Newbie Thrifter

[gradystiles]

Good morning,
Recently I have been introduced to the Thrifty Shopper experience.  I wear alot of sport coats for work in addition to casual with jeans.  My first purchases were 2 sport coats, 1 tweed and the other navy blue.  I paid a total of $11.25!  I was even complimented on the tweed jacket while at the mall the other day.  I will be visiting Thrifty Shopper on a regular basis from now on


-JW

[foutchie]

Hi!  I recently did good getting a couple of jackets myself at Goodwill - looked (and maybe are) brand new - great way to get well made clothing at a great price!   This way I don't feel bad when I spill something on them that won't come out (which I do regularly)  LOL

[gradystiles]

You're right on.  Mens sport coats (new) range in price from $60+ It cost more to have them both dry cleaned than the overall cost of the jackets! I'm off to thrift today, specifically looking for old watches as I have a large collection of new and vintage. Anyone have pics, stories of obtaining watches???


-Grady Stiles

[Good Buddy]

Welcome to TheThriftShopper.Com!
We're glad you're a convert.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Welcome to the site.  I have a few thrifted watches that work just fine.

My DH gets most, if not all, his work shirts from thrifts.  Believe me, if I could find more that fit me and actually was age-and-style-appropriate, I'd buy more clothes at thrifts, too.  Good luck in the hunt!

Ciao,
SeSo

[Other People s Junk]

Welcome! 

[gradystiles]

Score!  While on a business trip to Boston I could not resist stopping by the local thrift store.  I managed to haul a velvet sport jacket.  Price....$7.50!  The brand is Merona, which if I am correct is a Target brand. Can someone verify that?

JW

[Cookie]

Hello and welcome to our site!!  Yes, Merona is a Target brand.  I am always excited to find Old Navy and Gap clothing at thrift stores.  I recently just found a Ralph Lauren women's black tuxedo shirt that I love for only $2.50 at a Salvation Army and wore it out to dinner last Friday night.  It's amazing how much difference a good designer can make in how great the clothing fits and how well it's tailored.  I couldn't even sew my own shirt for only $2.50 unless it was really cheap and horrible fabric.

[ChrisMiss]

Hi and welcome to the forum.  It is amazing the great stuff you can find at thrift stores.  Glad you found some sports coats and got compliments on them.  You'll be finding more great stuff and getting more compliments as you continue shopping at thrifts.

[dukek9]

I love buying clothes at thrifts because I love quality clothing (and unfortunately I like it in quanity too). So how to feed my clothing obsession while not going broke? I thrift.

Anyway, my friends and I do a friend's blog thing where we brag about our great thrift buys--lots of fun! And we also do a summary at end of month showing what we bought and how much we spent.

Here's mine for October and November. Note that I tend to buy out of season--so you'll notice a lot of short sleeve stuff now while in spring/summer you'd see a lot more cool/cold weather clothes.

Sept purchases summary:

Dresses—1: cost 3.99
Sweaters/long sleeve--2:    cost 4.74
Short sleeve shirts--1: cost 1.49
Tees--4:   cost 7.96
Total: 18.18


In October, I went kind of crazy:


Summary for October:

tees and short sleeve tops (9) :  19.42
long sleeve tops (3)     5.46
dresses (1)  2.99     
sweaters (2):    6.97
Subtotal               34. 84
coats and jackets (2):               22.48
Total         57.32

Note I kind of cheated with my subtotal there. But I was already higher than usual for a month! So I decided to count the coat and jacket as a special purchase

Dee

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Hi and welcome!!

Cookie-- you did marvelously on the Ralph Lauren jacket-- such great quality and so cheap. At Macy's it's incredibly expensive. Fantastic!

[ChrisMiss]

Believe me, if I could find more that fit me and actually was age-and-style-appropriate, I'd buy more clothes at thrifts, too. 
Ciao,
SeSo

Why SeSo you don't consider low-riding pants and shirts so short they show your belly age or style appropriate?? 

I think it's sad to see an older woman wearing clothes that were designed with a teen in mind.  Or maybe it was a hooker they had in mind.  Hmmmm.

