Tag: The Anna Edit

Friday ReBlog: Keeping a Piece Past a Year, Anti-Hauls, and the Bag I Should Not Have Bought

A couple of interesting bits for you today on this lovely Friday.

First up: the comments in this post over at Un-Fancy are a great discussion on when/why/how you let go of a piece – do you follow the oft-cited “if you haven’t worn it in a year, let it go”?  Or do you stash away classic faves to see if you love them again in a year?  I tend much more towards the former, but I have stashed away one or two pieces (e.g. sailor pants) of which I’m not currently enamored but have a lot of personality and that I can see myself loving again.

 

Next: have you heard of “haul” videos on You Tube?  The idea is to go out and buy a bunch of stuff (or thrift – but usually these are retail affairs), and then make a video showing off your clothing/makeup/shoe purchases.  It’s a weird blend of consumer excess and vicarious living and I can’t bring myself to watch them.

(There’s some hypocrisy here of course because I do monthly “thrift finds” posts where I show you what I thrifted in the last month. I imagine they do inspire more consumption when you see a look you’d like to emulate, but since you won’t be able to go out and buy the same exact thing, and I don’t make money off of you clicking through to buy a piece I found, I’m okay with it.  Plus I love seeing what others have thrifted even when it’s totally not my cup of tea.)

To the topic at hand: apparently there is also the anti-haul, pioneered by Kimberly Clark and profiled by Anna of The Anna Edit here.  Kimberly’s anti-haul mantra is “Don’t need it.  Not gonna buy it.”  The idea is you go through products (in this case makeup) and describe why they’re not worth buying.  I love that there is someone out there doing this.  It’s a good corrective for those days when I waltz into a thrift store, see a bag that fits the parameters I’ve been looking for, and then realize I am happy with the bag I have and have no reason to purchase a new one (I thought I needed two, one for winter and one for summer, but that is a lie).  “Don’t need it.  Not gonna buy it.”  Thanks Kimberly.

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But it was snakeskin print…

But whoops, I did buy that bag because it was before I read about anti-hauls.  (That’s no excuse, I should know not to buy bags I don’t need.)  Luckily for me, though, the purchase went to a great cause because I was shopping at Out of the Closet, a new (to Atlanta) thrift store benefiting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.  Look for a post about it next week!

 

Alright y’all, I’m off to enjoy the weekend.  Happy thrifting!

 

Friday ReBlog: When Style Is an Emerald Faux Fur Stole

Last Friday it was a RePodcast, this Friday it’s a ReVideo – what is the world coming to??

Anna of The Anna Edit recently posted a video of winter additions to her capsule(ish) wardrobe.  They’re all retail (shock!) but the reason I wanted to talk about it here is because of how well one of her picks illustrates personal style.  At just about 4:00, Anna explains how she has a “thing for emerald green faux fur” and that she’ll search clothing websites just to see if they have anything featuring it.

(If you don’t want to watch the vid, just go to this post to see the faux fur at the top and in the last pic before the embedded video – but really the best look at it is in the video itself.)

You can argue that emerald(ish) green is a current thing.  And that faux fur is a current thing.  But the two combined are not exactly popping up in every fast fashion store you can think of.  No, this love of emerald faux fur is an Anna thing.  Just something she personally happens to love. You can tell by the way she talks about it: this stole “makes me feel like Queen or something.” (I will leave it up to your discretion whether she means ERII or Freddie Mercury & co.  Personally I think it’s a combination of the two, because wouldn’t that be how you would get a fur stole (ERII) that’s emerald green (Freddie)?)

I think her words signify that this garment has hit her personal style sweet spot.  Which makes me wonder – what are those pieces you just love, not necessarily for a logical or articulate reason – pieces that no one else will be chasing, because they’re based not on trends but on your personal gut feeling?

Off the top of my head, mine are:

Frida Kahlo socks
Plaid statement blazer
Cartonnier blazer
White/gold v-neck sweater
Gold lame short sleeve top
Graphic cardigan
Snakeskin ankle boots
Blue snakeskin blouse
Velvet rose top
Floral sneaks

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These pieces give my outfits a little funk, adding some pep to my step and ensuring that even when I’m wearing something rather “classic,” I don’t just blend into the wallpaper.  I’d love to know what yours are – scroll down to share!

 

PS I guess with all those metallics I really should have bought these:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

Ah well.