I was feeling pretty Zen this past Saturday when I hit Housing Works’ Open Air Street Fair in Soho (an event that also boasts a $20 All-You-Can-Stuff-Bag component). Its within-walking-distance location obvs prompted far less anticipatory trepidation than the Queens ordeal had; that the clothes were in bins and not on the ground was equally encouraging. I paid my $20, employed a yanking technique that counteracted the depth of the bins (reach fully extended arm down into bottom of bin, grab as many pieces of clothing as possible, secure in iron grip and yank up), and went into a meditative trance for approximately forty-five minutes. I don’t remember the specifics of the hunt that day, only a serene sense of triumph as I carted my fully stuffed bag home. One twenty dollar bill netted me the following:
Vera Wang Lavender Label tee
Banana Republic blazer
Cynthia Rowley dress
Cynthia Rowley top
Michael Stars tank
Piazza Sempione blazer (I shit you not)
A fab terrycloth eighties crop top was also in the mix, among other things.
Apparently, good things come to those who meditate while they shop.
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Impressive, but $20 says you cant do the same for a guy with … $20?! You up for it?
Ahhhhhhh…meditative bliss. I used to go to a Salvation Army that–each Tuesday–set out a bunch of barrels. Each barrel was upended by an employee. Everything was a quarter!
OH GOD I wanted to go to this so bad,…but i had to work. FFFFFUUUUU-
Hey once i heard about this i was soooo bummed i missed it so i went online and searched and found, coutesy of google, the Housing Works web site and found out that they are haveing 2 more $20 all you can stuff bag events on the 13th and the 27th of june its in long island city and i hope i can met you there!!!!!! I will be my fist time buying thrift, i’m getting the same butterflies in my stomache as you get before a big date XD!!
When I go thrifting, I am often overwhelmed by the bad smell, and by my lack of knowledge of how, physically, to find good stuff. Do you look at every single item, or what? The only designer item I have ever found in a used clothing store was a clearly FAKE (and not very nice) black plastic Prada bag with a “Made in Thailand” label inside it. How in the world do you FIND a Vera Wang top amongst all the stinky, stained, cheap and nasty even when it was new and now it’s at least ten years old stuff?
Any chance you could give even MORE detail about how you physically DO this?
so jealous. Those are great finds!
Ooh, I covet that blue blazer. Is that the Banana one? I’ve been looking for such a blazer FOREVER!
Answer to Sarah–Some people (like me) have learned to find things by touch. After a while, good fabrics just jump into your hands. I wrote about “tactile shopping” a while back.
Are you serious with all these finds? My friend and I went last year, but couldn’t bear rummaging around. Should have known better!
Went to my first $20 Housing Works sale @ LIC and did find some great pieces. Didn’t realize that people will actually throw the clothes on the floor and that’s where I would find most of my pieces.