Filed under: Cheap Cheap, Consume This, T.V. | Tags: costume idea, Halloween, last minute, ugly betty
I’m not really into dressing up for Halloween, but, you know, sometimes you have to. Maybe your boss loves the holiday or your friend decides to have a party and you don’t want to miss out on the onion dip. Shit happens. And when such circumstances touch my life, I look for an easy out.
One thought I had was Ugly Betty. It’s pretty easy–you probably have some of it in your closet, and what you don’t have can be easily found in a thrift or fast fashion store in a strip mall.
If all else fails, get a red poncho and slap on the word Guadalajara. Done.
You need stuff like this:
Busy blouse J.Crew, Sweater Vest Urban Outfitters, Heavy Fabric Skirt Tulle, Wedge Mary Janes Two Lips, Red Glasses from any drugstore.
Oh, and here’s a little slide show I threw together for more inspiration:
Here’s a picture of Zellweger a split second before she start killing people with her eyes.
No, really, she’s freaking me out.
Filed under: Cheap Cheap, Fashion News | Tags: lisa armstrong, London, Notting Hill, telegraph, the goodwill, thrift store
Almost all the clothes in a thrift store are unwearable, with a few gems hiding within. In the golden age of thrift shopping (the 90s), you had to sift through Bart Simpson and company picnic t-shirts to find the Levis Sta-Prest and Hang Ten shirts, but now there’s a new culprit clogging things up: cheap clothes à la Forever 21.
Now, I’m not saying I don’t indulge in the cheapness that is Forever 21 on a frequent basis but, call me a snob, I draw the line at buying it second hand. It’s not like that stuff really goes the long haul. It’s called disposable fashion for a reason.
The thrift stores have my back on this one…in London, anyway, according to a Times Online article by Lisa Armstrong. In it she writes that the thrift stores of Notting Hill, one of the priciest London neighborhoods, are rejecting donations of cheap clothes because they’re not profitable enough. She says clothes lose half their value once you taken them home and then half of that once you wear them. So do that math for a $16 top from some flimsy fashion store.
I wonder if this phenomenon will spread to US thrift stores. It seems like the cheaper clothes get in chain stores, the market for used clothing will begin to fade because most people who have the option would rather pay $6 for a new t-shirt than $1 for a used one. As thrift stores become pickier about what they accept, maybe second hand shops will be the only place you can actually get some decent quality clothes.
Hmmm…the Goodwill did just open a high end store in Connecticut, where they sell designer jeans and such.
-V. Thread
