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Today's Teens: The Thrifters
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NewsBunny
04/24/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
Will living in cockroach infested apartments listening to the weird old dude next door bang his hooker du jour through the paper-thin walls also become fashionable?

You have to live there because your parents...

Oh, never mind.

The bitterness is beginning to fade at 35, fifteen years after the experience began....
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I never understood the appeal of "retail therapy" when I was around mall stores- spending money is way too stressful for me-- but now that I've gotten used to buying an armload of stuff for $5 I definitely see the fun. I get most of my clothes at thrift stores now because I live in a small town where the only other option is Wal-Mart, and I feel better/ find better things at Salvation Army. The one problem is shoes. I only ever find shoes in like, size 5 1/2 wide.
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gingerkidNYC
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
This may just be me, but my parents would NOT have permitted me to shop regularly at thrift shops in high school. I did have a few things (bought on sneaky trips to SalVa with my bestie's family), but my medical professional parents spazzed about hygiene issues. if we were tight on money, my fam would downsize from department stores to Walmart rather than to anything USED!!!11!
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vanka-vstanka
04/24/09

@gingerkidcanada: My mom is like that too. But in Quaker Boarding School, all of the cool kids go on the SalVal van.
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hannahwilde
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
All the clothes I have ever *passionately* loved have come from thrift shops and I still enjoy the thrill of the chase. When I was young and poor I'd get a train to the rich suburbs and make out like a bandit. Any charity shop that's animal related is usually a goldmine. Best clothing finds ever were a perfect charcoal Issey Miyake jacket which I still wear and a couture Chanel jacket from the 60's which was in a huge pile of clothes and cost about a pound.
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NewsBunny
04/25/09

@hannahwilde: Boston used to -- and still might -- have a great one named Boomerang, just up the street from North Station.

I used to get a ton of shit there. Everything went to to the AIDS Action Committee; AND there were always plenty of fabulous gay men on hand to make sure you didn't buy anything that didn't look on you.

So much of that stuff still had the store tags on it. Never worn.
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frugal
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I am and forever will be a thrifter. My best was a $10 Pucci dress.
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la.donna.pietra
04/23/09

@frugal: I found a Solstice jacket, just my size, for $9.99. In the pocket was a $10 bill. That's been my best one so far :)
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La Chica Lucy
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I got my favorite winter coat at Goodwill. Bright red, a-line, just above the knee, with three big buttons and faux leopard cuffs and collar. It's not very warm, but it is fabulous. I like to think Audrey Hepburn would approve.
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electrogeek77
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
It's so difficult to thrift shop when you're plus sized.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
04/23/09

@electrogeek77: Come to the rural midwest. It's difficult to thrift shop here when you're NOT plus-sized.
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curioushair
04/24/09

@Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.: Hear hear. Although I live in St. Louis, the thrifts lean more to larger sizes.
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NewsBunny
04/25/09

@curioushair: Are you in NYC, by any chance, Ms. Electro?

There's a fairly new thrift store in Brooklyn that caters only to plus sized women. It's on my list to go check out. It's gotten lots of press lately; google plus size thrift brooklyn and you'll find it.
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
Sadie, if you still have your unwanted 40's housedresses... I'd be glad to take them off your hands. For the charity of it, of course.
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Notes from the underwhelmed
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
Ha! I just got back from the thrift store. I got a nifty black mini-skirt with white circles all over it for $3.99
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keldo
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I have found Dolce & Gabbana skirts for $10, Calvin Klein trenches for $8 - thifting is how I roll and I love it. Salvation Army rocks - I give more than I buy but the satisfaction brings me back.
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tiredfairy
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I have a friend who says I have "thrift foo" because I get these "feelings" of when a good time to go thrifting will be, go to a shop, and come out with all the awesome stuff.

