I love a good article about curating unique, rad personal style. But this recent piece on “dressing weird” to stand out didn’t deliver.

Don’t get me wrong — it was well written and edited — but the headline and the content didn’t match because the writer of the piece goes on about dressing weird, but I saw nothing weird in the article. I just saw an attractive woman who was wearing un-flattering (her word), over-sized pieces of clothing. That’s not weird, that’s this chick’s personal style! And that’s totally fine, but really — she should cool it with the weird classification because she’s essentially saying that personal style means being weird. And while there may be some people who think your personal style is weird, it probably isn’t “inherently” weird unless you’re gluing action figures all over your person.

I mean, my personal style (I’d say I’m one part cartoon character, two parts Halloween fiend, and another part astrological) may be considered weird to some, but to me, it’s who I am. I love mixing patterns, and pairing a frilly outfit with clunky black boots, and I’ve been doing it for years. Do people think I’m weird for this? Maybe some do, but I’ve got to say that more often than not, I get compliments about my statement pieces and that makes me happy, because I’ve been curating my monster-filled closet for years.

And it’s those years of curating that lead us all to our very own personal style. Through those years, we learn the following:

1. What we feel good in: I firmly think that no one looks bad in anything unless that “thing” doesn’t fit.

2. What we think is fun: I bought my vampire fang dress because it’s fun. It’s probably not fashionable, but it makes me smile.

3. What we know we will really regret it we don’t buy before it’s gone: I learned this lesson about vintage finds a long while ago. If you love it, get it before it’s gone.

How do you classify personal style? Do you think that some of your clothes are weird, or do you just think that you rock at putting together an outfit?

Related on EcoSalon

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Fashion Stylist to the Rescue: Break Your Fast Fashion Addiction with a Well Coiffed Closet

Shutterstock image of fun personal fashion

The post Finding Personal Style: It’s Not About Being Weird It’s About Being You appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon goes vintage shopping in New York City.

A while back we discussed the “fashion hauling” phenomenon and the impact it is having on today’s teen shopper. While I do think it’s a disturbing trend, I also realize that there is very little we can do to affect the basic desire that shoppers have to share their finds with others. If you can’t beat them, join them. Of course, we here at EcoSalon do it in a conscious consumer kind of way, featuring some of awesome vintage finds that I recently scored while scouring two of my favorite NYC thrift shops.

At Beacon’s Closet in Williamsburg I found two things that fit well into current trends.

This African print tunic, which has a really lovely pattern and one of my favorite colors: green. I think it’s originally for kids, because the arm holes are a bit tight, but that’s an easy fix with the sewing machine.

These pale pink shorts are really nicely distressed, and both the color and length are right on trend for summer. And at $12, they were a great deal.

Moving on to my other favorite Brooklyn thrift shop, Guvnor’s Vintage Thrift, I found a bunch of great dresses.

First, I saw this vaguely animal-pattern dress in a nice, flattering 50s-style cut. Usually it’s hard to find this kind of dress without a really narrow waist, but this one fits perfectly and I’ll probably pair it with a delicate belt. I love the colors and the pearlized buttons too.

Like I mentioned, I’m very into bright greens right now, and this 70s dress with a pleated skirt and metallic bodice instantly caught my eye.

I have a problem with black—so much so that I had banned myself from buying anything black this summer. This long-sleeve maxi dress fit me really well, though, and when I saw that the label was called Mr. Sergio, like one of my best friends, I just had to break down and get it. It’s got these really nice ruffle details on the front that keep it from being just another black dress. Or maybe that’s just my excuse.

Finally, this rose-patterned linen thing caught my eye. Initially I wasn’t sure why, but I think I can relate to the fact that it’s an insane mix of styles – the collar is vaguely Asian, the pattern very conservative and sort of British, and the leather lace up detail with shells is very hippie chic. It was also less than $20, so done deal.

Actually, none of these set me back more than $40. The brown animal-print dress and green 70s party dress were the most expensive things, but the good thing about vintage clothing is that you can just sell it again once you don’t want it anymore. It’s like a virtuous circle of consumption, where all this good stuff is passed along for someone else to discover and fall in love with one day.

What are some of your recent vintage finds?

The post Vintage Fashion Haul: Thrifty Finds from NYC appeared first on EcoSalon.