Friday ReBlog: Closet Creep & Uniforms

I am sad to share with you that La Duchesse over at Passage des Perles is going from more-or-less regular, twice-weekly postings to just the occasional gem (ha, ha) due to a recent return to part-time work. Congrats to her, tears for us! But I love the way she has always shaped her blog around her life, not the other way around (for example the Passage always closed during Xmas and summer holidays). Lovely and chic, in practice and in taste.

Check out two of the past month’s postings here, and dip into the archives for lots of other goodies, particularly if you love jewelry and pearls.

Closet Creep – Why? (either a lament or a legit question, depending on your tone)

Has the Time Come for the Self-Styled “Work Uniform”?  (Chime in below if you have thoughts!)

 

Happy weekend, Thrifters!

 

What I Wore: Funeral

A coworker’s spouse died unexpectedly and we’re all trekking to the funeral today.  Ya can’t thrift cry-proof mascara, but you can thrift funeral clothes.

In fact, they’re probably one of the easiest outfits to thrift because of the ubiquity of dark (particularly black) dresses/pants/tops.  If you’re Muslim, Hindu, Pagan, or from New Orleans, you might have a little more trouble finding a white dress or pants, but you shouldn’t have a problem scoring white tops/skirts.

And if black/white is not a primary color in your wardrobe—even more reason to thrift it instead of spending big bucks on an outfit you’ll (hopefully) not have to wear very often.

Here’s my funeral attire for today—you might remember this dress, styled differently, from the last wedding I attended.  (Insert joke about wearing the same thing to 4 weddings & a funeral.)

 

IMG_3186
Leopard print dress with pockets: George, thrifted
Turtleneck: Piazza Sempione, thrifted
Belt: J. Crew, thrifted
Leggings (grey, not pictured): Charlotte Russe, thrifted
Black flats (not pictured): Clarks, gift
Black/grey leopard print socks (not pictured): retail
Cuff: vintage from my Grandma
Earrings: passed on from my Grandmother

 

Have you ever worn thrifted attire to a funeral?  Do you normally shop retail but thrift those one-off pieces you rarely use?  Scroll down to share!

 

And if you’re grieving today—whether a fresh loss or an anniversary—peace be with you. <3

 

Thrift Finds/What I Wore: Winter White Sheath Dress

Y’all, this dress was just waiting for me one day in the dress rack at the Goodwill.  If you follow me on Instagram you know that I am a dress woman and that a classic sheath is my go-to look for “polished with a little pizzazz”; their simple cut and embellished nature make them the perfect background for all kinds of accessorized fun.

This particularly chic sheath has already been worn multiple times since I bought it a few weeks ago. (Okay, let’s be honest: it’s been worn multiple times THIS WEEK since I can rock an outfit to church on Sunday AM and then to work later in the week without anyone but my spouse being the wiser.)

It’s a perfect off-white that doesn’t overwhelm my skin tone and that can layer for winter as well as shine on its own for summer:

IMG_3172 Continue reading “Thrift Finds/What I Wore: Winter White Sheath Dress” →

Friday ReBlog: Un-Fancy Is Back; or, Capsule Diet vs. Lifestyle

Caroline Rector has returned from hiatus and her capsule wardrobe blog, Un-Fancy, is back.  In her returning post, she shares where she’s been and how she decided to fire up the blog again, this time with a more relaxed, integrated approach to her wardrobe. Same principles, less structure.

As she puts it: “I’d say I’m off the ‘capsule diet.’ Now it’s just part of my lifestyle — like a healthy habit.”

Capsules are fun to assemble and to show off; for me, there’s something appealing about having just the right pieces and knowing I have a tidy, coherent whole.  Like you could tie it all up with a bow and, well, whip up a great blog post about it.

Capsule wardrobe posts generate some of the highest click-rates out there in the style blogging world.  I think that’s because a lot of us like the visual aspect—it’s clean, it’s lovely, it’s not overwhelming in an age of digital avalanche—and we like getting inspiration for how we could make it work in our own lives.  (Daydreaming about spending zilch time to pick out consistently great outfits…and just picturing how your closet will be able to breathe, to quote Duchesse.  Sigh!)

On the flip side, though, spending the time to craft a capsule and create a video about it and then making all of it public puts pressure on the capsule to be JUST RIGHT.  Can I really just scrap this skirt when everyone’s seen it’s part of my capsule and the fabric and color go so well with everything else?

(The answer is YES but it can be hard to remember that when you’re curating something, in part, for other people’s consumption!)

To be honest, I do like the limitations that a capsule-like wardrobe imposes—looking at my lovely, cohesive capsule reminds me that I have enough and have no need or desire to shop to fill holes in a poorly-planned wardrobe.

