Fancy Pants World Tour

the true femaraderie of thrifting - me & 'P'

 A few weeks ago i received an intriguing invitation in the mail box. "Fancy Pants World Tour"? Sounds epic and expensive.  Also like the food would be good. Wait, that's the "Elastic-Waist Pants World Tour". A gander at the return address filled me in on the perpetress. ilegirl, my good friend "P", was planning another of her female oriented frolics. (You may remember her last fete, "Romantic B. S.").

those are fabric trousers!

 The itinerary:

Danville Thrift

Hospice Thrift Shop – 444 Diablo Road
Thrift Station – 486 San Ramon Valley Blvd.

Luncheon break at Starbucks - brown bagging encouraged.

Danville Consignment

A Dress Change – 125 Railroad Ave (855-5581; http://www.adresschangeconsignment.com/)
Something Old, Something New – 155 Railroad Ave (838-4492)

two-tone embroidery, lovely tomato-red cotton

 My long-time readers will know that i'm not much of a thrifter. I've given it a go several times in the past, but it's never worked out well for me. I'm hard on clothes, i'm picky, hard to fit, very selective about colors and fiber content. This all adds up to hours and hours needed to find anything i'd want to buy, which could be justified in that i have more time than money (on the whole). But so many thrifted items have such a short lifespan that it ends up being a huge expense of time and effort for not much wear-time. So i've tended to focus on sewing and designing my own clothes - it adds up to less time per garment to produce, for much much longer wear-time.

my look for the tour - no rain, so the boots weren't needed

However, this trip sounded like so much fun - a day spent with the ladies looking at a bunch of clothes and sipping lattes. I RSVP'd enthusiastically, and baked a bunch of ginger snaps the afternoon before (they're filling the yogurt container in the top pic). The morning dawned bright and clear (despite forecasts of rain) and the tour was well-attended. We were about a dozen, a multi-generational group - P's mother spent the day shopping with us and her father made an appearance at lunch. On the other end, one of the shopper's two-year-old daughter came along for the ride, in her rhinestone encrusted Converse sneaks (very very cute!). Towards the end of the event she fell asleep in her mother's backpack, with the 'nap flap' giving her a wee bit of privacy.

Danville rewards thrifters bountifully for their efforts. It's a very rich community, housing lots of ladies with time to shop and the inclination to keep up on trends with no repeats! You get a lot of clothes that end up in the thrift or consignment shop out of boredom, or keeping up with 'the new', not so much due to wear and tear. Ah, the type of stock to which i can relate!   Hospice Thrift Shop was smaller than Thrift Station, with a more curated stock. However, Hospice Thrift was holding a 20% sale which almost closed the difference. Thrift Station was pretty crowded, with some of the racks difficult to maneuver between, and a window full of vintage hats. They're cash only (thank you Mrs. MacA!!) and have a wide selection of men and children's gear as well as women's.

proof i  DO try non-newts now & then

A Dress Change has the type of brands you'd find in Nordstrom's, nicely laid out in an adorable space (zebra striped dressing room curtains, rococo framed mirrors). They even have a lounging space stocked with sports magazines and cushy chairs for weary husbands. Something Old, Something New is housed in a more utilitarian space, but they have some really beautiful, high-end pieces. As a result, i saw some of the biggest price tags there (i think the highest i saw was $895). The Moschino dress i'm wearing in the top pic sported a tag of around $200. (Needless to say, it stayed in the shop.)  However, they also have insane mark downs - P scored a beautiful Maggie London dress for $9.00 plus change. It only needed the zipper replaced to be like new.  And the beautiful embroidered cotton top i'm modelling in the dressing room could be yours for a quite reasonable $18.75.

look at these French characters!

In the end, i stayed in my budget and on my shopping list. I came home with two versions (black and white) of the same short sleeved cotton blouse, a pair of cropped black cargo pants (Tommy Hilfiger), a dark wash stretch denim jean jacket, a striped cotton CAbI jacket, and a pair of Charlie 1 Horse mules with no detectable wear all for under sixty bucks.  The embroidered blouse showed up after i'd reached my budget, so i showed some restraint and passed on it. But if it's still there when i return......all bets are off!

Coming up - some looks showing off my new booty. Also, i'm working on some example outfits to put through my checklist - stay tuned! Life has been showing some of her hairier aspects recently, and i so appreciate your reading and your comments. But it looks like things are calming down and i'm itching to post more regularly.  Take care and i plan to see you here again SOON!