Tips and Tricks

Happy hump day! Have you been having a good start to National Op Shop Week? I certainly have!! The lovely people from the Bindaring Red Cross sale asked me to share some of my top tips and tricks for getting the most out of your local op shop. So if you’re still a bit hesitant to dive head first into the world of thrifting then head over to their website and read all about it!

As you know I’m pretty much an op shop maniac, and can’t go a week without popping in to one of my locals and having a rummage. Op shopping is brilliant for a MILLION reasons, but I love it because it’s sustainable way to shop, it’s cheap and you’re never going to look like everyone else! As it’s National Op Shop Week you MUST go op shopping, it’s the rules, I insist…DO IT!

P.S these are some of my favourite op shopped outfits ... I can never pick a favourite, I love them all!!

National Op Shop Week

Hey there!! I told you I’d be back! Today marks the first day of National Op Shop Week! How awesome is that? If you ever needed a reason to check out your local op shop then this is it. In celebration of this fabulous week the lovely people at the Australian Red Cross asked me to pop into to some of their op shops and put together an outfit entirely from thrifted items. How fun!

I actually built this outfit from the accessories up, picking out the vintage wool cap the moment I walked through the doors of the Red Cross store in Willagee. I found the sweet round glasses (which are a surprisingly flattering shape for my giant head!) and this beautiful amber pendant necklace in the same trip. I then headed to the Red Cross store in Fremantle which is a bit of a favourite of mine, they have such a great collection of vintage and designer gear. I knew for sure I’d be able to find something amazing to work with my cool thrifted accessories. And boy I was not wrong! This amazing silk Empire Rose dress is SO GREAT! I’ve actually already worn it twice since picking it up last week. I love the whole ‘Stevie Nicks’ vibe of the billowing sleeves and floaty skirt.

This entire outfit was just shy of $100, from my fabulous leather boots all the way up to my vintage wool cap. Creating a whole outfit from op shopped items isn’t actually as daunting as it sounds and shopping second hand means you can play around with different trends or styles that you might not wear ordinarily. If there was ever a week to have fun with style and shop outside the box then this is it! Head to your local op shop and have a rummage, I promise you’ll love it!

Dress: Empire Rose, Red Cross Op Shop Fremantle

Boots: Country Road, Red Cross Op Shop Fremantle

Hat: Vintage, Red Cross Op Shop Willagee

Necklace: Red Cross Op Shop Willagee

Sunnies: Red Cross Op Shop Willagee

Christmas with Salvos Stores

Hi there! Long time no see! In between my operation, moving house and the general mayhem that is the lead up to Christmas I've been a particularly slack blogger. Luckily for me the lovely people from Salvos Stores contacted me a few weeks ago and challenged me to put together a head to toe Christmas party outfit from their op shops. Easy peasy I said and I was super thrilled with the look I thrifted. 

Pop over to the Salvos Store Blog to see the full outfit and read my guest post.

Donate Back and Restyle Wrap Up

It’s the last day of winter and the last day of Restyle! Did you have a fun month following along with all the prompts? From what I saw on Instagram people were finding some fantastic things, I was a little envious at times! The very last prompt of Restyle is always Donate Back, which is a fantastic habit to get in to. As a keen op shopper, it’s very easy to accumulate a lot of clothes quickly. Fast fashion is completely the norm now, which means people (myself included!) want new clothes all the time. This means we often have wardrobes full of clothes, shoes and accessories which have been worn once or twice and won’t be worn by us again. These are the items which are ripe for donation! Put them in a big bag and take them down to your local op shop. Someone else will be able to breath some new life into them and a charity will gain some much needed funds for their important work in your community. I try to get in to the habit of taking one item out of my wardrobe for every new item I buy. This doesn’t always happen, but most of the time I’m pretty good. I keep an old IKEA bag in the boot of my car and just keep putting clothes in there, when it’s full I know it’s time to lug it down to my local op shop.

 

I had such fun following along with all the prompts this year. Not being an ‘official’ blogger has taken the pressure off and allowed me to just enjoy the month. I loved seeing everyone else’s outfits pop up on Instagram and on blogs. Encouraging and inspiring people to op shop is truly awesome, thank you so much Telstra Perth Fashion Festival for investing in such an amazing initiative. I’ll definitely be following along next year!  

