Diane & Veronica's Excellent Thrifting Adventure at my fave shops!

They went. They thrifted. They conquered.

It was a tale of epic proportions: Diane (left), a Grunge Queen reader, and her best pal, Veronica. Both dedicated thrifters. The former, in search of a fun day she could treat her best pal to, but unsure of where to go. The latter, a gal from-out-of-town, entrusting her best pal to organize An Excellent Adventure.

That's where the Grunge Queen came in. Enlisted by Diane to suggest a number of thrift shops in Toronto's east end along with a spot to lunch, so Diane could treat Roni to a day of thrifting in the big city, the Grunge Queen put on her thinking cap, made her list and checked it twice, and sent it off to Diane.

Would it measure up? Would the girls, so accustomed to adventure, be bored? Would GQ's thrifty picks be worthy? What if the shops were horrid, and they found nothing?

First stop: Stretch Thrift on Pape Avenue - the GQ's ultimate fave shop where she buys most of her wardrobe. The GQ knew this was the first stop beforehand as Diane sent her the itinerary (which Roni is reading, above) of their "Excellent Adventure, # 32."

Gulp. Adventure # 32? Would these thrifting picks make the grade? Surely, we were dealing with no common adventurers here. The GQ had to wonder: what were the 31 adventures that came before? Only Diane and Veronica know.

Diane's first find: a double-breasted brown wool coat. Cost $7.

Next: Roni finds a Spongebob Squarepants costume, a major victory.

Diane's second find: a turtleneck for five bucks. The scarf was picked up later at St. John's Thrift shop on Danforth Ave. near Woodbine ( another GQ fave), for $4. Matches the turtleneck perfectly, as she rightly observed.

Somewhere in between St. John's Thrift and Value Village next door (where the GQ had found many designer dud), it looks like there was some lighthearted thrifting fun to be had. 'Cos if you can't have fun thrifting, really, what are you doing thrifting in the first place?

Roni scoured VV for work clothes but ended up finding heaps of play clothes for her kiddies. Diane picked up a tie and a Sandicast bull terrier for her son's Don Cherry Halloween costume (pictured with him in it here) - she even made the suit and the doggie's tam, how fab is that??

A possible gem Diane picked up: a drawing that could be worth something. Stay tuned.

These wild and crazy gals end up partying at the Drake Hotel with their hubbies later, and since no pics were provided for that particular event,  let's leave them having lunch at Relish tapas resto near VV on the Danforth, toasting the Grunge Queen, the sweeties.

Ladies, all humour aside, thank you for sharing your Excellent Thrifting Adventure! It sounds like you truly had a blast and you've made me think what a wonderful thing it would be to actually make A DAY out of thrifting as you did!

All photos courtesy of Diane & Veronica's Excellent Thrifting Adventure.

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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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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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Halloween dig with Value Village costume expert

 

You know by now that I'm a Value Village devotee and have shared with you my fab fashiony VV finds since starting this blog almost two years ago. But with Halloween fast approaching the quest for second-hand deals can be stretched out to include fun costumes for office parties, home bashes and basic trick or treating.

VV does sell ready-made new costumes and the store, as you may well know, converts itself from the ultimate treasure hunt experience to Halloween costume central this time of year. So when I had a chance to meet with Meg Allan Cole, Value Village costume expert, designer and all round Do It Yourself-er extrordinaire (check out her Nest blog for inspiring DIY ideas) at a local VV store, I jumped at the chance as any deal diva would.

If you're crafty like Meg you can create your own costume from second-hand curtains, bedspreads and other fabrics found in the linens department. VV's Halloween costume section on its website is extensive, and it shows you how to create looks like Eve, the costume pictured here, which cost under $30 to put together.

If, on the other hand, you're like moi and can hardly sew on a button, you can still put together your own DIY costume with some planning, a good eye, and some creativity - as with this Jackie O costume. Meg recommends  

1). Making a list of the items you'll need for whatever costume idea is rolling around in your head (in this case a wig, shades, trench etc - be sure to click on the Jacki O link above to see how they did it), and then  

2). Raiding your closet and looking around your house to see what you can find. Then  

3). Looking for stuff in the new Halloween costumes section that you know you won't find in the used section (in this case the black wig - VV has every kind of wig you can imagine for good prices) and then finally,  

4). Hitting the second-hand clothing and accessories section to fill in whatever basics you need that you haven't found at home to complete the outfit (perhaps some clip-on peal earrings or a strand of fake pearls for a couple bucks in the jewellery section).

If you're fresh out of ideas, do what I'd do and hit the racks for inspiration. Meg suggests looking for patterned pieces of clothing and keeping an open mind when it comes to fabric. When you see a print that jumps out at you, what is it that jumps to mind first? When we saw this rather hideous retro polyester dress (under $15), Meg screamed "Marsha Brady!", forgotten middle sis in the 1970s sitcom, The Brady Bunch. Pair it with fugly boots, slop on a blond wig (new) and some ugly black Coke bottle glasses (used, and you may want to take the frames out!) and whine, "Marsha, Marsha!". Voila! You have your costume!

We both thought Edie Sedgwick when we saw this handmade silver dress that was about $20. Add some black eyeliner and a blond wig and carry a cigarette along with a photo of Andy Warhol - doncha love it? Those last few ideas were mine, ahem.

'

And as Meg says, if you find something really fab, like this 1980s designer dress from New York (which hasn't even been worn and still has the tag on it!), it's not as though its taboo to wear it in your every-day, non-costume-y life. 

I just have to sign off with a goofy-fun pic of Meg modeling a flapper look. That vintage-esque fringed dress was actually found in a Savers store in the States (Savers is the US counterpart to Canada's VV)! Grab some costume jewellery pearls and a flapper wig, maybe a ciggie holder if you can find it, and out on some black heels and there you have it!

Thanks Meg - had heaps of fun!! 

OH and if you want to see how the VV costume experts put together items in the store to create inspired costumes, drop by any Toronto store at 3pm every Thursday until Oct 31 for a Halloween fashion show! Meg gave me so many ideas that I may do a couple more thrift Halloween idea posts in the next week or so - so check back!

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