Thrifty Threads

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, ebay, craigslist, a yard sale, a friend's closet, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Stephanie, a friend of mine who's been featured many times on Thrifty Threads. This entire outfit is thrifted: the dress was just $4.98, the purse was $1.99, and the belt was just 99 cents! Wow.

Stephanie's blog Those Tricks is all about thrifty fashion. She's beome quite the secondhand fashionista since I knew her several years back in her jeans-and-Tshirt incarnation. Each post highlights a new secondhand outfit with details and price, so it's kind of like Thrifty Threads every day with the same model. She finds really cute clothes at the Dallas and Austin thrift stores she visits.

Stephanie has been resale shopping so much, in fact, that she's set up an online store with some of her excess thrifty fashion. You can check it out at My Trick Your Trick. I just looked at her "merchandise" and saw a really gorgeous purse. I have a weakness for purses and own a bit of a collection, but at the same time I'm the type of person who uses one purse all summer and one all winter, only occasionally grabbing a different choice for a special occasion. So I really don't need any more purses! But you should check it out if you're in the market for a purse and don't want to pay Prada prices.

Stephanie is always up to something interesting, and she recently joined the online creative team at Neiman Marcus as a Web Producer. Congratulations Stephanie! Since Neiman Marcus has always been on the cutting edge of fashion, she'll be in her element working with all those gorgeous clothes. It will be interesting to see if she keeps up her thrifty ways while working at the high-end department store. Hmmm, that sounds like a good premise for a blog... the double life of Stephanie: high-end department store employee by day, thrift store shopper by night.

Thanks Stephanie for being such an inspiration with your thrifty fashion finds. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. Don't be shy, we all love to see your thrift store scores, and I always need more photographs. I'm still waiting for a male model and I'd love to get more cute sundresses because we're all ready for the lazy days of summer.

Please leave your best tips for secondhand shopping and compliments for Stephanie in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.