I don't see how some people can walk out the door in the clothing they've decided to wear for the day.  Sometimes it's not only a matter of style but fit.  Some people buy clothes that are just too tight and you can see every extra helping they've eaten.  My husband and I say they didn't read the warning label on the clothing. 

It's sad also that some people don't have any sense for what is appropriate to wear according to where you are wearing the garment.  It's perfectly fine to wear a strapless mini-dress for a night out on the town but totally inappropriate to wear to the office.  Yet, I have seen people wear clothes like that to work. 



   

[SecondhandSophisticate]

ChrisMiss, I agree. I keep wondering what happened to "middle-age" It's almost considered a disease out there.  We're either youngyoungyoung or elderly. 

I remember the very chic women I admired when I was a young'in: Grace Kelly, Jennifer Jones, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, and I wonder where that part of life went

I am on hiatus from work in an environment where many of the people I came in contact with were obsessed with their bodies and the aging process to the point where they lost site of the enjoyment of movement. For women, the obsession was exactly about fitting into clothes and finding men or looking young and attractive.  There's nothing wrong with having a good body image or wanting to look your best, certainly.  But time does pass, it's part of life. To be around that kind of energy can be very wearing on the spirit. I didn't know how wearing until I left the field a few months ago and started associating with average folk, whose entire lives were not based on a certain "healthy" lifestyle and had other interests besides fitting into designer denim. 

The world in the office has certainly changed from the 80s "power suits" we had to wear!  I worked for a big "Old Boy" corporation back in the "greed is good go-go" 80s and one day the ChairMAN of the Board was coming to visit.  My boss called HER staff together and told us what to wear! Navy and beige and gray and suits. I was explicty told not to wear my purple skirt (royal purple, Bobbie Brooks, from the 50s) or "bright lipstick". Can you imagine that happening today?   

Thanks for your comments and for reading this! Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one out there whose middle-aged here in the land of the "newly-wed and nearly-dead"

Ciao,
The Eternally Elegant
SeSo   

[ChrisMiss]

I know what you mean SeSo.  I see so many older women wearing clothing that is totally too young for them.  It does not make them look younger it makes them look sad and desperate.  Our culture glorifies the young, the mature person isn’t revered for their wisdom; they’re criticized for their saggy skin and wrinkles.  The elderly are disposable like anything else old in this culture.  Only the young and new are relevant.

We each develop our own “look” according to our lifestyle and body style.  I’m not a feminine girl.  I personally could not and will not wear a dress any longer.  For a short time I tried to develop a taste for dresses, skirts, suits, etc.  I tried to look more fashionable and feminine but it’s just not me.  My style is more along the lines of dockers, loafers, polos, etc.  I’m slowly developing my own style of what is comfortable to wear in warm/hot weather and makes me feel a tad more feminine.  I love my docker-like shorts and slacks and this season I love seersucker.  I’ve bought several seersucker blouses at the thrift stores.  I love that the fabric breathes, it’s a more casual look, feminine but not too feminine. I may change my look and style but right now this says me.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

You sound very comfortable and yet well-dressed, which tells me it can be done! Most importantly, you know who you are and dress accordingly. (Plus, you've got great hair )

I heard that Dr. Donda West, Kanye West's mom (may she rest in peace) died because of botched plastic surgery which she was having because of the pressure to look and stay "young".  She was a beautiful, educated, talented woman and raised a remarkable child. But to our society apparently, it was not enough.

I'm not singing this tune because I am middle-aged. I saw the discrimination when I was younger and believed it would be different when it was our generation's turn.  Alas, the more it changes, the more it seems to stay the same.
   
The hotter weather here can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to 'sdressing! I just said to another "woman of a certain age" that I was glad in was no longer in the 90s with 100% humidity, just so I could "accessorize" a little more. 

I would be thrilled to wear a pair of old-fashioned real Levi's with the button fly, a work shirt with rolled sleeves and some huraches.  Or those old dirdl skirts and a neat tailored shirt and some great lace-up sandals. But try finding any of this stuff anywhere!   (and the skirt would have to be a little below the knee, please, not up to my navel! )   

I love seersucker!  I look in thrifts for seersucker all the time, have seen very little of it, and what I've seen has not been my size. Seersucker is very classic, elegant and cool. It's always in good taste.

 
SeSo