This weekend, I got treated to something a little bit more exciting: a weekend at the Jekyll Island Club Resort to attend the Braderie South antiques show.

The Club opened in 1888 as a private winter retreat for families like the Rockefellers, Morgans (of J.P. Morgan), and Vanderbilts. Some built vacation homes (rather generously called “cottages”) still on the property today. The Clubhouse now serves as the hotel and the cottages are open to guests, too. It’s an area with lots of history and therefore a fitting place to spend a weekend looking at antiques.

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For me, no drive up to the Golden Isles is complete without a stop at a few of my favorite haunts, like Southern Soul BBQ and the Tibi boutique in St. Simon’s. I treated myself to a pair of shorts in the most incredible mustard color and the camo pants I’ve had my eye on for months now. The Tibi St. Simon’s boutique is a true gem, with the most incredible service. The stylists on staff here are incredibly kind, stylish, and well-versed in the Tibi ethos (if you know Tibi, you know that you could build an entire wardrobe here).

Following an absolute monster of a storm, the clouds parted and I then made it to the Jekyll Island Club, where I was kindly hosted to two nights during the run of the show. And what a show — unlike a lot of antiques shows, this one paired makers of new objects with vendors of old things. And these makers weren't the kind selling crafty quilts and oven mitts, but rather creating beautiful, unique takes on objects with history.

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I said yes, of course, because I love you (and because, selfishly, I wanted to see if any of these places are near me or have been checked off my list) — the answer to both is yes.

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Yelp’s latest search data reveals a clear shift in how people are shopping secondhand (and, probably, offers a somewhat grim look at the economy): shoppers are not just interested in finding vintage pieces, but also in making them last.

Searches for tailoring are up 111%, bag restoration is up 77%, refinishing services are up 82%, and vintage clock repair has spiked 167%. The data points to a growing investment in restoring and caring for inherited or thrifted finds across clothing and housewares.

That means people are viewing vintage pieces as long-term commitments, an ethos that I fully support. It’s part of the reason I am so passionate about finding “luxury” or “designer” things at the thrift store. It’s not so much about the designer of it all, but about the quality. Quality lasts. Buy a great pair of 1980s Donna Karan trousers, search on Yelp where to get them tailored, and you’ve got a pant that will last you a lifetime.

Same thing goes for furniture — just Yelp where to get it reupholstered or repaired, and it can be with you for the long haul.

Alongside these more statistical findings, Yelp is releasing a list of the Most Saved Secondhand Shops across the U.S., a guide to some of the best places for finding cool stuff around the country.

I’m guessing that’s what you’re here for.

Methodology: This is an all-time list of the most saved secondhand shops in the U.S., according to Yelp, which identified businesses in the Thrift, Flea Market, Antiques, and Used, Vintage & Consignment categories, then ranked those spots using a number of factors, including total number of saves and ratings of reviews. Yelp included up to five businesses per state for geographic diversity, and analyzed searches on the platform from July 2026 to July 2025.

1. Melrose Trading Post — Los Angeles, California

2. L Train Vintage — New York, New York

3. Urban Jungle — Brooklyn, New York

4. Rose Bowl Flea Market — Pasadena, California

5. Uncommon Objects — Austin, Texas

6. Village Merchants — Portland, Oregon

7. Knee Deep Vintage — Chicago, Illinois

8. Cure Thrift Shop — New York, New York

9. Bridge Thrift — Los Angeles, California

10. Tokio 7 — New York, New York

11. Community Thrift Store — San Francisco, California

12. 10 ft Single by Stella Dallas — Brooklyn, New York

13. King Richard’s Antique Center — Whittier, California

14. Room Service Vintage — Austin, Texas

15. The Garment District — Cambridge, Massachusetts

16. Kokorokoko — Chicago, Illinois

17. Cambridge Antique Market — Cambridge, Massachusetts

18. The Cottage Shop — Houston, Texas

19. Blue Velvet — Austin, Texas

20. Fia’s Fabulous Finds — Washington, D.C.

21. Monkies Vintage and Thrift — Austin, Texas

22. Hip Zipper Vintage — Nashville, Tennessee

23. Shangri-La Vintage — Chicago, Illinois

24. Starland Vintage & Unusual — Nashville, Tennessee

25. Boomerangs — Cambridge, Massachusetts

The full Yelp list is here.

Have you been to any of these spots and if so, which was your favorite? Uncommon Objects in Austin is one of the best vintage shops I’ve ever been to in my life and I think of it often.

PS. This weekend, I’m heading to the Braderie South antique show in Jekyll Island. I’ll recap the trip in Sunday’s letter, along with all the cool vintage I find.

xx,

VC

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The film starred Dolly Parton as, well, one of the titular characters and Burt Reynolds as a sheriff fighting to keep his favorite brothel open. It is campy and wonderful and as a five-year-old I didn’t understand what, exactly, the women did in the aforementioned whorehouse, but I knew that I liked the music and adored the woman with the big blonde hair.

If you’ve read this newsletter long enough you know my backstory: My mom was shot in the head when I was six weeks old, in the small town in North Georgia where I was born. My mom survived but suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, and my grandmother raised me as her own from that point on, moving the three of us to Florida when I was a few years old.

Maybe it’s because she had already raised kids once and was exhausted from life, or maybe it’s because she was very progressive, but my grandmother really had no rules regarding the content I consumed.

I was treated, essentially, like a small adult. Art and nudity and cursing weren’t things to hide; they were part of life and worthy of discussion (I am forever grateful for being raised this way and will say, as an aside: I was a very good girl.)

Following her brain injury and before the introduction of powerful pain medications, my mom would spend her days watching Turner Classic movies and listening to country music in her bedroom.

My mom was my introduction to Dolly Parton. And since my grandmother did not care what I watched, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas became my favorite movie. And Dolly, the biggest star in my sky.

A prolific (and brilliant) songwriter, Dolly is responsible for some of the best songs ever recorded: “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Here You Come Again” (a personal favorite). She was a fantastic actress, having appeared in Steel Magnolias, 9 to 5, Rhinestone, and a litany of smaller, made-for-tv movies and specials.

Dolly is also famous, of course, for her intensely specific aesthetic. A little bit too much, she was, with her big hair and nipped-in-waist that seemed too diminutive to support the weight of her eyelashes and nails, let alone boobs.

Born to a dirt poor family in rural Tennessee, Dolly famously came to her point of view early on in life, taking her style cues from what she called the “town trash.” She was, outwardly, a caricature of a woman, fully embracing everything it meant to be “tacky.”

But oh, she was fierce.

One of the best demonstrations of this came during a now-famous interview with Barbara Walters in 1977. Walters asked questions that, in hindsight, are breathtakingly condescending — implying that Dolly was a “hillbilly,” and pointing out that Dolly didn’t have to wear the wigs or the exaggerated clothes. Walters wondered, out loud, whether the spectacle of her looks made Dolly into some sort of a joke.

Throughout the questions, Dolly remained nonplussed, dismantling each with such quickness and confidence that the entire premise — that a woman with big boobs and long nails couldn’t also be smart or artistic — began to collapse.

And when Walters suggested that she didn’t have to look the way she did, Dolly agreed, saying she looked the way she did because it was a “choice.”

“I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable,” she told her.

The hair and the rhinestones and the epic proportions of her body were enough to throw any interviewer off their game, but Dolly was always several steps ahead anyway. She could disarm anyone with a joke (just look at any clip of her on a talk show and you’ll find yourself shocked at the speed with which she delivers a punchline).

