$20 to create a whole, beautiful outfit? Challenge accepted!
I’ve talked about ways to make your $20 go far in a thrift store. This time I wanted to have fun and get creative with this challenge – taking plain Jane items and jazzing them up for Denise’s (of Beauty and the Pleats) $20 Thrift Store Challenge. It is important to note that, as I’ve said in my How To Thrift 5 tips, these items were acquired at different times throughout my thrift excursions. I thrift quite often, and everywhere I travel to. Let me break it down for you.
Shirt: a regular t-shirt with one of my favorite artist on it. $3 at a thrift store in Memphis, TN. I searched online for cut-up t-shirt inspiration, and changed it to be breezy and comfortable.
Pants: $8 at a DFW thrift store. I distressed them and made the legs more fitted (because they had a wide flare at the bottom) and rolled them up.
Shoes: I don’t often buy shoes at thrift stores, because I don’t usually find ones up to my cleanliness qualifications. I do, however, run across new and like new shoes from time to time. I found these vintage inspired wing tip heels for $8 at a different DFW thrift store.
Purse: I found this Alba purse that looks like it is made to favor a Dooney & Bourke bag for $1 at a garage sale.
Grand total for an entire outfit: $20!
photos by Gernelle of My Friend Elle
The way that I altered and combined the pieces created a fun street chic style to wear out with friends, for a casual brunch, or just out and about with your boo one day.
Sustainability: I call this a sustainable style because every major piece was thrifted. When we thrift, we are buying items that contain embodied energy. This means that there was energy used to create them, but no energy (or resources) had to be used to resale them (save for items like tags that thrift stores use to price them). Instead of buying a new piece of clothing and requiring new energy and resources, and instead of letting these perfectly good items end up in a landfill (cause mass pollution) – existing items are given a new purpose and lease on life!
YOU have the ability to be a change agent just by thrifting. Let’s talk about your thrift style! If you have any thrifting or thrift style questions, comment below, use the hashtag #ownThrift on social media, or feel free to email me at thrift@oldworldnew.us.
Thank you to Denise for suggesting this thrift style challenge! Check her post and many other bloggers’ posts out to see how they styled $20 worth of thrifted goodies.
xoxo dolls & dudes,
P.S. – check out my blogging buddies, Brittany & Elle’s, posts, too! (links coming soon). 
This outfit is fabulous! I can’t decide which is my favorite piece. The shoes are great. I don’t know how to hem or taper jeans, but maybe I can learn. That would widen my options at the thrift store. You’ve given some great ideas and now I want to go thrifting! 😉
Melanie, I’m not the best at sewing from scratch, but all I did was cut the jeans on the side at the hem where the front and back of the pant leg are sewn together, overlapped those pieces to make it skinny, and sewed in a dart style (just one place to hold it together – essentially the same thing a safety pin would do if you place it there). After that I just rolled them up to hide it! It was really easy. I hope you do go thrifting soon 🙂 here are some tips if you need them! https://oldworldnew.us/how-to-thrift/
I so love your pictures! They are so cool.
Thank you, Asheli! 🙂
I can’t believe your outfit only cost $20! You really did a fabulous job 🙂 Yet another reason why i LOVE thrifting!
Isn’t thrifting the best, Tiffany?1 Thank you 🙂
This is such a cute outfit and idea! I love how it all cost you under $20!!
Thank you, Samantha! The price makes it 10x better lol!
I love your thrift style. It definitely inspires me to try to find something amazing @ the local thrift stores. I can’t pick out one fave piece because you made it all work together fabulously! You’re a thrifting rock star!
Thank you so much, Leslie! I’m truly passionate about making old things new again, so thrifting is like my boo haha!
Those are amazing! I can’t believe you found them at a thrift store! I always seem to miss out on the great clothes at thrift stores, but I find lots of furniture and other goodies. Thanks for sharing!
Yes ma’am, I’m serious about my thrifting lol! But like I said, it takes time – I acquired all of these over several months at different stores. I love furniture I find at thrift stores too. And home decor items 🙂
Such a fun idea for a challenge—even more so that friends were involved in the same challenge. You all did really well! I’m impressed. I love thrifting, but have trouble finding the time lately with two small kids. I think I’m going to need to petition for a day to go spend some time on my own at the thrift stores!
Lol yes! It’s cheap shopping too, so you spouse/partner can’t object! Go get you some alone time and thrifted goodies, Brooke! ☺️
Well done! Our thrift stores in canada are soooo expensive! You would not be able to find all of that for $20! So that’s incredible!
Christine, it sucks when the stores start to charge so much because thrift shopping is so popular. Maybe you can go thrifting on sales days and find discounts? Check out this post – https://oldworldnew.us/thrift-shop-20-dollar-pocket/
Love, love, LOOOVE that outfit! Especially the shoes! <3
Thank you, Denise! I’m so glad you put this challenge together. I’m probably going to challenge myself to do it again haha! 🙂
I love your thrifted pieces and style +++ Thank you for sharing the joy of frugal.
I do however disagree that no energy is expended to re-sale secondhand garments. And i think charity store volunteers would agree with me on this. There is a lot of behind the scenes sorting, checking, tagging, pricing and hanger presentation before a garment hits the store for retail. Some stores like TRAID in the UK may even repair/refashion the garment as well.
Hope you don’t mind constructive feedback 🙂
Thank you, Karen – and I don’t mind at all! This is an older post and I don’t remember if over ever accounted for the work that is done at the thrift stores since then, but you are so correct. I should factor that in instead of just speaking on the energy required to source materials and create the garment originally. And I’ve never seen stores that repair here in America, so I bet those are cool to have in the UK! Thanks again for your feedback 🙂 it’s all about growth and spreading knowledge, so I value it very much!