CheapJAP

Nifty Thrifty

Thrift Goes Corporate, Thanks to AA

Hating on American Apparel isn’t the most challenging of tasks. There’s the prevalence of camel toes in tights and leotards; the idea that oversized fake glasses-plus-nipples-equals-sexy; the $10 Le String intended to shape the $38, too-true-to-its-nameLe Sac Dress; the pervy-is-the-new-black trend illustrated by variations on the doggy-style theme. A world where the saggy-eyed apathy of a lethal bender is always In and partied-out promiscuity is always cool lends itself to a certain, erm, lack of responsibility: It’s all fun and games until somebody gets knocked up and blames it on a billboard.

And yet.

In the entirety of my wardrobe, there is one item without which I could not dress myself: Lame-Matte High-Waisted Leggings in black, no contest. In, Out, I don’t give a shit; if leggings aren’t pants, I’m bottomless at least three days a week and more than okay with it. I feel all kinds of awesome whenever I wear them, and feeling awesome is always In, yes?

Until recently, the aforementioned leggings were the sole source of my commitment to AA. Then I wandered into their Flatbush Avenue location and happened upon California Select.

Initially, I rolled my eyes and Oy-Veyed to myself: Was AA really pulling an Urban and manufacturing pretend-vintage clothing? Then, I noticed that every single piece was different, that the California Select racks looked more legit thrift than faux secondhand. I grabbed the nearest Unisex Tee-Clad employee and drilled him for answers.

CJ: Explain this California Select biznass to me.
AA: It’s American Apparel’s vintage/thrift line.
CJ: I see. So you’re manufacturing “vintage” clothing.
AA: Nope. Our buyers hit flea markets all over the country. The stuff they find is California Select.

Exsqueeze me? Baking powder? Did Sustainable Shopping just go corporate in a big way? As someone all too familiar with the challenges of shopping a flea (the weather-related issues, the figuring out which vendors are decent, the constant suspicion of being ripped off), I’m eternally grateful for anything that makes the process less of a bitch. American Apparel’s culling the best of America’s gently-worn goods takes the headache out of the equation. I’m happy to pay a few bucks more for convenience, especially when much of the line starts at a reasonable $9.99.

All items pictured currently on offer at California Select’s Ebay Store. As of now, the line is only available Select-ively (tee hee) in the flesh, (see this list of retail locations for more info) but I have a hunch it’ll be everywhere soon.

American Apparel’s ads might glorify irresponsibility, but their business practices do no such thing: The company was hailed as a shining example of Corporate Social Responsibility even before California Select. Their decision to, in essence, mass-produce previously worn clothes proves that they’re as environmentally conscious as they are socially. It also affirms my assessment of Sustainable Shopping as the next big thing, and hot damn! do I love being right.

Economic Shitstorm

The Goliath of Goodwills Versus…ME.

En route from my tailor the other day, strutting down Flatbush Avenue Ext., I stumbled across the biggest Goodwill I have ever seen. As I assessed the interior, I was overwhelmed by a mixture of awe, trepidation and nausea not unlike what I experienced on my last trip to Century 21. If I couldn’t find something, ANYTHING, in this vast, Motley Crue of castoffs, it would call the entirety of my secondhand shopping prowess into question, and that was sooo not happening. So I put on my headphones, got in the zone and - to the tune of Feed the Animals - tackled the place rack by rack.

Looks like two pairs of colored jeans and a patterned dress, right? WRONG. So effing wrong. Drum roll, please.

Marc Jacobs, Built by Wendy and Lily Pulitzer, respectively. ‘Nuff said.

I’m well aware that scoring at Salvation Army and/or Goodwill is rare; the bigger the outlet, the harder it gets. The only reason I uncover the pearls in these seas of fugliness, time and time again, is practice. While I neither expect nor recommend that you spend as much time in the field as I do, one hour per week going through the racks at your resident beacon of charity castoffs does wonders for your shopping skillz. Slowly back away from The Hills (that’s what DVR is for!), get your ass off the couch, and give it a whirl. Seek and ye shall find, young Skywalkers. Seek and ye shall find.

