Shopping with Molly

This is not earth-shattering news for anyone local, but it has been unusually cold these days - and what better cure for cold weather than a good dose of thrift shopping!  That's exactly what I did last Saturday with thrift-guiding client Molly! 

Molly is a young part-time student, full-time neurosciences secretary, wife and supporter of all things local food.  She is friends with some of my favourite people, Su and Deb, and is another wonderful example of living your values!  She was even talking already about her garden!  Molly is not new to thrifting but was looking for some help in putting pieces together, going outside her comfort zone and bringing some of her pinned looks to life.  Therefore, I *had* to spend several hours on Pinterest researching; just doing my job, Ma'am.  

It was a pleasure to go through the racks with Molly!  She was patient and willing to try on anything and share some laughs about wildly inappropriate pieces!  Here are some pics from our time together...

After hitting the shoes and boots, we made a wonderful discovery: Molly was built for blazers!  These 3 fit perfectly and will be an easy way to elevate an outfit from a simple cardi.  Stacy and Clinton have been saying it forever, and VV Boutique prices make it realistic for the everyday woman.  That beautiful red blazer for $7???  It's BCBG!!!!  Likely worth $250+ regular retail and in perfect condition!  So happy it will go to a good home!

Molly tried on what she could in the aisles to help narrow down the tops for mixing into outfits.  In other words, these carts are the edited options!!  Shout out to the Sherwood Park Value Village staff for their patience and willingness to let us go through her cart at a relaxed pace!

The first fitting room success was this flattering and easy-to-wear dress!  Molly pinned several feminine-western-fifties-vibe looks with defined waistlines, flowy skirts and boots.  These are just two of the potential options as a "finishing layer" for the dress.  Of course, once it's slightly warmer than minus-a-bazillion, she can also wear it alone, or with a scarf and flats!

Molly found another easy-to-wear print dress in classic black and white, along with the black skinny leather belt and leather Nine West flats!  It can be worn alone, with any of her blazers, with the long feminine crochet subtle-ruffle cardi and even with a colourful top layered over.  This dress came with a tie in the same print but is even more polished and interesting with the leather belt.   

This pin made me jealous of Molly's fab dress!

I'm thinking simple print dress + colourful belt = perfect spring fashion formula!  

Put colourful belts on your list for your next thrifting trip, Molly!

Molly tried on a few black pencil skirts and found this George-label one to be more comfortable and fitting than the Ann Taylor option - a good reminder that label ain't everything!  In fact, it comes second to fit!  There are so many ways to style a black skirt, but I loved the simplicity of the loose striped top with it - in colours favoured by my beloved Elisa Nalin.  Molly can pair this skirt with every top she purchased; tucked, untucked, belted, blazered - the possibilities are endless! 

Molly also scored an orange pencil skirt!  We discussed that the secret to styling bold colours is basically just to pretend it's a neutral and go for it!  I've long maintained that yellow pants are a neutral (!) and Black Out Style affirmed my position.  Most of us found that once we got comfortable with colour, it was just as easy to reach for colour as for black, and resulted in a look that was more original and interesting.  I hope you have fun with this skirt, Molly!

The left look was the pièce de résistance of the trip!  Molly loved the patterned skirt, chambray, belt and boots!  She could be pinned on her own Pinterest board in this outfit!  Ultimate thrifting success!!  We played with the skirt and found some other ways to wear it, including with the short sleeve sheer blue top, and we discussed another styling trick would be to mix it with a contrasting pattern or colour.  As for the chambray, well, Molly found not only one but TWO chambrays in different styles and washes.  I'm so very jealous happy for her.  I see no sign of chambrays losing steam and, in fact, I am always on the hunt for more for myself.  There are pins and pins of chambray pinspiration, but one of my fave resources is the Smith's Blog Chambray Shirt Project.  Chambray + black skirt = YES!  Chambray + orange skirt = YEEEESSSSS!!!!  I could go on but I'm close to exceeding my exclamation point per post max.

Molly had a generous shopping budget and didn't even come close to her top limit!  She spent $187.15 on 26 pieces for an average cost per piece of $7.20, or $11.45 including my fee, for great quality pieces and brands!  I'm hard pressed to choose a favourite, but I'm leaning towards that incredible BCBG blazer!  Molly, it was a true pleasure and I hope you enjoy all of your amazing new pieces.