I got a really cute Diane von Furstenberg dress at a thrift store for $22, and wore it to TPS's bachelorette dinner!
Today I went to a clothing swap with some friends and got a Marc by Marc Jacobs tee that is orange and has heart shaped buttons on the neck. For free! Or rather, for two bags of old clothes that I don't wear anymore.

An Ekorness Stressless recliner for $45 at an estate sale. Half off because it was the final day; marked "high-backed office chair."

A Heywood Wakefield Encore double dresser and attached mirror at St. Vinnie's for $55. Snatched it right out of the greedy paws of two furniture snobs. I just wanted something for my socks.

I have a friend whose entire Dior/classic Burberry/Harris tweed wardrobe comes from Goodwill and the St. Vinnie's Dig 'n Save.

When I got married, I designed my own completely custom dress and had a theatrical costumer make it for me for under $300. It was a spaghetti-strapped silk dupioni and charmeuse A-line dress with detachable lace/organza train, fully lined and boned. My four bridesmaids wore long blue satiny skirts that I'd gotten for $10 apiece. They were the bottom halves of what my dad would term "gownless evening straps" -- apron-top prom dresses.

Who's Kenneth Cole?

Kenneth Cole

I wouldn't buy it retail, cause it's kinda trash but at 10 bucks it's fiiiiiine.

by kinda trash I mean they're all made in the same places as all these "luxury brands" are made and while they DO THE JOB you should never pay retail for them cause they're not worth it, all brand pump up. Outlet the fuckers and it's a little closer to its real value.

TWO PAIRS of Manolo Blahnik heels at Value Village in Fairbanks. $8.99 and $6.99 (the cheaper one had a wee scuff on them). I screamed in the aisle when I found them and bought them even though they weren't my size.

Ha, rhapsodie, do you wear them? Or did you re-sell them?

They were too small for me to even think about squeezing my foot into them. I ended up giving them to a friend.

I bought a pair of men's Ferragamo loafers at Goodwill once. They were maybe two sizes too big for me. My partner does actually have a nice pair of Kenneth Coles for $3.99 from Savers.

I went to this resale shop on Newbury St. in Boston and very nearly bought the Manolos that they had. Of course, they were an 11 and I wear a 9.5, but I seriously considered having them just for framing.

Just about everything I own, actually.

Such as these Old Gringo boots for $17.

I don't shop often and rarely buy more than one thing at a time, except for my beloved fifty-cent and dollar paperbacks. Once, I rescued a set of eight petite Spode mugs and saucers which was squeezed into a boot box along with six little Spode spice jars and criminally labeled $6. If I can find it at a conscionable price at a regular antique store, which means never, I collect old pieces of Wallace Grand Baroque sterling flatware, one at a time.

As to clothes... my favorites are: a deep navy cashmere vintage Dior overcoat, one of those little 50s swing jackets made of silvery Astrakhan lamb with a mink shawl collar (I feel bad about buying even vintage fur, but I promised to love it and feed it and call it Doris), a chocolate brown alpaca overcoat by I forget whom, a splendidly gothic floor-length black figured silk velvet flare coat, a navy-and-red wool vintage nurse's cape (which I stopped wearing after one showed up on Sex and the City), lime green leather semi-platform sandals which shout 1972, a 40s peignoir set of ivory silk charmeuse and crepe with a pattern of leaves in cut velvet, a quilted scarlet silk Mandarin jacket brocaded with golden crysanthemums, and a cream silk turn-of-the-century piano shawl embroidered with cabbage roses, greenery, and golden butterflies, which I wear to the opera. All of the above came from Goodwill for no more than $25 each, except for the shawl, which was a very special indulgence from a nearby antiques store.

I may perhaps have a very slight fetish for gorgeous coats. I used to work various ones I'd found into my costumes, back when I acted a bit. But the majority are stored away, if they aren't given outright to my mother and sister- I love buying for them as much as for myself- and all of the above is sort of my secret wardrobe, which I bring out for special occasions which hardly happen these days. My small everyday wardrobe is minimalist, utilitarian, and cheap. You'd never know.

I picked up a JUNO 60 analog synthesizer at a Tokyo recycle shop for a paltry 10,000 yen (about a hundred bucks). They didn't really know what they had, which is pretty unusual here in Tokyo town....

Okay, I'll play:

In the last few years, I've rediscovered cycling. After crashing and destroying the bike I owned for over 20 years, I planned to get a new bike for my birthday. Before that date, though, I started to trip across really good deals on perfectly good bikes and along the way started a hobby of collecting vintage bikes. One of my best finds to date is a 1987 Schwinn Prelude I picked up at a pawn shop for $50. Although Schwinns are not seen as the It brand anymore (and by 1987 had already peaked), the Preluded is a damned fine bike made from Columbus Tenax tubing and has one of the earliest indexed shifting systems. This bike would go for about $200 on Craigslist if I decided to sell it.

