CheapJAP

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Buy Now, Wear Later…But Only If It’s Cheap

I rarely buy things I can’t wear immediately, in part because I don’t have the patience for it, and in part because said things aren’t usually on sale. Those of us continually strapped for cash don’t have the luxury of paying full price for Fall wardrobe “pieces” before there’s even the slightest nip in the air. Instead, we have the good sense to know a practical purchase when we see it - i.e. a tan, v-neck Club Monaco sweater tagged for $14.95 at Beacon’s Closet - and snap it up immediately.

In my experience, Club Monaco v-neck sweaters are as pricey as they are versatile. This is probs why Mommy flipped out when I borrowed, washed, and dried her black one into a shrunken, pilled mess last year. Oopsies. My tan version says “Dry Clean Only”: In my world, that means “Turn inside out and wash in parents’ fancy washer on cold water, gentle cycle; hang dry,” or, if desperate, “Hand wash; hang dry.”

The bubblegum pink no-namer serves the same function as the Club Monaco v-neck - a thin, transitional sweater, perfect for layering into Fall and throughout the chillier months - so I probs didn’t need it. But, at $11.95, I couldn’t really justify not buying it. (Italics in previous sentence intended to distract from double-negative grammar crime, btdubs).

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My Flea Finds

What I scored at the P.S. 321 Flea Market: An uber-versatile gray dress, an eighties, stonewashed denim skirt, a black and white beaded necklace and a sweet elastic/leather belt. Let’s tally up what I spent, for kicks.

Dress - $15
Skirt - $10
Necklace - $3
Belt - $5

= A grand total of $33 for four fab things! I’m inspired to make flea markets a regular weekend excursion.

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How To Shop a Flea Market

This past weekend, I hit the P.S. 321 Flea Market in my hood. Shopping a flea market is similar to shopping a thrift store in that it requires a discerning eye and a ruthless intolerance for bullshit. Alas, fleas offer a surplus of junk; finding anything decent can be an exhausting endeavor. To ensure that I always score something, I rely on the following techniques.

Pre-Flea Preparations
Have some moolah on you - fleas don’t take debit cards, doy. I’d recommend $100 in cash; while jewelry and clothes run uber cheap, $50 can often net you a legit JAPtastic bags and/or pair of shoes. The time it takes you to run to the ATM is the difference between these Bruno Magli and/or Miu Miu shoes being yours or someone else’s. Also, wear something thin/skimpy enough so you can try things on over your clothes - dressing rooms not included.

Reconnaissance First
Survey the flea scene before blowing your load on anything you have lukewarm feelings about. Do a lap, reassess, then go back for whatever you can’t stop thinking about. Conversely, if you see something you absolutely must must have, buy it on the spot. I found a kickass black, woven leather belt ($25) I intended on buying post-browsing. When I returned to the vendor ten minutes later, some hippie chick had already snagged it. Bollacks!

Be Picky…Very Picky
The organized vendors are the best vendors; if a table is a hodgepodge of books, teacups, sunglasses and pins, it’s not worth your time. Slowly back away, and move on to the spaces that are easier on the eyes. Unless you happen to have seven hours to kill, in which case, dawdle away.
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A Vintage Jewel in a Stroller Wasteland

I’m not usually a hat person, probs because the only headwear that fits my little noggin is intended for small children. I’m also not usually a vintage clothing person; I don’t give a shit if that musty suit jacket is Armani, I’m not paying $200 for anything with shoulder pads.

However, on the day I wandered into L. Verdi - a tiny vintage shop in Park Slope - I found I was both.

The heavily powdered and rouged proprietor initially greeted me with skepticism, and rightfully so. I’m fairly judgmental of patrons of Michael’s, Screaming Mimi’s, Zachary’s Smile, and the like - I deem them sartorial snoots willing to pay top dollar just so they can say, with feigned nonchalance, “This? Oh, it’s vintage.”

As I gingerly stepped around the racks bursting with pencil skirts, blazers and boots, I noticed that L. Verdi’s prices weren’t entirely ridiculous (if I knew anything about vintage clothing, I’d probably say they were reasonable). The clothing racks required more time for adequate assessment, so I thanked the rouged lady, complimented her store and vowed to come back. That’s when I saw the hats.

