Resale Shop Revisited: Raspberry Beret

This chilly but lovely Saturday, instead of camping (due to freezing temperatures predicted), we took a swing up to Raspberry Beret in Wakefield, MA (our first trip discussed here) which is quite near the man's house. He dropped us off and went home to see about assimilating the new clown fish to the tank, and we went in, armed with a list (from the Wardrobe Evaluation), determined to buy nothing that was not on it. We failed. Sigh.

In our defense, there really just wasn't much going on for prints, or warm skirts. We did try on a few blouses and one wool and one leather pencil skirt but they just didn't work.

What we bought that was on the list:

A) Our long-coveted blue shoes!!! Yes! A single pair in the store-- Nine West-- and they fit perfectly (score! $11). They have a peep-toe, so we're going to have to get used to visible tights toes or we're not going to be able to wear them until next year. Gasp! Quelle horreur. Here they are, in all of their metallic, crackle-finish sheeny glory (great condition; they look to have been worn only a few times, and definitely not by a girl who has to walk anywhere):




B) A fabulous velvet blazer. Or maybe it's more of a coat. It was in the outerwear section. It's knee-length, blood-scarlet crushed velvet (brighter than the burgundy-ish showing here). From H&M - marked down from $24 to... it might have been $16? Right around there. Probably the most expensive item.


(Please pardon fiance's messy room and even worse light than usual, and note that the jacket is not asymmetrical, just looks it due to the pose). Isn't it just divine?

Things not on the list...

1) Bright purple down vest, NY&Co with tags still attached, originally $99, at Raspberry Beret a mere $10.

Isn't this a very Audi smile? Tee hee.

We think this is an amazing piece for the price. It's a simply gorgeous color, real down, not too bulky but awesomely warm, the silkiest polyester we ever did feel, and it has great detailing like an adjustable (inside) drawstring waist and snap-down-able pocket plackets to keep us from feeling like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man, plus dual-action zipper and snap closures. Lovely.

2) Teal velvet beaded scarf, $6. We own a few similar things so this was a Bad Desiree, but it was too pretty and in such great condition that we couldn't pass it up at this price.


3) Ruffly cardigan sweater with bell sleeves, mohair/nylon/wool blend, Ann Taylor, $11. We know we banned ourselves from new purple cardigans, but the rationalization here is that it's such a light purple, almost white, that we think it could be dyed a much stronger color. Perhaps... mustard? (Maybe we'll give that whole yellow thing a shot; it looks so fabulous with purple).

We got these five pieces for just over $50... how we love others' cast-offs!
How did we do?

Happy Weekend!

Shopping in Your Own Closet!

The change of seasons is upon us! With the passing of the equinox, it is time to start thinking about Hallowe'en, unbelievably enough! (We didn't really get a summer here in New England).

Whether you're in the Northern Hemisphere and experiencing shorter days and crisper temperatures, or just warming up to Spring Down Under, you'll probably have to do some seasonal shifting of your wardrobe (unless you're in a clime where you can wear the same breezy items year-round, or have gigantor closets. Unfortunately for us, we are in neither position).

We have a storage unit in the basement, which we pack up twice a year with garment bags and Rubbermaid containers filled with off-season clothes and bedding and then haul up and down the stairs. (We group them into Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter so as to spare ourselves doing this four times in a year!)

For those of you with small closets and no supplemental basement or attic space, some lovely storage options we've seen recently include stacks of vintage suitcases (with the top one used as a side or bedside table), vintage steamer trunks, and of course underbed boxes (buy risers if your frame is low to the ground, and hide them with a lovely bed skirt! Check out these great options from Jeri's organization blog!) Or, make use of high ceilings and construct shelving all the way up (and get yourself a proper stepladder while you're at it).

One of the most exciting things (for us anyway) about this grueling process is discovering pieces we had completely forgotten we owned. This past weekend we found, tucked away in a bin at some unknown time, a lovely vintage cropped lavender motorcycle jacket. When did we buy this? At what thrift shop did we find it? It must have been last winter, because we have definitely never worn it.