Label Whore

The Afterglow of Buffalo

I scored big with my Buffalo Exchange Store Credit. Huge. It’s ridiculous, really, that I arrived at their East Village location with unwanted clothes, and departed with Miss Sixty, Alice & Olivia, Nanette Lepore, and Theory. This is obvs due in part to my shopping skillz, but fret not, chickadees. Remember what I said before? They’re Overstocked. More than enough to go around!

Photographic Evidence of Excellent Price Points

The Theory top was $15; the Alice & Olivia Dress was $36; the Nanette Lepore pants were $28.50; the Miss Sixty tag isn’t pictured because I accidentally threw it out, oopsies. Also $15.

I’d like to take a moment to reflect on my last trip to Marshall’s, when I did not buy the $39.99 Theory button down. If I had, upon seeing the $15 tag on this much cuter version, I would have KICKED MYSELF. Restraint has its rewards sometimes.

Outfits and further descriptions on all the above to follow, but first, let’s briefly assess the damage (or lack thereof). The subtotal of all four items was $94.50. Not bad, but certainly not what I’d been planning to spend. My store credit of $51 meant I owed BuffEx a grand total of… $43.50.

An Alice & Olivia dress, a Miss Sixty top, a Theory button-down shirt, and a pair of Nanette Lepore pants for FORTY THREE DOLLARS AND CHANGE.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Economic Shitstorm

Ra Ra ReSale! The Buff Bandwagon.

For those not in the know, Buffalo Exchange is basically an amped up, national version of Beacon’s Closet. It’s taken me this long to jump on the Buff Bandwagon because, until recently, their only NYC Metro Area store was in the Other Brooklyn, aka Williamsburg. While I’ve built up a tolerance to oversized, clear-lense glasses (and to those fun judge-y glares behind them…I will not hate hipsters I will not hate hipsters…), I start to lose it once the two-hour mark hits, and it takes that long just to sift through the disorganized shitshow that is Buff Exchange Brooklyn. After a few visits to the new East Village location, however, I can confidently say I am hooked for LIFE.

This is not to imply that the overall experience was without its snags. I’d arrived with two bags of mine and my mother’s un-worn and/or gently-used castoffs, anticipating substantial store credit in exchange. The buyer assessed me goods and deemed approximately one fourth of them worthy of Buff Exchange’s racks. ONE FOURTH?! My stuff was as good, if not better, than almost everything they sold. What the eff was going on? The wardrobe-related insecurity all over my face didn’t go unnoticed by the buyer, who responded with a surprisingly sympathetic look. “Your stuff’s great…it’s not that…it’s…” I felt like we were breaking up. She leaned in closer. “It’s that we’re, well…overstocked.”

Overstocked. This meant sellers like me were taking the 30% cash option instead of the 50% store credit option. I was open-minded about those of the clothes-for-cash ilk until I realized that their selling for cash fucks with my ability to sell for store credit. SO NOT OKAY.

Let’s explore this logically: If Buff Exchange buys clothes from you - clothes you’ve previously purchased and worn - there is a better-than-good chance that their racks offer wares in sync with your taste. Say they take $100 worth of stuff off your hands and you get $50 in store credit or $30 in cash and take the cash option. Know what inevitably happens to that cash? You spend it all and then some on an H&M dress. Buff Exchange has H&M dresses too…and Alice and Olivia and Castle Starr and Banana Republic and Nanette Lepore and Diesel. I saw a navy Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress for $28; I had to touch it to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

Buff Exchange and stores of its ilk have a great thing going, but they can’t stay in business if you’re too chicken shit to sift through the racks. I watched their staff sort through six other people’s bags before mine, and hot damn! are they meticulous: No missing buttons, screwy zippers, pit stains, unintentional tears or funky smells allowed. Everything on those racks is almost-new or close to it. Nothing is going to bite you. Yes, it’s a little more work to find things here than in a fast-fashion chain, but you’ve got a little more money to spend; that makes it more than a fair trade. Buck up, and buy back from the place that’s so generously enabled you to unload some of your castoffs in a fiscally and environmentally responsible way. Or I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too, for effing it up for the rest of us.

(Get ready to FLIP OUT when you see what my $45 in store credit got me. EEK!)

