Written by Jordan Barela, Editor-in-Chief

One person’s old clothes can be someone else’s vintage fashion vision.

Thrifting can go one of two ways. Some consider thrifting to be an art form; a way of finding clothes that have a story written in the seams. Others see thrifting as a headache.

As an avid thrifter, I have had my fair share of hits and misses.

Thrifting separate pieces to add flair to an outfit and your overall wardrobe is usually easy, but what about thrifting an entire outfit? An outfit for less than $20? Would making a whole outfit out of thrifted pieces, for under 20 dollars be a hit or a miss?

Challenge accepted.

The first place that I went shopping was Salvation Army. After thumbing through shirt after shirt, I found two patterned, short sleeve button down shirts. Once I went to checkout, the cashier told me that the shirts were only 99 cents. Salvation Army has the sale when the store needs to put out more clothes.

A 99 cent price tag is pure gold to a thrifter. One thrift store down, two more to go.

My second destination was Repeat Boutique. I have only been to Repeat Boutique a couple times, and I have only purchased clothing there once. I decided to give this place another chance. After looking for 20 minutes, I didn’t find anything that was my style. However, this thrift store has a great selection of formalwear, which doesn’t run cheap retail price.

A little blue about not finding anything, I went to my third and final destination, Goodwill. Often considered the mecca of all thrift stores, Goodwill is the epitome of hit or miss.  Goodwill is where you can find vintage designer pieces (if you’re lucky) and the final resting place of fashion faux pas all in the same place.

Anytime I go thrifting, I always head straight to the shirts. I make a point to go through every shirt when I go thrifting. After finding numerous tie dye shirts, old work uniform shirts and the forgotten South Pole shirts, I managed to find three different button ups. The first button up that I found has a desert color scheme, a fashion trend that I have always adored. I chose the first button up for the outfit, and to match the desert scheme of the shirt, I found a sand colored basic tee. The second one was a long sleeve, Versace like print button up. The third one was a huge find; a Moschino button up, an Italian fashion house that I have grown quite fond of lately.

The one thing that I didn’t find at any of the three thrift stores was a pair of shorts. Since the Georgia weather is transitioning into spring, I wanted to stock up on shorts.

This is where Plato’s Closet comes into play. Because Plato’s only buys clothes that are in trend, it is a go to for cheap modern fashion. I went previously the week before and found a pair of Modern Amusement maroon shorts. The shorts happened to match the color scheme of the shirts, which is something right out of a thrifter’s dreams.

I paired the outfit with a pair of Vans that I thrifted a while back and long necklaces, one with a clear crystal on it.

Minus the shoes and accessories, the whole outfit came up to a whopping $14.97.

No one said thrifting was easy. But with a little (or a lot) of time and patience, thrifting can lead to pieces that add that vintage edge to your wardrobe.