Bargain shopping: Where do you draw the line?

I am one of those people who loves a bargain. Time spent digging through the racks of a discount or consignment store is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. Unearthing a bargain causes the sort of high I imagine career drug users experience (not that I would know. The strongest drug I've ever used was nicotine.) I love informing someone that my Joe's Jeans were purchased during a particularly fruitful dig at the Salvation Army. I adore the look of respect, gleamed from a stylish friend, when I educate her on the origin and price ($10!) of my embroidered Anthropologie sweater (see below.)  I am almost haughty when examining someone's designer purchase, knowing that I would have paid much, much less for it than the wearer. Indeed, if discount shopping were an Olympic sport, I am absolutely certain I would earn a gold medal.

While I am proud of my ability to score a bargain, this knowledge often gets me in trouble. I have a really really hard time passing something up when I know it's a great deal. This might explain why my closet is crammed beyond capacity. Clothes are spilling out of drawers, shoved into storage containers, lurking underneath my bed. My skirts share hangers.  Belts are sexually tangled together in a hulking lump. 

I have a teensy bit of a problem.

Today I had a few hours to fill, so I tripped off to a newly discovered consignment store near my house. I was lazily thumbing through the racks when I uncovered a new with tags J. Crew Collection 3/4 sleeve gold waxed linen belted jacket (whew.) As an avid fan of J. Crew, I knew exactly what this jacket was worth: $275.oo. Price at the consignment store: $45. Score, right? Well, the jacket was a size large. I am not a size large. Moreover, I have absolutely no need for a 3/4 sleeve gold waxed linen jacket. I can't even imagine how I'd wear it, or where I'd wear it to. I imagine women who wear $275 gold waxed linen jackets pair them with diamonds and Louboutin heels and drink dirty martinis with blue cheese-stuffed olives and live in homes decorated by snooty men of questionable sexuality. But it was such a good deal. I'd be crazy to pass it up.

I spent a good twenty minutes examining the jacket. I unbelted it, tried it on, took it off, put it on again, preened at myself in front of the mirror. I examined the lining, the collar, the strength of the stitching holding the buttons. I could feel the salespeople looking at me, questioning my sanity. 

In the end, I decided that despite the bargain price, the jacket was not a financially reasonable purchase. Because I really had no need for such an opulent piece that wasn't even my size. My most expensive heels are from Marshall's. I hate blue cheese. And so my forty-five dollars would have been wasted. (If you're in the Dallas area and want to know the name of the store I was in, shoot me an email.) Will I regret passing the jacket up? Maybe. But I'm not sweating it.

This outfit? All thrifted. Damn proud of it. And much, much more me.

Are you a devoted bargain-hunter? If so, where do you set your limits?

Thrifted Blues Heroes leather jacket; thrifted Sleeping on Snow flutter-sleeve cardigan; thrifted Michael Stars henley; thrifted Seven For All Mankind jeans; thrifted Doc Martens; Urban Outfitters flower studs.

The Trojan woman

I was always kind of a quirky kid. Unlike most other little girls my age, I had no interest in participating in ballet or gymnastics. Instead of planning tea parties with the neighborhood children, I created fantastical worlds out of leaves and acorns and played in the dirt. When I got a bit older, I skipped right over the fluttery teenage crush phase most girls go through. My friend covered their walls in glittery, sticker-adorned posters of Andrew McCarthy, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp. I couldn't understand the practice of taping a magazine cutout of your teen dream to your bedroom closet door; the idea of waking up to some picture of a celebrity staring at me gave me the creeps. Instead, the focal point of my room was a gigantic bulletin board, on which I tacked vintage postcards, bits of fabric, vintage school jacket pins, a NYC subway map and old ticket stubs.

To be honest, I really didn't care much for the popular movies of my schoolgirl years. I preferred to spend my weekends watching old black and white films from the nineteen forties and fifties.Those actors had style. The spoke with affected accents, smoked through jewel-encrusted cigarette holders, and moved snake-like through Art Deco rooms. The men wore hats, the women fur-trimmed capes and New Look dresses with nipped-in waists. They didn't need computer-generated special affects or lighting technicians to look fantastic.

One of my all-time favorite film actresses of that time is Katharine Hepburn. Why her? Well, her background is fascinating: she was the descendant of King Louis IX and daughter of a suffragette. After an early spell of box-office success she endured a series of flops, leading critics to call her "box office poison." She had extremely progressive social views, giving fuel  to rumors that she was a Communist. In addition she possessed an extremely unconventional attitude as an actress of her time. Unlike other starlets, she was prickly with the press and often refused to grant interviews or be photographed, and denied requests for autographs. As my grandfather said, she had moxie.

In regards to fashion, Hepburn preferred a more androgynous, modern style that was a clear contrast to the cleavage and curves of her co-stars. She remains famous for introducing women to wide-leg, high-waisted pants, which she often paired with sharply tailored blazers, flat loafers or sneakers. Once, when RKO executives took away her slacks (to force her to wear a skirt), she walked around the lot in her underwear until they returned them. Kate’s pants became a symbol of independence for women, liberating them to be more active and have more choices.

I suppose I was channeling a bit of her when I dressed this morning. If she moved from Hollywood to Santa Fe, that is.

Thrifted Blues Heroes leather jacket; J Jill white shirt; Paige wide-leg denim pants; thrifted Fossil belt; Frye Billy cowboy boots; Lucky turquoise blossom studs.

My favorite part of this outfit has to be the boots. I've been searching for a pair of cowboy boots forever, and as luck would have came upon these during a spontaneous trip to a new consignment shop.

Maybe they're not perfectly suited to wear with such wide-leg pants. Other bloggers might showcase them with short skirts, or skinny jeans. But as Hepburn said, if you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.