For someone who gave so much of herself to the public, Dolly also knew what to keep to herself. Her nearly 60-year marriage to Carl Dean remained largely out of the public eye, and she spoke openly about not having children without ever treating her life as incomplete.

A legend now, for sure. But in the 1970s, ‘80’s, and even beyond, many held Dolly up as an example of bad taste.

I have written before about how what the majority of people consider to be “good taste” is really not “good,” at all, but simply palatable. It’s easy to absorb. Asks nothing of the rest of us.

But that’s not exactly compelling.

Nor is it thoughtful.

“It costs a lot to look this cheap,” Dolly once famously said, and indeed, the time and effort she put into her aesthetic is incredible. A true artist, transforming into a walking, talking, singing work of art. She famously wore wigs and bedazzled clothing (much of it with long sleeves, to hide the many tattoos she had all over her body).

As I wrote in my essay about The Ugly-Chic Theory, I have long sought beauty in the slightly off-putting:

Design that is too perfect — too symmetrical, too balanced, too pristine — feels unlivable. Slightly off kilter or, dare I say, slightly tacky, feels more fresh and interesting (almost like spotting Dolly Parton in a sea of Stepford wives).

Having come from a town just a stone’s throw from Tennessee, where Dolly is from, I grew up around women who sound exactly like her. Women who also have peroxide blonde hair and never miss a nail appointment (you may have noticed, I don’t miss one, either).

But there’s something else about that part of the country that I think many people don’t see: there is an artistry and a weirdness to the American South unlike anything else. So many musicians and folk artists hail from North Georgia and Tennessee and many of them, like Dolly, came from nothing. Still, they built fantastical, larger-than-life worlds — as a choice, without caring what other people thought about their aesthetic point of view (Howard Finster, a Baptist preacher-turned-folk-artist, created an over-the-top home and studio that you can still visit in North Georgia, very near the town I was born in. It is what most would call tacky and it is absolutely wonderful).

There is power to refusing the conventions of “good” taste and embracing tacky. There is power in being too much and never toning it down, even if society wants you to.

It is rare for the loss of a celebrity to unite so many, but Dolly herself was rare.

There is this strange notion in our modern age of social media that authenticity requires crafting the most stripped-down version of oneself. I’ve noticed it in the recent discourse around manicures, in which “successful” women influencers talk about how they no longer get their nails done, because they simply don’t have the time. But is going bare-nailed or bare-faced authenticity or is it artifice? Dolly was likely busier than us all — more successful, certainly. Yet she carved out time for the nails, and the hair, and the makeup, because that was all a part of who she was. That was as much her artistry as the music itself.

Dolly was, and is, proof that femininity and fierceness are not opposing forces. That you can be clever and talented, and a push-up bra won’t take away from that.

Her big hair and her thick accent feel familiar to me, like the women I remember holding me when I was a little girl and would visit Georgia. Incredibly independent but Southern and in some ways traditionally feminine to the core. My grandmother, for instance, implored me never to tie my worth to a man, and only dated one man during my lifetime (she broke up with him when he proposed). But you better believe she was first in line at the Lancôme counter when they debuted a new gift with purchase and, like Dolly, never treated femininity as something she had to overcome in order to be taken seriously.

I love a woman who doesn’t tone herself down in order to justify her intelligence, a woman who knows that looking like a man’s fantasy doesn’t require behaving like one.

It might seem strange to wax poetic about a musician in a newsletter devoted to design, but Dolly’s aesthetic ethos has always been inspirational to me. I love the fancy and luxe, but I am obsessed with the weird. I have always had a tacky streak in me, and with her as a muse, it feels like that can be celebrated.

I love the celebration of beauty – whatever that means to each of us, as individuals. I love that some people go to the Gagosian for a $500,000 painting and some people buy art on a cruise ship; I love that both of those people get the same amount of joy from the thing.

Isn’t it wonderful to live in a world where some people are tall and some are short? Where some people wear no makeup and others wear boatloads of it? Where neutral coincide with colors and “bad taste” sometimes gets as much as attention as what’s considered “good”?

Isn’t it wonderful that we all got to live in a world with Dolly Parton?

• J. Crew’s new rollnecks are out and they are wonderful. Full disclosure: the brand sent me one in advance of their big campaign with Emma Chamberlain but the fit is so great and I love all the colors. I went with a striped one but the baby pink is pretty great.

• Ruggable has a new line of Halloween rugs and doormats which are a really nide way to inject Mine is arriving today so I’ll share it in Friday’s letter but it’s making me pretty darn excited for fall.

• Are you guys watching Monsters of God? I’m obsessed. It’s Tiger King 2.0, except a little more intense. But everyone involved in this HBO docuseries about the reptile trade is a character.

A lot of economic research right now can help us deduce what’s going to show up at thrift stores and estate sales in the coming years. And one of the biggest things we’re going to see in the secondhand market is art.

Deloitte's Art and Finance Report estimates that some $992 billion in art and collectibles will pass from older generations to younger ones over the ten years. Economists call this the Great Wealth Transfer: the movement of money, property, and other assets (i.e. stuff) from aging Baby Boomers to the Gen X and Millennials inheriting their things.

The issue for Boomers is that many of their own kids don’t want their art.

Gen X and Millennials often have less wall real estate to fill (i.e., smaller homes and less storage), and many have different tastes than their parents. And most of them are just overwhelmed by the thought of being saddled with decades’ worth of stuff.

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I myself have been there: the day my grandmother died, I vowed I would not be getting rid of anything. Two weeks later, we had hosted multiple yard sales and had a dumpster in the driveway.

A lot of my grandmother’s stuff wound up being donated or sold for less than it was worth only because we had to get rid of it. I believe we will see similar stories in the coming years.

Some of these collections will, of course, be handled by estate sale companies and auction houses. But a lot will simply be donated or sold at yard sales and on Facebook Marketplace. Even at estate sales, some of it will wind up being priced for less than what it is worth.

Of course, not all of this art will be wildly valuable, but that’s not even really the point here.

Stumbling across an Andy Warhol in your neighbor’s attic is the dream, but a more realistic opportunity will be discovering the work of regional artists, or original works dismissed by a thrift store as generic wall decor.

Keep reading for more on:

• the difference between an original lithograph, etching or screenprint and a reproduction

• tips to decipher signatures and edition numbers

• how to research unfamiliar artists

So, what should you look for when shopping secondhand art?

Look for a signature on the front but also: turn it over.

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We need to have a talk about Soft Surroundings, which has long been in the Chico’s-adjacent category for me (read: meant for someone’s aunt, and I am too young and sexy to fall in to that category). I fear that I have fallen for Soft Surroundings recently. Not only is some of it good-looking, design-wise, it is wildly inexpensive on the secondhand sites.

I rounded up a few pieces I found that I really like below, and the most expensive is $40.

Also in this week’s letter: my current skincare routine, which I came to as a result of developing a terrible rash from using hydroquinone to lighten dark spots (!!) and some cute Halloween decor that isn’t cheesy.

PS. Is anyone going to Braderie South next weekend at the Jekyll Island Club? I’ll be there and I’m so excited! It’s a weekend of vintage shopping and fun events — what could be better?

xx,

VC

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Secondhand Soft Surroundings pieces that I would have thought were designer: cheongsam style jacket, $26 // cargo pants, $13 // belted cardigan, $16 // plaid coat, $40

I tried hydroquinone for a stubborn dark spot on my cheek about two months ago, and it nearly wrecked me. Made my entire face turn red, then turn dry, then break out. I then filtered my products down to the most gentle, using this $18 ultra-gentle face wash, and this $20 barrier repair moisturizer for about two weeks. That got my skin completely back to normal. Now, my skincare routine is doing all the work it needs to: I still use the $18 face wash morning and night, this $28 vitamin C serum in the morning to lighten any dark spots, tinted moisturizing spf serum in the AM. At night: I wash my face, then use this essence and serum combo on clean skin.

