Thrilled by resale

I met my GF Ruth for breakfast late Saturday morning and asked if she had time to be introduced to my favourite vintage/resale store, Thrill of the Find, which opens at noon. She'd agreed to meet her 24 year old daughter, Sara, so regretted that she couldn't go this time.

I launched into an ardent soliloquy on what she was missing: items like an Hermes silk sweater-jacket, Scassi cocktail dress and Balenciaga spring suit, all candidates for her size 2-4 frame, as well as less-known but interesting designers.

"I can't spend money", she said, "I'm putting a new deck in, and landscaping my back yard. No clothes." "You could probably find a cute top for $30-$40", I said. "No", she insisted, "Nothing."

We parted, and I spent a busy afternoon out of the house. When I returned, Le Duc said, "You have a phone message from Ruth; she went to 'Thrill'."

Ruth got Thrilled to the tune of $500: an Italian linen flower-print dress for Sara to wear to a wedding; for her, three dresses, a skirt and a jacket. When I called, she was busy pressing one of the dresses to wear to dinner that evening and was in the fizzy, giddy throes of shopping ecstasy. "You were just so intense about it", she said, "And when you're that way, I had to find out what it was."

You might find a YSL raincoat at Goodwill for $15, as my hairdresser's assistant did, but you have to fend off an army of pickers and I've heard that many treasures never make it to the floor. In fact, one of my GFs daughters works as a "sorter" and is paid to put the good stuff aside for a downtown vintage store.

I'd rather pay Mireille at Thrill to provide carefully-curated goods in perfect condition, new or as-new. How delicious to introduce one more friend to the particular joys of resale shopping!

What if there's no fabulous resale store near you? Today I won this pretty embroidered Indian wool shawl on eBay, for about $25. Let's hope my eBay karma holds and it's in good shape.