Winter Capsule Wardrobe Update, Part 3: Tops

Part the Third—and final! (Part 1 and Part 2.)

Winter capsule wardrobe -update

Today: Tops/Blazers.

I did not buy any new shirts, per se.

But I did buy a new sweater.  And replaced an old blazer with one I like better.  (See: thrift upgrade.)

The Harvé Benard blazer from my winter capsule wardrobe video?  It looked chic but also kind of stiff…too corporate with most of my less-serious stuff.  For example:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

What are those sassy top & skirt doing with that starched blazer??       So I found something with more give, more softness—oh, and the ability to move my shoulders with complete freedom instead of feeling like Tommy Boy: IMG_3101 It’s wool, it’s knit, and I need to remove a few pills.  Perfect!   It just looks more comfortable, more friendly, no? IMG_3092 Definitely more me.   I figured this out by thinking about what I love about my other go-to blazer, the one for which I actually reach on a regular basis: 

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on


Soft, has give, feels good on.

Glad that upgrade has been thrifted.  Sorry, Harvé Benard.  It wasn’t you….okay, well, it was.  Maybe next time.

 

I haven’t been as jazzed about the blue/grey/coral/white sweater as I thought I would.  I sort of make myself put it on like you eat All Bran—because it’s good for you.  The pattern is fun and they are good colors but it doesn’t feel very dynamic with non-jean work pants.

Here, me and sweater in happier days:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

 

Really I’m just not in love with any of my sweaters except my grey leopard print.

So I nabbed this one whilst heading to the cash register at the Goodwill with a few houseware-related purchases:

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Wearing the pants I just ambivalized in yesterday’s post…

 

Not in love with this sweater either but slightly more excited to wear it.

 

What I’m learning here is that I SHOULD NOT BUY SOMETHING UNLESS I LOVE IT.

Because eventually mediocre attraction to a piece of clothing will out, and you’ll find yourself thrust right back into the cycle of “I need something BETTER in my closet”—the very merry-go-round from which I was trying to disembark in the first place.

DO NOT BUY UNLESS YOU LOVE sounds so simple, and really is the whole point of a capsule wardrobe.  So you’d think I would’ve avoided this problem in the beginning by following my own capsule-building rules.

But I think I was worried about having enough—enough tops/pants, enough combinations, enough variety.  Surely two skirts will exponentially multiply the versatility of my capsule wardrobe??

 

Living with an attitude of scarcity over abundance never leads to happiness in other areas of my life; rationalizing and catering to all my fears about “enough” leaves me dissatisfied in a way that loving (smaller amounts of) what I have doesn’t.

So maybe in the next week or two I will try an experiment in radical wardrobe love and get rid of every winter item I don’t THRILL to put on.  I’ll just embrace the feeling of sartorial (hopefully not actual) nakedness and, I bet, discover I can live just fine with only things I love.

 

What about you?  Do you have tips for/stories about stepping off the cliff and only owning what you LOVE?  Scroll down to comment!

 

 

 

Winter Capsule Wardrobe Update, Part 2: Pants

Just what you’ve always wanted, a multi-part capsule wardrobe update!

Winter capsule wardrobe -update

Today: Pants.

So the goal for my winter capsule wardrobe project was to come up with a finite number of mix-and-match pieces I love, designed to get me through the season without shopping more or spending mornings in front of my closet groaning that I had nothing to wear.

Emphasis on the “pieces I love”: not just in theory, but in reality.  Like reach-for-this-and-put-it-on-my-body-with-EXCITEMENT reality.

My winter pants have been somewhat lacking in that department.

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

Don’t let my expression fool you; it’s more about the full-length mirror than the pants. Continue reading “Winter Capsule Wardrobe Update, Part 2: Pants” →

Winter Capsule Wardrobe Update, Part 1: Skirts

Winter capsule wardrobe -updateIt’s time for an update on my winter capsule wardrobe project. You may recall that in December (when it finally got cold here in the South) I set up a capsule wardrobe: a finite number of mix-and-match pieces I love, designed to get me through the season without shopping more or spending mornings in front of my closet groaning that I had nothing to wear.

So how am I doing in my quest to get more out of the clothing I already own?

Continue reading “Winter Capsule Wardrobe Update, Part 1: Skirts” →

What I Wore: Preaching in January

Hello Thrifters!

My sincerely warm thoughts go out to all y’all up to your eyeballs in snow up North. Meanwhile, it’s chilly but sunny here in Georgia where the “snow closure” on Friday ended up consisting of rain followed by Saturday morning flakes that barely dusted the grass.

Sorry.

This is what I wore to preach yesterday–I haven’t done a proper outfit post in awhile and I thought you’d like to see how some of my winter staples are working together:

IMG_3092 Continue reading “What I Wore: Preaching in January” →

Friday ReBlog: Baby Essentials and More Registry Advice

Minimalist Mom is one of my go-to blogs for minimalist inspiration and a voice of sanity in our  culture of buy-your-kids-everything-to-make-them-happy/healthy/safe/smart. She posted several years back about the essentials she and her first baby needed; it’s a great starting point for any parents-to-be out there. Now with three boys she’s also a great resource for parents trying to keep at bay the avalanche of stuff and activities that seem to come with modern kids.

