9 Chic Ways to Wear a Button-Down
She asked, I answered.
Friends! If you’re local in the NYC/Brooklyn area, please come to my bananas closet + vintage ephemera sale tomorrow evening AND Friday during the day at the wonderful experiential spot The Delta, 210 Court Street. I’ll be joined by my friend Erin from Underwater Weaving and Anna McDonald (a poet and antiques collector), who will also be sharing some of their second-hand and lost/found treasures. A portion of the proceeds will be going to support the incredible organization The Foundation for Women’s Health, and it’s very likely we’ll have some bubbles on hand, too, so come and HANG. Thursday party + preview, 6-8 p.m. (rsvp only); Friday sale from 10-5 p.m. (I will be there Thursday night and also Friday from 10-1 p.m. so come by and say hi!).
I love recycling. I mean, I considered calling a friend yesterday to help me carry home a 6’ tall gold-gilded wood picture frame (glass intact), because I couldn’t bare the thought of it getting crunched up in the back of a garbage truck.
So, when my friend Amy asked me if I wouldn’t mind doing a story about how to style a basic menswear striped button-down—the workhorse of my whole wardrobe (and probably hers/yours, too:)—I was elated.
Finding new ways to wear old, loved things in my closet is pretty much my FAVORITE. Especially over the past four years that we’ve been building our house upstate, I’ve had to curb any excess sartorial whim spending, and really LEAN into my knack for finding a less $$ second-hand/vintage alternative…you know, to scratch that itch when it comes a calling...
The truth is, men’s striped shirts, both vintage and gently used, are these exquisite things that don’t cost a lot but have the power to make our everyday quality of life a little bit better—ie: showing up at your closet and feeling reassured that one of those shirts will ALWAYS show you what to do next. You can definitely buy them new, but they also live in constant abundance at thrift shops, yard sales, grouped in lots for the cost of say…an Uber ride? Plus, collecting + wearing them, like all the time, has taught me so much about how essential and sacred a virtually ageless/timeless piece of classic clothing is. Not fashion but real clothing that somehow sparks the fashion inside of us, not the opposite.
Before I even started writing, I found this cut-off shirt ⬇️ on our Brimfield trip last week. And I immediately thought: I have at least three vintage button-downs in my closet RIGHT NOW that I can chop up like this to create a new shape. And, so I did (the very one I wore all day in Brimfield, too). It unlocked all these ideas, and also reminded me how much fun it is to fuck around in your own closet. With no restrictions or expectations. Just taking some time to PLAY and see what combos feel really good together now that a new season is unfolding, and also beckoning us to do the same 😎.
Before we get into it, a big thank you + a tiny treat to share: I’m so grateful to my most favorite feel-good Greek-born family “cookie” company Olyra for providing the most nourishing, yummy low sugar/high fiber biscuits + bars for our Brimfield Road Trip. Everyone loved them, especially me (who got to revel in all the leftovers:), and I’m so thrilled to share a 20% discount for anything site wide if you’d like to order some for the warm weather thrifting/adventure season ahead. My steady is the Best Sellers bundle and also the dark chocolate sandwich biscuits, which my daughter (refreshingly) loves, too. I am sincerely a SUPER FAN of this company, not just because their organic recipes are really good and also satisfying, but because for five generations, the land and the grain this family have grown + milled has been passed down from one family/generation to the next. (TBH, I wanted them to fly me to Greece so I could see the farm and factory where they make Olyra, but alas, we’ll save that for the next thrifting sojourn!) To shop w/your discount, just use the custom code: thriftfuel, and definitely lmk what you think ❤️.
Okay…on w/the button-down shirt SHOW…✨
The Chop + Crop.
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