Pages

Saturday, November 12, 2011

thrift shopping in the upper east side.

Today I had to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a field trip, so I decided to make a round to the Upper East Side Goodwill, because I've been wanting to visit for months. Before moving to New York, I had always wondered if the clothes would be any different in thrift shops if they were donated in the Upper east and west side.
Just the front of the shop gave me a pretty good first impression. It looked a little bit different than all the other Goodwills I've been to.
The inside isn't really much different than most other Goodwills. There are still some parts that are kind of grimy, especially the fitting room.

The difference is that it's true. That the price for clothes are a little bit more expensive. And big brands are everywhere. Really. There are still the Target items, of course. A pair of shoes from Target were $15. They would have been half that price at the Goodwill back at home. Brands like Steve Madden and Nine West and Stuart Weitzman and BCBG are $25.

In this location, they have their boutique items and regular items. Boutique items are more expensive, but it's not hard for me to find something I really love. I found a beautiful printed silk dress from Tracy Reese, which would have retailed for over $400, for just $25. Definitely a markdown. It looked really new too. I would have leaped to buy it, but it was three sizes too big, and chances are I would just have it hanging in my closet if it's not my size.

I was in the shop for a pretty long time; definitely past an hour. And I hadn't even looked through everything. The shop is pretty small, but I found several things that I wanted to try on. After trying on piles and piles of clothes, I narrowed down to three pieces.
The left one is the expensive one; a $60 Coach coat. The middle one is $20 Esprit, and the right is $8 J. Jill. I'm not kidding when I say brands everywhere. There is the occasional designer piece, too. I'm still a little sad about the Tracy Reese dress. It would have been smart to take a picture.
That's the end of my thrifting trip. There were a few other instances where I've gone thrift shopping since I got here, but I haven't written about them. I was in the 23rd street area where a lot of the thrift stores are, and went to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Housing Works there. Because of limited time, I was only in Housing Works for five minutes. My friend went to check prices, though and it's not very cheap, it seems. I'll have to go back to see. The interiors are very nice, though. It's not the usual grimy thrift shop feel. In the five minutes I was there, I bought a tea pot that was missing a lid which I decided to use as a vase for my newly dried flowers.
I've been getting a lot of acne since school started. It's not going away until I get enough sleep and stop stressing, which wont happen until winter break. I an so looking forward to breaks.

Back to the museum, I was supposed to meet my class there at 10am this morning, but because of slight miscalculation on my part, and all the trains that were under construction today (everything, pretty much), I arrived at the museum past 11. I don't think I found my class until around 11:30. Just being able to find them was pretty lucky.
I didn't want to stay around to long when there were so many people and the Costume Institute doesn't have an exhibit, so I'd only been around for an hour.

I did visit the gift shop, though. There are some nice things, but nothing is cheap. I found a bookmark that I wanted to buy as a present to my friend, but for the bookmark alone was $17.

There was also a shirt that I was digging. It's a cityscape photo style shirt, made of cotton and spandex. This t-shirt is $55 if I remember correctly.

Their selection of handkerchiefs are so nice. There are two sides of handkerchiefs. My friend bought me one for my birthday last month, and I've been wearing it pretty frequently recently. It's the one that I'm wearing on my head in the picture with my vase.
While leaving the Met, I dropped a piece of paper, and a guard was trying to call me, and he seemed pretty confused. He called, "lady...sir!" like he couldn't decide if I were male or female. I don't know how many times this has happened. I don't find myself to be all that masculine.

I'm in the workroom tonight, working on homework. Hopefully I can get something done, at least.

Love, Kaia

3 comments:

contrary kiwi said...

You don't look like a guy :) Especially up close! I used to get called a guy for my short hair, so I know the feeling.

That vase is really cute and such a good idea! Your headscarf is very cute too.

I wish we had so many thrift shops over here (we call them opshops in NZ). I suppose I'm just too lazy to actually go hunting for them. I might have to, since I recently spent a *lot* of money.

That t-shirt looks so cool! It's a pity it's so expensive :( Maybe you can find something similar on eBay?

- said...

don't worry you don't look like a guy =)
the shirt is really cool!

Unknown said...

I love this post! I'm itching to thrift now - you snatched up some great finds.
The t-shirt is great, but wow! $55! Hopefully you can find a look-a-like for less.

Post a Comment