Adventures in Thrifting Part 25: White Floral Dress & Spread The Kindness Link Up On the Edge #804

thrifted white floral dress, spring boho style, green hooded sweater vest, white Panama hat, white cowgirl boots, orange floral scarf, preloved style, thrifted outfit, Shelbee on the Edge

Way back in September 2020, a group of five other bloggers and myself kicked off our Thrifty Six group in an effort to draw attention to the environmental impacts of the fashion industry and share ways to decrease that impact by styling fabulous outfits using preloved, secondhand, or thrifted wardrobe pieces. A few days later, I began this fun little Adventures in Thrifting series to highlight additional preloved pieces in my closet.

In 2020, I estimated that approximately 30% of my wardrobe consisted of secondhand items found on resale sites, in thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, or simply handed down to me from someone else. Over the last six years, many of my favorite retailers have either closed their physical stores in my area or simply don’t appeal to my personal style aesthetic anymore. As a result, I think the contents of my closet has shifted from a 30/70 split of preloved to new clothing to a 50/50 split.

I have to admit that I kind of love that for myself. Plus it helps to balance out my cowgirl boot addiction. While I do have a few pairs of secondhand cowgirl boots, my size doesn’t turn up very often in thrift stores and the resale sites charge way too much for used boots so I tend to buy new. In fact, I just ordered yet another pair of new cowgirl boots and I cannot wait for them to arrive so I can show them off!

Enough about that…this post is meant to highlight this adorable preloved floral dress found in a local thrift store a few months ago. I can’t remember what I paid for it but most thrift store dresses in my area range from $5.99 to $7.99 depending where you shop. If I had purchased it on a half off day (I can’t remember if I did), then it only cost me $3-4.

I am not generally drawn to shorter dresses because long maxi dresses suit my midlife boho style much better, but I couldn’t resist the pretty vintage floral print in these gorgeous orange and brown earthy colors. And it perfectly coordinated with my favorite long floral scarf. While this scarf was a new retail purchase from 4 years ago, it was on clearance for under $10 and I have worn it countless times that my price per wear is definitely in the amount of mere pennies at this point.

Since it is still a bit too chilly for bare legs and single layers, I added a pair of nude tights and a very old green fringe sweater vest. I honestly can’t remember where or when I purchased this adorable vest but I have definitely owned since before I started my blog in 2015. It made its first appearance here in August 2016 but I am fairly certain that I purchased it at some discount retailer when we lived in Pennsylvania pre-2013. I don’t wear it all that often, but it is such a unique piece that comes in handy frequently enough to keep it.

To complete this thrifty outfit, I accessorized with my wooden owl necklace, a pair of burnt orange flea market earrings, my white Panama hat, and my new white cowgirl boots.

A quick note about my hat collection…many of my Panama hats were purchased from a wholesale website with prices generally under $10 for plain solid colored hats. I like to buy the plain ones so I can creatively adorn them to match my outfits. Right now, this white hat is decorated with a white fabric belt from a long cardigan sweater and a few white feathers that my cat pulled off of the wall hangings in my Happie Hippie Hallway. I couldn’t figure out how to reattach the feathers to the wall hanging so I gathered them up and stuck them in my hat band instead. I try not to waste anything!

Not only is thrifting good for the environment, it is also really great for the bank account…especially when you love clothing as much as I do. I will forever be a maximalist when it comes to personal style, so it’s better to shop in budget-friendly ways. Excluding the cost of my boots, the total price for this entire outfit was under $50.

How do you prefer to shop for clothing accessories? Are you an avid thrifter or do you prefer only new clothing?