Quelle cuteness, no?? We think it's 80s... it is "authentic style" brand. Isn't the iris color just divine? OK, maybe only if you're obsessed with purple. We don't normally go in for pastels, but this we couldn't pass up (evidently). Who could have known that cropped motocross and other wee leather jackets would be so "in" this season, too? (Not that we care about being "in"... we'll wear whatever we like and trends can shove it, we're just happy when things we like are widely available!)

We heard a fancy leather-cleaning remedy the other day which we'd like to share, also. And by fancy we mean totally thrifty and natural and easy: egg white. Apparently raw egg white on a soft cloth will take leather stains out. We will be trying this immediately.

Other things we're excited about for fall in Boston: all of the colored tights we bought over the summer, and the black boots we got on clearance, together of course! Corduroy! Velvet! Cashmere... aaaaahhhh... (don't forget to check your Goodwill or Savers for cashmere sweaters we got both our baby pink and our deep purple ones at thrift shops!)

Have you found anything fabulous in your seasonal shift that you had forgotten about? What makes you happiest about the change in your part of the world?

Happy shopping-in-your-own-closet!

Goodwill Score!!!

We took a quick, sweaty little jaunt to our local Goodwill on lunch yesterday. Unfortunately it's not one of those sparkly clean new ones, and smells like a home bum's tighty whities, but it's the only shopping in the area, so we suffer through.

We were looking for a summer dress for the office- something cotton and cute with a circle skirt, perhaps? Eyelet, even? Alas, the dress rack was filled with wretched polyester tents and horrific prints, so we came away with nothing... until we spotted, out of the corner of our eye, on the "not-yet-put-away" rack, something aubergine, and ruffly, and *gasp* beaded!

Upon closer inspection, it was a silk dress. A gorgeous one. In our size. By Laundry, which we're pretty sure is some sort of crazy expensive brand. Um. Yeah, sure is. Wow. It looked awfully narrow despite the tag, so imagine our excitement when it not only made it over the girls but totally and absolutely fit like a dream. Er, as long as we find some Spanx.

We paid $7. The silk alone is worth more than that, never mind the (seemingly hand-sewn) beadwork. Oh, we're so happy. We have nothing to wear this to, but we'll find something!




A tremendous thank you to the crazy woman who decided to toss this in the Goodwill pile for laziness, because any sane person would have at least tried to consign the thing.

We sense a lunchtime addiction brewing.

Do you love Goodwill? What have been some of your most amazing scores at thrift shops?

What We Wore Today: Mac n Jac 'n' H&M

If you're like us, the second you buy something new you must.wear.it.

It's probably horribly sketchy to put on used clothes without washing them, but they looked clean enough and at least they don't have nasty factory chemicals all over them like new clothes (which we do wash first, promise). We don't really do dry cleaning unless absolutely necessary (it's not really thrifty).

So, although we had quite a difficult time deciding just which of our new treasures to wear today, we settled on the most "fun" one- the silk shantung skirt with beading and silk chiffon trim at the hem. We almost passed this up, by the way, as it was marked quite larger than our usual skirt size. However, once we tried it on, we discovered that worn on the hips rather than the waist, it's a perfect fit.



It's "Mac n Jac" brand, which we'd never heard of, but is apparently carried at Nordstrom. This fact, along with the beautiful (100% silk) fabric and exquisite beading detail, suggests to us that the $15 we spent (down from $28 originally at Raspberry Beret) is kind of like an obscene steal. We dig it.

We paired it with the new (to us of course) $5 slinky sweater which is from H&M, and some divine turquoise chandelier earrings we made for ourselves during our last craft fair (good to stay busy when absolutely no one is stopping at your table- le sigh). With earrings this big and a fairly interesting neckline to the sweater, we decided against a necklace. We are wearing a beaded bracelet with turquoise cat-eyes which we made long ago, as well as our Norway Silver leaf-print David Anderson bracelet (consignment shop, gift from mum, one of our most treasured pieces) which echoes the leafy sequins in the beading on the skirt (see detail).

Please pardon the lousy cell phone pictures. We promise that one of these days we'll get around to learning how our camera's self-timer works and leaving time in the morning for daylight outfit shots. Our bathroom mirror stinks. Sigh.

What do you think? Are the black boots too boring with it? We considered the purple pumps since the sequins have some purple iridescence to them... Maybe next time!