I found you some under-$100 vintage bags:

• 1970s stamped metal purse, $86

• 1990s leather heart box bag, $90

• 1990s metal coin drawstring bag, $68

• Plus, one that’s not under $100 (it’s $324) but oh my god is it good.

A recent and very delicious, no-cook lunch I made by simply combining:

• One tin tuna in spicy olive oil (I don’t drain it)

• One can drained cannelini beans

• A handful of chopped smoked olives

• Chopped parsley

• Chopped red onion

• Zest and juice of a lemon

• Dressing: In a blender, I mix about 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup champagne vinegar, one tablespoon dijon mustard, one shallot, zest and juice of one orange, a spoonful of jam or some sort of fruity spread (I used blood orange), salt, pepper

When I redid my kitchen, one of my non-negotiables was a drawer that fits both trash and recycling in two seperate containers. I realize not everyone has the space for that so when I saw this Caraway trash can duo I thought, “ahhhh genius!” and “I would have loved this in my old home!” If you keep your trash can in the laundry room or pantry or something, this would make trash/recycling sorting really easy.

Currently in my nightstand: this really wonderful lip balm, which goes on so nicely and stays on all night long.

Something I’ve been wearing a lot lately: this raglan tee! It’s made of hemp, one of the most sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics available, and wildly soft. It also looks so similar to the $120 Leset tee that all the Substack girls are wearing and it’s a lot less expensive. I will do a roundup of recent outfits soon here on Substack, I promise!

It is so disgustingly hot and humid that I have started to really crave fall in a weird way. I ordered this skeleton door mat as a way to celebrate the Halloween season and had a hard time choosing because some of these mats are really cute and less cheesy than most holiday decor! (Code Virginia10 gets you 10% off anything, btw.)

With all things summer in mind, Delaney Lundquist and I decided to do a newsletter swap — writing about our summer hyperfixations on each other’s letters, and getting together to chat about them live this evening.

You’ll find all of the stuff Delaney is shopping and searching for below, and mine are in her newsletter.

Delaney is a very fun watch on Instagram and I adore her newsletter. She has a wry sense of humor that resonates with me and she recently spent a considerable amount of time in the English countryside, which I thought was only something characters in Nancy Meyers movies were allowed to do. She and I are kindred spirits, and I guarantee that her newsletter will be a new favorite.

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We’re going live.

If you reallllyyyy wanna get in the nitty-gritty of our summer hyperfixations (or ask Delaney about her Costwolds stay! or me about the longest yard sale!) then join us for a live video chat this evening: Wednesday, August 19th at 5:30pm ET, right here on Substack.

Subscribers will get an email and a push notification from the Substack app (if you have them turned on) to join when we go live.

Now, from Delaney:

Knit Cotton Sweaters

I’m just a wannabe summertime coastal Maine girl trapped in the hot and sticky swamp that is Charlotte, North Carolina. As a result, I will use any excuse to work a drapey, oversized cotton knit sweater into my outfits (usually over my shoulders, around my waist, or actually ON my body when inside an aggressively air conditioned restaurant). Because of the J.Crew rollneck resurgence, I find their secondhand options to be needlessly expensive with modern remakes masquerading as vintage OGs, so I search the below brands instead — usually for men, since I like ‘em LOOSE.

Search terms:

• Mens [brand] roll neck sweater

• Mens cotton sweater

• Mens summer knit sweater

Brands

• Lands End

• Polo Ralph Lauren

• LL Bean

• Eddie Bauer

• Tommy Bahama

• Banana Republic

Links:

• Tommy Bahama

• LL Bean

• Vintage cobalt (shown above)

• RL womens

• LL Bean

Chunky Beaded Jewelry

If your middle school art teacher would have worn it, I want it. The internet’s fixation on whimsy has increased my tolerance for all of the jewelry I would have poo-pooed a few years ago and now I cannot get enough juicy, funky, candy-colored beads.

Search terms:

• Millefiori necklace

• Lampwork beaded necklace

• Art glass bead necklace

• Mixed gem necklace

• Italian art glass jewelry

• Mixed media necklace

Links:

• Purple and white

• Millefiori

• Chunky random

• Earrings

• Millefiori

• Gemstone (shown above)

• Mixed media

Mary Frances Bags

And if beaded jewelry had a baby with evening bags, they would be Mary Frances’s creations. Like, what in the eccentric aunt are these?! Feathers, sequins, beads, ruching, appliques — no embellishment is left unutilized. Accessorize with one of these as a wedding guest and you’ve got yourself a conversation starter.

Search terms:

• Mary Frances bag

• Mary Frances clutch

• Beaded embellished clutch

• Applique evening bag

Links:

• Geometric beaded (shown above)

• Turquoise beaded

• Pink roses (and $18!!)

• Zebra bag

Polka Dot Renaissance

Polka dot popularity in fashion is cyclical (though of course, like stripes, they are too classic to ever go out of style), but ever since picking up an antique polka dot pitcher in England this spring, my eyes have been more attuned (and interested!) in polka dots in homewares.

Search terms:

• Vintage polka dot pitcher

• French polka dot ceramics

• Vintage wood polka dot bowl

Links:

• Small pitcher

• Glass bowls

• Terra cotta pitcher

• Enamelware pitcher

• Small pitcher

• Wood bowl (shown above)

• Antique pitcher

• Candlesticks

• Tumblers

Gem Encrusted Anything

I know I am not the only girlie having a cabochon summer because I saw this DIY did numbers on Instagram and I too was like, “ohhhh YES.” While I have not felt compelled to execute this vision myself, I have taken the easier route and been perusing what’s out there vintage-wise that might scratch the itch. I’ve seen a few ice buckets come and go (they sell fast!) and there are a number of trinket boxes with the look, but I’m kind of sitting tight and hoping this maker on Etsy does another pair of serving utensils.

Search terms:

• Gem encrusted

• Cabochon trinket box

• Bejeweled vase

• Bejeweled ice bucket

• Inset gem

Links:

• Brass vase

• Ceramic vase

• Brass bowl

• Trinket box

• Ice bucket (shown above)

• Punch bowl

• Pot

Are any of these items also on your radar?

Certainly, Delaney’s list resonates with me (in our live tonight, I’ll share one of my favorite gem-encrusted finds, for instance, plus maybe some odds and ends I found on my recent multi-state yard sale adventure). See you tonight at 5:30 pm ET for our live chat!

xx,

VC

Jewelry is among my favorite things to thrift. It is such a cheap thrill. Easy to transport if you find it on a trip, generally not breakable if you have to shove it in your purse.

Better yet — some of it can be quite valuable!

Fine jewelry is fairly easy — if you can identify stones and metals, you will probably recognize the good stuff. But costume jewelry can be a little different. Yes, some of it is made exceptionally well, with great attention to detail, but the maker is really what makes a piece rare or valuable.

Below, part two of my favorite under-the-radar jewelry brands to hunt for (both because of their value, sure, but also because these makers have turned out some dope pieces over the years).

PS. Part I is here.

