campus.

  Enter the versatile Express built-in bra camisole. And if you're me, laugh off that 'bra' claim and shove your own padding down the front. (The cami has an extra layer of cloth on the top half, and an elastic band under it. It's cute, but insufficient coverage, especially if you're braving SF wind chill.)

  Then, because it's easy to doff and don while trying things on, add a shirt shell! I don't know how this hasn't come up before now, but I love shirt shells. I like how they're made of floaty dramatic material, how they're wrinkle-resistant, and how I keep finding ones with sort of Asian prints.

  This shirt shell was the third item I found on the thrifting trip of doom that brought me Battleskirt Galactica and Everyday Skirtpunk. It has an asymmetrical hem. It has impractical long dramatic sleeves. It's got shiny threads running through it. Sometimes you pick up something and everything about it is you. I did a quick sanity-check by asking my friend Athena if it made me look like an old Chinese lady (hey, this is a valid concern) but she gave me the thumbs-up.

  Then I added my Karen Millen leather jacket and a day out with one of my oldest friends was a go! This leather jacket was my first leather jacket (I have two now) and the most expensive piece of clothing I've ever purchased (even after stalking it for 5 months and buying it 55% off.) It took me four months to get the guts to remove the tags. This was several years ago, back when I had an income, and I still love it. I'm glad that worked out, because if I hated it, I'd probably be really upset at the wasted money. :D

  I'd love to hear what sorts of elements/features other folks find appealing in a piece of clothing. I like how widely it varies from person to person! Mine is dangerously impractical sleeves and asymmetrical hems. How about yours? Animal prints in blue? Multicolored dots and cowl necks? Non-opacity and unsuitability as pants? ... if it's that last one, maybe don't tell me.

Jacket: Karen Millen (Karen Millen San Francisco store, old)

Shirt shell: Mezzanine San Francisco (thrifted)

Jeans: 7 For All Mankind (clothing swap)

Shoes: Pony (eBay)

All Dressed Up in Black and Blue

  About a month ago, Ally at Shybiker wrote a post on a dress that turned her bad day around. It was the first time I'd read of someone else keeping items in her wardrobe of no practical value because their beauty made her happy.

  I live a highly casual and very budgeted life as a returning student, but I have several items that make me feel magical that I keep in my closet. Since reading Ally's post, I've wanted to do one about my own mood-changing dress, in a kind of solidarity or a virtual cocktail party.  If we have nowhere to wear our prettiest things, we'll wear them inside together on our style blogs. :D

  I found this Elie Tahari dress at a thrift boutique for $18. I hesitated because again, student! Any occasion that would warrant this type of dress would cost money I did not have. Heck, I wasn't sure I had the 18 beans to splurge on something utterly frivolous.

  Trying on the dress, however, was like getting a punch of endorphins to the brain. The dress made me feel like a goddess of sexy and nighttime and class.  I love the color of the blue satin sheath and the overlayer of black lace. I love how it's clingy and has that hint of boudoir nighttime wear without going into lingerie/trashy territory.

  I paired it with a necklace I got at a Styles for Less closing sale for $6.50, again because it was very pretty though I had no practical use for it. Then I put on the sparkliest shoes I own, a pair of Matisse sandals with pewter flowers and rhinestones:

  A former coworker once described the sandals as 'Slave Leia for my feet.' I like the super reasonable wedge height. Even though they do not come in wide width, there's only a toe strap, so my little toes can hang off the edge and not get crushed. I require formal shoes be comfortable enough for me to stand for hours in them, and these absolutely fit the bill, while being sparkly to boot. *thumbs up*

  Thanks to Ally for the idea and opportunity to do this, though it took much longer than I expected because of my semester of URGHawiohga;wekah. I'd love to hear about your special closet items, too!

Dress: Elie Tahari (thrifted)

Necklace: Styles for Less (old)

Shoes: Matisse (DSW, old)

Everyday Steampunk 2

  I'm at it again! At this rate maybe I should invest in a pair of round spectacle sunglasses.

  This pink Fei skirt came from the same thrift trip that spawned Battleskirt Galactica. That was a good trip.

  I wore it with my jeweled Express locket that goes with everything, a lace and stud leather Arden B. belt, Naya Lightning boots (with little grey boot socks!) and a triple lace scarf from OzzOn Japan. Over everything I wore a military-ish jacket by promod.

  I grow more enamored with this circle skirt every time I style it. It's foofy (is that the technical term?) below a fitted waist with little bucklets. It's the exact length that I feel age appropriate but still young-ish and fun. Its color is very pale, and I originally thought about overdyeing, but I really like how it goes with dark browns.

  Oh man, scarves that are curly and have bits of lace hanging off and are made of multiple fabrics. I don't know how to describe how much they delight me, save I never, ever thought about buying scarves as a fashion accessory until the first time I saw one.

  Dangly lace scarves are almost as high on the Oh God, Aya list as homeless skirts for my long-suffering family, but they support me in my fashion choices, even if they openly dislike them. That's love.

  I apologize for my unfriendly face and lion's mane. I thought I looked fine at the time. I think I'm still recouping from my semester because I slept for 12 hours that day and my hair was having none of this "theory of gravity" business. Stupid scientists think they're so smart. I hope they let me into their club.

Jacket: promod (thrifted)

Tank top: Velvet (old, TJ Maxx)

Skirt: Fei (thrifted)

Scarf: OzzOn Japan (Japan)

Belt: Arden B (thrifted)

Boots: Naya Lightning (old, Zappos)

Locket: Express (very old)

Screencap Post 2

  Yay, I've been blogging for a month now!

  Just a quick post to say thanks to both of you guys for reading, and that it's been a blast.

  Here are some screencaps from the week:

We're currently the only couturgatory out there :D

Sal of Already Pretty asked the hardest question of all time.

  I think there's a blog post in here. I might spend an hour photographing The Apartment That Thrifting Built.

I think this is from mrspollyrogers.com

 I approve of any style that weaves a fabric shield between me and the San Francisco winds.

  Ulyana Sergeenko: I love this silhouette. I want to recreate it.

  If anyone has tips for how to look for Victorian/Edwardian inspired fashion without encountering  a jabillion "steampunk" items with sheet metal gears glued on, please let me know.

 Bow & Arrow puff sleeved button-up: I think this is what I wanted for my Everyday Steampunk outfit a few weeks ago.  Too bad even used it is 30 beans.

  I was poking around eBay for cropped/half blazer vest things (what on earth do you call something like this?) and discovered designer Louis Verdad. From what I've seen, his clothes have awesome small details and classical silhouettes. I'll be keeping an eye on items of his that turn up on eBay for inspiration.

  I think these are adorable. They are also maternity leggings. Probably going to buy a pair, anyway. The model is 5'4"! I may not have to chop 6 inches of fabric off the bottoms. It's very exciting.