Blame it on the Scarf…

I found this beautiful vintage Glentana (made in Scotland) mohair scarf at a nearby Salvation Army Family Thrift Store for $3. This scarf is a huge thing, which isn’t really evident in the photo. The blue is rich and the texture untouched by moths or time or even misuse. My scarf is truly someone’s trash that became my treasure. This morning I looked at in my closet and thought about how grateful I was to find it that day at the Salvation Army, which spurred thoughts about all of the other treasures I’ve found at flea markets, estate sales, yard sales, thrift and resale shops and in other places. 

One of my favorite thrift stores also sells unclaimed dry cleaned clothing and I found a T.S.E. cashmere twin set for $5. T.S.E. costs upward to over $1,000 for a twin set and some of their pieces are higher in price. T.S.E. manufactures some of the finest cashmere and wool products in the world. My set is in the dry cleaning bag and wrinkled beyond recognition. But I found an almost replica of it online.  

In high school, I went to the thrift shop owned by a local charity and found a Missoni sweater for all of $1.50 and kept it until it wouldn’t be kept anymore. I believe its deterioration was self-inflicted for all of the loving abuse I’d given it over the years and the poor thing just fell apart. And yes, in high school I knew the full value of Missoni knits because I spent a lot of time with my head in Vogue and Town and Country magazines.  I found one in the same pattern at Etsy.com, except mine had one button at the neck and was cropped.  Wish I still had it. 

About three years ago or so, I purchased a beautiful Italian-made MaxMara alpaca & wool 3/4 length coat at a resale shop. I was on my out of the door and saw it waiting for me, whispering my name with no price tag on it. I asked the shopkeeper ‘how much?’ and she droned on about how many of hundreds of dollars it cost. I pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and she took it. That coat actually cost a couple of thousand dollars. Guess I made out that day, huh?

Cuisinart 12-cup

And here is one of my latest treasures, my Cuisinart coffeemaker that I purchased for $1 at a yard sale. The owner said the bean grinder was broken, it isn’t. I spruced it up and it looks like new. 

So blame that beautiful blue scarf  for this blog. It started it and now I feel this compulsion to share my love for previously owned luxury and luxury at a minimum – luxe redux or luxe revisited.

~ Luxurious moi!