Oh my Gosh, wow! This week I had the honor of being featured in the LifeStyle section of Tuesday’s Denver Post. I went thrifting with Claire Martin, one of the Post’s reporters, and talked to her about what I look for when I am shopping for vintage and retro clothes. I also talked to her about my vintage redesign, my new designs and my work as a personal stylist and shopper.
Click on this link to check out:
http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_11376058
All I can say is that moments like this make me feel as though I must be on track with what I am supposed to be doing with my life. It has been a long road, and a crazy journey, but 8 (yes, EIGHT) years after graduating from college with degrees in English and African American Studies and 14 (Yes, FOURTEEN!!!) years after graduating from high school, after working in countless coffee shops and offices and after being nearly finished with a Masters degree in English (just that pesky language requirement left to finish and I will be there), I have discovered that my lifelong interest in fashion and styling ultimately led me to a more exciting and interesting career than I ever imagined. And, I can only hope, this is just the beginning!
Thank you for joining me as I work it all out!
xoxo
T

I am still updating like crazy and have literally hundreds of dresses and shoes and coats and and and… that I will be posting in the days and weeks to come, so please keep an eye on my Etsy shop and my Ebay shop. My website is still being perfected, so for now Ebay and Etsy are the best ways to shop Thriftonista. And you can always drop me a line if you have any questions or requests.
I will definitely be keeping my blog updated with details on all of the fun new stuff that I have available for you. I will also have interviews and style tips and all kinds of fun stuff — so come back soon! And thank you for stopping by– you’re welcome any time!
xoxo
T

Last night I decided to do something I’ve been thinking about for a while– bleaching out faded black articles of clothing to give them (re)new(ed) visual interest. I’m a bleach novice, so the whole enterprise was a pretty fun experiment and I was really happy with how my pieces turned out– though the reek of bleach did get to be overwhelming. What was not fun was waking up dizzy in the middle of the night and realizing that my “well ventilated space” had not been nearly as ventilated as I’d thought. What you see here is one of the results of my experiment. More bleached black to come– but next time I will be sure to work outside. Hopefully that will be ventilated enough to protect my brain cells!

I had a great photo shoot with Miss Hannah yesterday. She is so photogenic and just great to work with– awesome attitude, amazing style. There were lots of great pieces photographed. Here are some pictures of just a few. Fun, fun!

I am doing a photo shoot today with my awesome model, Hannah, and I am SO excited to see my new pieces on a person instead of on my twisted, sad little dress form. I need to get a mannequin STAT.
Yesterday was a good day for thrifting. I hit up a spot where I once found an Hermes dress and this time I found vintage Victor Costa and Tadashi. I saw that they also had Oscar De la Renta, tons of Ralph Lauren and even a Balenciaga. Hello, new favorite designer thrift store. Seriously, people. I used to be opposed to actively seeking out labels but when you start seeing designer names all over the place for less than $30 (yesterday was 50% off) you can’t help but to get a little excited. I honestly never looked at tags because I have always been kind of anti-label– who cares WHO you are wearing as long as WHAT you are wearing looks amazing. But once you shift your focus from buying and wearing vintage clothing to selling and styling it, you start to realize that sometimes other people have a totally different value system. I mean, sure I realized it before but I kind of actively rebelled against it. I loved having people who I knew were totally obsessed with labels and designers fall out over something that I was wearing that only cost me $5 or $2 or $.50. It felt good to know that I could actively subvert such overt materialism without wearing outfits that were unattractive or uninspiring.
But, and (not to be trite but) there is a big but, once I started selling vintage and looking around at what other vintage sellers were offering, I realized that it seemed to be really important to pay attention to and mention designers and keep an eye out for them while shopping– especially well respected designers who are no longer working and whose names we might not actively know but who are greatly respected in the world of vintage and retro fashion. My instinct has always been, and will always be, to look at the piece first because it does not matter whose name is on the label– ugly is still ugly! But now I also take a glance at what is on that label I once loathed because I know that there are people out there who are actively seeking vintage Ungaro or Ralph Lauren or, dare to dream, Hermes. If I can help them to find those pieces, why not?
So, perhaps I’ve sold out. Perhaps this whole fashion game has really gotten to me and I’ve become something I once loathed. But I like to think that that is not the case. I like to think that I have simply started to learn what this vintage shopping and selling game is all about, and while I pledge to always have plenty of crazy affordable pieces for my customers, I know that I have to also keep an eye out for those higher end pieces that can help me pay the bills because, yes, my name is Thriftonista and Lord knows that I have always believed in keeping things affordable but if, on occasion, someone out there wants to spend a couple hundred dollars on a vintage dress and pay for Christmas (thanks, Hermes!) who am I to say no? That just means that I can continue to sell boots for $12 and dresses for $15. Because I’ve looked all over the place and for what I’ve got to offer, those prices are rare and I remain, quite truly, the Thriftonista.
So, today I am going to put Hannah in all the great and exciting pieces that I’ve recently acquired and post them on my Etsy and Ebay shops and though each piece is totally gorgeous I will make sure that most of them are “no need to check your account balance” affordable, as well. I’ll be sure to post a preview as soon as I get my pics edited so check back soon. Updates are on their way!