For someone who neither owns nor wears a lot of hats, I have a serious appreciation for millinery. The rouged lady enthusiastically pulled some options for me, and I had a 90s flashback of Mom and I trying on hats just for kicks at Henri Bendel. When I put on the hat pictured, we both cooed triumphantly. I wasn’t psyched that it was $55 until I saw the Stetson label stitched on the inside [high quality Stetson straw hats retail for around $200 - the material on this is so fab, it doesn’t even feel like straw!].
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Seasonal, Schmeasonal

For me, shopping’s all about instant gratification; nothing kills a consumer’s buzz like the buy-it-now, wear-it-later factor. When I first saw these black-and-purple-suede, over-the-knee boots at Monkey Whistles and Motorbikes (my latest Brooklyn thrift obsession), I immediately tried them on. The fit and the price were right, but I couldn’t possibly get away with suede boots in June, and couldn’t bear the agony of buying them now and waiting until Fall to wear them. So I petted them affectionately, said goodbye, and vowed to find a pair like them in a few months. Then I realized that I’m lucky enough to live in a city where originality continually trumps practicality, a place where you can wear whatever you want, whenever you want with one stipulation: Just make it look cool. And these boots were pretty effing cool.

It’s tough to find quality suede, over-the-knee boots for less than $100. Alas, mine were $58 (don’t hate). I wore them out with an American Apparel Navy Minidress and a silver headband - very mod indeed. If anyone has doubts about the In factor of these boots (believe me, I did), see their designer counterpart i.e. the Prada Suede Color Block Boot (not in stores yet, but can be easily pre-ordered for the equivalent of three rent checks!). I win.

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To Boot or Not To Boot

I’ve been on the hunt for new boots ever since the heels on my Aldo Ankle Booties started shredding from excessive wear. Where warm-weather appropriate footwear is concerned, boots aren’t the obvious choice. But if they’re light in color and casual enough for non-sweltering, sunny days, they’re fairly easy to pull off.
In an ideal world, Loeffler Randall’s Matilde Flat Wedge Leather Boot would be mine for far less than $695 and we’d share a blissful summer of sartorial lust. Yup, reality bites. But when my funds get me down, there’s always Beacon’s Closet to yank me out of my funk.
These ankle booties were $15.95 - let’s take a moment to appreciate the price alone. While they’re certainly not as glam as their overpriced alternatives, the fact that they’re linen makes them both more warm-weather appropriate than leather AND eco-friendly, natch. Paired with denim cut-offs (I told you I’d hack my old Sevens into shorts) they effing rock. That they didn’t even require a whole $20 doesn’t suck either.

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Style Superfood: The Shirtdress

The Shirtdress is one of those eternally In warm-weather items. It’s easy, flattering and - with the collar popped - endearingly obnoxious. But if I see one more shapeless, solid-colored version of it at H&M, I’m might have a narcoleptic episode.

Thrift stores - Rags-a-GoGo in this case - usually offer much more interesting (and cheaper, obvs) versions of this could-be played out trend. This one ($28) was slightly matronly when purchased, so I butchered the hem to sexify it a bit. Belt it, add wedges and voila! A trend beloved by everyone becomes uniquely yours.

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Mission Accomplished: Cheap Thrift in Manhattan

Finding cheap, cool thrift store goodies in Manhattan is kind of a bitch, what with the amount of designer resale and vintage outposts posing as beacons of bargain shopping. Rags-A-GoGo’s sign meant I wasn’t going to have the disheartening experience of not being able to afford somebody’s trash. I don’t care how impressive the brand or how mint the condition; terms like “vintage,” “consignment,” and “designer resale” can’t change the fact that you’re buying old, unwanted clothes. Write that down.

It would have taken me a solid hour to work through Rags’ t-shirt selection; I’ll obvs hit the store again and report back. I was equally impressed by the store’s rack of shirtdresses hiding in the back, but I only had time for a quickie. I scored this fab, leather watch band/bracelet thang for 20 bucks - probably more than I’d usually spend for an accessory, but I’ve already received a slew of compliments on its cool factor. And we all know how much I heart compliments.

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Muumuu No More

I shorten almost every dress I purchase and by “shorten,” I mean hack away at the hem with a pair of fabric scissors. I do this for a few reasons:
1. I’m a whopping five feet, two (and a half) inches and short hemlines give my midget-esque legs the illusion of length.
2. It’s the only way to take a thrift store dress from muumuu to uber cute (really struggled for the rhyme on that one).

On the rack at Beacon’s Closet, this number was more seventies housewife than spring hotness, but it hit two out of this season’s Top Ten Trends - Bright Colors and Bold Florals. Whew, because the Bright Ideas and In Bloom looks are like, so last year. Belted, post fabric surgery, this seventeen dollar dress is totally In. And it’ll be just as cool in Spring 2009, when the same trends masquerade as Loud Tones and Surfer Girl Chic.

