Thrift Goes Hollywood

One of my favorite things to do when we travel is to check out all the local thrift or consignment stores, which thank goodness, my husband doesn’t mind (as long as we don’t spend too much time doing it!) But he’s always a good sport about it, especially when we can find some cool vintage black tees for him. And even if a long-distance trip isn’t in your schedule, try checking out some different ones in cities or towns close to you. I just Google the city we’re in with the word thrift/consignment and then read the reviews to help decide which ones we’ll visit.

My husband and I were in Hollywood recently to watch “The Creep Behind The Camera,” directed by our friend Pete Schuermann. It played during the Screamfest Horror Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theater, formerly Grauman’s Chinese Theater. (We had a 3-second walk-on so of course we had to go!)

It was so cool going to the premiere at such a beautiful and historic theater that hosted 3 Academy Awards Ceremonies back in the day and just oozes “old-Hollywood glamour.”

Even though I have a lot of little black dresses, let’s just say I could wear a different one every evening for an entire month, I took my favorite one I bought at Goodwill a couple of years ago for $1.99. I can literally wear that dress for any occasion, dressing it up or down. I paired it with a $10 fab multi-strand necklace I bought at my favorite consignment store, Ashley’s Attic and a $1 garage-sale bracelet. I felt glamorous and comfortable without breaking the bank.

And don’t forget, when one season’s ending, those clothes get marked down even more. It’s so easy to add a sweater, tights, or boots to a summer dress for the colder months.

We didn’t shop that much because we were busy drinking, eating and visiting with friends so unfortunately I wasn’t able to check out the local Goodwill stores, which happen to be a favorite of mine (or at least here in the Springs.) We found one store by mistake and then visited a Hollywood fave we discovered a couple of years ago.

Here’s a few of my finds…

Walking around West Hollywood I spied a store called Out of the Closet, which benefits AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

It wasn’t that big but it was full of lots of great clothes, including quite a bit of vintage items. (We visited the location on Santa Monica Blvd. – there’s quite a few of these in California.) The very first thing that caught my eye was this lovely grey dress that was priced at $15. Even with reading glasses, full sun, and a magnifying mirror, I can’t read what the label says…I swear, the writing is teeny tiny! Anyway, the dress fit perfect and was well-made so it doesn’t really matter what the label is because $15 was totally fair.

BUT…when we checked out, the dress rang up at $1.00! I did question that, wanting to be fair but yes, everything priced with that certain colored tag that day was only a buck! SOLD!

For warmer months I’ll wear this with flat sandals for a casual look and strappy heels to dress it up more.

With a few additions I can totally wear this dress year-round. This entire outfit cost $31.96: dress $1.00, from Discover Goodwill – sweater $2.99, belt $3.99, earrings $2.99; from Target – last year clearance shoes $19.99 and from the dollar store $1 tights. (I’ll add heavier tights and boots for cold days.)

The store we HAD to visit on this trip was called Crossroads Trading Company because we had shopped there a few years ago on a visit and they had amazing high-end labels in perfect condition that weren’t that expensive. They are located in several states and they also have a small on-line site. I seriously could have spent 8 hours in this store and would have still needed more time to see and try on everything I liked.

I love the details on this Jessica Simpson dress! And it’s unlike anything in my closet so I felt a NEED for it. I saw a few similar Jessica Simpson dresses at Lord & Taylor for $148…this dress was $25. Paired with a $3.00 bracelet from Ashley’s Attic, earrings from Discover Goodwill $3.99 and the black ring that you can hardly see is one I made for about $1.00 from a big bag of jewelry I bought last year from Goodwill.

When I tried this dress on I was concerned it might be too young for me. I asked a couple of women in the dressing room what they thought and one said, “Looks like you could be going for cocktails with the Kennedy’s.” SOLD!

This look includes $1.00 sunglasses from the Dollar Tree, purse and bangle bracelets from Discover Goodwill ($3.99 each)and my Nine West shoes that I got on sale years ago for $48.99.

I absolutely don’t need more outerwear but my husband insisted I get both of these jackets. Seriously, I said, “I don’t need them,” but he put them on the counter and paid for them anyway. Hey, I’m not going to argue!

This is unlike any jacket I have. The Blanc Noir Black Floral jacket was $15 (I just saw it on eBay for $40 but don’t know what it originally sold for.) We also bought these Steve Madden lace-up metallic oxfords for $15, which typically sell for about $89.99. And I bought my J Brand cigarette leg jeans from Ashley’s Attic for only $20 (these are currently sold and priced at $169 for a pair of new ones.) If I had paid full price this would have been approximately $300 but I only paid $50.

This gorgeous Blu Pepper black and white printed moto jacket was $30. And it still had the original tags on it, including the extra hardware…it had never been worn. (The price part was torn off.) Love it! I paired it with these fun Merona color denim pants from Ashley’s Attic ($8.95) and from Discover Goodwill my $2.99 Ann Taylor tank, $2.99 necklace and $3.99 Express belt.

Along with the jacket, I have an Ann Taylor dress from Goodwill ($5.59,) animal print belt $3.99 from Goodwill and purse I got for half off at Goodwill for $1.99. My Steve Madden shoes were bought at Steve Madden in New York and were on sale for $69.99.

What a great day of shopping we had. For the grey dress, the Jessica Simpson dress, the two jackets, and the Steve Madden oxfords, we spent a whopping $86 and had fun. (My husband actually has fun watching me have fun and he picked out a couple of the items.) No buyer’s remorse when I shop thrift/consignment. And as you can see, my Discover Goodwill and Ashley’s Attic items are all fabulous too. Some of the items I have on are timeless and will be in style even years from now and for some of the more trendy items, well, I didn’t spend that much on them so I can wear them without worrying about the money I (he) spent. And if you notice my nails, this was after 2 weeks of my Sally Hansen $1 Miracle Gel manicure that I recently wrote about.

Here’s my reliable $1.99 Goodwill dress paired with the $10 necklace I got from Ashley’s Attic that I wore for the Hollywood event we attended.

ASHLEY’S ATTIC https://www.facebook.com/ashleysatticcoloradosprings

DISCOVER GOODWILL http://www.discovermygoodwill.org/

OUT OF THE CLOSET http://outofthecloset.org/

CROSSROADS TRADING COMPANY http://crossroadstrading.com/