Thursday, July 11, 2013

My Old Addiction

I was once a regular Victoria’s Secret catalog shopper. It started when I was stationed overseas. I was too big for the local Japanese clothes and the options at the PX were limited. Instead, I regularly ordered clothing from VS (and Delia*s – what can I say? I was young!) After moving back to the States, I continued to order most of my clothing from catalogs. Victoria’s Secret remained a mainstay, and Newport News replaced Delia*s. Eventually, the harsh realities of homeownership, a lower income, and a sick credit card bill put an end to my catalog shopping. I fell in love with thrifting and started tossing the catalogs as soon as they arrived.

Six years later, my habits have changed, again. I’m time starved and shop in or next to my customers during the week, rather than plan long thrifting excursions on the weekend. I love the hip boutique offerings and feel good about shopping local. My new strategy, though, does not address sleepwear or intimates.

Beefy recently commented on the sad state of my bras and I realized I hadn’t bought a new one in two years. My sleepwear is equally faded and stretched out of shape. Instead of wasting time at the mall (and enduring the triple digit temperatures), I just stayed home and typed in victoriassecret.com.

I stayed on task long enough to select the needed items, and then wandered over the sale section where I found some non-intimate clothing that I simply had to add to my shopping bag.


Blouse, Victoria’s Secret. Skirt, Body by Victoria. Shoes, Prabal Gurung for Target. Earrings, My Sister’s Closet. Bag, Walgreen’s.

I may have returned to my old habit, but my tastes have changed. I’m no longer interested in sexy tees or polyester suit separates. Instead, I’m looking for creative work wear in natural fibers. I’m very happy with this silk shirt and 97% cotton skirt.


Some of my old VS purchases (many under the Moda International label):


Red faux-shirt bodysuit and red tweed pants, pink faux-shirt bodysuit, white faux-shirt bodysuit, black suit jacket.


Tweed skirt, brown (polyester!) trousers, green tweedy coat, pink sweater.


Khaki trousers (just like the brown ones), pink sweater and striped (green on white) trousers, blue shrug, red sweater.


Mini-caftan, green cardigan and striped (pink on white) trousers, brown 2-piece gown, green jacket.


Gray tulip skirt (and the red faux-shirt bodysuit, again), pink shirt, black skirt (that goes with the black suit jacket pictured earlier), black top.


Navy suit, black cardigan, green pumps, denim dress.


Corduroy miniskirt.

Now you understand why I had a crazy credit card bill.

Recognize any of these pieces from my current wardrobe?

9 comments:

Megan G said...

I am so obsessed with your hyper-modern hair. <3

Leather Shoes for Men said...
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laniza said...

I remember those days! Your outfits have changed so much! Let's see... I think you still have the gray tulip skirt, the floral thrifted skirt, the blue bustier, the red long skirt, and the courduroy mini. Am I right?

Kasmira said...

Laniza - I do have all those items, except the blue bustier. And I haven't worn that gray skirt in ages!

Anonymous said...

That was such a fun post! I recognize the Japanese skirt and the light grey one. Today's outfit is beautiful! What a fun job you must have, being around fashion like that. They are pricey but worth it, the vs bras, I mean.
sp :)

Liz said...

When I was in high school, I too was addicted to the VS catalogue, and I agree a lot of the fabrics and materials just aren't what I look for any more in clothes, though I have the exact same green tweed coat, my high school colors were green and white so it was my go to for school spirit at football games. Today it usually only gets pulled put for shoveling the drive way!

http://themakingofthemuse.blogspot.com/

Lorena said...

You found some great items in VS.
Would you believe I have NEVER shopped their clothes ?
or underwear ?

C said...

seems to me that VS used to have some more "normal" offerings- I have trouser pants and a grey suit that were fairly conservative that I used to wear to work. I still skim the catalogs, but a lot of things seem to be: too tight/short/stretchy/low cut. I did get some sweaters last year and I still have dark purple jeans that have never really gone out of style since colored denim came back.