Category: Fashion

2020 Thrifting Wrap Up

With 2020 coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at my 7 most exciting thrift scores of the year. Even in a year where I’m barely dressing to leave the house, there are deals to be found!

Score #7: Lola & Sophie Chiffon Tank over Tee – Thrifted for $2.50, Retail $107

Back in August, I found the pretty little layered top for just $2.50 at the thrift store and it still had the original store tags on it for $106.95. The blouse has an inner layer of super soft jersey and then an outer layer of chiffon. While I haven’t had the opportunity to wear it yet, I’m thinking it will look really pretty with some slim trousers and a cardigan for work.

Score #6: Anthropologie Dolan Left Coast Collection Cardigan – Thrifted for $7, Retail $128

I found this sweater in June, which is the perfect time to go poking around the thrift store sweater section. This sweater is super soft and has a longer silky layer poking out of the bottom. I’ve been wearing this at home with shorts and joggers and it makes me feel fancy, even when I’m as comfortable as if I were wearing my pajamas. Oh, and I totally wear it with my pajamas too on a lazy weekend morning!

Score #5: Nic + Zoe Brushstroke Linen Sweater – Thrifted for $7, Retail: $150

This was another thrift store find from August and I found this beautiful sweater at a thrift store where I hardly ever find anything good. However, this particular day I found this sweater in perfect condition for just $7. It is lightweight with ¾ sleeves, so it was perfect to throw on over the summer for those surprise Zoom meetings.

Score #4: Anthropologie Marrakech Moto Jacket – Thrifted for $24, Retail: $150

This one was tied with score #5, since they both have the retail value of $150! I paid up for this jacket at a consignment store in March, but it is oh-so-worth-it because this moto jacket is basically a fancy sweatshirt. It looks great over everything from a t-shirt to a dress and I anticipate wearing this many, many more times… when I start leaving my house again.

Score #3: Blondo Zana Boots – Thrifted for $13, Retail: $252

Back in January 2020 I put out a prayer to the thrift gods for a replacement pair of knee-high boots and they delivered with these from Blondo. They were exactly what I was hoping for: knee-high, perfect condition, waterproof, and MY SIZE! I wore these a few times last winter and they are perfect over tights with a dress for work.

Score #2: Beryll 100% Cashmere Poncho – Thrifted for $2.50, Retail: $550

I found my second-best thrift score of 2020 in October when I saw this poncho all crumpled up on top of the thrift store racks. It turned out to STILL be for sale on the Beryll website for $550, but my hot little hands snapped it up on half-price color tag day for just $2.50!

Score #1: LaMarque Leather Jacket – Thrifted for: $37.50, Retail: $595

Which brings us to my biggest thrift score of the year… my LaMarque leather jacket! I found this in one of those hodge-podge secondhand consignment stores where they literally have hundreds of items shoved onto racks. The dark blue leather of this jacket is some of the softest leather I’d ever touched. I wasn’t familiar with the brand, but the store tag had it marked at $200, then down to $150, scratched through for $75.50 and finally with a tag for $37.50.

I googled it… and it was still being sold at both Neiman Marcus and on the La Marque brand website for $595! I love this jacket and already wore it a bunch of times, including to work over dresses and with jeans on the back of my husband’s motorcycle on my birthday weekend.

Let’s have some fun and add it all up…

If I had paid retail value for each item (which we all know I wouldn’t have… but still), the total of my top 7 scores of 2020 would have been: $1,932. As it is, I paid a total of $93.50. Which is just 5% of the retail value!

So if you’ve been hesitant to try secondhand shopping, use this as your incentive to give it a try!

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Trying Out Amazon Prime Wardrobe

Source: Amazon.com

I first heard about Prime Wardrobe (then called Amazon Wardrobe) back in 2017 when they announced the beta testing phase of the program. I hadn’t bothered to use it though, because typically if I’m ordering a clothing item from Amazon it’s something pretty straightforward like a pair of exercise leggings. However, a couple weeks ago people on a Facebook Group I’m a part of were raving about these stretchy jeans with a comfortable no-button waist… so my fingers did some walking over to Amazon to check them out.

Unlike exercise leggings, I wasn’t quite sure what size to order. I don’t own any jeans by that brand and apparently the fit may also vary by color. Instead of ordering a few pairs and then returning them for a refund, I decided to give Prime Wardrobe a try.

I chose two different sizes in two different colors, for a total of four pairs of jeans (these are the jeans I ordered). Rather than hitting Add to Cart, I clicked on Try Before You Buy. This put the four pairs of jeans into my Wardrobe account and I was allowed to add additional items if I wanted for a total of 8 Prime Wardrobe items. As it was, I was only interested in the jeans so I placed the order and waited a few days for my package to arrive.

Once my package arrived, in addition to instructions in the bag I also received an email from Prime Wardrobe letting me know that I had a 7-day try-on period. I tried on the jeans, narrowed it down to my 2 favorite pairs, waited a couple days and then tried them on again.

I made my final decision and then clicked the link Amazon sent me to complete my order. It was super easy; I just checked the boxes of the items I wanted to keep vs return and then picked how I’d like to do my return. I already had to return another package to Kohls, so I chose that option and Amazon sent me a code to scan once I get there. I was only charged for the pair of jeans that I kept and it was so incredibly easy.

So, if you’ve been wondering about Prime Wardrobe, I did find it to be super easy to use. In my situation, it was convenient to try on a couple sizes before paying for the one I wanted to keep!

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Holiday Style for the Office

The one thing I miss about going into the office is dressing up for work. I mean, I also miss hanging out with the people and ALL the restaurants around the office… but my poor unworn office clothes are right up there.

I went into the office a few times in October, a couple times in November and for December I’m only planning to go in once. The worst part of going in just one time is that I have so many wonderful holiday office outfits and none of them will be getting worn!

I thought that since my ‘style blog’ is lacking on the ‘style’ part of things… it would be fun to take a look back at some of my favorite holiday outfits that I’ve worn to work.

I love styling ‘special’ fabrics for the office, even though they might be a bit fancy — which you can see by my velvet floral skirt, lace skirt, and sparkly metallic dress. That beaded cardigan has been in heavy holiday rotation for 9 years now… I remember buying it when I was pregnant with Jack to dress up some of my plain maternity tops. As for the plaid flannel shirt, I made it a bit fancier by adding my bright red points. Bring on the eggnog latte!

And here’s a little deeper dig into the vaults… with some 2017 and 2018 holiday looks. That’s the same lace skirt, paired with a pine green sweater and metallic berry shoes. That velvet floral number is a vintage Anthropologie piece with a halter top, but that was easy to hide under a solid black cardigan. The polka dotted dress has sparkly gold stars and I’ve worn it time and time again… not just around the holidays but all year long. As for the last look, it’s hard to tell in the photo but they are the softest most comfortable pair of burgundy/berry colored skinny corduroys and they are a great way for a more casual holiday look that still makes you want to fa-la-la all over the place.

Now I just have to decide which sparkly look to wear into the office this week…

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