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THE DESIGNER: R.J. Graziano

R.J. Graziano goldfish earrings

Why It’s Worth Thrifting:

R.J. Graziano makes statement jewelry that often looks remarkably similar to much more expensive jewelry by brands like Chanel, Christian Lacroix, or Yves Saint Laurent — and it is almost always priced much more affordably!

Graziano for Neiman Marcus belt

Per its official website, the company was founded in New York in 1975 and received an early boost when Bloomingdale’s asked Graziano himself to create an exclusive collection. Over time, the brand expanded into other major department stores, including Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus.

Over the following decades, Graziano has produced a variety of fashion jewelry: chunky chains, belts, rhinestone collars, cocktail rings, chandelier earrings, and colorful stone-covered pieces. The designs offer something of a snapshot of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.

Graziano colorful necklace

*A note on the labels: Jewelry is generally marked R.J. GRAZIANO or simply GRAZIANO in block lettering.

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This post is sponsored by Quest Nutrition. Chevrolet provided a complimentary vehicle loan for the trip. #QuestPartner

I have officially completed another trip to the World’s Longest Yard Sale and brought home lots of treasures — and intel — for all of you.

This trip was the best World’s Longest Yard Sale I have ever undertaken for a couple of reasons. For one, I wanted high-protein snacks that were filling, portable and easy to eat between stops. Quest Nutrition partnered with me on the trip, and I packed Quest Protein Bars and Quest Protein Chips, which became my go-to options throughout the four-day trip. This made so much sense, as grab-and-go snacks and high-protein options are a necessary part of the yard sale. In some cases, you will find yourself in very rural parts of the country with few food options aside from people literally grilling hot dogs in their front yards.

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What are your favorite high-protein road trip snacks? I am a salty over sweet girl, and being able to eat a Quest protein bar before hitting the road or grab a bag of Quest protein chips between sales made all the difference (I happen to love the dill pickle flavor and they are excellent on a turkey sandwich, too). My travel companion, Blair, and I found that we did a lot more shopping and hit a lot more sales this year, and I think it is due in part to having nutritious, filling options always handy (we quite literally fueled our bodies to tackle all the shopping).

Another thing that made this trip special was meeting new friends along the way! I was stopped by people who follow me on Instagram or subscribe to this newsletter in every single state, and it made me so excited that others are as thrilled about secondhand shopping as I am. I also noticed a lot more people going to the sale and sharing their finds on Instagram, and I like to think I may have influenced them to do so ;)

Okay, let’s get to the finds and the intel.

Here’s the main thing to know: The sale is organized chaos.

Dior cuff links; Van Teal chandelier; an outfit I wore (top is here, shorts are here, necklace was purchased at the yard sale for $10); a shell heart box that doubles as a pendant

There are major vendor stops with 25 or more vendors selling wares at fields, but there are also literal yard sales on Highway 127 or on side roads in residential neighborhoods. I often find the best stuff at the smaller sales. Plan as much as you can, but be open to stopping anywhere and everywhere. The larger vendor stops are often more high-priced than the little one-off garage sales.

Also: if you decide to undertake this sale, you should stop at antique malls you pass, too! Many are offering 25-50% off their booths to coincide with the sale and some have vendors set up in their parking lots. I found some of the best (and most affordable!) stuff at the antique malls this year.

Here are my main takeaways:

• The smallest residential sales produce some of the best finds (and prices)

• Large vendor fields have more inventory but higher prices and less wiggle room to negotiate (they are also more picked over)

• The best objects are not necessarily in the most advertised stops (go to antique malls and vintage shops along the route, not just the big sales)

• Cash and small bills help! If someone is selling something for $15 and you have a $10 bill, tell them you only have $10. They will probably accept it. Also: a lot of vendors did not accept Venmo so cash may be your only option.

• Trying to cover too much mileage will cost you shopping time. Better to cover roughly 150 miles max during the day and hit as many stops as you can.

Below, I’ve plotted out all the stops we made this year on a Google Map (from where we shopped, to where we ate and stayed, and other stops we made). I also rounded up all my off-the-yard-sale-path faves: the antique malls and smaller vintage shops that, in some cases, were even more rife with treasure than the main attraction!

But first, here’s everything I bought.

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• Belt buckle: “I may not be perfect … but parts of me are excellent,” $10

• Vintage Florida ashtray, $10

• Rodeo lunchbox, $20

• Windchime bells, $40 for both

• Malachite heart necklace, $10

• Wool coat with mink details and built-in scarf, $20

• “You’ve Come a long way, baby” keychain, $10

• Pair of copper hand bowls, $20 (plus 20% off — these were at an antique gallery participating in the sale)

• Malachite lion, $7

• Flower pin, $3

• Handmade giraffe stool, $5

• Belt buckles, $10 each

• Jewelry, various prices (nothing over $10), this was all purchased at a church basement in Gadsden, Alabama

• More jewelry, ranging from $1 to $40 (for the shell necklace)

• Clothing purchased at a coffee shop in Chattanooga (Chattanooga is on the route of the yard sale so this wasn’t technically a yard sale vendor, but I would not have come across any of it were it not for the yard sale so it still counts!), $40-$60 (the tie-dye cashmere dress is Prabal Gurung and it was $60! The wide-leg pants are vintage Caché and were I think $20, and the sparkly lace set was $40) The bags were $10.

• The best find, in terms of value, were the windchimes for $40! I mean…..

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Everywhere We Stopped (With a Google Map)

If you are doing the sale from the bottom up (i.e., starting in Alabama), here’s the route I take:

• Wednesday (night before the sale): stay in Atlanta

• Thursday: drive to Gadsden, Alabama and work your way up to Chattanooga. Stop in Mentone, Alabama for lunch and sightseeing. Stay the night in Chattanooga, where there are wonderful dining and hotel options

• Friday: leave from Chattanooga and head to Crossville, stay the night there

• Saturday: leave Crossville and drive a bit further north before turning back to stay in Chattanooga

• Sunday: shop in Chattanooga, head back home or to Atlanta to stay the night

Everywhere we ate, played, stayed, and shopped is plotted right here (I included notes and images, so this Google Map is incredibly extensive and detailed).

Did you go to the World’s Longest Yard Sale? If so, what did you find?!

And what are your go-to high-protein snacks for a road trip?

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Next Wednesday, my sprawling guide to everything I bought at the World’s Longest Yard Sale will go live. Make sure you’re subscribed.

This is a quick one, but wanted to touch base with you all and offer a little sneak at what I’ve seen so far…

xx,

VC

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I…don’t even know what to say. This might be the most fabulous vintage handbag I’ve seen. It’s very surrealist and giving Schiaparelli. Not inexpensive, but very wonderful. Wish I would find one at the yard sale.

I packed my favorite socks for my road trip!

Other stuff I’ve worn on the trip: secondhand Ganni dress with my fave paracord necklace; red shorts from The Frankie Shop, a vintage nightie with this rugby shirt tied around the waist.

My trusty road trip bag with my go-to bag charms attached. I have the cherries, a peach, and an orange.

Something I packed that I have worn every single day: the Ilia Skin Tint has SPF 45 and goes on really, really well (no weird pilling, covers but still shows your skin so it isn’t like you’re wearing a mask). I love the complexion brush to ensure it looks really natural.

Another fun thing we did: stop in to Dirty Jane’s Antiques in Chattanooga! It is FABULOUS. Absolutely worth the trip.

A little peek at what I’ve seen on the yard sale so far….

