Charity Shop Tuesday

I mostly talk about charity shops as great sources for formalwear and workwear but they are great for more casual clothes too. This t-shirt is one of the many items I bought from the shop I used to volunteer in. I love it because it’s such a great fit and I can tuck it into a shirt or wear it loose with jeans or jeggings. Plus, it has a hat on it, so if I’m wearing this t-shirt I’m always wearing a hat!

T-shirts aren’t so easy to find in charity shops, either because they are snapped up quickly or never make it to the shop floor. You’d think that such ubiquitous items would be commonplace, but it’s actually easier to find collared shirts for work and knitwear.

I think a lot of people, like me, keep old t-shirts to wear indoors when cleaning or to sleep in. The few t-shirts that make it to the charity shops in good condition are either promotional t-shirts that no-one would buy, or are band t-shirts, which get bought by vintage dealers the second they go out.

What casual clothes are plentiful in charity shops? Jeans. When I was a volunteer, we used to get tonnes of pairs of jeans, far more than we could ever sell. We had a rack that was just for jeans but few people looked at it – they were more attracted by the dresses and tops. Because of this, all but the top brands for denim went straight in the rag bag, which I think is a real shame. I don’t wear trousers very much but if I did I would definitely check the charity shops when I needed a new pair of jeans as there are so many different styles available and they’re in such good condition.

If you’re a charity shopper, what do you buy the most of in charity shops? Casualwear, formalwear, workwear, or something else? I know someone who mostly buys shoes, but that option is out for me as I’m a size 9!

Today’s item was not actually from a charity shop, per se. It was secondhand, and the money did go to charity, but it was from a jumble sale that I helped run as a Girl Guide, way back in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

We ran several jumble sales during my time as a Guide. We would spend one of our Friday evening meetings traipsing up and down the streets surrounding the church, distributing leaflets. Residents were asked to leave unwanted items in bags on their doorsteps on the following Friday evening, then we’d go pick them all up.

I’m sure many British people reading this will think fondly of the phenomenon that was the jumble sale. Unfortunately, they’ve all but died out, as more people sell their old things on eBay, and charities and rag collectors are now in the business of making regular doorstep collections. But back then there were rich pickings to be had, and they were super cheap! I remember paying no more than £1 for anything I bought at one of these jumble sales.

This black velvet shirt was the very first piece of clothing that I bought secondhand. I was in my early teens, and I still had the idea that when I grew up, I was going to be a size 14, because my mum was a size 14. No matter that I was much taller than my mum and so thin she had to make me trousers… I’m sure if I’d actually expressed this idea out loud, she’d have set me straight!

This shirt isn’t size 14, it’s a 12, but all the same  it was far, far too big for me then.  I figured when I got older I could wear it for a few years before I eventually reached size 14. CHILD LOGIC. So I took it home – along with a sparkly pair of jogging bottoms that were too short for me even then – put it in a drawer, and forgot about it.

Every now and then I’d take it out when doing a tidy, try it on, sigh, because it was still too big, and put it away again. Away it stayed until one day last year, when I was watching YouTube videos about charity shopping. I watched this sweater styling video by irony-completed and was like ‘WAIT…I have that shirt!’. Next time I was at my parents’ house, I went through my drawers to find it and put it on…and it was STILL too big!

However, as I twisted and turned in front of the mirror, it occurred to me that it isn’t just loose, it’s also long. An Eighties/Nineties size 12  is more like a 10 today, so I figured that maybe it was supposed to be oversized. In any case, it fit much better than before and I reckoned I could rock it. But…maybe not with trousers?

I’m not a fan of loose-fitting clothes in general as I think they drown me. I pulled out one of my favourite high-waisted skirts to give it some structure…

That’s better! I’m now considering which other skirts I can pair it with – it would be nice to pair it with a coloured skirt but I don’t have any in the right length and fabric for winter.

What do you think? How would you style this skirt?