ANOTHER PERSON’S TRASH
Market haul – Gucci Vintage Bootleg Sweatshirt $60, Missoni Knit Top $20, Iro Jeans $10, OneTeaspoon Denim Skirt $10
Gucci Vintage Bootleg Sweatshirt – bought at Manly Markets from Queen Justine Vintage | OneTeaspoon Denim Skirt – bought from Kirribilli Markets | Guess Boots – bought from EbayAU | Hiking Shoe Laces – bought from EbayAU
There’s nothing like cracking open a freshly delivered Aus Post parcel and featuring your fresh new purchase on your Insta story. I’m using this analogy because I am 100% an online shopping person. Anything I can do from my bed in my jim jams is A OK with me and who doesn’t love being able to accomplish a task bra-less and in trackies.
So as I paint the dream in my head of a life spent online shopping, in reality, life just gets more expensive. Every month it’s bills bills bills and then all of a sudden I’m Destiny’s Child wishing someone would just pay my bills so maybe I could chill/shop…
So how do you get your fix while keeping most of your bank account intact? Second hand or vintage, my friends. The only down sides are wading through a bunch of crap at markets and Vinnies stores and feeling bad when you try to haggle prices down when they’re already pretty cheap. But hey, if I’m putting pants and a bra on to go to an actual shop, I better be bagging myself a bargain.
The other weekend I went to Kirribilli General Market on Saturday and the Manly Markets on Sunday, finishing up the weekend strong with a great haul of mostly designer digs for $100. The key is obviously finding the right stalls and digging for those golden gooses, and I’m not talking about the sneakers, or maybe the sneakers? You never know. Someone’s trash is another bargain hunters treasure.
Usually my strategy is to weave through the market stalls with an eye out for labels, the more well known or designer labels a stall has, the higher the probability of finding gold is. Who said maths wasn’t useful after high school. My other strategy is to keep an eye out for a rack of old Levi’s jeans, skirts or denim jackets. This is usually a slightly more expensive stall because it’s not just someone getting rid of their last seasons wardrobe. It’s a proper vintage shop where you’re more than likely to find a gold mine of old Harley Davidson Tees, Hilfiger, Guess, anything 80’s and 90’s really. It’s a sign of a seller that knows what the consumer wants; Vintage shit you could’ve saved money on if your mum had just KEPT ALL HER CLOTHES, but now you have cough up top dollar because this old shit is cool again. Yes mum, I’m talking to YOU.
Lastly, West Coast Customise your shit up. Cut the sleeves off to turn your top into a muscle tank, buy some new shoe laces to vamp up a pair of boots, fashion yourself a crop top out of an oversized men’s tee, chop a step hem in a pair of vintage jeans and chuck them in the wash for a frayed look.
You don’t have to spend a fortune to have the outfits you want, just a $100 in your pocket, a pair of scissors, the courage to hack into your new old clothes and the musty, second hand world of vintage fashion is your oyster.
Awesome online Vintage Stores
This customise rule doesn’t just apply to second hand. Here’s a photo for your enjoyment of me wearing a pair of Kmart men’s jeans. I bought the smallest size I could find, yanked them up Steve Urkel style to sit around my waist and chopped off the hem at my ankles. 15 buckaroos for these bad boys.
Get your Urkel on here
