I absolutely love charity shops, searching out bargains and planning outfits is one of my favourite ways to spend a day. I was recently challenged by Safestore to put an outfit together from Scope their charity of the year, with a budget of just £25. I visited my local Scope charity shop in Morden in high hopes of putting together a lovely outfit. It was obviously my lucky day, as I found so many great things. I went a teeny bit over budget with my total haul coming in at £30, but I managed to get some really lovely mix and match pieces to play with.
I decided not to just limit myself to vintage pieces. The shop had some great high street garments that I thought would work really well together, so my haul featured a selection of both vintage and modern clothing. I also broke most of my usual fashion rules. I very rarely wear dark colours, or trousers, or pencil skirts, but I really like all the pieces I chose and when everything was around the £5 mark it was great to experiment a bit more than I usually would.
I picked up a Monsoon embroidered cardigan, a pair of 1980s Berketex trousers, an Oasis mini dress, a vintage navy skirt, an embellished Monsoon cardigan, a coral vintage pencil skirt, a River Island floral blouse and a vintage belt. The staff in the shop were really lovely and helpful too.
These are some of the outfits I mixed and matched using all my bargain finds…
The blouse was really long, so I decided to tie it at the waist to go with the darker skirt. I absolutely love the mix of prints and the modern twist on a retro look with this outfit.
I don’t usually wear short dresses, but I couldn’t resist the full sleeves on this Oasis dress, worn like this it has quite a sixties feel and reminded me of Megan from Mad Men.
To add a little versatility to the dress it can also be worn as a top. I really liked it tucked in and teamed with the pencil skirt and the belt, which is the perfect colour for both garments.
I love wearing bright colours, so was instantly drawn to this bright coral coloured pencil skirt. This time I wore the floral blouse tucked in and buttoned all the way up.
The Monsoon cardigan is embellished with pretty beads and reminds me of a couple of fifties cardigans in my collection. I’ll probably wear it a lot over dresses, but I like it tucked into a skirt too. It’s a tad gapey on the bust so I might sew in some snaps at some point to give it a slightly better fit.
I very rarely wear trousers and this is the first black pair I’ve bought in years. I love the wide leg and side fastening and being vintage they come up higher on the waist than most modern ones. I wore them with the blouse and I love the retro seventies look of this outfit.
I also wore the cardigan tucked into the trousers, for a smarter look. I think if I wear this again I’ll brighten it up with a bold belt and some jewellery.
I’m going to get so much wear out of all of my choices and I’m looking forward to matching them up with other things I already have in my wardrobe. Charity shops are such a great way to get nice new things without breaking the bank, and it just goes to show that one persons unwanted things can be perfect for someone else. It also makes me really happy to be giving my money to a charity. Remember to also donate all your unwanted things to your local charity shop, they benefit so much from people’s generous donations.
The best part of the experience for me was moving away from my usual buying habits, I often rule out clothing in charity shops because it’s not vintage, but combining vintage with newer items was so much fun and I think I really rose to the challenge. I’ve certainly got the charity shop bug at the moment and really want to do this again soon.
Thank you so much to Safestore for paying for my shopping trip and encouraging me to go and buy second-hand. I also want to say a big thank you to the staff at Scope for being really helpful and for pricing everything so reasonably. I’ll definitely be going back to that shop again and again.
If you liked this post, check out my Outfits section for more inspiration.
Ways to follow Vintage Frills
Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – Pinterest – Youtube – Bloglovin’
5 Comments
Tiffiny
April 12, 2016 at 4:57 pmYou certainly did rise to the challenge – well done! Absolutely fab outfits which will hopefully serve you in more vintage combinations for years to come. Tiffiny x
Stevie Larwood
April 12, 2016 at 7:46 pmI love the trouser/blouse combo! You picked up some amazing bits. I love a good charity shop hunt.
Jessica Cangiano
April 13, 2016 at 9:04 amAwesome charity shop finds! Those classic black wide legged trousers look jaw droppingly incredible – and deeply chic – on you. J’adore!
♥ Jessica
Porcelina
April 13, 2016 at 11:55 amYou did SO well! Loving those trousers on you x
Angie
April 13, 2016 at 8:33 pmLove these outfits. You’ve inspired me to investigate some of my local charity shops.