Well here we are in the last week of Thrift Month and goodness this personal challenge has been soo so fun for me!
I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing from these amazing gals over the past month on their experiences with thrifting and vintage as much as I have!
If you missed one you can read all of them here:
Thrift Month Week 1: Thrifting for Newbies with Alyssa Cates
Thrift Month Week 2: BTS of the Fashion Industry with Rebecca Twinem
Thrift Month Week 3: Exploring the World of Vintage with Caroline Joy
And the hauls:
But for today I’ve got one more amazing gal’s interview on her experience with thrifting and thrifting the runway that I’m sooo excited to jump into!
Beth Jones has a fashion YouTube channel called B. Jones Style and does many other things in the world of style that is very inspiring which you can read about here. But the thing that drew me most to Beth is the way that she plays.
Beth has this unique gift of making her thrifted finds into these amazing runway looks, and most of all she just has fun with fashion (which you can experience through all of her media channels and the community she’s built through her hashtag #ALWAYSPLAYDRESSUP).
Soo you ready to dive into her q&a?!
Let’s go!
Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you are doing now?
How did you get into thrifting?
I really drove into thrifty when I was in college. I grew up on a small island in South Carolina and there were not many thrift stores around me. When I moved to California for college, the whole world of thrifting started to open up. There was a savers thrift store just down the street from my school and I started going there sometimes almost daily. It was there that I learned how to thrift, find treasures, and develop my personal style.
You have a unique way of creating looks that look and feel runway and you even have segments on Youtube called “Shopping the Runway” which is amazing. So what tips would you give someone wanting to learn how to “Shop the Runway” when they thrift?
I think first you just need to soak in inspiration constantly from what the designers are sending down the runway each season. I always love to look at vogue.com to see all of the collections, and then I love to look at editorials from magazines as they take those trends and interpret them into storytelling Fashion editorials.
I’m constantly surrounding myself with this inspiration, so when I go thrifting it’s ingrained in my brain and it helps to know then what I am looking for.
Have you always been so good at finding secondhand treasures, or is it a skill you have had to refine?
As I mentioned, I didn’t start acting really until college, and then I dabbled in every kind of shopping at that point. Shopping at the mall, shopping online, and shopping at thrift and vintage stores.
As I developed my fashion blog in 2007, I found that thrift and vintage was what I loved showcasing the most and also I just realized how much I could find and didn’t feel the need to shop at other stores as much. I think for sure, over the years I have refined how I hunt and what I will actually take home.
If it is something you have had to refine, what are things we can do to also refine our eye?
When I first started, I would basically choose anything that seemed vintage or unique. Now, I am a lot pickier and like to choose things that feel very much me and not just something crazy. Also, how things fit, the fabric, and how it is made of matter more to me as well.
I think refining your eye goes back to sucking up inspiration, and giving yourself more direction while you are hunting!
You do colors really well, so tell me a little bit about that process? When selecting color what is your strategy? Do you work from a color palette, by complementary colors, or is it just something you feel?
I really like to just play! With color, it’s fun to either think of wearing all one color or mixing colors.
Sometimes if I have a color that I really want to wear, I might look on Pinterest for color palette inspiration. I look at the other colors that they pair together and that might help me put my look together too! Also, I might find a common color in a print and use that to help direct what I’m wearing. But, I don’t really put too much thought into it either. I just have fun!
Where do you go to get inspired for your thrifting adventures?
I’d like to often look at vogue.com is runway Breakdown for each collection each season. I also got a fashiongonerogue.com to look at fashion editorials. Of course, I’m always soaking up inspiration from Instagram as well. I love to follow a lot of different designers and see what they are putting out. I save my inspirations into collections on Instagram and that helps me when I go into a thrift store. I have direction and I know what I’m looking for!
What designers are inspiring you right now?
I love Ganni, Rachel Comey, Gucci, Isabel Marant, and La Veste just to name a few.
For those of us wanting a more curated online alternative, are there any shops you would recommend for vintage or secondhand?
So many of my friends have amazing vintage shops:
- Cameo appearance vintage
- Blossom vintage
- Three women co.
- Salt and bloom
What would be the number one thrifting nugget of wisdom you would give to anyone new to the world of thrifting, vintage, or secondhand shopping?
You have to be willing to go often!
I think I find so many treasures because I regularly visit thrift stores. Even if you just take one section each time and go through that one section on a regular basis. That will help you start to find things and not be as overwhelming.
- Soak in inspiration – always be looking at my favorite designers to get a vision for what I’m looking for
- Go often even if I only look through one section over and over again
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