So much treasure, in fact, that my plan is to host a live WhatNot sale after. I see so much on this trip every year and wind up leaving so much behind that I figured this year I could spread the wealth a bit. I’ll keep you all up to date on timing!

My primary goal for this trip? To go into a state of whimsy-induced euphoria.

This year, I want to really narrow in on beautiful, special pieces that are one-of-a-kind: jewelry, clothing, art, accessories.

There was a very specific tile-topped, arts & crafts table I passed on last year that I now think about like once per week! This year, I don’t want to pass on great finds like that.

I’ll be sharing a lot over on Instagram and Facebook, so give me a follow there if you don’t already. And of course, this newsletter will be the home to my big roundup of everything I bought — which I will publish next week, after the sale is over.

Here’s what I’m packing, the playlist I’m firing up in the Tahoe, and what I hope to come across at the sale.

See you on the road,

VC

A quick road-trip note: Quest Nutrition is sponsoring my World’s Longest Yard Sale coverage this year, and Chevrolet provided the Tahoe I’m driving for the trip.

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My Road Trip Must-Haves

• Quest protein bars (these are also rich in fiber — especially helpful when road trip food options are limited)

• Water

• Electrolytes

• Bug spray

• SPF 50 spray

• Comfortable underwear

• Great socks

• Sneakers

• Packable hat

Road Trip Playlist

I’m an Aquarius, which means making playlists is my love language and something I take very seriously. I’ve been editing and refining this one for years, and it’s in the best shape ever. It’s also 2 hours and 45 minutes long — perfect for a road trip.

Keep reading for everything that’s on my wish list this year, plus highlights from last year.

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I have been bookmarking images of Jenna’s home for years, long before she became a Real Housewife and gave the rest of the world a close-up look at her famously feminine-meets-utilitarian approach to getting dressed.

The interiors she designs have the same appeal as her outfits. They are polished but never precious and full of combinations that feel at once elegant and sexy: a marble fireplace next to a low-slung modern chair, an ornate antique mirror over a very simple table, leopard print treated like a neutral.

Jenna is very good at making expensive things look relaxed and ordinary things look expensive. And that is exactly what I like.

As I write ad nauseum here on the newsletter, you do not need an interior designer budget to get an interior designer look. In fact, many of the pieces used in projects like Jenna Lyons’ home are exactly the sort of things that turn up at thrift stores and estate sales.

That is the idea behind this series, Thrift the Look, where I break down the elements that define a big name’s aesthetic and show how you can recreate the same feeling by shopping vintage.

Today: How to thrift the look of Jenna Lyons.

PS. If you’re new here, this is the latest in a series — I’ve previously delved into How to Thrift the Look of Pierce & Ward, Kelly Wearstler, and others.

What to Look for to Nail the Jenna Lyons Look

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This was not just a dinky sign, btw, it’s a handmade quarterboard sign (so it likely cost a pretty penny to commission).

Anyway, Four Winds Craft Guild then took to Instagram to share an image of the sign hanging in its shop. Paige Lorenze (a very successful influencer who recently opened a Nantucket outpost of her lifestyle brand, Diary Boy) then commented on the photo.

“If you call yourself a feminist but proudly put up a ‘No Influencers’ sign, it’s worth asking who you are attempting to delegitimize, and why,” Lorenze wrote, going on to note that most “influencers” are, indeed, women, and that the sign sent “a strange message coming from a store that celebrates a craft with such a rich history of women shaping the island and its economy.”

The owner of the shop said he didn’t mean to be anti-feminist, telling The Cut, “This influencer culture, I just don’t play to it. I’ve been doing this so long. I don’t really need it.”

Of course, it’s a business that can do whatever it wants! Now, as a businessperson myself, do I understand the decision? No. On the one hand, the sign is a great way to bring people in to Four Winds Craft Guild, as it’s now a huge part of the cultural conversation. I imagine the sign will be the most photographed thing in Nantucket this summer! But the owner himself said he hates when people come into his store with their phones out and don’t talk to him, so I’m not sure he wants that. That’s the irony, right? Hanging a sign chiding people for being on their phones and thereby creating the most viral sign in America?

Four Winds Craft Guild sells incredible Nantucket baskets made by local artisans (these baskets are available at shops around the island, btw). They are of high quality and have a deep history. They also start at $1,000 (some go for over $6,000). You know who buys $1,000 baskets? The same women who catalog their outfits and stylistic choices online. I am guessing a lot of influencers who vacation in Nantucket own a Nantucket basket or two.

“Influencer” is not a dirty word, but it is a word very often used to delegitimize the work of women. I know because when someone uses it in a comment on any of my posts, it’s usually meant to try and make me feel small. “You don’t know what you are talking about, you are just an influencer,” etc. A “No influencers” sign is, very literally, suggesting that influencers are silly.

The backlash to the sign was unsurprising (hanging a sign that says “No XYZ type of person” is not a great look, historically, especially in a very wealthy enclave like Nantucket!).

More surprising to me has been the backlash to the backlash.

I have seen so many people (mostly women!) arguing that hating on influencers might be kinda misogynistic, but we should all focus on more pressing matters. But two things can be true at once! You can wade into discourse about one thing, and also care about more pressing things! Those little things — the way we talk about professional women, the words we use to describe them — add up, and we absolutely should talk about it.

You can believe we need to stop delegitimizing and stigmatizing an industry largely run by women, and you can also feel passionately about other issues. We all contain multitudes. It’s the same reason I can appreciate both Married at First Sight and The Bear, or enjoy a Crunchwrap Supreme one day and an Erewhon smoothie the next (or both in the same day, for that matter! I am woman, hear me roar.)

In truth, I think the “No influencers” sign is rooted in the fact that we still don’t quite know how to handle content creation as a society. A very significant portion of the population thinks that being an “influencer” means holding a selfie stick and being obnoxious, but that’s not influencing — that’s just being weird with your phone.

Here’s the deal: Goldman Sachs estimates that the content creator economy could approach half a trillion dollars next year. Read that again. $500 billion. “Influencing” is no longer just a selfie, or a GRWM or an OOTD. Being an influencer does not mean you “live on your phone,” but that you built your business on one.

And while I will still be on the hunt for Nantucket baskets at Goodwill (I have a friend who has found two in recent years) and will happily peek inside Four Winds if I ever visit Nantucket in the future, I also think the sign has sparked a much-needed conversation.

To me, the most telling part of it all is the quote from the Four Winds owner that I mentioned above (“This influencer culture, I just don’t play to it. I’ve been doing this so long. I don’t really need it.”). It has echoes of a quote I think about a lot, from Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes in 2008, when he said a then-burgeoning company called Netflix was “not even on the radar screen in terms of competition.”

Often, new and shiny things seem like flash-in-the-pan moments when they are actually really seismic shifts in culture and commerce. I think content creation/influencing/etc. is a great example of that, and it’s not going anywhere, whether it’s welcome or not.

What say you?

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xx,

VC

A home I cannot stop thinking about: that of Days of Our Lives star Peter Porte and his husband, Jacob Villere, via Architectural Digest.

I am incredibly obsessed with this set of eight mid-century modern interior and furniture design watercolors. What a fun idea, to frame a set of sketches used to create something and likely not intended to be “art” in the first place.

An outfit I wore to see The Odyssey (which was amazing and everyone should see it on the big screen but not necessarily in the chairs that move and vibrate because I felt like I was at an amusement park): black t-shirt; silk pants (mine are By Malene Birger, and no longer available but these are and also washable); big chunky vintage necklace; vintage fringed shawl tied around my waist (mine is wool, but this silk version is similar), sunglasses, tan flip-flops.

