May 24, 2011

on the line

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sunglasses - Nasty Gal / earrings - handmade by Carie, won in Pretty Little Mountains giveaway / purse - Athens tourist shop / silk top - vintage, thrifted / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - J.Crew, thrifted & rebuilt / ring - Nasty Gal / sandals - Target, thrifted 

Over the weekend, I went thrifting with the lady who taught me everything I know about shopping secondhand - my mom. Most of our old favorite thrifts aren't around anymore, so I spent breakfast only slightly over-zealously making a Google Map of a dozen or so stores in the area. In the end we only made it to an estate sale and two new-to-us thrifts, but we still managed to come home with a trunk full of new goodies. I think I must have had some of Jen's magical silk-radar, because I found more silk blouses than I could carry, and ultimately came away with this top, a pink silk blouse, and a killer raw silk blazer for mom.

I also brought home this cute J.Crew skirt, although I could see it needed a little love; the elastic was completely stretched out, but would be easy to replace. Of course, once I got it home (and into decent light), I discovered a constellation of little holes in the fabric in front. Fortunately only the top layer was damaged, so I wound up taking the whole thing apart and moving the inside layer to the outside and the front to the back. Definitely much more of a project than I'd realized, but still worth it for such a dreamy little $2 skirt.

We snapped these photos on our walk home from the Metro after spending the better part of Sunday picnicking and catching up with one of our best friends from college at the zoo. This is actually the third base line of the baseball diamond behind my old middle school, a place I most associate with bomb-threat evacuations and doing my best to avoid participating in gym class. Ah, memories...

31 comments:

dotty said...

welcome back stateside, lady!  i totally thought this was an adorable black dress at first!

dotty said...

and it's still adorable as separates!

jentine said...

Yay! I have been so busy lately I haven't even had a chance to thrift (more...) silk. I thought this was a dress too. Either way, it looks great, worth the effort fix on the skirt!

Jessie said...

great finds girl! like dotty, i also thought it was a dress!

JoAnn, Sidewalk Chic said...

I love your setting, and how your top and skirt match perfectly. I'm such a sucker for finding awesome silk pieces at thrift stores -- they're so cheap in price and often pretty well-made if you look hard enough :) 

Anja_AHeartandSoulStory said...

Oh, this is such a cute combination! Got a similar dress, have to try it with brown leather accessories! And those shoes are so cute :)

classic case said...

I saw this picture and thought, "what an adorable dress!" Would have never guessed it was two pieces, but together, it's perfection!!!

M S said...

Oh my gosh, don't tell me this is GW Middle School! Sorry if this is creepy, I usually lurk, but I walk my dog over there all the time.
Your outfits are stellar.
minerrva

fataleAriana said...

I thought this was a dress! Great combo! Love the chiffon with the brown leather.

Varnishvixen said...

Looks like a fantastic dress...I never would have guessed it was a skirt and a blouse!  I'm so impressed you moved the fabric in back to the front.

sartoriography said...

I am straight-up obsessed w this outfit.  I also thought this was a dress, which means it looks amazing as one, but it's even better, because now you can wear each piece.  OH, the magic of separates!  And the jewlez...gorgeous.  These things are not making me any less interested in stealing things from your closet.  :)

Izabela said...

I too thought this was a dress at first! I love the simplicity of this either way. Great thrift finds -- I've sorta given up on thrifting but I may consider going back to it after seeing what you were able to score!

Savannah said...

Thrifting days with Mom are the best! :) I'm definitely in need of one. You look lovely, I just found your blog & I'm loving it!

savannah-joyofliving.blogspot.com

Tasia said...

Gorgeous outfit! Very classic :) Just found your blog via Tania (WWANW) and I'm so glad! Your newest follower :)

BetweenLaundryDays said...

LOVELOVELOVE this. The black-on-black is fantastic, and I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with those earrings.

Claire M. said...

I love the black dress :)

Claire M.

emily said...

Thanks! Yeah, I hadn't even thought of wearing them together until my mom pointed out that the blacks were a very close match.

emily said...

Oh no! Too busy for thrifting is just too busy, period. I guess maybe I ended up with a little of your silk-magnetism because you weren't using it!

emily said...

Thanks Jessie!

emily said...

Thanks JoAnn! I love scoring this kind of nicer piece at the thrifts too, a $2 silk blouse can really make an afternoon of digging seem worth it! You definitely have to check things carefully though - I've found that often the reason those nicer garments end up getting donated is because they haven't been taken care of very well.

emily said...

 Thanks Anja! Definitely give it a go, I always default to brown or cognac accessories because I feel like they go with absolutely everything and don't look as harsh as black.

emily said...

 Haha, thank you! Definitely a case of sneaky separates. :)

emily said...

 Ha! Yes, it totally is - I went there for 6th through 8th, and it's on the way to my parents' house from the metro.

And thank you. :)

emily said...

Thanks! Yeah, I am loving the chiffon + leather too - so much so that I've actually already bought a bit of chiffon to make another, similar skirt in a different color. :)

emily said...

 Thanks! The mending did take an awful lot of careful time with the seam-ripper, but other than that it wasn't too bad, and I'm so glad it turned out well.

emily said...

 Well, I suppose if it were a dress I could always cut it in half and wear it as separates, but separates that look like a cute dress together are just so much easier! And you are welcome to steal things my closet anytime, my dear. I suggest packing yourself up in a box and shipping yourself to Virginia ASAP. :)

emily said...

 Thanks! Thrifting is definitely a patience game in my experience - I definitely come home empty-handed all the time, but if you just keep looking sometimes you can really strike gold. :)

emily said...

Absolutely! And she's such a better thrifting buddy than my BF, I like to check out every single section and he tends to get bored far too quickly. :)

emily said...

 Thanks lady! I have a pretty unhealthy obsession with them too - I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a little triangle-shaped tanline on my neck from wearing them every single day!

emily said...

Thanks Claire!

sunshinerebellion said...

oh my god! so cute! 
you should send me this google map if you still have it. i need to know about the thrifting opportunities in the dc area :)

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