 

Next week, we return to thrifted style with an update on my winter capsule wardrobe; don’t miss it!

 

Happy weekend, Thrifters!

The Ambivalent Consumer’s Guide to Creating a Gift Registry

While writing Tuesday’s post about thrifting gifts for a baby shower (tacky or not? Weigh in!), I got to thinking y’all might be curious about how someone who thrifts a LOT of her life purchases (that’d be me) does a gift registry.

If you’re committed to lowering your consumer impact and/or addicted to repurposing another person’s discards into your own amazingness, or if you already have most of what you need, signing up for a whole slew of brand new possessions feels… well… weird.

So what if, for any number of reasons, you don’t need ALL THE THINGS for your newly married life or your newly acquired baby or your new digs?  Today I’m sharing how we did our two registries (so far) and tips on how to make a gift registry work for YOU.

The Ambivalent Consumer’s Guide to Creating a Gift Registry
 Continue reading “The Ambivalent Consumer’s Guide to Creating a Gift Registry” →

Thrifting for a Baby Shower Gift

Please note!  I am not pregnant!  (But let’s count how many “Congratulations!!” comments I get anyway after posting this on Facebook.)

Recently good friends had a baby shower for their soon-to-be-born little human.  Several months back, in anticipation of this new little person, I picked up an excellent red onesie with the words “Born to Rock” and an American-flag-patterned hand in the “rock fingers” position at the thrift store.  I am a bad blogger and forgot to photograph it, so here is a similar item in grey and for sale on Etsy in case you think this kind of thing is awesome and want to support independent artisans:
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“What?!” you say, “you thrifted a baby shower gift?!  How tacky!”

Well, perhaps. Continue reading “Thrifting for a Baby Shower Gift” →

Thrifting Winter Coats for the Whole Family

You may have seen the coat I thrifted earlier in the season to replace a long-gone, much-loved staple:

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What you probably don’t know is that I unintentionally thrifted my kiddo a matching coat to brave the wilds of the frozen Midwest:

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With that little thrifted hat, awwww.

 

And over the holidays, my spouse, whose one true winter coat lives in New England (see this post about leaving your heavy-duty cold-weather clothes at your family’s house), thrifted a decent winter coat to leave at—you guessed it—my parents’ house.  Alas, I didn’t snap a picture before we left, but it pretty much looks like this:

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Source

It’s a cashmere blend made in Bulgaria of Italian fabric…just typing that makes me feel cozy.  He scored it for $20 at the charity shop benefitting the local hospital in my parents’ town.  (I also picked up a brand-new Wubba Nub for $1.00—!!!—for a friend’s baby shower, airplane earrings for The Sister, and a beading book for my mom-in-law.  Y’know, getting a jump on next Christmas’ shopping list.)

Tips for Thrifting a Winter Coat

  • If you live someplace warm but occasionally need a winter coat to visit relatives or for business trips, try thrifting at your destination.  It’s much more likely that they’ll have what you need—although coats 1 & 2 in this post were thrifted in Atlanta.  Just sayin’.
  • If you need to combat seriously low temps, look for wool, cashmere, or down and good quality—in tact lining, pockets, reinforced buttonholes, etc.
  • Find out how your local thrift shop does seasonal wear and shop accordingly: some places put clothes out at the very beginning of the season and they get snapped up, some keep them all through the season but then put them away, and some keep everything out all year (which allows you to take your time shopping for the perfect winter coat because neither Jack Frost nor other coat shoppers are breathing down your neck in July).

Have you thrifted a winter coat before?  Any good finds or good tips?  Scroll down to share!

Thrifted Style in Legitimate Cold (with a Shout-out to Cold Weather Newbies)

I sometimes imagine that when I’m writing about my winter capsule wardrobe, all of you north of the Mason Dixon line are silently rolling your eyes.  “What does she know about winter down there in Georgia?!”

Well, you’d be right—these days I don’t have to think twice about real cold weather wear.  (Watch me eat my words though if we have a properly chilly winter.)  But my family lives up North and you better believe I dress appropriately when visiting the Midwest or New England.  I’ve spent far too many frozen months in both of those places not to know better.

Thus, I give you Thrifted Style for Legitimately Cold Weather, and an amusingly lip-less photo taken by The Sister:leah201512

Continue reading “Thrifted Style in Legitimate Cold (with a Shout-out to Cold Weather Newbies)” →

We’re Back!

Yello!  I’m back from a lovely Christmas hiatus that bled into the New Year due to busy-ness at the job.  When you work at a church and have 7 funerals in 2 weeks, ya don’t get much time to blog.  Yipes!

But I’m happy to reunite with you all and I would LOVE to hear from you about what you’d like me to write about in 2016.  Do you have a style or thrifting question?  Do you want to see tours of different thrift stores and their goods?  Do you want more capsule wardrobe videos?  More hard-hitting pieces (ha) on feminism, the ethics of fast fashion, and cultural appropriation?

Scroll down to weigh in and get us off to a bang in 2016!

Stay tuned this week for how to dress for cold weather if you come from a warmer clime and how to thrift yourself a great winter coat.

Happy New Year, Thrifters!