Vintage Clothing Haul

Last Saturday, The Bale Out, a vintage clothing store located on the 4th floor of the City Museum in St. Louis, held a $1—$2 clothing sale.  The store is going out of business and held this one-day event to liquidate.

Vintage clothing priced at $1?  You all know I was there.  The sale started at 6 am on Saturday.  I arrived at around 7 am and got nervous when I saw several early birds leaving with stacks of clothing.  No worries though.  Once I got inside, I saw that they left lots of items for the rest of us.

I wore leggings and a fitted sweater over a camisole to the sale.  I imagined that there wouldn’t be fitting rooms, so I wanted to be able to try on items over what I was wearing.  That was a good move.  There were no fitting rooms nor mirrors.

Most of the items I saw at the sale were in impeccable condition for their ages.  There were also items that had sizable holes and other notable imperfections to carefully examine for.

Here are the items I purchased.  I bought 7 things and spent $10.  No tax.  Just $10.

1.  ILGWU tweed jacket ($2).  This tweed jacket is my favorite find.  It has an ILGWU label on it indicating that it’s a product of the International Ladies Garment Womens Union, one of the first labor unions with mostly women members formed in the 1900s .  With help from the Vintage Fashion Guild, I was able to determine that the jacket was created between 1955 and 1974.

This jacket had the vintage store tags on it.  It was $42 prior to this sale.

2.  Peck & Peck jacket ($2).  This jacket looks so luxe in person.  The buttons in the front are missing, but you can’t tell.  I actually plan to wear it as an open jacket.  Peck & Peck was a New York-based retailer of classic women’s clothing launched in 1888 (source).

3.  Prestige of Boston plaid blazer ($2).  The plaid on this blazer is classic and on-trend right now.  I was so excited about how the bodice of the blazer fit, though, that I didn’t pay attention to its short sleeves.  Oops.  I think I can make it work though.  If not, I’ll pass it on.

 4.  Scarves ($1 each).  I purchased 3 “cashmere feel” scarves.  The label actually says “cashmere feel.”  It should instead say “cashmere look,” though, because they look luxe but aren’t itchy like cashmere.

5. Plaid skirt, no labels, $1.  I found so many variations of this skirt at the sale.  Before checking out, I was holding about 4 of them.  I decided to get just one.  My plan is to have the skirt shortened to just above my knee.

Did you make it to the sale?  If you’re not in St. Louis, have you seen sales like this one in your city?