One of a Kind Piece

One of the most frustrating aspects to thrift shopping is finding something really cute but there’s something wrong with it. Most of the time it’s a size issue where the garment is either too big or too small, while other times it’s a quality issue (like it’s missing a zipper or the length has been hacked off but not hemmed). You always have to look closely at the garment at its seams and at the material itself to make sure that it’s in good condition.

Recently I tried on this cute pleated black and white skirt that both fit and that I liked, but when I took a closer look at it there was a coffee stain, and it wasn’t a small drop of a stain that I could ignore blissfully, it was a big blob of spilt coffee. I hadn’t noticed it at first glance because the pleating had covered up a large portion of it, but once I saw it, it was all I could see. I was so disappointed. I would have bought that skirt if there hadn’t been something so glaringly wrong with it.

It’s so disappointing to find something you want but you just can’t get it. At a department store you could just find a replica of that garment, but there’s no such luck at a thrift shop—there’s only that one garment. There are no other options; you can take it or leave it. It’s funny how the garment used to be a clone of many in a department store, but with time it has been transformed into a one of a kind piece…special.