 

That’s why I like Caroline’s analogy of diet vs. lifestyle—instead of sticking to a strict regimen to achieve a specific goal—say, Capsule Wardrobe Winter 2015-2016—I can take the habits and principles of capsule wardrobe-ing and apply them daily.

Don’t love it?  Don’t buy it.

Love it but it won’t go with most of the rest of your closet?  Don’t buy it.

We’ll see if this relaxed attitude works this spring—whether I was following the rules long enough for the habits to have cemented themselves in my daily life.  :)

Don’t worry, I’ll still photograph my main sartorial squeezes for you so you can see how I’m putting things together.  Maybe I’ll even do another video!  It’ll just be more like a “core” than a “capsule”—the center around which everything gathers rather than a finite box with hard limits.

 

What works better for you—distinct capsules or continuous lifestyle habits?  And do you want to see spring clothes even if they’re not a traditionally concrete capsule?

Scroll down to comment!

 

 

Shopping with Meaning

One of the big reasons I do all this thrifting jazz is that I want my money to go to something other than retail clothing giants who source materials in environmentally unfriendly ways and use sweatshop labor to make their products.  I’d rather the profit from something I buy go to a cause I believe in, like job training and creation at Goodwill, or—at various other thrift shops I’ve patronized—assistance for folks who are physically and/or intellectually differently abled, addiction treatment programs, kidney disease research, local charities, etc. etc.

Another place I’m willing to spend some money?  Socially conscious businesses that employ marginalized people who wouldn’t otherwise have a job.  Jewelry & accesories companies, I’ve noticed, often take this tack: the people on the ground get together with social entrepreneurs to get their wares into wealthier markets (like middle/upper class America) where people can afford/want to buy their products.

If I’m completely honest, it feels a little weird to say, “Let me buy this completely unnecessary bauble in order to fund your family’s grocery budget/school fees/healthcare/other things that are absolutely necessary.”  Why should my comparative economic privilege exist in the first place?  Why do I have to buy, in effect, luxury goods for someone else to merely eat?

But to hear employees tell it, it’s a way to get wealth from one side of the world to another that gives dignity and purpose to the people (most often women) producing the goods because they’re earning a living through a job.

So here’s one of those places I’m planning to patronize: Starfish Project enables women in Asia who have been exploited through human trafficking to find stability through employment making jewelry.  Give it a gander and see if anything tickles your fancy (or the fancy of someone you love with a birthday coming up….or your Valentine!).

Check some more out at Storyweaver Mercantile, a new online marketplace that gathers several such businesses in one handy place.  (Full disclosure: individual businesses featured may get 50% of the profit from your purchase when you buy through the mercantile, so consider going straight to the business’ own site.)

Scroll down to share your thoughts and social entrepreneurial enterprises you support!

 

 

Giving up Shopping as a Spiritual Discipline

What?  You thought I would cease thrift shopping as a spiritual discipline for Lent?  Nahhhhh.

Oh, sorry, that’s probably a misleading title.   But it IS the topic of this post!

The Christian season of Lent starts tomorrow (on Ash Wednesday).  It’s a 40-day period of introspection, prayer, and penitence leading up to Easter and commemorating Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness before the start of his ministry.  (Wikipedia can tell you more.)

A variety of Christians observe it in a variety of ways, but a very common practice is to give up something you love to eat/drink/do for the whole 40 days as a way to identify with Jesus’ sacrifice & temptation in the desert and to strip away distractions from your relationship with God.  Common Lenten disciplines include not eating meat; not drinking alcohol; not swearing; no candy; no gossip, etc.  (Not usually all in the same Lent, though!)

Other folks pick something up for Lent, spending daily time in meditation, prayer, kind acts, etc. as a sacrifice of time and a way to grow closer to God.

Hey Leah, this is a style blog! you say.  Why are you nattering on about Lent?

Don’t worry, I’m getting there!

When I’ve given up something for Lent, I’ve tried to make it something that was standing in between God and me.  (For example, in grad school one year I gave up People.com because my increasing procrastination on the site when I should have been studying theology/doing homework put my focus on superficial, sensationalized content instead of more profound stuff.)

Thrift shopping has, at times, been that kryptonite for me.  One summer in grad school (I see a common thread here—grad school is hard and tempts you with inappropriate coping mechanisms), I went on thrifting benders to deal with the lack of direction/meaning in my life outside of school.  (Therapy helped solve that one!  I highly recommend.) (Also, thrifting benders?  I’m just imagining what you’re imagining right now: Leah tripping down the aisles of Last Chance, clothes up to her eyeballs in one hand, mimosa in the other….just kidding, it was much less salacious than that.)