As found:

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As it is right now:

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I was poking around the shoe section of Nordstrom Rack when I came across some cute blue flats. I tried them on and they fit beautifully, but they were $80, so I decided to pass and I figured I could get them online for cheaper.

I looked online and I couldn't find them anywhere for less than something like $200, so I went back to the store the next day to buy them.

But they were gone.

A few weeks later, I wound up back at that same store and I decided to give another shot at looking for them. They were peeking out the end of one of the racks, as if they'd been set aside for me. I snapped them up right away and have been wearing them almost daily for over 2 years and they've still got lots of tread left and while the toes are super scuffed--they're the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. (My feet are weird to fit since they're about a half size apart, I can wear Womens US sizes 10-11, and they're narrow, but not narrow enough to merit narrow shoes.)

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One post-Christmas sale day I was in Fairweather's in the Eaton Centre and found a ivory wool coat with a faux fur collar, marked down from $350 to $70. I didn't really need the coat but it was so nice and such a good bargain. Several of the buttons were gone but they could be easily replaced. I waffled for awhile, and then decided, that since half the buttons were gone, that I would ask if the coat could be further discounted. I thought not, but decided it couldn't hurt to ask.

I went to the main cashier desk and asked the girl there. She had to check with the guy who was also working there. He said, "You can have it for twenty-eight-fifty." Incredulous, I said, "You mean you'll take twenty eight and a half percent off?" He said, "No, I mean the price is $28.50." I gaped at him. The girl I'd initially asked gaped at him. Then I got control of my jaw and said, "I'll take it."

I bought new buttons that looked better than the fabric-covered ones that were originally on the coat and love that coat to this day.

Another time, not long before I bought Swan's End, I saw a fluffy cream bathrobe at Winners. It had torn loops and a dirty hem. It was $40. I wished the store luck selling it at that price and in that condition, and left it there. A month or so later after buying Swan's End and needing a good warm bathrobe I saw what I am sure was the same bathrobe for $13. I bought it, ran it through the wash and spent ten minutes repairing the loops, and presto, I had a perfect bathrobe.

Those are my best regular retail finds. I've found too many perfect things at thrift shops to name. A large proportion of my belongings come from there: clothes, accessories, home furnishings, kitchenware. A few favourites were the swan candelabra I bought for $5, a cut glass punch bowl and 8 cups for $6, a pair of dark brown velvet leggings for $4, a olive green velvet jacket for $17 that my mother keeps threatening to steal, a floral velvet scarf in rich autumn tones for $3, a brown Italian leather cosmetic case for $4 that I use as a purse, and the still life print of a bouquet in glowing colours for $10 that I've hung over my bed and that daily gives me such pleasure to look at.

It really helps that I've got the skills to fix or transform stuff, so I often buy stuff that is priced really low because no one else would want it. I especially like the craft kits and supplies there. They often have needlework kits there that haven't even been begun, or ones that are half done. I have to sort through them because quite a few are really tacky (i.e., a latch-hook kit of Scooby Doo in a Santa hat), but they do have beautiful ones. They sometimes have lots of yarn, usually in small lots, so it's an interesting challenge to see what I can make of it. I needlepointed myself a beautiful Christmas stocking from a $6 kit I bought there. I made my pink-loving niece two small throw pillows with roses cross-stitched on them for $2 each. I made a friend a cross-stitched Christmas ornament depicting a dove and Christmas greenery for $2. Recently I bought a handknit sweater in a beautiful teal mohair yarn for $6. The sweater must be a size 18 or 20, which is far too large for me, and is knitted in a style I would never wear anyway, but I'm going to rip it out and reknit it. Six dollars is an absolute steal for a sweater's worth of yarn, so it's worth the hour or so it will take me to take the sweater apart.

My finds make my mother gnash her teeth, and some of my friends and other relatives exclaim in wonderment. I tell them you just have to go regularly to a thrift store and browse, and be very discriminating because it's easy to bring home a lot of junk you don't really need. Oh, and live around the corner from the best thrift store in the city. That helps.;-)

I own a signed copy of Minnie Pearl's autobiography. Yes, yes, I do. I know, you're all gaping in wonder and awe right now, but yes, that unassuming paperback with a copy of Minnie Pearl on the cover? It's signed and I got it at the Goodwill for 50 cents but it's easily worth like $25 on Ebay, dude.

One of the two skirts I purchased recently was originally $108 and I got it for $33.

A Ralph Lauren linen blouse (never worn, still with tags), a genuine Louis Vuitton keycase and a brand new Filofax, the small kind which I prefer, each for $1 at a garage sale.