Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Boomerangs

This dress called out to me from across the room at the Salvation Army this morning.
It was bright, fun, very Phyllis Diller, and very familiar. I walked over to it and realized why.   It had cycled through my shop already. It had a Salvation Army price tag stapled to it, AND, it had one of my five&diamond price tags attached under the arm with a ribbon and safety pin.  From April 2011, $65.
 I've been scratching my head all day trying to figure out whether the dress could have been stolen (I almost always remove my tags when selling an item) and then discarded --- or --- was it purchased, never worn, and then discarded?   I'll probably never know, but yeah, I purchased it again, and it will be out on the racks this week with a much more reasonable price of $35.



Boomerang #2 is this very "Goodfellas" knit shirt-jac.  My friend Michael brought it in a couple weeks ago,  claiming he purchased from me in 1996, when he and I had shops across the street from each other in Tivoli.  (Can't say I remember a shirt I sold 16 years ago, but I took his word for it.) It is still vintage and still  fab, here in the 21st century.

My favorite boomerang of late is this slinky rayon late-30s dress, which is, in fact, now, a double-boomerang.  I sold it to Holly a couple of years ago, who needed a dress for a wedding.  I told Holly she could always sell it back to me if she wanted to, that's how much I love this dress.   
 She took me up on the offer, and returned it a couple of months later, trading it in for more Holly-appropriate garb.  The dress sold quickly again,  to Patty, and I offered Patty the same return-for credit deal.  Patty owned the dress for about a year. She wore it once, and just recently brought it back to me and traded it for a jacket she will get much more wear out of.   I'm more than happy to have the dress back in the shop for what is now the third time, but come September will probably put it away for next spring.