Set it up and shoot it

I am doing a photo shoot today with my awesome model, Hannah, and I am SO excited to see my new pieces on a person instead of on my twisted, sad little dress form. I need to get a mannequin STAT.
Yesterday was a good day for thrifting. I hit up a spot where I once found an Hermes dress and this time I found vintage Victor Costa and Tadashi. I saw that they also had Oscar De la Renta, tons of Ralph Lauren and even a Balenciaga. Hello, new favorite designer thrift store. Seriously, people. I used to be opposed to actively seeking out labels but when you start seeing designer names all over the place for less than $30 (yesterday was 50% off) you can't help but to get a little excited. I honestly never looked at tags because I have always been kind of anti-label-- who cares WHO you are wearing as long as WHAT you are wearing looks amazing. But once you shift your focus from buying and wearing vintage clothing to selling and styling it, you start to realize that sometimes other people have a totally different value system. I mean, sure I realized it before but I kind of actively rebelled against it. I loved having people who I knew were totally obsessed with labels and designers fall out over something that I was wearing that only cost me $5 or $2 or $.50. It felt good to know that I could actively subvert such overt materialism without wearing outfits that were unattractive or uninspiring.
But, and (not to be trite but) there is a big but, once I started selling vintage and looking around at what other vintage sellers were offering, I realized that it seemed to be really important to pay attention to and mention designers and keep an eye out for them while shopping-- especially well respected designers who are no longer working and whose names we might not actively know but who are greatly respected in the world of vintage and retro fashion. My instinct has always been, and will always be, to look at the piece first because it does not matter whose name is on the label-- ugly is still ugly! But now I also take a glance at what is on that label I once loathed because I know that there are people out there who are actively seeking vintage Ungaro or Ralph Lauren or, dare to dream, Hermes. If I can help them to find those pieces, why not?
So, perhaps I've sold out. Perhaps this whole fashion game has really gotten to me and I've become something I once loathed. But I like to think that that is not the case. I like to think that I have simply started to learn what this vintage shopping and selling game is all about, and while I pledge to always have plenty of crazy affordable pieces for my customers, I know that I have to also keep an eye out for those higher end pieces that can help me pay the bills because, yes, my name is Thriftonista and Lord knows that I have always believed in keeping things affordable but if, on occasion, someone out there wants to spend a couple hundred dollars on a vintage dress and pay for Christmas (thanks, Hermes!) who am I to say no? That just means that I can continue to sell boots for $12 and dresses for $15. Because I've looked all over the place and for what I've got to offer, those prices are rare and I remain, quite truly, the Thriftonista.
So, today I am going to put Hannah in all the great and exciting pieces that I've recently acquired and post them on my Etsy and Ebay shops and though each piece is totally gorgeous I will make sure that most of them are "no need to check your account balance" affordable, as well. I'll be sure to post a preview as soon as I get my pics edited so check back soon. Updates are on their way!