Thrifting – Luxe and Labeless

Vintage

I realize that fashion, like most things in history, keeps repeating itself. Over the Summer season, I noticed a huge nod to the 70’s era and it seems to have continued on to the Fall as well. (Insert me telling my mom that she should have kept her old clothes for me lol)

I’ve been definitely grooving on this ‘vintage take with a new spin’ style recently, I love the color palettes, the bold prints, the fabrics as well as the cuts of the pieces that are rolling out.

For this look I wanted to play on that vintage-esque vibe with muted color tones, perfect for the Fall season, with trendy cuts. I love this super cute tie front crop top, paired perfectly with these high rise pants. For me this purse was the star of the show, it was the centerpiece to this whole look, and I scored it for only $2 at my local goodwill. The Calvin Klein shoes were also a Thrift Store find that I got for $8.

I’ve been really loving this trend and plan on continuing it with other pieces as well. Is the vintage clothing trend something that you’re into as well?

Diy: No Sew 2 Piece Set

2 Piece sets have to be one of my all time favorite trends, as I am monochromatic by nature. I don’t see them going anywhere anytime soon, this is definitely something that I am going to carry over to the fall and winter months ahead of us.

I have really been on the hunt for a cute set, but unfortunately it’s been really to find one that I absolutely love, that fits correctly, is made of a great material and that is cost effective. I came up with idea that I could make my very own out of thrifted dresses and long skirts, so that’s what I did! I bought a few garments to try this on, but wanted to test the waters with this $5 Gingham printed skirt. I loved the material, the print and most of the button detail on the skirt, I thought it would the perfect combo for summer.

I started out by pre-planning what look I was going for, and how long/short that I wanted the skirt portion to be… this would let me know how much fabric I had to work with for the top. As this was a no sew project I used the same materials from my previous ‘No sew’ Diy post, the hem tape that I purchased from walmart, and my handy dandy Iron. Watch the video below to see how I transformed this thrifted gingham skirt, then scroll to the pictures below to see how it all turned out. If you like the look, but don’t want to Diy, don’t worry boo I got you too. I’ve listed a few similar sets to this one at the bottom of this post.

Boohoo:

Romwe:

Agaci:

Forever21:

DIY: Belt Bag Obsession

I totally feel as though this “Belt Bag” trend popped up out of nowhere, and I’ve got to tell you….I’m not mad at it. To me it feels like the Fanny Packs that I used to love as a child have grown up with me and now it’s all sexy and sophisticated and has changed it’s name to match.

As you may know from my previous blog entries, I’m very selective about the trends that I’ll join in on, due to the fact that I don’t want to purchase items that wont have longevity in my closet. I have been looking for a Belt Bag that suited my tastes and was something versatile that I could either dress up or down, but unfortunately I wasn’t finding quite what I was looking for.

Luckily on one of my, oh so many, trips to Forever21 I saw this crossbody purse that I felt was exactly the look I was going for. There were only 2 cons at that point, it wasn’t a Belt Bag, and It was full price. I have a weird thing about purchasing full price Items just to experiment on them, but I bought it anyways because I thought it’s only $17, and it should be a relatively easy transformation with little to no casualties. Can you tell I’ve had failed DIY experiments or no lol.

So I bought the purse, then I got the materials needed to transform it, it took me about a total of 10 minutes to complete and I have to say, it was one of the easiest and most stylish Diy’s that I’ve done in a long time. I highly recommend when buying the velcro strips to get the industrial version, because it’s supposed to hold up to 10lbs of force. I can almost guarantee, for something going around your waist, there is no way that you’re going to put upwards of 10lbs in your Diy belt bag, nor will you probably exert that much force moving around.

Below I pictured the origianl Diy, the one that started it all, plus a video showing 3 other bags I transformed as well. The ones in the video were purchased from my local thrift store, which I feel are perfect for practicing on. I recommend that if you are wanting to try out this Diy to go for purses that have longer straps, like crossbodies, because then you’ll be able to play around with where you want the bag to fall on your waist or hips. I hope that you enjoy the videos and if you do try this Diy out, I’d love to see pictures of what you guys do!!

Dress:

Shoes:

Three Easy DIY Tops: Tiger Mist Inspired

So, like I usually do, I was scrolling the internet minding my own business, when I stumble upon the Tiger Mist website. Ok, ok…I was online shopping, you caught me!

Well anyway, while I was perusing their new stock and seeing the latest designs they had to offer I came across a few tops that I really wanted, like really bad, but unfortunately my size wasn’t available.

Each top honestly looked like it would be fairly easy to re-create, so I decided to embark on a new NO-SEW DIY project. I chose to get the thrifted items, because let’s face it, our parents wore some wild stuff back in the 80’s an 90’s and I felt like I would have an easier time finding fun prints. I feel like you could create these tops in so many different ways, using old t-shirts, collared blouses, and so much more.

Things you’ll need for this Project:

Iron on hem tape
Scissors
Iron
Thrift store shirts

Don’t judge a dress by it’s first appearance

Sometimes you have to look past what something looks like, and see it for what it could be. I feel this rings true in nearly any aspect in life, but especially when thrifting.

Most of the clothes you’ll find at the thrift store are predominately straight forward, what you see is what you get, but there are some instances where you can take something that looks extremely dated and virtually make it brand new again with very few minor changes.

