Hello. Happy spring! It still is rather cold and dark here most days however I spotted several places that had put out barrels or pots of daffodils and pansies so sights of spring are on their way! I look forward to changing the types of posts in the near future to more about small shops in the Village or Brooklyn and putting some focus on what other artists or shops owners are doing. With the numerous snow storms we had here my desire to run around and go places sort of bit the dust but it is alive and well again as spring is approaching!
Thrifted blazer, new shirt was a gift, and a new skirt
I wanted to write about office attire since it is a necessity for so many of us. The requirement to look professional and keep up with basic trends can get quite costly unless one knows how to work around the system. Or we can make a conscious decision to wear as many classic looks as possible to minimize the extent of what we have to change as time goes along. That is usually what I prefer to do. I like to wear colorful pieces when I can as too much grey and black can get just down right dark. In New York more people wear a lot of dark colors due to having small closets or often only one closet. Even when faced with challenges such as that one can add colorful scarves or accessories to brighten things up. I am going to do another post soon about wearing scarves in spring and summer. Scarves add a classy European flair to basic outfits.
My goal here is to cover the basics and inspire others to know that they can cut down their costs for office attire with some time and effort by shopping at thrift shops, vintage shops or garage sales.
Also one can acquire a few pieces from a friend or parent that has retired recently if they are the same size and have similar taste in apparel. I have several pieces my mother gave me once she retired that I wear regularly. Nowadays many people hold clothing swaps with their friends to exchange clothing. This is a very good idea since any clothing further down the chain of mass consumerism and production is good for our environment. Every time an item is reused or recycled, or upcycled it is beneficial for our planet.
Recycling a thrift store bought blouse, skirt and shoes
I also have a sweater that I traded for at Buffalo Exchange that I wear sometimes to work and a vintage shirt dress that I found at Beacon’s Closet for fifteen dollars. Other times I have been to Beacon’s Closet and traded for items. Emily, my daughter will be writing a piece soon for the blog about buying and selling at Buffalo Exchange. She used to work at one of their shops so she knows more about this than I do.
Thrifted dress. I altered the sleeves.
There are several Etsy shops for instance that have lovely vintage suits for about sixty dollars that are generally made better than the suits one can buy now. I had to give away my vintage suits that I had since my waist is not as tiny as it was when I was younger. Right now I don’t wear a lot of suits but I do have a few classic blazers, one of which is a Ralph Lauren that I acquired at a garage sale in Boulder, Co. from a woman who sold it to me for a mere five dollars. She had a beautiful old mansion up on Mapleton Hill but she was out there doing a good service by reselling her clothing and houseware items. This lovely navy linen blazer was practically new when I bought it and a staple that I often wore to interviews when I was job hunting. I have other nice blazers than I spent less than fifteen dollars each on that I bought at thrift shops. The key to finding quality pieces that you like at thrift shops is going often enough to slowly find what you need. There are many times I go to thrift shops and buy nothing. One thing I have found that helps is to shop in neighborhood that wealthier people live in. If you can find a nice thrift shop that has quality pieces and sales, or affordable prices on a regular basis than you have found a spot to return to time and time again. Many of the thrift shops in Manhattan now have prices up to $300 or more for certain designer clothing pieces. I can’t afford that price range, however I know which racks in which stores have the pieces I can afford and those are where I look.
Before of a dress I bought at a garage sale and took off the ruffle around neckline.
There have been times when I landed a new job and suddenly needed several pieces at once of office wear. In times like that generally I would go to a thrift shop such as Unique in downtown Brooklyn where they have a huge shop that is about the size of a small department shop. They have a deal where if you shop on Thursdays and have a shop card you get twenty percent off. A place such as this generally requires more time to slowly weed through to find what you like but it can really pay off in savings.
Same dress later on with a tank top underneath.
For a more casual office day with a nice sweater.
Very soon I am going to do a post about garage “sailing” and how to successfully navigate the seas of shopping at garage sales. I have found many apparel items through the years at garage sales. There are times I want to rework the pieces. This was the case with a Maggy London dress I acquired that was a serious deal however I did not like all the ruffles around the neck line. Therefore I carefully undid the stitches and pulled out the ruffles around there then carefully sewed some black lace over the neck line to cover the opening I had created in the seams there. Now the dress is lovely and I did not mind the little bit of ruffles around the short sleeves so I left those attached.
