My Grandma Kay

I got thinking today (amazing, eh?) and wondering why I feel the need to be frugal with my fashion choices. Ever since I can remember, I have loved clothes. When my Mom bought me a pair of black patent leather Mary-Jane shoes with a velvet bow on the strap to wear to Sunday school, I was hooked. Once I started getting a decent sized allowance in my teenage years, I spent almost all of it on clothing but even then, not the same way other girls my age were. I bought mainstream items in "regular" stores but I also shopped at Army Surplus and would often deconstruct items and reconfigure them in different ways.

But the biggest influence on my thrifting was my Grandma Kay. Now she was not my real blood relative Grandma. This was a lady who lived next door to us (I'm from a very small village) and had taught my father in grade school in a one-room school house heated by a wood stove. She was married to a penny-pinching over-bearing verbally-abusive man who when he died, left her absolutely penniless. She owned three dresses: one black sensible dress for official occasions and funerals; one white sleeveless dress with yellow daisies on the scalloped bottom with a matching yellow jacket; and one chambray shirtdress. She had one set of good pearls and white gloves. This was her wardrobe. I never saw her in pants ("slacks" as she called them) and she never went out without her gloves on. Although she wore the same things over and over again, she always looked impeccable. Her hair was always done, her gloves always white and her dresses always clean and ironed. She grew a garden and kept a small jar of beet juice from her beets in the fridge and used to dip her finger in the juice and mix it with a little bit of her Oil of Olay and this would be her blush and her lip colour. She was a beautiful, stylish and kind woman and never complained. I went to her house every day and she would make me home made cookies (usually Scottish shortbread) and Earl Gray tea with one slice of lemon. And then we'd talk about my day at school - she was always interested in what I had learned. I remember when I was about 14 asking her why she didn't buy more clothes and she told me "A woman doesn't need to own a lot to be stylish. Style isn't about how expensive your dress is. All you need to be stylish is a kind smile and confidence". I think that has stuck with me more than I knew.

My first outfit post included a thrifted Italian leather purse that I called a mix of goth and Medieval. Here is a close up of the purse. It's not everyone's cup of tea (Earl Gray or otherwise!) but I love it, it's different and it cost me less than $10!