Cheap JAP 101

Sustainable Shopping

Activism generally bugs the shit out of me: The innate response to anything forced upon you via email chains, street-stalkers and their clipboards, and/or Facebook tends not to be, “Wow! I suddenly care!” My bestie Isabel and I frequently bitch about the above, so when she tackled Sustainability in her latest Huff Po piece - a burdensome ideal that, like activism, riddles me with guilt over my zealous materialism - I was more than a little intrigued. Said intrigue turned to shock when, post-reading, I realized I’d been actively participating in Sustainability for quite some time. For someone who can’t be bothered to unplug her phone charger, that is all kinds of weird.

I’m more than a little apprehensive to associate buying secondhand clothes with words like green, eco-friendly, reduce-reuse-recycle, et. al. The world of the gently-worn obvs involves and embodies these concepts, but that’s not why I shop there. I frequent places like Beacon’s Closet and Buffalo Exchange because the clothes are (a) Almost-New, (b) Brand-tastic, and (c) Cheap. That these stores continually buy my castoffs in exchange for credit so I can, in essence, shop there for FREE is the fiscally fabulous icing on the recession cake.

Yet whenever I browse Old Navy and see those towering piles of unsold clothes, I can’t help but wonder what’s happens to all that material. Then I realize the really icky truth; that most of it goes from overstuffed shelves to overstuffed landfill. And that sucks harder than the fugly clothes themselves.

Shopping at thrift stores - buying and re-using other people’s clothes - embodies the very definition of sustainability; it’s an act “capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment.” So Sustainable Shopping might just be the best way to combat apparel produced in excess by Old Navy and its ilk. It might not be exactly why I do it, but I’m more than okay with the fact that re-using other people’s clothes could eventually lead to less garbage in this world.

Maybe there’s a little bit of activist in me after all.

Nifty Thrifty

Meet Aunt Debbie.

Legend has it that whenever Aunt Debbie’s kids acted out in the car, she wouldn’t waste her energy screaming them into silence; she’d simply swerve her Cadillac all over the road, stopping and starting abruptly until they were too nauseous and/or too terrified to cause a ruckus. She’s obvs my kind of lady, and this past Thanksgiving, she beat me at my own game.

“I specifically wore my Cheap JAP outfit today. These pants are Talbots, originally $79.99. I got them for three dollars! And how FAB is this vest?!”

The vest WAS fab, and something like seven dollars to boot. According to Aunt Debbie, her entire outfit - pants, top and vest - cost less than $20. I was skeptical until my Nannie Cookie verified her sister’s claims. So what was this epic sale that had my grandmother and aunt all-a-twitter?

“The Beth Israel Sisterhood Clothing Drive!”
Clearly, twentysomething energy is no match for experience where shopping cheap and looking loaded’s concerned.

(Huge thanks to Aunt Debbie for being my biggest fan. You rock, girlfriend.)

Nifty Thrifty

Skirt, One Dollar, NBD

Here’s that Dana Buchman skirt I scored at Housing Works for One Whole Dollar.

This skirt’s a fairly conservative piece. So I had to badass it up a little bit with a low-cut blouse and knee-high boots.

Make it work, people. Make it WORK.

*Deer-in-headlights face sold separately.

Economic Shitstorm

How To: Sell Your Old Clothes

Most people donate the clothes they no longer wear. (By “donate,” I do NOT mean take out with the trash. Don’t add to the dumpster heap that is our earth, fools). That’s the obvious, socially and environmentally responsible, post-closet purge choice. Being an inherently selfish person, I prefer to sell my duds to Beacon’s Closet for cash or store credit instead.

Beacon’s isn’t as discerning as your standard Consignment shop, but they still continually neg some of my thangs. Should you choose to sell (at Beacon’s or elsewhere), use the following guidelines to filter your castoffs:

1. The Gently Worn Factor: No rips, pilling or pitstains.

2. The Brand Factor: For thrift stores, it doesn’t matter if it’s Theory or Forever 21 - if the tag is recognizable, it’s got a better shot of selling. Consignment and/or designer re-sale shops (really, does anyone know the difference?) are considerably snootier. So unless you’ve got a Marc Jacobs blazer you’re sick of (like that’s even humanly possible), I’m not making any promises.

3. The Seasonal Factor: Do you buy linen in winter? Neither do the stores you’re selling to. Just omit the obvious stuff - no flannel button downs if it’s summer, no sarongs if it’s as effing freezing out as it is today.

