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Lili Leaser's avatar

Wow thank you for such a thoughtful comment ET! I’m glad this spoke to you, I agree that thrifting while not perfect is better than fast fashion — at least you prolonged the life of an item a little bit longer!

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rojeen rahman's avatar

Great points Lili! (Mostly) Secondhand shopper here! For me, my weight has fluctuated with pregnancies, so I’d hate to invest so much in pants that could never fit me again LOL — once I’m done making babies and am at a more permanent size, I think I will because you make some great points!!

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Lili Leaser's avatar

Yeah I’m placing an embargo on pants purchases for myself for similar future reasons šŸ˜…šŸ‘€

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rojeen rahman's avatar

eeek ā˜ŗļøā˜ŗļø

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ET's avatar

This piece gave me so many feelings, I had to take some time to soak it in haha! I relate so much to this! Have been thrifting since I was 12/13, and it’s hard to break the habit of ā€˜good enough for the price’ but at least for me, the reason I KEPT ā€˜good enough’ was because I just wasn’t financially stable enough in my 20s to afford Perfect. And that’s actually one of Irene’s questions!! If it doesn’t fit your budget, it’s not actually perfect ĀÆ\_(惄)_/ĀÆ at least for now! But I got older, had a few pay raises and career changes, started splitting rent with a partner, and only now in the last few years do I have the ability to get rid of everything that doesn’t make me happy just because it doesn’t quite fit/work how I want! I think thrifting is such a great way to train your eye for what you ACTUALLY like about that ā€˜perfect but out of reach’ item - is it the drape, material, color/pattern, what does it make you feel, how can you capture that in something else?? It’s way safer to experiment with second hand than fast fashion for that imo, and builds so much creativity and flexibility into your wardrobe/outfits. Kind of reminds me of something Bari S posted the other day about the difference between outfit formulas and ā€œrecipesā€, will look for link. IMO shopping second hand trains you to do that naturally, and enhances the creativity of your closet. But my god is it nice when you can actually afford some of those dream items, and you feel like your closet actually aligns with the (dream lol) image you have of yourself!! I bought some pleats please on a trip last year after pining after they for years - shocked that I did not magically transform into Dream Me immediately, but my god they look good with everything I throw at them and I immediately feel cool wearing them! Anyhow, sorry for the whale of a comment but this really made me feel so many things, thank you for sharing šŸ’—šŸ’—šŸ’—

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ET's avatar

https://substack.com/@thecuratedtastemaker/note/c-64481443

Bari’s great outfit recipe note!

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