Happy New Year, everyone! I can’t believe that it is already 2009. Having both a new baby and a new business in 2008 really seems to have made that year just fly by. Much of it is a blur, but it certainly was fabulous. I never could have imagined that it would be as interesting and, at times, exciting as it turned out to be. Styling fashion shows and photo shoots, shooting a reality television show (and realizing that I have absolutely no interest in having cameras follow me around all the time and deciding to let that little venture fall along the wayside), winning a Best of Denver award for Best Online Thrifting, learning about how to run a business WHILE running a business, writing for Denver’s local independent paper, the Westword and, all the while, watching a drop dead gorgeous and brilliant child learn to walk, run, sign, and form simple words, all with a smile on her face and an unending light in her eyes.
Ah, 2008. Goodbye, old buddy. You were quite a year. What will 2009 bring? Who can say? I’m totally excited and ready to embrace the new. While 2008 was amazing, and I will always look back on it with fondness, I’m not sad to see it go. I am too excited about my future.
No offense, 2008. It’s not you, it’s me.

Today was a big day. I took a leap and invested in some pieces that I just could not pass on. When I contacted the woman who was offering the pieces for sale, my intention was to help her find another buyer for the lot, as she was asking more than I had ever ventured to pay for an entire lot of vintage clothes– no matter how lovely. When she walked in my door with the pieces that she had available for sale, I just about fell over. My hands were shaking as I sifted through her lovely dresses, coats and suits–everything was just so lovely.
The exquisite collection that I was viewing belonged to a woman who started buying vintage when she was in high school and had held onto her collection for over 20 years. As the stay at home mother of 3 special needs kids, she’d determined that she had to either sell her collection or her car. She told me that her lovely clothes were the only things of value that she had left to sell.
It was hard for me to take the pieces from her, as I could tell that she loved her beautiful collection, but I hope that the limited amount that I was able to offer her will truly be a help to her family. Someday, I hope to be able to offer them even more help. I’d like to put together a benefit fashion show and donate part of the proceeds to her family. Until then, I will just keep them all in my thoughts and prayers. Her name is Jill. It would be great if anyone reading this would pray for her too. Thank you.
Here are some pictures of just a few of the pieces that I purchased today. I will be posting items from this lot on my Etsy and Ebay stores. Please let me know if anything catches your eye. I want each of these lovely pieces to find a home as soon as possible.
Please excuse the terrible pictures. I’m a stylist, not a photographer! I have a low-key (read: I’m taking the pics!) photo shoot planned for some time this weekend with my favorite model, Hannah (she is pictured at the top of the blog), so I will have pictures of these outfits on a live person very soon. I can’t wait to see what they look like on Hannah instead of on my battered and misshapen dress form.

I am now hostessing vintage fashion parties– my place or yours. For a small fee, I will provide you and your guests with freshly prepared snacks and beverages (alcoholic, non-alcoholic or both, your choice) and set up a boutique space for you and your friends to browse.
Before the party, I will provide you and your guests with a checklist that will give me a sense of what it is that you are seeking, after which I will pull items that suit your criteria (and sizes, colors, etc.) from my collection and make them available for purchase. Each guest will have the opportunity to have a personal vintage style consultation with me and will leave the party with a goodie bag containing edible treats and other goodies.
Vintage fashion parties are great for birthdays, graduations, bachelorette parties, baby showers (I can find great vintage clothes for the mother to be and her baby!), and any other occasion you’d like to celebrate with fabulous clothing and delicious food!
Parties start at $12 per attendee. Please contact me for further details.

I am also available for:
Personal styling– I can do this right at my house from my large inventory or we can shop together at Department or thrift stores
Personal shopping– You relax and I will bring great pieces right to you!
Styling for professional headshots, fashion shows, photo shoots, and special events
Wardrobe work for theater and film
Personalized new designs
Re-design of vintage pieces
Please contact me at thriftonista@gmail.com for details and rates. I look forward to hearing from you!

My website is finally up and running at www.thriftonista.com
There you can find my shop, links to recent press and a contact sheet that allows you to contact me with any questions or requests you may have.
Look for my shop to be updated with lots of incredible new items very soon.
Thank you for stopping by– I appreciate you!
xoxo
T

As you can see, this blog has been is somewhat of a state of stasis for the last few months. That is because really amazing things are happening with my MySpace Page and the development of our website.
To see some of our newer items (many more to come) check out www.myspace.com/thriftonista
If you have any questions or are seeking anything in particular, please contact T directly at thriftonista@gmail.com