| I must have a fetish streak in me because I’m wild for black leather and chains. These perfect chain biker boots thanks to Jessica Buurman are my newest love. It’s the detail that gets me. My mind races with all the outfit possibilities. As far as I’m concerned, summer has come too soon! Good thing I’m down here in Canberra, where cold weather clothes never need to be put away. |
| In November, I practically boycotted any retail stores (except Peter Alexander, because I can’t give up cute pajamas) in an attempt to curb my impulse shopping problem. However, to take the edge off the urges, I allowed myself unlimited purchases from opshops. So here are my top 4 thrifted items for November. #1 Army Jacket $40 On a whim, fellow Canberra blogger Heather (Heatstorm Blog) and I decided to venture out of north Canberra to see what south side’s opshops had to offer. We ended up at the Phillip Salvo’s, where I spotted a rack of what looked to be assorted army uniforms. Without thinking, I nabbed this jacket like it was the only jacket left on earth. It was part of a full jacket and pant suit for $40, and the Salvo’s doesn’t sell in separates, so I paid the full price for the jacket alone. After I got this home and examined it closely, I realised just how much indication there was that it was previously owned by an actual soldier – the threads left over where badges were sewn to the shoulders and the nametag on the lining inscribed with ‘LT. COL. HUNTER’. It made me feel a little guilty about having bought it, thinking that this belonged in a museum somewhere, or kept in the family of whom ever ‘Lieutenant Colonel Hunter’ was. The moral implications aside, this is, undoubtedly, one beautiful jacket – perfect above the hip length, amazing roomy sleeves that I love but is so hard to find (like the amazing Wildwood Bomber Jacket). While the price takes it out of the range I would usually buy from opshops, this is still my number one November thirft buy. I wore this here. #2 ‘I Heart NY’ T Shirt $3.50 As I discovered, T Shirts are dirt cheap at opshops, and is always worth a good browse. I’ve never been to New York, and yet I’ve previously owned various versions of the ‘I Heart NY’ T’s. The lettering and configuration are just visually appealing, I guess. It’s the cut of this shirt that got me interested. I love a boy cut T shirt with a round neck and extra length in the arms (for rolling) and hem (for tucking). I wore this here. #3 Mirrored Wayfarer Sunglasses $10 I always look through sunglasses at opshops because it’s a great place to get unusual styles. What you find is usually mediocre quality and unbranded, but might look great just the same. Somehow it feels better buying a Bali rip-off or kiosk no-brand from an opshop. I guess it’s the knowledge that someone else was duped into buying it first, and perhaps you’re just making the best of their misguided impulse buy. These unique clear plastic and mirrored wayfarers were from Hipsley Lane in Braddon, which has gone back to it opshop roots as of late. I love anything in clear plastic right now, and the style is reminiscent of the Carerra Craze.
#4 Annapelle Black Leather Satchel $4 I usually never bother to look at bags at opshops because there’s always a great pile of cheap polyester bags from shops like Equip or Kmart that are not worth thrifting, no matter how cute. The hope is always that you’ll come across a great find that even the shop keeper didn’t know about. This time I was able to find a beautiful leather Annapelle satchel minus the shoulder straps. It had no price tag, and the shopkeeper let me have it for $4. Annapelle is sort of an unexciting David Jones brand marketed towards sensible women, but they’re leather bags are always superior quality, and definitely worth more than $4! What did you thrift in November?
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| For a year now I’ve had my heart set on a pair of black Rag & Bone Newbury ankle boots. The mid and end of year sales brought with them heavily discounted Newbury’s in all the colours, patterns and textures of the past season, but I’m proud to say that I didn’t give in to temptation. Rather than impulse splurging on a floral, metallic or even brown pair for an altogether reasonable price, I ignored the sales and purchased a pair of Rag & Bone Newbury boots in distressed black leather. A 20% off promotion at Green With Envy during the Vogue Fashion Night Out, and free shipping made the decision easy. The Newbury might not be all that special to look at, but a beautiful basic doesn’t need any bells and whistles: it must be simple, classic, and practical. The Newbury’s charm is in the roomy high cut ankle that works wonders for my, let’s say, ‘bulky’ legs, and the stacked heel that gives satisfying height but keeps it casual for everyday. Though it’s coming into summer on this side of the equator, Canberra’s fickle weather dictates that winter pieces be close at hand at all times, and the Newbury is the perfect transeasonal boot.
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| Thanks to the ‘Opshoppers movement’ taking Canberra by storm, I’ve had the thrifting fire put back into me in September. And once you have it it’s massively addictive. You never know what you’ll find and you get this irrational anxiety that if you don’t get to an opshop asap the best stuff will be gone. Here are my top 5 thrifted items from September! What about you?
1. Someone’s DIY shorts from Fyshwick Salvo’s Warehouse $5 Someone did an insanely awesome job DIY dying these, or, by the looks of them appearing at the Salvos, thought they had failed miserably. Which ever the case, to me these shorts are that perfect level of grunged up that money can’t buy, so I’m glad they found a good home with me. |
| Ah, the Pashli, arguably 3.1 Phillip Lim’s most popular and recognizable – dare I say it - ‘It Bag’ (*cringe*). But please believe me when I say that this, for once, was not one of my fashion victim purchases. |
| As you know I’ve been searching high and low for the prefect leather moto jacket for Winter. Ideally I would have liked to buy one from a physical location where I could try on and do my change-room-pouts in front of a mirror, but I took a chance and ordered the Rag & Bone Langlen moto jacket online. All I knew was that it matched all my requirements on paper: double lapels, tick, double breasted, tick and bold zip details, tick. When it arrived, it was like meeting an internet boyfriend for the first time: either you realise that it was all a mistake, or that he was even better than you’d imagined. Luckily, for me it was the latter. The leather is just so impossibly soft. The cut is perfectly fitted and both feminine and hard edged at the same time. Perfect the fit may be, but, as is my habit with jacket of late, I’ll likely only be wearing these on my shoulders (a style which a friend recently dubbed the ‘amputee look’). |
