THRIFTED THURSDAYS/ three

I'm still in shock over these gorgeous flats. They're the perfect shade of royal blue and I absolutely love the gold hardware on the tassels. The best part though? They were brand new, with the original tags - and I snagged them for $4.99.

Value Village had originally priced them at $12.99, which in my opinion is a bit too steep for a pair of thrifted synthetic flats. Luckily I checked out the sole of the shoe where I saw the original price tag (they were $29.99 new), as well as a clearance sticker that labelled them at $9.99 NEW. So I went up to the cash and demanded them to be lower. Okay, by demanded I mean shyly pointed out that they were less expensive new and crossed my fingers hoping that they'd lower the price - I'm a bit of a coward.

I have worn them a handful of times since I bought them and I get compliments everywhere I go with them. They might just be my new go-to shoes.

Store: Value Village | Brand: No Angel | Paid: $4.99 + tax

* Photos by me, taken with my iPhone because I always always always forget to charge my camera battery. Whoops.

THRIFTED THURSDAYS/ one

Welcome to this new segment on my blog! I'm going to be calling it Thrifted Thursdays and every Thursday I'm going to be discussing one of my amazing secondhand finds. These finds can be from traditional thrift shops, garage sales, consignment shops or eBay and they can range from handcrafted, to vintage, to designer pieces. I will also discuss different tricks and techniques when buying secondhand.

The name of my blog is Secondhand Rose and seeing as I work at a consignment shop, I'm around used clothing almost daily. Although you do see some of my used clothing finds in my outfit posts, I feel like I've neglected that whole section on my wardrobe here on my blog.

I also believe that there is still a lot of negativity, and almost like a stigma, associated with buying secondhand clothing and I'm here to disprove as many of those myths as possible. Let's get started, shall we?

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I decided to start off the segment with one of my latest and most favourite designer finds. I picked this up at Rikochet Resale, a consignment shop here in Ottawa, and I am head over heels in love with this piece. It is an authentic classic Burberry lambswool scarf and it is a piece I've been lusting after for pretty much my entire life. The trick with buying designer items secondhand is to find a credible shop. There are tons of counterfeit pieces out there and it is sometimes tricky to determine the legitimacy of an item by yourself. I'm wary of items found in thrift shops like Value Village or Goodwill that claim to be designer, and there's no way I'm going to shell out money for designer goods off of eBay. I like to feel the item and see it for myself, or in the case of this consignment shop, know that it was check thoroughly by a trained professional.

Although I have been lusting after this scarf for what seems like forever now, I always knew that it was out of my price range. The scarf I bought is an older style, but scarves at Burberry are traditionally price upwards of $300 (depending on style, materials used, size, ect), and I picked this one up for only $100. The price I paid may still seem steep for a lot of you but you have to understand that this is a classic, traditional piece and it is coming from a company that hardly, if ever, has sales. I also have a sort of passion for designer scarves and I knew that adding this to my (small) collection was a must. I'm beyond happy with this purchase.

* Photo was taken by myself.

FIFTY-THREE/ houndstooth

I was so excited to write a post about the fact that it's finally transitioning into fall weather here in Ottawa... and then I did something stupid, I checked the weather for next week. It's going to be unseasonably hot, reaching a high of 39 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. That's beyond ridiculous, most of the people I know have long put away their summer wardrobes. The past week has been a tease with gorgeous fall weather, with it being just cold enough to throw on a jacket and maybe a scarf, but still warm enough to enjoy doing things outdoors.

I bought this blazer at Value Village a few months ago but I never got a chance to wear it. It's super thick and has big, but amazing, shoulder pads. It was definitely a part of an 80's power suit at some point. I plan on wearing it like a jacket because of the thickness and the length. For this look I paired it with all black (of course) and gold accessories to make the single gold button pop. I decided to wear my classic black Dr. Martens to go with the 80s vibe and also to give it more of a casual feel. I absolutely love the fit and the bold print of this blazer and I plan on wearing it a ton when the fall weather finally settles in.

BLAZER/ Thrifted (no brand) PURSE/ H&M TOP/ Thrifted (no brand)
LEGGINGS/ American Apparel BOOTS/ Dr. Martens (thrifted)
ACCESSORIES/ Various WATCH/ Michael Kors (via consignment)

* All photos were taken by Sue Waugh.