Our girl Caroline shows off some of the wonders you can find at Dusty Rose. via Facebook

If this yo-yo weather has got you befuddled, try a new kind of spring cleaning to get you in the groove. At the end of the month, Greenpoint’s own Dusty Rose Vintage will be hosting their first ever “This for That” annual spring clothing swap. So if you’re super bored with what you have now, why not just trade it in? People do that in summertime with relationships too, so why not clothing? (more…)

And only $48 dollars!

If you’ve got extra money burning a hole in your wallet, a new site has popped up that can help you spend that money, and then you can probably sell your wallet. Ransack is a Brooklyn-based online vintage store for none of your needs but maybe some of your wants. As the name would suggest, Ransack is an online repository for curiosities that might come out of general pillaging, or maybe a guy trying to recoup the cost of the locker he bid for on Storage Wars.

The site offers everything from antique-ish pocket knives and cee-lo and poker dice sets to genuinely used clothing. Like, blood stains-used. While some of the offerings seem reasonable in the found-art sense — the $13-$28 pocket knives won’t break your $33 Indian head bank — other offerings are downright ludicrous. A church key (aka bottle and can opener your parents probably have at their house) trades for $8, while this blood stained Budweiser shirt goes for $48! That price better guarantee some sort of infectious disease or Velociraptor DNA on there. (more…)

Underground Thrift opened in October. Via FB.

Sometimes the best things come in small packages, and sometimes even better things come in bags that you pack to the brim with as much crap as they can physically hold. Underground Thrift, a new store in Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, is hosting its first-ever Stuff-aSack winter clearance sale this Sunday: You get an Underground tote (a $5 value) and stuff it with as much of the inventory of designer clothes for women, men and children as you can fit, all for $25. Store hours will be extended too: 12:30pm-5:30pm. And in case you need another reason, a portion of the store’s proceeds are donated to organizations fighting modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

Underground Thrift Store, 65 Hicks St. Brooklyn Heights.

Reader Whitney sent in this tip about a new sale for the new year: Housing Works in Park Slope is taking 40 percent off all apparel on Wednesdays and Thursdays through Jan. 26. Housing Works, if you don’t know, is a great organization that raises money through its thrift stores to support its AIDS advocacy and research work. And with that kind of mission, they get some pretty sweet donations (read: not bleach-splashed jeans or promotional T shirts from NASCARMAGGEDON 2005).

Housing Works, 266 Fifth Ave., open Mon-Sat: 12pm-7pm, Sun: 12pm-5pm.

We Brooklynites don’t typically wake up, gawk at our closets and ponder, “What here says ironic garden party?” It’s great that you guys are getting jazzed about our snazziest spring duds contest at the Brokelyn Country Club Spring GalaThursday, but we’d never want you to stress. So I delved into the preppier suburbs, the warmer west coast and a ménage of bookmarked indie fashion blogs for some ideas, inspiration and downright costumes to help you find an outfit and win the best-dressed prize, along with a guide of local shops where you can find a quick secondhand outfit. Now is the time to go over the top. Save the holding back for next winter. (more…)

Certain do-gooders of businesses out there should just get a pass when it comes to the harsh realities of economics. Baltic Bazaar Thrift, long-time Brooklyn home to cheap fabric and jobs for the mentally-ill, is closing its doors at the end of the month in the face of high rent. As much as we hate to see the Atlantic Ave. staple go, this cloud happens to have an especially colorful patterned lining. While the Bazaar’s still around (until the end of July or thereabouts), all of their high-end fabric is on sale for at least 50 percent off. And we hear it’s being hauled off in arm-loads. (more…)

Opening night in March.

Granted, you hear the word ‘thrift,’ and ‘luxury item’ isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But what if you forget those ratty t-shirts and stained corduroys, and think Vintage? Vintage as in fashion time-machine catered to the innate style of the pin-up fashionista on a budget. That is Park Slope’s Guvnor’s Vintage Thrift. And that’s why they, and their $50 gift certificate, are part of THE RAFFLE OF THE CENTURY on June 10. And ladies, since you’re trying to look like a million bucks for the night, Guvnor’s might be a good place to start this weekend. (more…)

West Point uniforms with MJ-worthy styling. Photos by Betony Toht

The weekend’s endless loop of Michael Jackson videos inspired all kinds of reactions: sadness, nostalgia, fashion envy. Like his music, his trademark silhouette—boxy jacket with slim high-waters and white socks—is surely destined for a revival, or at least worthy of one. So for those who wish to honor the singer’s memory with an appropriately dressed moonwalk, where to look?

My first stop is the Carroll Gardens vintage shop 2 Silhouettes on the Shade (482 Court St., 718-858-9229). I have often seen the owners, Janet and Michael Marcus, sitting in lawn chairs outside the store, and I now I know why—it is so jam-packed with merchandise that they can’t fit inside. I burrow into the back and come across a stack of Isotoner fedoras ($12 each) alongside a rack of uniform jackets ($35-75). The epaulettes and brass buttons are pure Michael. Too bad they don’t come in black. (more…)

If you don’t have a ticket to see the Brooklyn-based quintet’s sold-out Summerstage show on Friday, they come back around to Prospect Park on August 11. (Tickets on sale here.) Alternately, if you live in Williamsburg, don’t be surprised to catch them  thrift-shopping, eating Mexican “beef product” sandwiches or perusing the vinyl selection at The Thing, a few of bassist Gerard Smith’s (far left) favorite things to do when the tour bus is parked at home. (more…)