A new thing I’ve been adding to my oatmeal: this powdered peanut butter, which is the best I’ve tried and under $22 for a two-pound canister (this will last me a year). I also add it to my smoothies.

There is nothing I love more than when a designer reinterprets a vintage silhouette or pattern. Tibi did just that with this psychedelic printed skort and cropped top. It is very clearly modeled after a 1970s bathing suit with tap shorts (like those in the photos above)! I love the idea of using a chocolate brown blazer as a foil to the wild pattern.

On the subject of vintage psychedelic prints: God, this skirt is good.

Everyone goes nuts at my vintage bag roundups, so here are a few more for ya:

• ombré velvet bag with net overlay, $80

• navy and red crochet tassel bag, $81

• multicolored beaded micro bag, $395

• black velvet velour pouch with sequins, $40

Next on my list of must-makes: Kendra’s whipped potato salad and broiler blackened salmon. One of my fave follows, btw.

Also worth noting that affiliate commission on secondhand sites is very small (which I totally get! These are not sold by a company itself, but by small shops around the world) so while I don’t generate very much on these, revenue-wise, it is a worthy labor of love for me. (In Friday’s newsletter, I plan to write a bit about what it means to be “an influencer,” so subscribe if you want to read my thoughts.)

Onward.

xx,

VC

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• 1980s Memphis style perforated bin, $89

• YSL Opium bottle with fringe, $50

• vintage beaded fruit bag, $77

• ‘90s black velvet purse with pink fringe, $65

• 1970s fish pendant, $68

• brass trinket box of a ram, $62

• Else Peretti for Tiffany heart bookmark, $89

• 1970s needlepoint wall hanging, $58

• 1980s conch shell belt, $20

• 1980s Escada belt, $79

• Italian MCM ashtray, $83

• 1995 clothesline earrings, $85

• articulated fish pendant, $72

• vintage framed needlepoint, $56

• 1950s chenille bag, $52

• 1940s blue and white bag, $22

• silver fish pendant, $15

• mountain landscape screenprint by Swedish artist Lars “Bjonni” Andersson, $80

• set of four midcentury teak serving bowls, $95

• Maitland-Smith butterfly box, $58

• Saks Fifth Avenue patterned dress, $70

• 1970s hand-painted corset belt, $48

• face knob, $93

• 1940s crewel Portugal bag, $68

• 1960s Saks Fifth Avenue printed bellbottoms, $68

• gold and glass bead necklace, $29

• frosted ram sculpture $78

• gold mesh purse necklace, $72

• Neiman Marcus colorful kaftan, $88

• modern bolo necklace, $70

• leopard needlepoint, $79

• vintage studio pottery vases, starting at $24

• vintage belts, $22 each

• purple spiral bag, $49

• tessellated stone and brass kimono sculpture, $85

• Italian black and gold bucket bag, $55

• 1920s drawstring purse, $55

• Izabel Lam 5-piece flatware set, $91

• 1970s corduroy peacock purse, $45

• vintage face brooch, $101

• seagrass watermelon bag, $46

• multicolored evening bag, $32

• 1980s leather purse, $75

• 1980s green straw bag with charms, $52

• 1950s beaded cat bag, $50

FROM THE ARCHIVES

• I eat a lot of rice and am very into cooking my rice in broth. It just adds so much flavor (and some extra protein, to boot). I love this powdered broth (I just add it to the water before it boils) but lately I’ve also been using this Tom Yum-flavored broth (I add it to jasmine rice and serve with a piece of salmon and some sauteed spinach).

• My go-to Berberine supplements (which my primary care doc recommended for high cholesterol and which have the added benefit of revving up your metabolism; some studies call it “nature’s GLP-1”) are on sale for a limited time.

• Let’s discuss.

Silver is running hot right now. It’s trading around $59/oz as of July 2026, and while it’s dipped about 3.5% over the past month, it’s still up over 50% compared to a year ago. That’s a big deal, and it means that what you thought was a piece of costume jewelry might be worth meaningfully more in scrap value alone than it was even six months ago.

Important to note that the price of silver doesn’t only matter to people buying silver coins or bars. It changes the underlying value of the silver that might already be sitting in your jewelry boxes or China cabinet at home.

The jewelry table at an estate sale or the glass case at the thrift store is often so overwhelming that most of us walk right past it. It is generally a jumbled mess of tangled chains and earrings missing their mates. Most of it is worth very little.

But those tables and cases can also be the place where a lot of genuine gold and silver ends up.

What's below the fold:

• The hallmarks and maker's marks that separate real sterling from silver plate

• The specific makers worth grabbing even in plated pieces

• Where to get a piece appraised — and which appraisers will lowball you

Read more

We went over the standard name and date of birth questions, and then we got to the security question: “If your account is compromised, you need to pick a question and provide an answer that will let us know it’s you trying to access the account,” the banker said.

“Mother’s maiden name? First pet? Favorite hobby?”

“Oh — favorite hobby!” I said.

“And the answer?” he asked.

“Shopping.”

I’m not sure I had ever really seen someone scoff up to that point in my life, but this man sure did.

“I’m not sure I would call that a hobby…” he smirked as he filled in the requisite paperwork.

But learning how to shop well is a skill, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Let me get on my soapbox quickly because I’m passionate about this (and I have said this before so I am indeed plagiarizing myself here):

When it comes to women’s hobbies, we so often call them frivolous. “Oh, you’re good at decorating? Or thrifting? How cute.”

Traditionally feminine pursuits get written off as unskilled, while plenty of male-coded interests (building model trains, collecting baseball cards) get treated as proof of real intelligence.

Here’s what I think: knowing what to buy is a skill. Recognizing why one chair is worth $2,000, and the one next to it is worth $20 isn’t luck. It isn’t taste you’re born with, IMO! It’s knowledge, and it can be learned.

That’s what I’m here for and what I aim to teach — the labels to hunt for, the materials worth looking for. Not just because this stuff is “valuable” and you could make a quick buck selling it, but because it’s worth taking the time to find exceptional things. These items should not be reserved for the wealthiest among us.

The notion that you are born with good taste is not always true. A lot of people are just born with money and therefore grow up around nice things.

But all of us should have access to great design. We are seeing less and less of it because of the race-to-the-bottom brought on by fast fashion and fast furniture, but it is still out there, and still affordable; you just have to learn how to hunt.

Deep breaths. I’m off my soapbox. Every Friday, I share some recent quick faves (stuff I saw and loved, cool houses on the internet, etc.) The Wednesday and Sunday newsletters are reserved for the deep dives. This one, as always, is free.

xx,

VC

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A few things I’ve seen and loved during my secondhand shopping adventures that I’m thinking about lately:

1. A stunning Viking glass ashtray that reads “Mom + Dad” (seen at The Big Green Barn in New Jersey).

2. Also at the Big Green Barn: a Nigerian Yoruba beaded wall hanging. I have also seen beaded chairs like this, which I think are so fab and make such a fun impact in a space.

3. A 1980s Zen Lounge Chair, designed by Claude Brisson for the French furniture brand Ligne Roset. Very postmodern pattern and just really fun (it frankly reminds me of Nickelodeon’s Doug, which scratches a nostalgic itch for me, but these chairs are wildly collectible). Seen in Cleveland, Ohio last year.

4. Also seen in Cleveland last year and I think about it once per week: a Picasso reproduction manufactured by Padilla Pottery in Mexico. This was under $300, and I wanted it badly. Huge. You can see a couple other Padilla pieces here.

