Trends? We Don't Need No Stinking Trends...or do we?

Clearly, if you read my blog roll, you know I am all up into vintage and thrift store clothing. I rarely buy clothes new off the rack. And yet, I believe that keeping up with the current trends is important. What? How superficial! How shallow! How utterly gauche!

Well, when I was a punk rocker in the '80s ( Yes, really. It cracks me up that that's how my generation starts their old-timer stories. "When I was a punk rocker in the '80s we didn't have Facebook. We had to poke people in person!") Where was I? Oh yeah. We were all about bucking the trends and you couldn't exactly do that at the mall. That was the whole point. So I began thrift and vintage and yard sale shopping so as not to be "trendy".

Unfortunately I don't have too many photos from that time period. This picture is actually from 1985, post-punk and post-Rockabilly but I was still kind of doing my own thing.

Now I'm normal. I have a kid. And I still like to buy my clothes for $4 instead of $40. Having been a costume designer for theatre for almost 25 years and a teacher on the History of Fashion, I feel I've become an expert shopper and have a unique take on putting pieces together.

No, this is not a job interview. It's leading into a series of posts I'll be writing on how to make used clothing look current and how to use what you already have to enjoy getting dressed and to feel good about yourself. Dressing up should be fun. And affordable.