By Elle
This past weekend, I pulled out my fall raincoat, complete with lining, because it’s so dang chilly outside. Whenever I put something on for the coming season, I immediately check the pockets in hope of finding, of course, cold, hard cash. What I almost always find, however, are wads of Kleenex, sometimes new, sometimes used. This time, I found, yes, Kleenex, along with something new.
By Elle
I generally don’t pay much for my clothing, opting to thrift most everything I buy, for several reasons (in no particular order):
According to Elizabeth Cline, who wrote Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, “most of our donated clothing doesn’t end up in vintage shops, as car-seat stuffing, or as an industrial wiping rag. It is sold overseas….And by one estimate, used clothing is now the United States’ number one export by volume, with the overwhelming majority sent to ports in sub-Saharan Africa.”
While that seems like a charitable deed, turns out the world has changed, and many people in developing countries are able to now afford fast fashion and super-cheap clothing from China. We can (and should) no longer use Africa as our dumping ground for unwanted textiles. In fact, there is at least talk in Eastern Africa to ban all imported used clothing by 2019.
By Elle
I’ve loved plaid ever since I was a kid, when I first saw the girls in my neighborhood who went to the parochial school walking in their pleated plaid skirts, white shirts and black cardigans. I also coveted their shiny black and white saddle shoes. I went to the public school, so I could wear anything I wanted. And I wanted a plaid skirt and saddle shoes.
By Amy Moore (guest blogger)
I used to shop for clothes and accessories almost exclusively at retail stores, but that all changed when I embarked on a health journey and lost 70 pounds. In the process, I went from plus-size clothing (1X, size 18-20) to a size 6, which meant that I had to replace both my work and casual wardrobe multiple times.
To save money, I started shopping at Goodwill and Salvation Army and found a few good deals on brands that I normally wear. But it wasn’t until I found some amazing resale shops that I finally embraced second-hand shopping. I still get to look stylish, and I enjoy the fact that I never know what I’m going to find!
Here are three local stores that I haunt frequently:
By Elle
When I was an adolescent and pre-teen, my limited wardrobe consisted mainly of patched jeans and rock concert t-shirts, and because I went to public schools, that’s what I wore. Although I didn’t mind (and probably preferred it at the time), I’ve always been smitten with the look of school uniforms: perfectly pleated plaid skirts, crisp white collared shirts, neat cardigans and loafers to tie it all together. So when I bought this black and white schoolgirl skirt at a thrift store recently, I began to reflect on education and how lucky we in this country are to have access to schools. Continue reading
By Elle
During a recent trip to the Riveria Maya, Mexico, I suggested to my beloved that we should try to skip a meal or two during our stay because, if you’ve ever been to an all-inclusive resort, you know that you can tumble out looking much rounder than when you arrived. I thought it was a good idea since we’d been already eating light the day or two before (we were up well before the crack of dawn the day of travel and essentially unfed on the flight to Mexico). He agreed, and we decided we would skip either breakfast or lunch every day that week.
By the time we arrived at the resort, we were near starving and eager for the lunch buffet to open. We thoroughly enjoyed a fabulous spread, and because my beloved had never been to an all-inclusive before, he immediately started ordering one mixed drink after another — first a mojito, then a pina colada, then a seabreeze, then a mai tai — telling me he wanted to try them all. I said, “Yeah, but in one afternoon?” Continue reading
Abby & Elle Upstairs Fashion & Design 