Picture by Angela Delacroix (Vintage shirt dress)
Each of the clothing items in this post that I bought thrifted or at a garage sale cost me no more than fifteen dollars each. As a matter of fact, the only items that cost that much were the black polka dotted Banana Republic dress and the vintage shirt dress. Even my Muji camel colored skirt, which I bought new was less than fifteen dollars since I bought it on sale. In terms of foot wear both the red shoes (Kenneth Cole shoes) in this post and the brown John Fluevog’s were thrifted. Both shoes ran me twenty five dollars each pair.
Red thrifted Ralph Lauren blazer
Due to the arthritis in my feet mostly I wear new shoes and they have to be good quality shoes. I can’t wear sandals until I have surgery on my foot, which I am not quite ready for. In the summer I usually wear Muji ankle socks with my Mary Jane shoes.. Muji has these dropped yarn socks (reused yarn) that are a sneaker sock, or they also have low ankle socks that I like to wear. I have a very tiny ankle so I need a strap to hold on my shoes. I end up wearing Dansko shoes mostly since they provide sufficient protection from the concrete on New York City streets. In the winter I wear boots. Do be aware that when you buy thrifted shoes or boots you can inherit some of the previous owner’s foot problems. Therefore if you see that the shoe is deformed from a bunion for instance don’t buy it. I found this out about three years ago and I never donate my shoes or boots anymore. I wouldn’t wish my foot troubles on anyone. I have found nice shoes by thrifting. One has to be particular about it but there are nice ones to be found.
Thrifted John Flevog’s
I won’t wear hose in the summer unless I am in a place that is so conservative that I have to, or it is a special occasion so I need to dress up. On the occasions when I do where hose in the spring for instance if it is a really warm day I prefer tiny fish net patterns so there is some breathing room! I generally buy my hose at a discount store in Manhattan although on occasion I have bought stocking at Muji since they have nice colors that I can’t necessarily buy elsewhere. They had a café au lait color for instance that was very nice.
I also like Muji’s clothing since they have some organic cotton and linen apparel. I generally end up shopping their sales if I buy their clothing. That is where I found my camel colored skirt in the picture with the Ralph Lauren blazer. I found that skirt and a navy one when they had a sixty percent off sale. At a time such as that, if I can I will buy two.
I find a lot of women prefer to wear slacks to work. I personally prefer dresses or skirts unless it is very cold. I rarely have ever bought slacks through thrifts shops just because I find it difficult to find pieces due to my size and the fact that there are times that my weight fluctuates. So for slacks I prefer to buy Uniqlo leggings. They call them leggings but they have these wonderfully comfortable leggings that have an adjustable waist with a drawstring in there and they cost usually either twenty or twenty five dollars each pair. I like the fact that they encourage their shoppers to return the items once they have finished with them and then they send them to third world countries so that others can reuse them. Plus their focus as a shop is to sell classic clothing that they know their shoppers will want to wear for a long time. Many of their shoppers buy from them to avoid trends and mass consumerism in the hopes of turning to enjoying classic looks at reasonable prices instead. They have most of their items in numerous colors so it makes it easy to buy what you like.
Anyway I mix and match my new, thrifted or vintage pieces and this is how I end up with an affordable wardrobe of office attire. I also feel that by wearing some thrifted items and vintage ones I find unique pieces that I enjoy that not everyone else will have. Plus I can wear pieces that fit my personality such as floral blouses that are not necessarily what general office attire is. If I am in a place where I feel sufficiently comfortable to be myself, which I prefer anyway then I wear those items. I feel it is important to wear my unique items since one is happier when they look like themselves and wear what they enjoy wearing. Plus when you do it you allow others the same freedom of expression.
I hope you enjoyed this post and are also enjoying the arrival of spring! I will have another post for you very soon! Forgive me for my recent getting behind. I just had too many things going on at once.
All material written and photos taken by: © Marilyn Lavender, 2015. “All Rights Reserved.”
