Second Hand September

It’s Second Hand September, an initiative to try to make fashion more sustainable by promoting the sale of used clothing.

Thrifting is my superpower, but until last Friday, I hadn’t visited a thrift shop since January. Between knee surgery and lockdown, there wasn’t much opportunity. And even after stores reopened, I was still trying to stay home as much as possible. But then I took a trip across town to visit my niece whom I haven’t seen since December and stopped off at the Victoria Park Value Village along the way. It was sort of anxiety-inducing because I wanted to limit the amount of time spent indoors in proximity to people.

I did find a few treasures, most notably this hand-knit, Montréal Canadiens Sweater. I also picked up a Dala Horse and an Indonesian Cat sculpture to sell in my Earnestine Etsy shop.

Oh, and this hot pink, plastic cascading necklace, which I think I’m going to hang onto for a while to add some excitement to my more minimalist outfits.

As I mentioned yesterday, I visited the Plato’s Closet in the Stockyards after a foot maintainence appointment. As always, I was blown away by how affordable everything was. While they specialize in gently used contemporary clothing (there’s a whole section that’d dedicated to Aritzia and the ampersand brands like Oak & Fort were well represented as well), this vintage girl was still able to find a few things to buy.

These Fenty x Puma creepers have been on my wish list for ages (I was too broke to buy them when the came out). Initially I balked at the $20 price tag, but couldn’t stop thinking about them and went back.

I’ve also been on the lookout for a denim skirt all summer. I’d been thinking about trekking out to the Joe Fresh outlet in Scarborough to see if they had the button front midi skirt that I’d been too slow to pull the online trigger on during the summer sale season. But I found this nice Chambray June from Wilfrid for $14 instead.

And finally, I bought a funnel neck Joe Fresh sweater dress that I am going to alter to have two high side slits (to approximate a garment that’s been on my Pinterest for two years now) and a Forever 21 cape that is pretty much what I wanted my DIY blanket coat to be — except with pockets.

That may be it for second hand shopping this month. In store is just too stressful for me still. But I’ve got plenty of previously enjoyed pieces in my closet that I mean to update.