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I recently purchased this dress for only $5 at my local Goodwill. The first thing that I noticed about it was the print, then the triple layer ruffle skirt, those were selling points for me, but the top portion was more than lacking. I almost left without it, because I had that little voice in my head telling me that it was too far gone, and definitely not going to work. Well I can tell you that I’m glad that I pushed that thought out of my head, I absolutely, head over heels love this dress.

Once I looked past the flaw, I definitely saw a way to instantly update it and make it work. I simply tied the dress in the back, unbuttoned a few buttons, and positioned the top to be and off the shoulder dress. What a world of difference it made, this dress reminded me of so many hot items that I’m currently seeing in stores, except mine only cost me $5. This post was mainly just to tell you guys to keep an eye out for great finds, but most importantly an open mind for something that may not seem like the obvious choice, but will definitely have you feeling like a winner!

Check out my video below to see how I flipped this thrift!

Best Thrift Stores In San Antonio

If you follow me on Instagram and you’ve gotten a chance to see my insta stories, you would’ve seen me score some pretty amazing thrifted items! For instance I scored not only one, but 2 vintage Dooney and Bourke purses in the same week, I also scored a Christian Dior top, and some pretty snazzy French Connection Libby Heels (pictured below).

I have visited my fair share of different Thrift locations and have been able to find some pretty amazing pieces throughout the years, I have comprised a list of my favorite places to find the best treasures for the best deals below.

1.My number one most frequented thrift store in San Antonio has to be be the Family Thrift Center, and it’s due to there extremely low prices on the clothing. They price their items by the day rather than individually pricing each piece, which is nice considering you can find some pretty nice labels in there from time to time. Though this place is a bit unorganized, it’s definitely worth mentioning. If you choose to go on a Tuesday or Wednesday just know that it can get really packed in there, because of the stellar deals, so just prepare yourself prior to going in. This place it’s full of great finds if you have the time to search for them. Pictured below is their daily pricing chart.

Day	Price per Item
Thursday	$2.00
Friday	$1.75
Saturday	$1.50
Sunday	$1.25
Monday	$1.00
Tuesday	$0.50
Wednesday	$0.25

2. Assistance League of San Antonio – They have great prices, a pretty good selection of items, very organized and friendly staff. The only negative are the hours, as they are only open Tues-Saturday from 10am-4pm, so if you work a Monday through Friday 8am-5pm job, you’re definitely not going to get to go during the week. One of my favorite things about this organization though, is that they are heavily involved in the community and all of their locations are staffed 100% by volunteers.

3. The Texas Thrift store chain is another frequent of mine, their prices can be a little crazy at times, especially with shoes, but their website makes it easy to see what the daily colors are and how much you can save. Also it alerts you if their are any big blowout sales going on, like the half off everything in the store sale coming this Memorial Day. I frequent both the one off 35 south and on 410 near Vance Jackson quite often.

4. Thrift City is actually a sister store of Texas Thrift and much like it, very clean and organized, but I would say this one has a little better prices. The quality of clothing there is very great and I always seem to have luck finding cute pieces there.

5. Goodwill can be a little over priced, compared to these others listed, but I put them on here because they have convenience down to a science. They are located all across town, they have color tag deals every week, their shoe selection is usually pretty amazing and priced well and their organization is on point. Plus they color coordinate and size coordinate all of their items, so it just makes it easier to find something.

6. If you are willing to make a trip up to Austin, I would definitely check out the Goodwill outlet up there, It’s one of my all time fave places to go. Everything is priced by the pound and it’s about $1.39 a lb right now. When you get there, you’ll notice a big difference from your average thrift store, everything is in these plastic blue bins that you have to sift through. The employees will periodically roll out new bins full of new product to explore, and roll away old bins, essentially giving you a brand new thrift store every 10 minutes or so. One of the best things to see, is that it does get a little crazy in there, people rushing to the new bins to be the first to get a chance to sift through them.

7. Also, while you’re there, don’t forget to check out Savers. It was one of my OG go to’s when I lived in Vegas, and when I realized that Austin had one too, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go. What I love about them is that if you donate clothes there, they’ll give you coupons for a percentage off your shopping trip. They are very well organized and have great prices as well.

So, if you’re into thrifting and looking to get the most bang for your buck, and look as happy as I am (pictured below) definitely hit up one of these places the next time you get the thrifting itch.

How to: Thrift like a boss!

It is not wise for one to walk into a thrift store without a goal or a plan in mind, solely for the fact that everything you typically see there is going to be priced dramatically lower than if you were at the mall or online shopping. You never realize how little self control you have until you get home, and you have a bag of items that you are never really going to wear.

My strategy when going into thrift stores is asking myself a set of questions:

What price am I not wiling to go over (Excluding designer finds of course!)
Does this go with anything I own already?
What are my intentions for this item?
How and where could I see myself wearing this?
Do I love it?
Is this my style?

I ask myself these questions, so that I’m not overspending and needlessly spending on items just because I think their their “cute”. It’s a weird thought to say that you can overspend at the thrift store, because all of the prices are dramatically lower, but if you never wear an item even if it’s $5, then that’s $5 you could’ve have put to better use somewhere else.

Thrifting is a great way to try out the seasons major trends without spending major money, and also seeing if that particular trend “insert velvet everything trend ” is for you. Putting these tried and true questions to the test on your next thrifting adventure will definitely guarantee coming home with amazing items, and pieces that will add major value to your closet, without just taking up major clothing realty in your space.

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