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Opp 'Til You Drop

During a recent visit overseas, I learned the term "Opp Shop." An Aussie buddy of mine who has the best style and wardrobe I have ever seen - ever - revealed to me that her collection of fabulous is one part high priced brand name gear and one half other. The other, I learned, is a carefully selected and often revamped series of $2 - $6 pieces purchased from consignment or second hand shops which, while some cringe a bit at the idea of wearing someone's used stuff, they have coined the ever cool kids' opp shopping.

I had to try it...and was instantly addicted. I'll never forget the day I wore my four dollar, floor length, flowing ivory dress because my entire day was stacked with compliments and inquiries as to which boutique I had purchased it from! Lesson one - give the shops a chance and I'll bet you'll be surprised at what you find. Plus it's so funny to walk out having spent only a few bucks on an outift that, even if you are a serial dresser aka wear your outfits a couple times, you don't have to feel to guilty about. A majority of the killlerrrr kitten heel shoes, little vintage hippie purses, and one-of-a-kind rings my Opp Shop guide sports have been collected from these goody hunts.

That brings us to lesson 2: the magical shortening trick. This really was the kicker for me. My Opp Shopper, we'll call her "Sam," is always wearing these crazy unique clubbing dresses that are super short and made of bizarrely original fabrics (i.e. Camel coloured velvet mini? Where on earth do you find such a thing?). Even during my first couple Opp visits I found nothing as club worthy as this, but the next time I saw Sam I learned the ways. If you go to any local Walmart, London Drugs, etc type store you can pick up a little roll of hemming tape. It's a small roll of little white fluffy fabric that allows you to instantly hem any fabric by ironing the tape to seal wherever you've placed it. Sam's brilliant trick is to find funky patterned dresses, skirts and shorts (granny dresses work amazing - see above pics for inspiration), skirts, that I would never have looked twice at since a lot of these are knee or floor length items, and using the tape to bring up the hem to a sexier short length in just a few seconds of pressing. Suddenly a giant cream lacy dress that looks like a 70 year old's nightie becomes a fresh, young mini ready to pair with a couple of black leather sandals.

Which leads up to our final lesson 3: matching dirt cheap with chic. If you find a whole swarm of dollar items that look great together - go for it. But another cool way to enjoy the Opp fashion finds and mix it up is to pair them with one or more fancier, luxury pieces to bring the whole vintage look together. As seen at the top, adding in a great pair of leather boots, some cool jewelery, and a dark plum or black manicure can add some extra kick to balance wispy feminine prints and fabrics of the outfits.

Salvation Army and Value Village are the most obvious and easy-to-locate spots to start searching for this weekend's outfits, but there's also a few great spots on the bottom few blocks of Lower Lonsdale and West Broadway.

Enjoy your toonie finds guys,

Love Baba and Cool.