I obvs filter effectively to maximize what Beacon’s takes off my hands. This time around, they priced my wares at $123.55. In exchange, I got 55% of that number in store credit - $67.95 worth of thriftastic treasures. I could have taken 35% in cash ($43.24), but that would have been stupid. My store credit resulted in…

…an uber-girly, white ruffled top ($14.95); a slightly ridiculous (let’s just say avante garde), light blue, puffy-sleeved blouse; a pair of legwarmers (Foot Traffic, $12), and, drumroll please…

…a STELLAR pair of Olsen Haus pumps. I’d be totally on board with the Vegan shoe thing if green brands like Olsen Haus didn’t retail for around $225. Are you effing kidding me?! It’s not even leather!

Whatevs Olsen, I got your overpriced plastic for $19.95. HA.

My haul came to $62.85 of my store credit. To sum up: I got rid of old clothes AND bought new ones with ZERO dollars of my own money. How d’ya like them apples?!

*See this nationwide Consignment/Thrift Stores Directory so you too can reap the benefits of cleaning your closet.

Economic Shitstorm

The Top Five Lamest Excuses to Not Shop at Goodwill

Every girl loves a bargain; it should logically follow that every girl frequents her local Goodwill (and/or Salvation Army) in search of the best deals in fashion. Unfortunately, we’re used to shiny, new shit. So we’ve got an arsenal of excuses as to why we don’t patronize these beacons of thrift. And they’re all worthless and weak. (Now drop and give me twenty!).
“They don’t have the brands I like.”
Really. So you don’t like Laundry, Tahari, Bebe, Club Monaco, J.Crew, Banana Republic, GAP, H&M, BCBG, et. al? How bout this Intermix top that cost me six dollars? Goodwill’s got brands to burn - you just gotta look, lazy face. The fact that my Goodwill’s in NYC doesn’t necessarily mean it has a better selection than yours; New York is home to the savviest of stylemongers, so you can bet my finds have already been picked through by other beotches. And I STILL score.

“I mean, those are, like, other people’s clothes.”
No shit Sherlock. Lots of you who won’t deign to shop at Goodwill either have or would donate your old clothes to the same place. Wouldn’t people be lucky to buy and wear the fab stuff you’ve tired of? I thought so. Yes, there’s an abundance of worn-out, fugly apparel. But there’s also tons of clothing about as worn-in as - and I’m projecting here - that pricey, going-out top you *needed* that still has its tags. (We all have that top, btw ;).

“It’s too disorganized for me to find anything.”
Okay, I kind of feel you on this. Kind of. Goodwill doesn’t care if you’re a Forever 21 or a Juicy Couture or a Theory - you’re all going to hang together in harmony, regardless of where you came from or what you originally cost. And in this way, it’s the great equalizer of all things Fashion. Being forced to sift through things not according to trend or brand but according to category and color illuminates something the Industry banks on you never realizing: It’s all just stuff. In one world, it’s a pastel, cable-knit, Theory sweater. In another, it’s just a pink top. And it’s in the pink top section with all the other pink tops.
Continue reading →

Nifty Thrifty

Housing Works Poses as Dollar Store

Yesterday, I wandered into Housing Works’ Chelsea Store. Now lookey, Housing Works is far from the creme de la creme of NYC’s thrift store offerings, but even a selfish beotch like me loves clothing that supports a cause. To contribute to Housing Works’ mission - ending the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness - all you gotta do is shop. That’s reason enough to stop by.

Housing Works’ prices are usually more than reasonable but yesterday, they happened to be cleaning house, i.e. clothes, shoes, bags, accessories cost $1 each. ONE DOLLAR EACH. Why had I not known about this?! All the good stuff was almost gone! Continue reading →

Nifty Thrifty

A Mad Cool Dress

Everyone’s all obsessed with Mad Men Fashion, understandably so; the clothes are even hotter than the show. Mad Men Fashion - let’s call it Madshion for kicks - even inspired Michael Kors’ latest line. Spend a mere $350 and you get a free DVD of Season 1 - what a deal! Gag me.

Going retro is a breeze, particularly when you live in close proximity to the best thrift store ever. If that’s not the case, Beacon’s Online Store recently got a Botox injection - check out the goods there. I snagged this very Joan-esque sweater dress for a whopping $18.95. If only wearing it made me as badass as she!

