Tahari Dress found at the thrift store

I grew up in a family full of fashionable women. We all coveted each other’s wardrobes and hoped and prayed that a sister, mother, aunt, or grandmother would decide that her wardrobe was too full, and that it was time to clean out the closet. This was a happy day for all of the recipients, but often these events were few and far between.

Shopper taking a break

Finding new clothes for the season was always a miserable venture with the hideous, generic styles that one would find at the department stores. We wanted embroidery, jacquard, beads, silk! So we finally got wise, and started heading to the thrift stores at the beginning of every season.

Beginning of the treasure hunt

The thrift store was a wonderful place full of possibilities and treasures to be found. Okay, the musty smell always made me sneeze, but my discomfort would quickly melt away once the excitement of the hunt took over.

Thrift stores are often color coordinated, featured here, the black skirt section

But the prize items were not always easy to find. There are tricks to shopping second hand. Many people find their first few experiences disappointing. I remember the first time I went with my older sister and could not find a thing, while she walked off with cocktail dresses and mink trimmed coats! “Thrift store shopping is a skill. Not everyone has it,” she told me. Through the years, I have learned this skill, and I will pass on some tips to my readers on how to acquire it:

Searching for skirts today

1. Always go to the thrift store with what you’re searching for in mind. Thrift stores can be huge and daunting: if you don’t know what you are looking for, how will you ever find it?

Sizing up a garment

2. Check the labels. I recommend making sure the fabric content are natural fibers. And if you can find designer name labels, once on the garments are better than the hanger appeal would suggest.

3. Look for original price tags. This is oddly common. There are actually people out there who buy things, never wear them, and send them to the thrift store untouched! Shocking, but I’m always happy to take it.

A dress, turned into a skirt, and an interesting harness another shopper found

4. Try on everything and anything that looks vaguely interesting. What may look like a mess on a hanger could be art in motion – think COMME des GARCONS.

Trying our finds on in front of the mirror

Admiring each other's finds

6. Try on the “old lady” clothes. If it looks like something that your grandmother would have worn, chances are the tailoring is immaculate. Most clothes used to be tailored to be form-fitting and flattering. Old school design houses such as Balenciaga,Prada, and Lanvin still use the classical tailoring methods. But the companies that produce the clothing that reaches the majority of shoppers have now given up on tailored fits, and instead try to fit every garment to all body shapes. So try on some of those older styles, especially if you’re trying to achieve a more polished or sophisticated look.

Trying on "PETITES"

Doing the damage check

A goat coat we found at a thrift store while traveling in Argentina

A basket of the finds of the day