Thrifting for Spring Trends

Having made it through almost four months of bleak, unrelenting Minnesota winter, and having finally received my first paycheck for the new job, I decided to reward myself with a little spring trend shopping.

I am really excited about most of the trends for Spring 2011 that I have been reading about and seeing: bold colors, print mixing and matching, layered textures, and '70s silhouettes are pretty much my jam when it comes to fashion.

Here are some examples photographed by style.com photoblogger Tommy Ton during London Fashion Week. (Fuckers won't let me re-post.)

And here are some other examples from various spring 2011 RTW collections:

Prada mixes bold colors and stripes

Rodarte mixes florals

Versace: peachy hippie magic

Vivienne Westwood 70s neutrals

And a garden-inspired D&G dress

But, "what the fuck?" you say.
"I thought this blog was supposed to be for poor chicks. I can't afford this shit."

Well, neither can I. I just used looks like these to inspire my spring trend thrift shopping extravaganza. It is my firm belief that thrifting aimlessly can make you feel overwhelmed, and often ends up being largely ineffective. Especially when you're going to places like Salvation Army or Goodwill, I think it really helps to go with some specific inspiration in mind. Otherwise, you can get lost in the endless racks and piles of what is, for the most part, ugly unwearable crap.

So last Saturday armed with my ipod, spring trend inspirations (stripes, cute patterns, bright colors, florals, and '70s silhouettes), a bag of clothes to sell, and a $50 budget, I went to three different thrift shops in Minneapolis.

Thrift Shop #1 was Everyday People Clothing Exchange in Uptown. This is where I went to sell my clothes, and maybe get a couple things for trade. For those of you in the Bay Area, this shop is basically equivalent to Crossroad Trading Co. , but without any new items. Everything at Everyday People is bought from customers.

Anyway, I sold a couple things and got like $12 back in credit. I didn't want to do a lot of shopping here because, like Crossroads, Everyday People is a little pricy. (Most items are $10 and up.) So I got a cute pair of (much needed) jeans for $10 and a couple of awesome necklaces for $5 each. Check them out:

Melina is cuter than anything I bought :)

So I left Thrift Store #1 with a new pair of jeans, two necklaces, and having spent $7 of my $50 budget.

Onto Thrift Store #2, Salvation Army in the North Loop. I really love Salvation Army and Goodwill because they're as cheap as you're going to get, and if you have time to really dig, you will definitely find some great deals. However, some of them just down right suck, so read reviews online, go to ones that border trendy neighborhoods, or just learn through trial and error which ones in your area are worth going to.

This one was pretty fucking rad. The only problem with thrift shopping at places like this in Minnesota is there's not a whole lot of selection for petite ladies. And by petite I mean smaller than size 12.  

However, after much digging and trying on clothes over my clothes in front of a mirror in the corner of the store, I got two super cute skirts and a dress for $11. Tada!

Kind of like the D&G dress above, but only $4!

That's right, bitches. A vintage pencil skirt in that coral shade everyone is raving about this season.

Hella bold color.

Ok, so that's $18 so far. Then, I headed off to Unique Thrift Store in Northeast. Unique is right between Everyday People and Salvation Army in terms of price, selection, and amenities. (Unique has a a dressing room, but you can only take in three items at a time, and it's kind of a shit show, but it's better than crouching in a corner in front of curious ex-convicts.) I made a rule that I was not going to spend more than $10 on any item here, and stuck to it. Here's some of the cute shit I found there:

Stripey dress (boots not included)



Forever 21 Polka dot skirt

Charlotte Russe disco skirt paired with a black tank top I already have

Black and cream striped shirt. Classic. Also, beer.

And these badassical '70s style metal seashell earrings

Not surprisingly, this turned out to be my most expensive trip, but I still managed to get two skirts, a dress,  a shirt, and a pair of earrings for $33. So that brought me to a total of $51. Only $1 over budget.

I used to think that the chicks who constantly found super cute, super cheap thrift store shit all the time were either (a) lucky, (b) liars, (c) had tons of spare time, or (d) some combination of the above. However, I've learned that anyone can be one of those bitches. It is possible to get trendy pieces for cheap without having to go to Forever 21 and wait in endless dressing room lines with spoiled 16-year-old girls in baby hooker makeup and their bitchy moms while your ears are assaulted by Justin Bieber dance remixes. Just keep a few key things in mind when thrifting:

1. Have a goal in mind.

Whether you're looking for the perfect pair of jeans or a vintage party dress, go with a purpose and don't get too distracted. Generally speaking, serious thrifting = serious digging, and if you don't have a purpose in mind, it can become frustrating and overwhelming.

This also helps avoid sections that are not worth looking through. For example, I always skip the Christmas sweater section (not cute), white shirts/blouses (they're always somehow gross), and the endless selection of ugly, smashed pumps from the 1990s. I also avoid certain color sections that I know I don't like (purple or forest green). Narrowing down your search in any way will help you be more discerning and ultimately successful.

2. Don't forget about versatility.

The red skirt above is not something I would normally buy, but it was only $3, and I knew I could pair it with another solid or a print, and be able to wear it with tights and boots in winter or platforms in the summer. That's like four outfits in one. Sold!

3. Dress for Success.

Like I said previously, sometimes crouching in a corner to try stuff on can be a little uncomfortable, but it's really worth it to see how stuff fits. I tried on both skirts and the dress over my clothes at the Salvation Army. I had a couple other cute vintage dresses in the pile originally, but even slipping them on for a brief moment showed me that they were not going to be flattering on my body. That's why it's important to wear clothes that are easy to slip clothes over when thrift shopping. My go-to outfit is a snug tank top, hoodie with a zipper, leggings or very tight, stretchy jeans, and shoes or boots that are easy to slip on and off. This can also be helpful if you do end up going to Forever 21 at some point. Lord knows, my fashion partner in crime Jessie and I have endured many a dirty look from teenagers as we threw our purses on the floor and squeezed into dresses over our jeans.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful to some of you. For those of you who are already thrift-shopping diva extraordinaires, I would love to share some of your best finds on the blog! Send pics to hallee.berg@gmail.com. Seriously, let's get some pics of you on the blog.

Thanks for reading!

<3-hallee

p.s. Special thanks to my patient and long-suffering boyfriend, Justen, who acted as photographer this week.