Case in point: A few weeks ago it was b-day. I was tired of all the work casual I had and wanted to have some fun. So after getting a haircut I wandered down the 2nd hand place down the street. I found:

1. Mike & Chris jacket for less than $20 (original retail, $195)

2. Gray silk and netting Billabong skirt $5 (original retail sometime in the $80's)

3. Gray silk top by some designer I can't remember, $5 (retails for way more)

4. Black skirt with vintage lacing and buttons from, of all place, Jcrew for $10 (original price $75)

5. Adorable skull vest for $5.

All told, I got several outfits worth of stuff for around $35 from designers I'd normally only be abel to get maybe one piece from because I can't handle full retail.

I love thrifting.
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LBB
04/23/09

@tiredfairy: I have thrift-fu as well... one day I was looking for something nice to wear to the symphony, decided to pop into a vintage store near me, walked in, went directly to a rack of dresses against the wall, reached in and pulled out a flawless little black cocktail dress, in my size, for $20.
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tscheese
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
For affordable clothing, I fared a lot better in the Midwest than I do now in NYC (not just at thrift stores, but shopping in general.) If you're in a tiny town in the Midwest, it seems like it's easier to shop for the hulking, broad-shouldered, overgrown ruddy-pallid types. (Maybe because there are a lot of very tall, broad-shouldered, ruddy-pallid types in small towns in the Midwest.)

Now that I live in the NYC area, I just feel like a giant. I'm not terribly overweight and I'm very active and I eat very healthy, but I just feel a lot bigger here than I did in small-town Midwest, where I grew up. I tower over people and can't really buy shoes. Has anyone had experiences like this, moving from one part of the country to another and finding that your body didn't quite seem to fit in?

Anyway, shopping is tough, but I love cheap shit.
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Schm
04/23/09

@tscheese: Yes. I moved to NYC from CA (and am getting ready to do it all over again soon), and I couldn't believe how skinny everyone was. I am considered really thin at home here in CA, with people always telling me to eat something, but when I moved to NYC it was suddenly this complete change in body norms. It was the first time in my life I ever felt like I actually needed to lose weight, which kinda sucked because previously I'd alwasy been really confident. (Living in Williamsburg and being surrounded by starving cokehead 18 year olds didn't help).

However, the thrifting back here is AWESOME. I feel like in NYC everything has already been picked over multiple times due to a higher number of fashion-conscious folks, so it's difficult to find real gems. But in the Bay Area, we have huge thrift department stores (Savers ftw!) and barely any "trendy" people are usually in them. Which saves all the cool stuff for me :)
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The HZA.
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
Until I was 10, I thought the only place I could get clothes was Value Village. My mom loved I was never a label hound. And even still, I love thrift shops.
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Liz11685
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I am literally a thrift shop queen, and some of my friends were as well. I take great joy in it- telling people that my MIcheal Kors sweater was 5 dollars. That I have a friend that got a Burberry trench for under 10. My boyfriend's cousins have not learnt to be thrifty- and went to a more expensive exchange place recently. When one was showing me her new shirt ($10) I found my teaching moment!! I told her where to go, when to go, and to never pay 10 dollars for ANYTHING again. :) So, hopefully this knowledge will trickle down to her other teen friends.
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AnneBoleyn
04/23/09

In reply to Today's Teens: The Thrifters
I brought my old roommate to the Goodwill the other day and she acted like she would get a horrific disease if she touched anything. :rolling of the eyes:
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vulcanized
04/23/09

@AnneBoleyn: My mom instilled in me from a very young age the idea that thrift stores were icky. Logically, I know that's not true, but I still feel weird in Savers and the DI. This is probably compounded by the fact that essentially all of my thrifting attempts have been unsuccessful. The vintage stores fare better, but are also more expensive.
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Bunsen Honeydew
04/23/09

@AnneBoleyn: I used to be okay with thrift stores, but after a used couch brought me bed bugs, I can't go in one with a furniture section without suddenly feeling itchy. I consider it a mild mild form of post traumatic stress. You try having things make you their dinner while you sleep, and then go into a thrift store and feel the same way.
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