The Thrill of the Hunt

Just a quick post I meant to do awhile back. In the midst of NYFW hell I accompanied Izzy on a wacky adventure to Beacons Closet, Williamsburg. I've posted about this wondercave of amazing finds before (as in a quick mention in the outfit deets section). Most people I think are afraid of this place: a giant warehouse full of potential goodness. I really have never walked out of it without a new cheap thrill, some are fast burning and others are pretty fantastic big ass candles that will go for a long time. Case in point: the Marc Jacobs circa early 1990s sweater that Tavi would probably kill me for. It's so 90's grunge, Willow from Buffy. Now the key to really getting good stuff at Beacons is to quickly go through every single rack and just grab/put back, grab/pile onto arm, until you can no longer carry anything and/or you've gone through the whole place. When I'm looking I always go by three very basic instincts in this order:

• Touch: At some point in ones life you begin to develop a keen sense of what certain materials feel like, or you just like anything that is soft.
• Colour: It's much easier to tell what is going to be interesting by the colour or print on the garment (a reason I rarely leave with black clothing).
• Label: If the piece falls under either of the first two senses take a look at the label and see whether you got it right. I actually really like to get basics at Beacons too, like GAP/J.Crew/Uniqlo and flannels (seriously good flannelage to be had and always for cheaps (well NYC cheap...).
• You can also look for interesting shapes but generally that is pretty tough in the packed racks at Beacons or other thrift stores so stick to the first two senses.

When it came to this sweater, clearly a piece of fashion history given the vintage label (seriously would like to know what years MJ was using this label as this may be from one of his original grunge collections (sick street cred to own a sweater from the guy that practically invented grunge on the high end level)), I was actually drawn more to the way the sleeves had been knit, you probably can't tell in the pictures but it has three different knits in the sleeves, making them fit in a very different way to your usual sweater. In fact the whole jumper (which as Preetma also found out with her Rochas sweater) fits in a very interesting way, which of course I enjoy thoroughly but of course is impossible to photograph :(. 

Oh hey Marc! How old are you?

[Vintage Marc Jacobs jumper, Banana Republic shirt, thrifted Gunnit knit skirt (ok so it's G-Unit but I only realized it once I had paid for it so I'm sticking with Gunnit), Lanvin pants, Dr Martens fleece boots]

On another note, I'd like to apologize for my lack of posts over the last month. Going through a lot of changes right now with school and life and really am still sorting stuff out, hence this rather weak post.