Sartorial Etiquette

Overheard At Beacon’s…

Saks might be effed, but biznass at Beacon’s Closet is booming, so much so that they’ve got a new Park Slope store to show for it. Whilst trying things on in the dressing room, I overheard the following exchange between a girl and her boyfriend:

Girl: How does this look?
Boyfriend: You look SO SKINNY in that!

Hear this, men: Shopping with your girlfriend is either foolish or noble, depending on your ability to answer this question correctly. If she tries on something that’s less than flattering, simply feign ignorance, pretend you’re bored and grunt something to the effect of “Good.” If she tries on something that really does look good, You-Look-So-Skinny-In-That will get you laid Every. Single. Time.

You’re welcome.

DIY Dallying

DIY Dress, Final Look

So, that dress I constructed out of a men’s lightweight silk sweater, a strip of patterned polyester and fabric glue survived its first dry cleaning.

I cinched it with an elastic black belt (on sale at Urban, $8), added gray tights and my fave black pumps… and was so enamored with the outfit and/or myself that I couldn’t be bothered to look up at the camera.

While I’m as pumped as my shoes that fabric glue gives me an excuse to avoid domesticity (read: learn to sew), I’m still skeptical of said glue’s durability.

This kickass mini-dress will probs fall apart the next time I wear it; a sad fact that forces me to answer one of those heavy life question things.

What matters more, my dress or my dignity?

(Insert pensive pause here).

So it’s settled then. I’m learning to sew.

Nifty Thrifty

Hello AWESOME.

Now, I realize that a 100% polyester jumpsuit from Sears isn’t most people’s definition of awesome. I certainly have reservations about polyester and jumpsuits as separate entities. But together, in the form of this one piece, two fuglies make a fabulous.

Yes, head-to-toe green is borderline ridiculous. Yes, this garment might make me a walking Don’t. I’m not saying I don’t give a shit about what other people think. I just don’t give a shit about what they think of my clothes.

This garment - this absurd, green, polyester jumpsuit - makes me utterly gleeful. Said Glee cost me a mere $15.95. That’s gotta cancel out the fact that it kinda looks like a Halloween costume, no?

Sears Jumpsuit, KORS pumps - Beacon’s Closet. Belt, LV Scarf - Mommy’s Closet. Tee hee.

Nifty Thrifty

Hot Pink, Hotter Price

There’s something about hot pink chiffon that makes me feel like a little girl at a tea party a la Eloise.

This Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent dress was purchased for a whopping $6 at Monk, as previously mentioned. The belt is actually a Gucci purse strap, thieved from Mommy’s closet. The Guess heels were around $60; the gray tights were $14.

All told, we’ve got an entire outfit - including a designer dress that probs originally cost $200 - for eighty buckaroos. Pretty effing Cheap JAPtastic.

Cheap JAP 101

Vanity Dress, Insta-Mood Booster

Working four nights a week seriously cuts into my ability to wear fun little dresses like this one. But when you put something on that lets you live the lie that, even at five-foot-two, you could totally model if you felt like it, that something must be bought immediately. Especially if it’s a BCBG dress on sale for $16.95. (Thank you Beacons, as per usual).

I used a green, detachable purse strap from Mom’s Gucci clutch as a belt, and topped the outfit off with my fave black pumps. Then I proceeded to dance around my apartment in the ensemble for forty-five minutes or so. I took some ridiculous pics in diva mode just for kicks.

Okay, so why am I posting this barrage of photos (aside from my being despicably vain and image-obsessed, obvs)? Because fashion - dressing up - is supposed to be fun. Even if you’ve got nowhere to go - if I didn’t play with my clothes, I wouldn’t have realized that a purse strap can double as an accessory!

I guess my point is this: You don’t always need events, booze or people to entertain yourself. Sometimes, all it takes is a camera and a closet to make your own party.

Label Whore

More Brands at Beacon’s

You’re probs sick of hearing about Beacon’s Closet. Tough nuts. If you know of another store that sells JAPtastic denim for $24.95, I’m all ears. But as it stands, when I want serious brands at a quarter of their original price, Beacon’s never fails to deliver.

These are Hudson Jeans which, like their overpriced kin, usually retail for around $180. Based on their awesomeness, $24.95 seems too cheap, almost unbelievably so. But the tags don’t lie, people. The tags don’t lie.