| Like a moth to the flame, I am drawn to Amvets. |
I had to go to work two hours later than usual today, due to holiday hours, so I decided to spend that time doing some much-deserved thrifting at one of my favorite thrift stores, Amvets on Elmwood Avenue in the city of Buffalo. Check out Amvets website for the 411 (oh, dating myself there) on their mission to help veterans and provide quality, low-cost goods to the community. I just completed a MASSIVE OVERHAUL of my clothes, shoes, makeup and accessories (as well as 95% of all my earthly possessions) during December. I completely looked through and sorted (donate, sell, keep, recycle or *gulp* throw out) everything and reorganized the "keepers," with the exception of my daunting book collection and a few odds'n'ends in out of the way places.
Since becoming a cubicle cowgirl four years ago I've gained about 40 pounds (putting me between a 9 and 12 depending on the brand) and I would like to start a stricter regiment of better eating and exercise for the sake of my health. My plans do not include getting back down to the absurdly small size I was in my early 20's that prompted my father to inquire worriedly of my mother if I was dying from a secret illness. In my clean-out I found quite a few clothes that looked small enough to fit a baby doll, and frankly were I to be rail thin again I just don't dress as whoreish as I used to (sad, but true). There were MANY things I could never realistically see myself even wanting to fit into again, or that were "desperation" purchases - i.e. what I could find in a short time on a limited budget when I had a far lower paying job, weaker standards and less reliable transportation. Skirts were particularly hard hit - always a fan of skin-tight, barely-cover-my-booty mini's paired with fishnets and stompy boots in my late teens, I had many items that were better sized to fit my slender 8 year old niece. My style has also significantly evolved. I tend to appreciate tailoring, attention to detail and combining a wider variety of textures/patterns/cuts than when I was younger.
I often avoid the skirts at thrift stores, as I've consistently had too many for years, but both my weight gain and increasing love of layering (this all goes back to the tights addiction...) has led me to wear them more and more. I focused my attention at the thrift store on this area and I was RICHLY rewarded. (Sadly, I don't have photos as my home computer is persona non grata at this juncture and I am editing this blog in my free time from other sources. Hopefully they will be coming shortly as blogs seem rather pointless without pretty pictures - "there's too many word in 'em!!") The sheer amount of quality plaid was incredible and there was a style for every occasion - from a heavy cotton school-girl style A-line mini in a bold hot pink, black and grey plaid that I picked up to a pleated, ankle length Alfred Dunner in a grey wool plaid with red and blue accents that I sadly ultimately decided to leave behind (as I tend to only wear long, flowy skirts during warmer weather).
Some of my greatest skirt purchases included:
- a heavy chocolate velvet pleated, knee-length style with a flat front (beautiful tailoring on this and great quality fabric)
- a grey mid-weight wool knee-length style with an almost Victorian school girl appeal - flat, fitted top, long row of buttons down the front, gathered A-line bottom starting lower thigh
- mid calf A line twill plaid in browns, greys and oranges
- and to appease my love of Asian clothing a floor length blue, white and bright green flowy cotton skirt from India (great for windy summer walks in my water-bordering 'hood and sure to match one of my future hair colors)
I tried to steer clear of other clothes for the time being - skirts are often more forgiving to weight gain and loss than many other pieces and I don't need to augment my already huge collection of pants and tops when I may be 25 pounds thinner (or ten pounds heavier - why not be a little pessimistic?) in a year. I did pick up a mid-thigh length, short sleeved turtleneck sweater tunic top in a fuzzy grey with purple argyle pattern across the chest (it was on the end of a rack, beckoning me). I also skipped through accessories and managed an adorable open-weave tan vintage or vintage knock off hat with velvet ribbon/bow detailing (needs further inspection as this was tossed in the cart lickety-split), two pairs of unused-looking crocheted over the knee socks in a fun diamond pattern (one black, one brown), two thin scarves for the spring (one about 10" wide in a variegating pink cotton fabric, the other a throw back to Jem and the Holograms in an intense metallic dark pink), a heavy knit scarf in chocolate brown with variegated accents of blue, orange and red and, just to be practical, a plastic chain with clips attached to hang laundry (as I refuse to buy a dryer).
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