 

Right now, despite the fact that I have a blog all about thrifting, thrift shopping doesn’t consume an inordinate amount of time or energy (or money!) in my life.  Two reasons for this:

  1. I have meaning in lots of other areas of my life and have healthy ways to deal with stress that don’t involve unplugging by SHOPPPPPPPING.
  2. I have found ways to frequent thrift stores (which is truly relaxing and fun for me) without buying a bunch of stuff (which always gives me a high followed by a pretty empty crash.  Wanh wannnnh).  These include thriftstagramming as described here, and capsule wardrobes that help me realize that I already have enough.

 

All in all, giving up thrifting at this time in my life would be a pretty “easy” Lenten fast/discipline without a lot to point me toward God.  So I’ve got between now and tomorrow morning to figure out something more useful/challenging/spiritual-growth-inducing. (Suggestions welcome!)

 

YOU, however, may find giving up thrift shopping or shopping in general to be the perfect Lenten discipline this year.  If so, I say, congrats and good luck!  For inspiration, check out the comments on The Vivienne Files’ post re: her decision to cease shopping for a YEAR (although she did allow herself to buy secondhand…so maybe it’s not the perfect inspiration for readers of a thrifting blog).

Miss Minimalist’s Real Life Minimalists series also has lots of great profiles where folks gave up shopping-as-hobby for a period of time (or forever) and found ample rewards in spirituality, time, happiness, bank account levels, etc.

 

What about you?  Has thrifting ever been something that’s gotten in the way of what’s important in your life, or become an unhealthy go-to in times of stress?  Scroll down to share!  And no shame—after all, I just admitted on a public blog that I used to be addicted to People.com.  :)

And to those who observe it: may Lent draw you closer to your Creator and help you grow in all sorts of good ways.

 

See ya Thursday!

 

 

 

Friday ReBlog: The Spirituality of Capsule Wardrobes

If you know me in real life, you know I have a fascination with mom bloggers from more conservative strains of religion. I’ve always been interested in how people live their faith out in daily life, and for better or worse, conservative voices tend to be more public about their spiritual lives. (Something to do with evangelism, methinks.)

Mormons, Orthodox Jews, devout Catholics of a conservative bent…if they’re well written I love their blogs, even when I disagree (sometimes strongly) with their theology.

For one, I get to read spiritual takes on things like capsule wardrobes—ain’t nobody with a secular style blog going to write about paring down their pants collection as an exercise in religious devotion.  (Okay I guess *I* could do that.  Since I’m a pastor and all.  Note to self.)

After last week’s epiphany that I need to let a mentality of abundance, not scarcity, rule my closet, I came across a 2014 post by Kendra of Catholic All Year on her fall capsule wardrobe (should be timely for you Southern Hemisphere residents!).  The colors and photos are gorgeous, and after acknowledging first world problems and that “we live under the yoke of luxury,” she nails it in the last big paragraph. (I’d paste it here but I don’t know what her policy is re: cuttin’ and pastin’.)

 

Have a thriftalicious weekend, Thrifters!

Scroll down to let me know if you would like to see a progressive Christian take on thrifting or if you’re just here for the clothes.  And bad puns.

 

 

Radical Wardrobe Love

Ya might be sick of my wardrobe capsule shenanigans by now (original here; updates here, here, and here).

But if you’re not…

Since it was my first capsule wardrobe, it’s not surprising it took some tweaking to get it right (see those 3 updates above!).  When all was said and done I decided to just keep what I thrill to put on. Which was sort of the point in the first place.

At least I got there in the end!

So here is the aforementioned experiment in radical wardrobe love in which I get rid of every winter item I don’t THRILL to put on. Continue reading “Radical Wardrobe Love” →

Friday ReBlog: Mom Style Winter Capsule Wardrobe

Jaana at This Mom’s Gonna Snap is a funky, funny, photography-loving mom to Stevie (which I’m pretty sure is the coolest name ever).  She blogs about their adventures together, her “momdrobe” (mom + wardrobe = momdrobe), and the challenges of parenting-while-introverted/parenting a kiddo with special needs.

She recently posted about her revamped capsule wardrobe: thanks to living in LA with tiny 1928 closets, she has consolidated everything into just a single capsule (in my head I am calling this One Wardrobe to Rule Them All).  And she’s transitioning from fast fashion addiction to slow style, sharing her experience along the way.

 

If you’re ready to snort into you coffee and enjoy bright, sunny photos about potty training, funerals, and Universal Studios, this blog’s for you.

Happy Weekend, Thrifters!