Retro Irving Posluns jacket: don't be green with envy

This is another Stretch Thrift gem, a retro Irving Posluns jacket that was under $20. It's a Kelly green plush, almost suede-like coat, with faux fur flip up collar and trim at the cuffs. Adorable eh?

I don't know much about the designer other than that he was a well-known Toronto coat designer. I showed this coat to local designer Franco Mirabelli and he told me Posluns was big in the scene in the 1960s and 70s.

My sister loves the coat so well she's already asked me if she can have it if I ever tire of it ... which I never will, lol! I'm wearing the jacket with some vintage 1960s made in Italy shades I bagged for five bucks.

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Designer coat $14.99 worth $700

Remember this white with leather trim coat I showed you a while back, which I picked up at my friendly neighbourhood thrift shop, Stretch Thrift, for $14.99?

I knew it was well made and I loved it so I bought it. And I didn't even ask the Google Gods what the label meant, for shame.

Well, I was doing a shopping column at Toronto's Shops at Don Mills the other day and met a very "on" sales associate in a shop who guessed the label of the coat without even looking at it: Mackage.

Savvy fashionista that she was, the gal was, of course, correct - and my eyeballs almost popped out when she told me these coats sell for $600-$700 new.

Yeeps.

That's the thing about the Grunge Queen: she may not be up on all the high-end designer labels and such, but in her little thrifting heart of hearts, she can call 'em when she sees em.

Happy thrifting! P.S. Can you tell I'm wearing the $2.99 wool mohair scarf I thrifted the other day on St. Clair Ave. West?

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Happy Halloween; Live Long & Prosper a la thrift!!

So here's the final thrift/what was in my closet Halloween outfit: Spock. Inspired by the vintage Sarah Coventry pin you see here - which looks freakishly like the Star Trek insignia that used to adorn the retro costumes - I put together a Halloween costume for next to nothing! All I really had to spend was $7.50 for the Spock ears!

I'm trying to stay in character as I know Spock would look serious. Unfortch I couldn't master the whole raising the eyebrow thing that Spock was so famous for.

This outfit was so easy: I already had the short black exercise pants (short pants were KEY for Spock or any male Trekkie!), and the black boots(square toe: vital) I've had for at least a decade. The blue yoga top was bought second-hand at a thrift shop for a couple bucks this past summer. I added blue eyeshadow liner I had already bought at the dollar store to my lids and voila. I didn't have any black eyeliner, otherwise I would have attempted something a little more extreme on the eyebrow front. Didn't have a communicator, but my Blackberry could have done in a pinch. Happy Halloween!!

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Movie star moment & thrifty scarves on St. Clair West

So I had a Grunge Queen Movie Star Moment yesterday when doing a shopping column along St. Clair Ave. West (pictured here, what used to be my headshot for this blog, my lovely logo, if you will, designed by my lovely artist sis).

There I was, sauntering along (in a thrifted outfit), when I hear "Kelly!." I look and see a lady I don't know. She tells me I don't know her. Then she introduces herself as, well let's just say "M." M and I have corresponded via email about our thrifty chic designer finds. She's a closet thrifter and visits good 'ole Grunge Queen almost every day, she says.

Well, I couldn't have been more proud or flattered, or more delighted to meet a reader. Sometimes blogging feels lonely as I post so faithfully and often don't get comments and don't always interact with readers - then I hear through friends, family, and even strangers that they check in every day. So M, thank you, you gave me a reality check, and it was truly great to meet you!!

Back to the thrifty news. When I shop St. Clair West in Toronto, I always hit the Goodwill there, which totally rocks (the Sally Ann nearby,  not so great). But I heard there's a new thrift shop just a few doors over from Goodwill called Advantage Thrift. So natch I checked it out after my column.

Pickings: not so great: I always shop high on the food chain when I thrift and look for leather, cashmere, wool, good designer labels etc, and there wasn't much of that there. This large mohair wool scarf, though, was only $2.99. I've always wanted one. In fact when I was in Ottawa for Thanksgiving I saw a purple scarf like this at the Third World Bazaar for $40, too steep for my purse at the time. This one looks brand new and not a stain on it.

I also found this oblong brownish scarf for a mere $1.99. I'm really into brown these days so I bagged it. It's a soft wool and I liked the flecks of reddish orange.

Even better, the label says Farhat Hosiery. Now I thought the name sounded kind of exotic, like it was Egyptian or something. Well a quick question to the Google Gods reveals that Farhat Hoisery is in Bolton, Lancashire, England - and I have been there! When I went to England in September my man and I went to a place I've written about called Bygone Times. Well, that's in Bolton - go figure huh? And my Brit mannie just happens to have flown in yesterday, so I think it's pretty serendipitous that I find a thrifted scarf from a place so close to where he lives in the UK! I call that thrift Karma!

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Thrifty Halloween

This was me for Halloween last year wearing a thrifty Halloween costume. I was supposed to be Super Girl but my editor joked I could have been Shopping Girl, tee hee.

The outfit was really easy to put together; in fact I used mostly thrifted items I already had, like the wool-cashmere cape, the Italian suede boots, and the disco belt. The only thing I had to 'buy' was the blue skorts, which I found at my local thrift shop for under $5.

 

This year I think I'll build my outfit around one thrifted inspiration: this vintage Sarah Coventry pin I bought a while back for a few dollars.

Doesn't it just SCREAM "Star Trek"??

It really does look like the little badges they used to have on their shirts in the retro, original series.

I could wear it with a short black dress, black tights and black boots and pile on the green eye makeup and black eyeliner and be some sexed up little Trekkie - OR I could do what I find more interesting and wear it with short black pants, black boots, a blue top (that I still need to find) and blue eyeshadow ... and who would I be?? You guessed it! Spock! Or Spock's sis!

I'm sure I could find those pointy ear things at Value Village.

If you're still thinking of Halloween costumes check out the post I did two weeks ago with Value Village costume expert Meg Allan Cole.

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DIY pink at my sis's place

My sis is a chic is cheap Do It Yourself-er!

Like me, she's in the throes of a household clean up and reorg. Her solution for all the pretty art that her kiddies bring home: cork board pieces sticky-taped to the wall, spray-painted pink to boot.

Isn't this adorable? I love it how all the artwork matches or complements the pink!

My sis used that pink spray can on something else. She's been talking about doing something with this ugly metal tray she found in the trash for months now. She finally did it, and I must say the tray looks 50 billion times better! Before, it was just a tarnished old silver tray. Now it's punchy and sassy.

Way to go sis! I love it when my fam inspires me!

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Weekend thrifty shopping news in Toronto

There's some thrifty and vintage news to report this weekend in Toronto.

1). As part of the Kingston Road Village Fallfest, one of my fave thrift shops, Pegasus Thrift 50 percent off sale tomorrow, Saturday, October 23 (note: sale excludes vintage pieces and designer items - not sure how they'll differentiate between designer and non-designer duds but there you go). will be having a

931 Kingston Rd., 416-913-2544

2). This weekend the Canadian Alliance of Film & Television Costume Arts & Design (CAFTCAD) is having its movie wardrobe sale tomorrow, Saturday, October 23 at Pinewood Film Studios, 225 Commissioners Street.

There will be vintage dealers as well as CAFCAD members - lots of ladies' clothing and accessories. I went a couple years ago and picked up a vintage belt I still wear today, along with two fab coats for $10 each.

NOTE: prices aren't always as good as that - those $10 coats were initially priced at $60 each but the lady marked them down later on in the afternoon as no one was buying them - so it could be a good strategy to go later!

Sale is $3 admission (seniors free) and runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Happy hunting! 

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