Movie star looks a la thrift

Dah-ling.

Ever since finding my $3 retro purple sunglasses
I've been slightly obsessed with ... you guessd it, large purple retro shades!

These purply pink retro shades called "Comet by Newtrend" were only 99 cents at my local thrift shop.

The person who wore them had a small head as the arms have been bent super short. But my optician can heat them and adjust them to fit me - remember that when you're scouting for retro shades!

I found another goodie yesterday while doing a shopping column in North Toronto. In one of my fave consignment shops, Around the Block I found this wonderful piece of costume jewellery for $10.

As you'll see with my other thrift jewellery posts, costume necklaces with multi-tiers are a particular obsession of mine. Pearls and chains are classy yet can be funked up, and they can solve various style woes.

I'm wearing them here with a jersey wrap-inspired dress by Bionic Woman by Toronto designer Mark Foreman, which has a long V-neck that shows my scar and makes me look even more flat-chested than I am.

A tangle of pearls and chains like this remedies those problems and makes me look like a rich beetch to boot.

Tip: always look for costume jewellery with some weight. It tends to look more classy and substantial. I can always tell it's retro by looking at the clasp, which always has cool and very ancient looking hardware.

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Trifari choker could be worth something

My best friend bought me this lovely, almost pocket size hardcover book for my B-day, Shopping for Vintage: The Definitive Guide to Fashion.

In it there are beautiful colour illustrations of the creations of much coveted and collectible clothing and accessory designers, along with descriptions of their main looks and what to look for when shopping for them.

Needless to say most of the designers are pretty high end, their wares like nothing I'd see in the thrift shops.

But the book helped me realize a necklace I bought last summer for $10 in a junk store outside Morrisburg, Ontario could have way more value than I thought originally.

I knew Trifari jewellery was somewhat collectible, but it wasn't until I read the write up on it that I realized how much.

This pretty silver tone leaf choker is signed "Trifari", a signature which, according to the book's author Funmi Odulate, means the piece was made before 1923.

All Trifari pieces after that date are stamped "TFK", so if you find a bauble stamped "Trifari" or Trifari and Trifari", you'll likely have a more collectible piece.

I haven't figured out what the value is on this necklace but I don't care much: I'm just kinda thrilled to know the Grunge Queen did pick up something somewhat collectible - I loved it on sight so it's still just as meaningful to me.

I always look for signed jewellery pieces when I do the thrift dig, though a signature doesn't mean an item is worth gobs of money. Sarah Coventry jewellery is highly collectible and often signed but I don't think it fetches the big bucks as there were so many pieces made.

Sometimes signatures or stamps change over time, as Trifari's did, and that can help you identify which era the piece was made in and possibly its value.

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Tea party patio a la cheap

My patio project (see post below) has gotten me thinking of past patio projects - which have been few given I've lived in apartments for my time in Toronto.

Three summers ago when I was just getting in to freelance writing and junking in a big way, I wrote a piece on having a tea party in your outside space - from there I created a romantic tea party look on my ugly fire escape so I could have a pretty photo accompanying the article.

I hung up dollar store sheers to cover the icky white brick, plopped my fave piece of Ralph Lauren floral fabric over a ratty fold-up table I had painted red (same table will be part of this year's patio project!), and threw together some pretty tea cups and a silver tea set I found at the thrift shops. The gold-tone shawl hanging on the silver chair is still a fave for draping over chairs and such - I found that at Value Village for $6.99 or so.

Some creative touches: an old watch as a napkin holder; spray painting the wrought iron chairs silver and recovering them with fabric from a dollar store tablecloth!

I even made the crustless sandwiches for my photo shoot, which I styled myself (and broke my sister's borrowed camera in the process - talk about spending money to make money!).

Here's the article I wrote about putting it all together along with some tea trivia; just double click on it to get a better view:

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Jewellery junkie gets her fix

You know by now my penchant for retro bling.

On my way to do a shopping column yesterday I popped into my friendly neighborhood thrift shop - an absolute must if you want to bag the good stuff.

TIP: GO OFTEN.

Just as I was about to leave one of the employees who's sold me many baubles for a couple bucks or less mentioned a whack of jewellery had jusy come in.

REMEMBER: EMPLOYEES AND OWNERS OF STORES WILL REMEMBER YOU IF YOU GO AND BUY OFTEN - THEN AS THEY GET TO KNOW YOUR TASTES THEY'LL HAUL OUT OR PUT ASIDE STUFF FOR YOU IF THEY'RE REALLY NICE....

My spidy senses tingled.

Out came a plastic bag. I restrained, as she went through the bag.

TIP: DON"T BE GRABBY. WAIT FOR THEM TO PRESENT ITEMS TO YOU.

I ended up walking away with a three-tier a vintage glass bead necklace for $3 (TIP: DON'T ARGUE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU THINK YOU SHOULD PAY MORE)!!

And this totally tubular necklace, a cross between a Tribal and Industrial worm, was also $3. Though it's contemporary I thought it was pretty funky.

I also bagged a huge sterling cocktail ring with a pink stone for $2.

Thrift shops can be havens for both contemporary, retro and vintage jewellery - you just have to know what you like!

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