 

 

 

If you missed any of my outfits you can just click on the pictures to take you to the post. My favourite look was the very first one! I just can’t get over my amazing tribal skirt from Good Sammies. I want to keep wearing it over and over again! Which was your favourite prompt this year?

 

 

I only missed two prompts, Blazer and Metallic, and on both days I did actually wear something that fit the prompt I was just too sick (blazer) and busy (metallic) to snap a pic! Thanks for following along with my Restyle attempts this year! I hope some of you were inspired to hit your local op shops in search of treasure (if you weren't already doing so!!).

P.S I’ve donated a few huge bags of clothes to Vinnies in Claremont, this is the op shop I visit most regularly so I figured they deserved my gear the most! If you are interested in having a rummage then definitely pop in, they are at 26 Ashton Ave in Claremont.

 

Never Ever Pay Retail

By far the most common question I get asked is 'what is your favourite op shop?'. It's like asking me which of my (non-existent) children I like the most! Well maybe that's a little exaggeration, but it is hard! The lovely Hannah from Never Ever Pay Retail is also a thrift-a-holic just like me and as she is based in Queensland, she asked me to share my five favourite Perth op shops on her blog. It was a tricky task, but I think the five I've chosen really are my favourites (at least for now!)

Head over to Never Ever Pay Retail to get the scoop! And if you end up visiting any of my recommendations please share with me the treasure you find, either on Facebook, insta (@inthedressupbox) or in the comments below, I LOVE hearing about others op shopping success.

P.S If you're in the mood for a bit of Flash Back Friday, just click on the photos above and you'll go to their corresponding post from my blog archive... also from looking at these photos it seems I really like hats... so many hats!  

Seasonal Switch

Oh my goodness summer is definitely on its way! I know I talk about the weather a lot on the blog, but it’s the main factor I consider when getting dressed, so it’s pretty pertinent! I wore this outfit on Sunday to play lawn bowls and drink cider. It had been cloudy all morning so I was anticipating rain and wind. How wrong I was. I had to ditch the jacket and hike up my dress almost as soon as we arrived. It turns out maxi dresses and platform wedges aren’t the best attire for serious lawn bowling. Who knew? Haha.

I did a massive wardrobe clean out on Saturday and swapped over some of my winter clothes for summer clothes. I love doing this switch twice a year, I always discover things I forgot I owned, like this dress! As much as it may seem like I am always wearing a new outfit, SO much of my wardrobe gets repeated year after year. I buy bits and pieces throughout the year, but the majority of my clothes I’ve owned for many seasons and love re-interpreting them. I’ve worn this dress on the blog before but decided to add some more accessories this time around, what do you think?

Dress: Op Shop

Jacket: H&M

Hat: Op Shop

Shoes: Hobbs

Sunglasses: Dolce & Gabbana 

Restyle Photo-A-Day Challenge for Telstra Perth Fashion Festival

Happy Thursday! I am thrilled to FINALLY announce that I have been chosen to be part of the Restyle Photo-A-Day Challenge for the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival (TPFF)! I am SO ridiculously excited to be part of this fantastic project .

The Restyle Photo-A-Day Challenge will be happening from August 1-31, each day there will be a different style prompt to inspire you to hit the op shops and put together a fantastic outfit. I am well and truly obsessed with op shopping and am proud to have a wardrobe that’s almost completely second hand. Hitting the op shops  is a wonderful way to find awesome clothing (that no one else will have), contribute to a worthy cause and it’s a great sustainable way to shop! So everyone wins!

Every day in August I will be blogging about my op-shopped outfits and hopefully inspiring you to put together your own Restyled look. There are seven other Restyle bloggers who will also be posting about their op shopped outfits, I am so excited to see what every one comes up with! We have all been partnered with a different charity and I am lucky enough to be paired up with The Australian Red Cross! Over the next two months I’ll be filling you in about all the excellent work the Australian Red Cross does (and how amazing their op shops are!).

I could honestly blab on about Restyle for pages and pages because it’s just so exciting, but I’ll leave you with some behind the scenes pictures from our photo-shoot a few weeks ago (very fancy!).

Shirt: Stylists own

Skirt: Vintage from Berlin

Shoes: Rachel Antonoff

Hair: L’Oreal Professionel

Makeup: SC Makeup Artistry

Styling: Claire Mueller

Photography: Shift Creative

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