I Made It 24 Days
I got through most of January without buying any clothes. Sure I shopped — I bought jewelry, watches and various odds and ends, and I did get a few freebie scarves, but no new (or vintage) garments were purchased. I even purged a few pieces that I just wasn’t wearing.
It helped that I was broke, working furiously, out of town or hibernating because of the cold for most of the month. But I was going a little stir crazy and visited two Value Villages in the last two days. I already wrote about the awesome watches I picked up on Wednesday, but yesterday I caved in and got some clothes.
Actually, I acquired the green velour skirt on the right on Wednesday at the same Scarborough VV were I found the watches. I wish I had a better picture to show the richness of the velour. I wish I had a picture where I was wearing nicer socks. And the sweater on the left is hand knit and has a nice 1930s sporty girl vibe that would look so good with the velour jupe and my tweedier pants and skirts (and favourite yellow beret).
I consider fringed suede shoes to be one of my signature looks. I have been wearing some version of them since I was a teen. I’ve even made two pairs myself. But other than a pair of clogs and a jacket, I have been fringeless for a while now. I spotted the boots pictured above. They fit. I had to have them.
When I entered the VV on Thursday, the first thing I saw was this wool and cashmere, leather trimmed cardigan by the luxury basics label Vince (above middle). I tried it on and it looked great (even though it is a size small) but I put it back because I already have a few similar sweaters (and because its a size small). But as I browsed the racks, it kept popping up in the oddest places. I took this to be a sign.
I also kept running into a mother/daughter shopping duo. They both had great style but the younger woman in particular grabbed my attention because she was wearing a great North Face puffer jacket. The proportions were perfect and I decided that I wanted to look just like her. So even though I have enough winter coats I dove back into the racks to see if there was anything similar. As luck would have it, I found this Ralph Lauren Polo down-filled hooded vest (above right). I tend to run a little hot these days and my other puffer coats make me very sweater. This one seems to be made of a more breathable fabric. But mostly I like the proportion — it helps balance my frog bod.