I really love this vintage Maxx New York bag. Animal print is timeless, and this shape is nuts. This is a brand we should be hunting for.

• This 1980s Guy Laroche tee is $23.

• And a croc-embossed vintage Guy Laroche bag to go with.

• Long live a camo pant (these are 50% off).

• All about a chunky gold coin necklace.

• My go-to lip balm. Nothing hydrates better.

• Very into a woven clog or sling-back, as it transitions from season to season and allows for a pop of color if you have a bright pedicure.

On Sunday, I’m sharing a complete guide to shopping for silver secondhand. Silver prices are significantly higher than they were a year ago, and we are seeing more and more of it enter the market as Baby Boomers downsize. Some of it is worth a lot of money! But it’s also beautiful and well-made, and I think we should develop an appreciation for the craft behind it, whether it’s jewelry or a serving piece. So I’ll aim to cover the marks to recognize, round up some of the pieces that are actually worth buying, and share the stuff that may hold real value beyond being simply beautiful objects. Subscribe to get it to your inbox Sunday.

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There is an Etsy shop selling fabulous handmade ceramic toilets, and I think you all need to know about it. Look at this blue one! Or the pink! There’s even a checkered one! And many other fabulous patterns. And you can also order matching sinks, if you please.

Proof that vintage is, just, the absolute best: This is an Italian lamp made from paper, to look like a nautilus shell.

Also vintage (and from the 1930s!! 100 YEARS OLD!): A pitcher with a lizard as the handle.

I spoke to Emily Bloch of The Philadelphia Inquirer for her piece about the viral World Cup bracelets that were free and have now hit the resale market.

I am so obsessed with this thrift find.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

A designer handbag, a cool couch …. with a few exceptions, almost anything you’re eyeing can be found at the thrift store.

There are a few trends I currently have my eye on and I believe all can be sourced by shopping secondhand (the beauty of shopping secondhand, of course, is that you almost always stumble across something new — so while you might set out looking for one of the below pieces, you’re sure to come across something else equally interesting).

Here’s what I’m digging for at the thrift store this month, before everyone else catches on and the good stuff makes its way into resale apps at triple the price.

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1. Surrealism (Thank You, Schiaparelli)

Daniel Roseberry has been at the helm of Schiaparelli for the last seven years, turning the storied brand into one of the most talked-about houses in fashion. What sets it apart is its use of all things surrealist. Schiaparelli bags and jewelry are comprised of gilded body parts, and it doesn’t get much more surreal than that.

Surrealism was, for a very long time, on the fringes — kind of the weird and wacky trend of the art world. Now, it’s trendy!

Gio Ponti for Sabattini hand // 1972 Pedro Friedeberg print // vintage face brooch ($18!!)

Still, I think the aesthetic has quite a bit of runway left before it fully saturates the market and makes its way to places like Target and Amazon. And when it comes to shopping secondhand, nobody’s pricing a $6 broken-mirror clip or a lip-shaped brooch (both of which are quite surreal!) like they are pieces of art (not yet, anyway!)

This page from a 1970s René Magritte book would be excellent framed on a wall and it’s under $10.

What to look for:

• Stuff with an eye, lip, hand, or ear motif (brooches, buttons, drawer handles, vases, etc.)

• Trompe-l’œil art prints

• Cloud-print patterns

• Sculptural, oversized costume jewelry that looks fantastical

• Anything gilded, distorted, or a little bit unsettling!

• Coffee table books and vintage exhibition posters by artists like: Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Max Ernst, and Man Ray

Surrealism’s just the start — paid subscribers get access to the other trends I’m hunting down this month.

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She knew the brand because she’d read about it here and followed many of my other tips!

Presumably, she was the only one in that room who knew what it was, so she paid estate-sale pricing for a piece that regularly sells in the low four figures.

That’s not luck, btw; it’s putting knowledge into practice — and having a knowledge base is truly the single most valuable skill in thrifting, IMO.

Time in the field absolutely helps! Spend more time in more stores, dig through more bins, get up earlier for more estate sales, and you are bound to find something.

This is especially important during what I’ve called the Thrifting Golden Age: the once-in-a-generation transfer of furniture, art, and decorative objects into the secondhand market as older generations downsize. The good stuff is out there right now, but only the people who recognize the patterns will bring it home.

I’ve spent years building a mental catalog of the brands, makers, and signatures that are worth the buy. Some are well-known enough that people have caught on and prices have already climbed. But I love writing about those still flying under the radar — the brands that are well-made, highly collectible, and could still be priced very low at thrift stores and estate sales because people simply aren’t familiar.

I’ve rounded up a few more of them in this letter, and I have lots more posts about brands you need to be thrifting here.

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Karl Springer

A Karl Springer backgammon table for $11,500 on 1stDibs

What to look for: Lacquer, goatskin, shagreen, parchment, brass, chrome, and Lucite. Springer used incredibly luxe materials on relatively simple shapes, so a piece may look minimal from across the room but feel much more unique and substantial up close. Many Springer pieces were originally marked with a label, but those labels are often long gone and lost to time. Look closely at the finish, construction, and underside—but remember that materials alone aren’t enough to confirm an attribution.

a signed Springer penshell table, $12,500 on 1stDibs

Where to find it: Estate sales, especially in homes decorated in the 1970s and 1980s and largely untouched since.

Worth knowing: Springer case pieces, tables, and consoles regularly resell well into the four figures, with rarer examples going much higher.

a 1965 Jeré sculpture, listed at $6,400 on 1stDibs

C. Jeré (Curtis Jeré)

What to look for: Sculptural metal wall art made from brass, copper, bronze, chrome, or steel. Many pieces are signed “C. Jeré” and dated somewhere near the edge, so check every corner (and the back!) before you leave something behind.

A Jeré lamp listed for $1,775 on 1stDibs

Where to find it: Thrift stores and estate sales alike. Wall art is often underpriced when it’s large, “weird,” or difficult to display (and Jeré is sometimes all of the above).

Worth knowing: The biggest and most sculptural pieces tend to be worth the most, but subject matter matters, too. Birds, sunbursts, raindrops, and abstract forms are all worth a second look. Also: pricing varies wildly on Jeré. Not every single signed Jeré piece is going to be worth a fortune. There is a lot of it out there. Look for the rare stuff.

Below, I’m sharing some more names worth memorizing—including several whose work can sell for 10–20 times its thrift-store price.

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Phia is the brainchild of Phoebe Gates (Bill’s daughter) and co-founder Sophia Kianni and is an AI shopping app and browser extension that works like this: you install a plug-in and when you shop, it finds you the best price by scanning secondhand sites, like eBay, TheRealReal, etc. (It’s essentially Honey or Rakuten, but specifically geared toward designer secondhand.)

But as Bloomberg reported late last week, Phia appears to have been fradulently taking commision for sales it didn't drive (by, it is alleged, running in the background of shopper’s devices, so even if you didn’t buy something using Phia, it could have still claimed the sale as its own, thereby stealing the commission from the creator or platform that actually drove the sale.)

I received a message here on Substack from Phoebe some time back, saying she was a fan of my content and was interested in having me try out the beta version of Phia (I believe she reached out to many Substack creators, which is really smart!). I did indeed try out Phia, and I also asked Phoebe if I could include her in my Best Thing I Ever Thrifted series. It made sense to mention Phia, of course, as it is a secondhand shopping tool, and that is what this newsletter is all about.

