Thrifting, Tailoring.
We buy, we tweak, we wear.
Hello Friends and Stylish People!
I am writing this week’s newsletter to you from my bed, where I am fighting ye olde mighty fight against the symptoms of the latest COVID vaccine. I feel very lucky to have snuck in a miracle appointment during the small window of time I’m home between gigs. BUT WOW THIS SHOT TAKES ME OUT EVERY TIME. Very strong immune response! Minimum 24 hours of immune responding!
This week I’d like to chronicle a little bit of my most recent thrifting journey, as a vehicle to sell you on something I have become very passionate about (!!!) since becoming an actor and having SO MANY talented people build and alter costumes to fit my body.
And that thing is tailoring.
We begin with a story!
Like many millennials, when I think of shopping in my youth, I remember vividly the experience of walking into the dressing room at, say, Delia’s, or LIMITED TOO, so help me, and trying on ill-fitting little sparkle tees in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror, standing on a sort of murky blue-green carpet, bathed in overhead fluorescent lighting. It’s visceral! Like, if there is some kind of waiting room to enter the GATES OF HELL, I am sure it looks like a Dillard’s dressing room in 1999.
Standing in hell’s lighting at the tender age of 12, the unrelenting chorus of American media singing deep in my subconscious in stunning 4-part harmony, “Your Body Is Not Good Enough And Never Will Be But Also Is Key To Your Value As A Woooomannn,” I was left with not one single moment to wonder how, exactly, these clothes were made, and why, maybe, the fit was never quite right?
I’m probably not alone in this experience.
But this is not a woe-is-me story. Oh no, in fact, it is a story of triumph. Cut to me, many years later, working in the theatre! And so experiencing my very first costume fitting. And then my first custom-made piece, and my first quick-rigged piece (a costume built to come off easily for a quick change), and my first understudy/shared piece (modified to fit both me and another actor). Etc.! Many fittings later, the measurements themselves stopped feeling so personal, and the experience became routine, and then FUN— fun enough to really pique my curiosity. It was in this frame of mind that I had The Big Realization About Mass-Produced Clothing:
The problem was not me. The problem was never me! The problem was the clothes. The clothes I was trying on as an awkward 12 year old (or 16 year old, or 21 year old) were never really made to fit me. They were cut on a machine, using vague, arbitrary sizing rubrics, to try and fit as many people as possible, and to sell as much product as possible. HELLO. THE PROBLEM WAS THE CLOTHES.
And that is when I began to tailor all of my shit. All of it! Regardless of where it was from. Growing up, the word “tailoring” to me implied fancy-pants clothing or like, tuxedos. I don’t know? I was intimidated by it. And the thought of going into my local dry cleaners down the street and trying clothes on for the seamstress while other customers walked in and out sounded low-key mortifying.
Not anymore! I cannot recommend it enough. Those customers don’t care about me— they don’t even look! Tailoring my clothing makes me wear the item 1000 percent more times. It turns things I like into things I love. I’m now shameless about what I’ll get tailored, let me tell you. Including and especially, circling back to the title of this week’s newsletter, items I buy secondhand. Which really opens up a whole new world of possibility when I am thrifting in the first place.
SO. For my next trick, I will demonstrate this very exercise. Via a thrifting adventure at the very cute Peachy and Vintage, in downtown Covington, KY, when I was nearby for work. Below, what I bought, what I had tailored, and how simple tailoring makes for clothes that both fit my body and make me excited to get dressed:
1.) Granny Chic
In the fitting room—
It was love at first sight. $18 for the SET. In this cute purple?! But the elastic in the pants was kind of shot.
Once I got home, I took the pants down the street to the cleaners, where they took in the waist just a little bit on both sides, and (their recommendation!) took out a little extra fabric in the tush.
Styled and tailored:
AND, what I like about separates is the big OOMPH they give in a fashion math scenario, e.g., how many wears. Here I am in my 80s Jogging Era:
Moving on!
2.) Lil Tennis Dress
In the fitting room—
Pretty great already. But I felt, at my extremely average height, this needed a crop. I’ve got nice stems! Call me crazy, but I was feeling mini, not midi.
So we chopped her. And by we, I mean the very nice people at Greenpoint Cleaners.
Are you screaming?! Hems are scary! I was nervous! But, given that this dress is so sporty, I think this length is giving a more cheeky athleisure vibe, and I dig it.
And here I am wearing her out! On the town!
Okay chickens. Last one. Stick with me, I’m getting a warning that this email might get TRUNCATED because it’s so full of GOODNESS.
3.) A Vest!:
I’ve been saying for over three weeks that the color of FALL is going to be RED and maybe it’s one of those you-see-what-you-want-to-see things but so far I am thinking I’ve called this right? Anyways, I love red, and I was excited by this cozy grandfather moment.
Le fitting room:
$7. Loved the fit. No editing needed here! But had to include the whole cart, duh.
Version #1: This is how I wore to a play on a Wednesday eve in September:
Version #2: Styled for Fake Fall:
Version #3: Styled for Real Fall. She’s the moody babysitter you didn’t know you needed!:
Okay Substack is telling me this email is too long and it’s stressing me out goodbye! Go forth and thrift. And don’t be afraid to tailor your clothes!
Costume Change is a styling newsletter (vs. a shopping newsletter). Many posts will not include clothing “credits”— but I’m happy to share in the comments about specific items, just HMU.
Any links to clothing/shoes, etc. that do appear in my writing are purely my honest to goodness recommendations. If we (ever) enter spon-con territory, those recs will be clearly marked as such. Thanks for reading, and reminder to keep those comments kind!