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The Maharajah of Thrift: Beacon’s Williamsburg

It’s pretty obvs by now that I’m maniacally obsessed with the Park Slope outpost of Beacon’s Closet. I assumed that their Williamsburg shop was similarly excellent save for the fact that, well, it’s in Williamsburg, land o’ the anti-JAPs. A combination of sloth and fear hindered my urge to check out the store until recently, when I suffered a fruitless experience at Beacon’s Park Slope. So I bit the bullet that is the L train and found my way to its sister store. Beacon’s Williamsburg is approximately 10 times the size of its Park Slope sister. Clothes are organized by color throughout the massive, warehouse-esque space and shoes of varying degrees of awesomeness sit atop the clothing racks. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I almost couldn’t shop. Almost.

This Alice and Olivia sweater/shirt thang is 85% silk, 15% cashmere and probs retailed for at least $150 in it’s prime. I got it for $19.95. Booyah. Continue reading →

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Solving the BJ Equation

By BJ, I mean Boot/Jean, of course. Pervs, all of you. I want you to think long and hard (oops) about what you’d be willing to spend altogether on a pair of kickass boots and jeans. If I still had Daddy’s Amex, I would have said upwards of $400. Thankfully, I have something better than a gold card: A local thrift store.

It’s way too easy to find great jeans and boots sans budget. It’s also not nearly as fun to wear them when their respective price tags make you nauseous in retrospect.

I know, I know, you shouldn’t scrimp on jeans, which I’ve been doing extensively as of late. But I can’t help it if this $20 pair looks as fab as its $200 designer counterparts. Belted and tucked into rubber wedge snow boots (also $20) the BJ combo screams seventies coolness.

Fractions aren’t my forte, but I believe $40 is one tenth of $400 - what I would have paid, once upon a time, for jeans and boots. Many thanks, once again, to Beacon’s Closet for providing me with new versions of a few of my favorite things…at a tenth of the price.

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Cheap JAP for Marc Jacobs

I find the whole “vintage clothing”/”designer resale” genre seriously bothersome because coded in the terminology are the letters R-I-P-O-F-F. I am, however, a big believer in thrift stores. I hit thrift stores for cheap, cool shit, which means I neither look for nor expect to find anything remotely brand name-esque. Perhaps this is why fortune sporadically smiles on me.

I came across this blacket while perusing the racks at Beacon’s Closet (blacket = blazer/jacket, i.e. cut like a blazer but thick enough to work as a mini-coat). I almost ignored it because Mommy bought me a Marc Jacobs blazer two summers ago - pale pink cotton, $300 at Scoop, Hamptons. (No, my fam doesn’t summer. Would I need to shop cheap to look loaded if I had a fucking house in Amagansett?).

Thankfully, the familiar tag on the blacket caught my eye. Marc Jacobs. At Beacon’s Closet. Shut UP. I immediately realized that the MJ blacket was totally different from the MJ blazer I already owned; it’s corduroy (ideal for Fall), more rouge than pink, and has some sweet ass snap details on the sleeves to boot.

Take a good, hard look at this image, because it’s a fucking work of art. That’s a $27.95 price tag attached to a Marc Jacobs blacket.

Sample sales are for pussies. This is the real designer discount deal.

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How to Rock a Long Dress

I found this dress at Beacon’s the other day for $14.95. On the hanger, it looks kinda blah; it was equally meh in the dressing room. I bought it with the full intent of shortening it into a mini shirt-dress (by “shortening,” I mean hacking at it with a pair of fabric scissors - I don’t waste money on professional alterations unless it’s absolutely necessary).

Pre-hemline surgery, I tried the dress on and cinched a thick brown belt around my waist. The dress didn’t look hot. It looked understated and classy - two of the most difficult adjectives to achieve where style is concerned.

The length wasn’t doing jackshit to create the illusion of height I’m constantly striving for, but I restrained my urge to shorten the dress and added ankle boots instead. I needed public opinion to affirm the outfit’s awesomeness, so I wore it out to a party that evening. “Great color,” “Love the dress,” “You look gorgeous,” from guys and girls alike. Yaay, my massive ego totally needed that. Now let’s talk overall cost. Continue reading →

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Battle of the Fur-Collared Cardigans

Two sweaters, both alike in dignity, in fair Brooklyn, where we lay our scene (sorry - had a Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet moment there - how much did you effing hate Claire Danes when that movie came out?).
On first glance, these fur-collared cardigans are similarly versatile, adorable and of course, JAPtastic. But we don’t have Daddy’s credit card anymore, which means we need to deal with something we soooo used to not care about, something with serious ick-factor: The cost. Let’s bite the bullet and assess the price differential of these two garments.

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