Now that things have seemingly gone sideways, I am diving deep and reading every article (this piece by Ali Kriegsman is especially well-done and fascinating) and wondering what comes next. The business side of social media and affiliate marketing is fascinating to me. I use affiliate links, of course, and often see a specific type of ire directed toward female creators who use them (product placement in film and television is nothing new, but when a woman tries to make money herself by sharing links to products she loves… some people sure do get angry!)

But cookie-stuffing is something else entirely and involves big companies stealing affiliate income that should go to smaller creators (to be clear: it’s nothing new, and lots of companies have done this!). Alas, lots ot think about and still lots to come here.

Anyway, on to the show: This month, I have an incredible vintage necklace for you and something new for paid subscribers that I’ll start including each and every week: five under-$100 secondhand finds that I think are really amazing.

xx,

VC

Killer, killer, killer vintage necklace. $65. Imagine this with a white tee. So good.

• I add one of Biologica’s delicious packets to my water for every workout (or just take it as an afternoon “cocktail” of sorts). They have something for every stage of a woman’s life, from prenatal to post-menopausal.

• Just ordered these sunglasses, from the Freda Salvador x Sardine collection.

• An under-$18 vintage fringed t-shirt. Doesn’t get much better.

• This is the 1990s wood red evening bag of my dreams. That tassel!

• And these are maybe the most perfect shorts ever IMO.

• Oh my god, these sandals.

This shampoo and conditioner works perfectly (my hair is weird! Some shampoos just do not wash out and leave a bunch of buildup — this one gets sudsy and cleans out like a dream). But it also smells like an old magazine (remember when magazines had perfume samples throughout them? That is exactly what this reminds me of.)

Sooo this primer, “skinveil” (which I just used to set my makeup with a fluffy brush blush — under my eyes and on my cheeks), and bronzing stick are amazing. Like full stop. I don’t think my makeup has ever looked better and it took me maybe 5 minutes start to finish? Blush is here and eye palette is here (I used this eyeliner).

A dinner I made recently: Ina Garten’s lemon fusilli with arugula. Mmmmmm, this was terrific. So easy, fresh, and full of flavor despite so few ingredients. Lots and lots of lemon. I used the Banza chickpea pasta for more protein and it worked really well.

…and I made it with this pan, which I use probably 6 out of 7 days of the week. It is non-stick, non-toxic, and comes with a steaming basket (great for frozen dumplings!) and a top!

And for post-dinner (or anytime, really) cleanup: I am obsessed with these cleaning wipes. The wipes themselves are under $5 (though the $17 dispenser really helps them stay moist and is nice-looking enough to have on the counter) and they are 100% plant-based and non-toxic.

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I keep a running list of all my 1stDibs favorites here, if you are interested.

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Now for something new: 5 really great secondhand finds for under $100.

As always, this newsletter may contain affiliate links, but I only recommend products I actually love.

I also crossed one very important item off my New Jersey bucket list: a Taylor ham, egg, and cheese on a bagel. Plus, I worked out in the hotel gym, and even took a leisurely bath while wearing a face mask. Next time I’m in the area, I am desperate to visit New Hope, Pennsylvania — I want to spend a day visiting all the antique shops and having coffee and dinner somewhere great! My idea of the perfect day, tbh.

Of course, I couldn’t resist sneaking in a few vintage detours while in The Garden State.

Between a Princeton estate sale and visits to both of The Big Green Barn’s locations (where I also left a few signed copies of Big Thrift Energy for anyone local who’d like one), I came across plenty of pieces worth sharing.

Here’s everything that caught my eye.

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I am so excited to be taking a few days to relax, recharge, and do a little book signing at The Big Green Barn. This is an area of the country I have not really explored that much, thrifting wise, so hoping I can get in some antique shops and estate sales while here. And perhaps uncover the joys of Taylor ham/pork roll?

Any recs for in the Morristown/Harding area? I am all ears!

This week, I’ve got some great stuff for you: like the most amazing vintage necklace I think I have ever seen? Kinda in awe, tbh.

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Night one in Jersey I wore this beautiful dress — a new piece! I love it because it’s very flattering, can be worn up (with heels) or down (with sandals) and it has a gleaming little gold shell on the chest, so you don’t even need to wear a necklace.

• This Tata Harper lip créme is among my favorites. It’s super hydrating, the colors are great (also comes in sheer), and the packaging ensures it never gets lost in your purse.

• I cannot resist a fun sock and I just got these.

• The Adidas x Wales Bonner collabs are always so, so great and I predict these sneakers will be a sell-out.

• An excellent, boyfriend-style striped button-down (my personal style trick is to wear button-ups over a t-shirt, and unbottoned at the top, so you can wear a necklace).

• The ultimate travel pant (I wear mine so often I can’t even tell you). They do not wrinkle and can be washed at home.

• I can actually fit my laptop in this bucket bag.

• Really into vintage coin necklaces lately. This one is from the 1960s and it’s $52.

I feel like I’m always coming across cool necklaces but this one is unlike any I’ve ever seen. It’s a fish and it opens so it’s almost like a tiny handbag. 1970s, $125. If you click on the listing you’ll see it’s actually super wearable and not as enormous as it looks in the above photo. Somebody needs this.

I have written at length about my love for supplement brand Midi Health! I take their Berberine and Omega-3+ capsules every single day (my primary care physician recommended I take both for my genetically high cholesterol but in the years I have taken them, my hair has grown, my skin is better, and my metabolism is better, too!) They just introduced a bundle of supplements specifically aimed at targeting brain fog and it incljudes creatine, another of my daily go-tos.

I have finally jumped aboard the U Beauty train after seeing everyone and their mom post about it. The verdict? It’s real good. I’ve been using the eye cream for about a month and it’s an excellent consistency (works well under makeup, doesn’t drip down my face, fills in fine lines, etc.) I also love the arm compound and neck and decolletage cream for a snatched jawline. This stuff is pricey, I know, but they did send me a code for readers: virginiac20 for 20% off anything.

One of the joys (and downfalls, ultimately) of my work as a content creator is that I document everything. Which means I often photograph things I don’t buy — then, months or years later, I look back and go, Why didn’t I buy that? Such is the case with pretty much everything above, which was all at a single estate sale last year! What was I thinking?

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I will end on this: One of the great joys of my life is staying in a nice hotel. I grew up raised by a single mom (my grandmother) after my mom was shot in the head by my dad (I’m sorry but there is just no way to say that without it being blunt AF — I realize it’s wild!). My grandmother was twice divorced and always instilled in me the value of hard work and never depending on anyone else. If you wanted a nice life, you worked to give yourself a nice life. “There is no man coming to save you and if one says he will, don’t believe him.” That was her mantra.

She made her own way in life, so I needed to make mine. After she died and I took in my mom, it felt it would never happen for me. It fely, honestly, like my life as I knew it was over. So when I have these moments of reprieve — moments that I paid and worked so hard for — I feel very grateful, and very adult. I take care of my mom, and having people (i.e., hotel staff) take care of me feels like the ultimate luxury. Getting room service and eating it in bed?! Luxury! Getting dressed up and doing my hair and makeup to sit alone in the hotel lobby and just work on my Substack? Luxury and absolutely living the dream, IMO. I am so grateful that I get to write about what I love, every single day of my life. I feel like the grown-up I always wanted to be! I hope to do lots more growing.

Also: What is your go-to room service order? Mine is: turkey club, fries, maybe a Caesar salad, maybe a martini if I’m feeling really grown-up.

Love ya’ll so, so much.

xx,

VC