Goodwill = Good Day

After taking The Puff out to lunch and letting her play in the play area for almost an hour, I decided to go to our local Goodwill for some shopping. Since it is Columbus Day, I wasn’t too sure how crowded our shop would be. Thankfully the crowds were minimal and there was a pretty good selection to choose from. And the color changed yesterday to green, so I could get different items for half the price I would have paid last week.  Going green has never sounded so thrifty.

Today I managed to find several dresses to try on. I found a vintage Leslie Fay dress that I have seen hanging on the racks for at least a month. It's bright pink with white roses and it has a matching belt. Even though someone as tall as I am has no business bothering with petite sized clothing, this is an 80's version of petite - meaning it's not even close to petite proportions. There were two new vintage dresses on the rack that I hadn't seen before and both were red and black. One was made of rayon by Nina Piccalino and is black with a red hash mark/brushstroke design. The other was polyester by In CinQ and is black with red roses and leaves all over it.

Vintage Hot Pink Dress with White Roses
Leslie Fay "Petite Collection"

Vintage Hot Pink Dress with White Roses - Detail
Leslie Fay "Petite Collection"

Black Dress with Red Hash Marks
Nina Piccalino

Black Dress with Red Hash Marks - Detail
Nina Piccalino



Black Dress with Red Roses and Leaves
In CinQ



Black Dress with Red Roses and Leaves - Detail
In CinQ



I also snagged a homemade vintage dress that goes all the way to the floor. It has an interesting flutter sleeve design and a tiny keyhole in the front. It's white with blue and orange flowers with green stems and leaves. As it has no tags, I'm going to guess that it was made out of polyester and is probably from the 1970's. There was also a grey shift dress by Isaac Mizrahi for Target. I had bypassed trying this dress on before because I didn't think that a giant orange tulip would look good on me. But I dared myself to try it, and I liked it. There was also the pink floral Liberty Of London for Target dress with spaghetti straps and a drawstring waist.

Homemade Vintage Floral Dress

Homemade Vintage Floral Dress - Detail

Grey Shift Dress with Orange Tulip
Isaac Mizrahi for Target

Pink Floral Dress with Spaghetti Straps and Drawstring Waist
Liberty Of London for Target

I also found a sheer shirt by George, which is a Wal*Mart line. It's white with varying sized navy vertical stripes. It has a really neat ruffle all along where the shoulder meets the shirt and a cool pin tuck detail on the back. And as a complete surprise, there was a pair of corduroy pants from H&M in the prettiest shade of teal (the picture looks bright blue, but they're teal). And a heavily sequined and beaded little black silk skirt by Jewel Queen was still there from last week. Even though it doesn't fit, I really like the design, colors, shimmer etc. In other words, it was too pretty and special to leave behind.

Sheer White and Navy Striped Shirt
George, by Wal*Mart

Teal Corduroy Pants
H&M

Black Silk Skirt with Beads and Sequins
Jewel Queen

Black Silk Skirt with Beads and Sequins - Detail
Jewel Queen

I also discovered a vintage hot pink, textured polyester three piece suit - a jacket, a skirt, and a pair of pants (which will need its hems taken out to fit me) . My iPod never seems to get the colors of anything right, so it looks really red, but it's insanely hot pink - think almost Schiaparelli Pink. The suit was made by Sears-Roebuck and Company at some point in the 1970's. The label reads says that it is a "Perma-Prest Suit", which tells me that it's a polyester beauty. The texture of this suit is so quirky; it's columns of small circles with swirls next to columns of large circles with pie chart divisions, which are next to columns of small circles with a burst of lines in them. Very different. And the bonus is that all of the textured metal buttons are still on and in good condition.



Hot Pink Polyester Suit Jacket
Sears-Roebuck and Company

Hot Pink Polyester Suit Jacket - Back
Sears-Roebuck and Company





Hot Pink Polyester Suit Jacket - Label and Detail
Sears-Roebuck and Company



Hot Pink Polyester Suit Pants
Sears-Roebuck and Company

 

Hot Pink Polyester Suit Skirt
Sears-Roebuck and Company



For accessories, I found a vintage silver cuff from India. I imagine that it's real because of the tarnish. It has a ribbed design and what I think is a gold overlay. There were also two pairs of new stockings that came from Target. The only belt I looked at for myself was a studded black leather belt. I also found a vintage metal belt with big gems for a friend and two vintage wooden hat racks for my wall. I have to hang my vintage hats somewhere...



Vintage Silver Cuff with Gold Overlay
Made In India Sticker





Vintage Silver Cuff with Gold Overlay

Tarnish spots

Black Leather Belt with Studs
Unknown Maker

Vintage Wooden Hat Racks

 

In the purses section, I spotted an Etienne Aigner mini purse made of cream colored raffia with brown leather trim and handle. With its long leather strap, it can double as a cross-body bag or as a shoulder purse. And since the strap has clips on both ends, I can take it off and hold it by the small leather handle at the top of the purse. Under that strap is a woven leather bar that adds to the unique look of the purse. And at $5.00, it was a really good deal.


Etienne Aigner Mini Purse
Cream Raffia and Brown Leather

Etienne Aigner Mini Purse - Detail



But my pièce de résistance of the entire shopping excursion was actually found at the beginning. After looking through all of the dresses, I scanned the end of the racks at the little displays. Hanging there amongst a bunch of purses, to include a real coach bag, there was a dark brown leather purse with lighter brown trim and a monogram design. Most people would have taken one glance at this purse and have thought that it was a cheap knock-off that had been left at a thrift store. Nope, not this purse. I looked inside of it and determined that it is in fact, a real Louis Vuitton. Yes, you just read that correctly.
 

Louis Vuitton Purse
Dark Brown Leather with Light Brown Leather Trim



Louis Vuitton Purse Detail
$20.99

All-in-all, I'd say I had a pretty good day. My Puff ate her lunch, played well with the other kids at the playplace, and was super well behaved in the store. And my entire haul cost less than what the original owner paid for the Louis Vuitton purse. It still boggles my mind that people get rid of those purses. I'm keeping mine forever and they're going to be turned into family heirlooms. Hopefully The Puff will appreciate that foresight when she gets older.