Shopping the Halloween aisle

Halloween is gonna getcha!!

Halloween is lurking around the corner.  If you are bargain-conscious and you dress up for Halloween, then you are well acquainted with the costume aisle at Value Village.  This is where frat boys look for loud pimp shirts, little girls look for wedding dresses, and families look for great deals on costumes.  Gaudy clothing abounds, crammed next to vintage clothing, costumes and homemade attrocities. 

But did you know that the costume aisle is a great place to find seriously, well-made clothing?

Behold gentle reader, and examine my finds in the Halloween aisle.

Floor-length, wool and silk beaded dress.  Meticulously made in the British colony of Hong Kong. Sadly this dress isn't lined, and is far too small for me. I think the modest length of this dress, combined with the extravagant beading, smacks of a dress that was made for a woman of Asian descent.  I can imagine a lovely lady while she did her daily shopping in the fruit and vegetable markets in Hong Kong, or some other British outpost.  I bet winter was a bone-chilling 15 degrees Celcius :)

 

I was tempted to buy this dress.  I would have turned it into a tunic, and added inserts under the arms, and at the sides to make it larger.  I *definitely* would have lined it, or worn a long sleeved t-shirt under it.  The wool was slightly itchy, I image it would have driven the lovely lady who wore it almost mad.

 

There are thousands of glittering seed-beads garnishing this dress!!

Gorgeous CANADIAN made, Linda Lundstrum jacket.  Made of purple and red brocade material.  Again, sadly not my size.  This jacket is far too large.

Flowy, light-as-air, silk skirt.  I may go back for it when the Halloween stuff is half-price on November 1st.

Rack of animal print clothing.

I found some gems in this rack....snake print capris by Chico.  They were in unworn, mint condition.  Sadly, they were far too large

Flowy, sleeveless dress by Jacob (one of my fav labels).  It has gorgeous draping and an asymetrical hem.  Sadly, it's too small.

 

Eye-catching vintage dress.  It's vintage and tiny!  It must have been for a teenager in the 1970s.

Other gems included this pleated skirt with interesting exposed seams.

Wow!!  More beaded goodness!!!!  There were gobs of beaded tops for less than $10.

I may go back for this mint, green beauty. 

This is a vintage Jeremy Scott for $10.  It came home with me.  It features dreamy, gunmetal sequins, gold beading at the edges, and scalloped edges on the sleeves and hem.

This is how it looked in the changeroom...

 Isn't the beading gorgeous???  I think I'm going to take off the sleeves and made it a little more fitted though.

Close up of beading on another jacket.  

 CANADIAN made Danier purple and pink suede jacket.

Mirrored and embroidered maxi-skirt from India

 

Closeup of the embroidery.

Hmmm, this lavishly sequined bolero jacket has a fab tribal design...it may come home with me when it's on sale.

 

It's a tad short, but I like that.

This jacket weighs a ton, and there is some loose beading.  Nothing a needle and thread wont' fix.  I think it would look fab with harem pants, or distressed jeans.

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Long brocade jacket covered in Chinese characters...hmmmm, maybe I should have bought this.

 

And finally, the only thing I didn't find in the costume aisle....

Yup, that's right.  A genuine Pendleton purse for $14.99. The thrift gods were shining on me!!  The wool is kitten soft, while the leather is like butter.  Aside from a few scuffs on the bottom, it's in mint condition.  This purse came home with me, together with the Jeremy Scott beaded top, some Christmas rubber stamps and a gaudy, flowered necktie.

 

What not to wear when thrift shopping

This is what I wore when I was shopping.  A long flowy tunic top, Old Navy cords (which I'll review in another post), and my trusty Jacob jacket.  Basically, I'm wearing everything you should NOT wear if you need to try something on over top of what you are wearing  :)

 

What treasures have YOU found in the costume aisle???