I’ve had a consistent love for two things in this world: the eight count chicken nugget meal from Chick-fil-a and fashion. Although Chick-fil-a has made a monumental impact in my life, fashion might have to take reign for what has made me into the person I am today.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a love for picking and styling pieces out from even from my Justice and Old Navy filled closet in elementary school. I have a vivid memory of contemplating, for what felt like hours, what shirt to pair with my favorite jeans skirt. I remember thinking, “since it’s a light colored skirt, I should wear a darker colored shirt with it.” I always knew what looked good, and what looked bad. This obsession of choosing outfits everyday and styling pieces that in retrospect my parents probably shouldn’t have let me out of the house wearing, soon turned into the start of a raging fashion and shopping addiction.

As I entered my middle school years my love for clothes grew exponentially. I would force my parents to drive me to the mall so I could aimlessly roam through the stores looking at all the endless fashion possibilities.  Just picture an eleven year girl wearing her favorite Justice crop top looking through the racks of clothes that were way too expensive to buy and maybe not meant for a middle schooler to be wearing. Although I was so young, retail therapy was something that I really leaned on. It was my form of escape from all the middle school stressors. I kept this mall routine going for a couple months until I realized (1) it was not sustainable for my closet space, and (2) I was only about 11 or 12 so I had no way to pay for all these clothes. 

So I had a new mission: to find cute and stylish clothes for cheap. This didn’t mean ordering off of cheap websites like Shein but physically going to thrift stores and searching through stuff that my own grandpa would wear just to find pieces with real value, something that I could take home and style. Once I visited a few thrift stores in my area I knew that this was going to save me a lot of money yet still help me find unique but still cute clothes. Some days I would walk into a thrift store with nothing in mind and just look through clothes for hours, it was almost like a stress reliever for me, and other times I would take inspiration from Pinterest boards I made to find pieces to replicate the outfits. I solely just loved the feeling of when everything clicked: the clothing all worked together in a cohesive way that left me feeling satisfied.

Like any teenage girl my taste in clothing changed as I got older. During my sophomore year in high school I decided I wanted to dress more maturely however the thrift stores I had been shopping at would not cater to this way of dressing. I knew that this way of dressing was going to be tough considering I still did not have a consistent job and I now hated the inconvenience of going to the mall. And you may be thinking “well why didn’t you just shop online,” while an easy solution to my problem I simply just loved the process of physically seeing the clothes in front of me, getting to feel their fabric, and trying things on to see if something would unexpectedly look really great or bad on me.

So how did I find new stores that were still cheap but cute? First I did some research. I found that the type of pieces that I wanted to start wearing came specifically from higher-end brands, brands that were out of my price range, but could be found in second-hand resale boutiques that were honestly not that pricey for the quality of clothing they were selling. It turns out Atlanta is a hotspot for this type of shopping. Now after going to a couple resale stores I’ve landed on two favorites: Labels, located in Buckhead and the Dunwoody Resale Events, held every fall and spring. 

Now that I’ve found this way of shopping my love for fashion has only grown more.  Its honestly my favorite way to fill my free time and a hobby that I don’t think is going away any time soon.