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Reporter Hannah Norton is embarking on a accouterment claiming that will see her accomplish alone buzz purchases for the abutting year. She writes about award a few absolute steals in two Whangarei `re-dress' stores.
["400px"]IMAGINE award a aboriginal Trelise Cooper anorak complete with a $385 amount tag at an op-shop for $20. Able-bodied you can, appropriate actuality in Whangarei.
In fact, if you appetite to pop some tags with alone $20 in your abridged (a la Macklemore) in Whangarei, you could actual able-bodied aces up a pre-loved Sass and Bide, World, Sylvester or Ricochet allotment - all of which I begin nestled in the apparel racks of two bounded buzz stores.
Op-shopping is article I've consistently done sporadically - award a gem actuality and there - but this year op-shops will be my sole antecedent of clothes.
I'm activity to do my own adaptation of the Redress' 365 Challenge, a one-year buzz accouterment claiming started by Redress architect Christina Dean.
The affidavit abaft the claiming accommodate assuming that appearance can be acceptable and accumulate accouterment decay out of landfills.
``With today's appearance assembly and burning spiralling out of control, we charge brainwash and affect the accessible to amend the way we consume, abrasion and abandon our admired clothes,'' says Ms Dean.
My claiming this year is to buy second-hand, rather than abrasion absolutely second-hand. I didn't accept to abandon out my absolute apparel although, admittedly, abrasion out my apparel is partly why I am accomplishing this challenge.
["400px"]Last year I developed a rather awful addiction of consistently affairs cheap, poor affection clothes beneath the guise of a bargain.
Most of these bargains accept spent added time on the attic acquisition dust than they accept on me.
In fact, at one point, they were everywhere.
On the floor, the bed, the coffee table, the dresser, the bedside table, the cossack and aback bench of my car. It took me weeks to array them. Abounding items I awash at a car cossack auction for $1 a piece.
So it resonated with me when, at aftermost year's London Appearance Week, Dame Vivienne Westwood fabricated a appeal to the accessible to buy beneath and bigger affection clothes, saying: ``Buy less. Choose well. Accomplish it last. Quality, not quantity. Everybody's affairs far too abounding clothes.''
This makes addition case for op-shopping. You can get acceptable affection pieces - admitting pre-loved - for a atom of the retail price. And they don't necessarily accept to be designer, although artist labels are generally fabricated to aftermost with acceptable affection bolt and stitching.
And these canicule you can acquisition in-trend clothes, it's not all boho, best and retro.
["400px"]So I set myself a challenge: To acquisition two outfits, workwear and evening/party wear, for beneath $50 at two Whangarei op-shops, Paper Bag Princess and the Red Cross Shop, both on Bank St.
These are aloof two of about a dozen buzz accouterment outlets about Whangarei.
The Paper Bag Princess abundance opened in November aftermost year, and is a authorization of the Auckland branch, endemic by constant op-shopper and bounded Maggie Churcher.
The store's blueprint is actual user-friendly, with abstracted sections for altered types of clothes, including plus-size, and all items are on board coat-hangers. There is additionally a baby area for men.
The artist arbor boasts the brand of Sass and Bide, World, Sylvester, Ricochet, Lonely Hearts and Moochi, and coursing amid the ``regular'' racks, it's accessible to cull out a Dejcuba top or Asos jeans.
Looking for workwear, I begin a cardinal of nice blouses and skirts, but acclimatized for a long, black, scoop-neck academic dress by Jolie Femme on the artist arbor for $16. It was lined and had a admirable shape.
There was a array of possibilities for evening/party wear, with an array of dresses, skirts and pants. I acclimatized on a aristocratic dejected Max halter-neck dress, on auction for $7.That brought my absolute amount to a whopping $27, beneath than bisected the allocated budget.
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Even admitting the abrupt was for workwear and evening/party wear, a cardinal of smart-casual and beachwear items bent my eye, including a lined, blah One Teaspoon waistcoat ($5), a checkerboard Supreme hat (a New York appearance trend that retails for about US$55, actuality for $10) and a white cobweb bustier crop top for $14.
Across the road, the Red Cross Shop is run by volunteers. Looking for contemporary items involves a little added digging actuality but it pays off _ I begin a atramentous and white, belted Marcs dress for workwear for $10.
For evening/party abrasion I chose a floral dress for $8, lined and acutely ample but with no label. One of the volunteers appropriate it could accept been tailormade.
That brought the absolute for my Red Cross bacchanalia to $18, and all-embracing amount to $45 _ beneath than bisected the allocated account for both shops.
But there was a bite in the appendage of my triumph. Time aloof flew while I was captivated in my op-shopping. I accustomed a $60 parking admission and was about towed for parking in the clearway on Bank St afterwards 4pm. Ah well, there is consistently a amount to pay for fashion.
Join the one-year challenge
The 365 Claiming is a one-year buzz accouterment claiming started by architect of Hong Kong eco-fashion organisation Redress, Christina Dean. For every day of 2013 - and still continuing - Ms Dean wore recycled, restyled, reconstructed or repaired buzz clothing. Her adventure is accurate online (www.instagram.com/getredressed). The affidavit abaft the claiming accommodate assuming that appearance can be acceptable and accumulate accouterment decay out of landfills. Redress is a alms with a mission to advance ecology sustainability in Asia's appearance industry by abbreviation bolt waste, pollution, baptize and activity burning through acceptable appearance shows, exhibitions, competitions, seminars, analysis and media outreach.
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