A Beautiful Friday & Fashion's Night Out in NYC

Mom and I both had Friday off from work and decided to spend the day in NYC scouting out the best deals and thrift stores we could find. I spent countless hours the week prior researching thrift stores in Manhattan and planning a route to those with the best reputation, only to forget it on the way to meet my mom Friday morning. Thankfully the lengthy amount of time I put in paid off and I was able to recall the general area of most of the shops despite my forgotten list, so off we went!

Once we arrived at Penn Station NYC mission number one was coffee! We hit up starbucks, grabbed two lattes and we were on our way to hunt down deals. We headed over to East 23rd street. Our first stop was Housing Works Thrift Store.

Housing Works has multiple thrift shops located all over Manhattan. They sell fashion, furniture, art and more. All proceeds go toward fighting AIDS/HIV as well as homelessness. Their selection was great, organized and clean. The prices were more than reasonable and the staff was friendly! We picked up a beautiful pair of dress pants marked down to $5 and a head turning beaded dress marked at $15. At the checkout counter we were offered to pick a coupon out of a fish bowl and scored an additional 50% off our purchase bringing our total to only $11 for the two designer pieces!

Continuing down East 23rd street we stumbled upon more thrift shops (East 23rd between 5th and 2nd is a neighborhood of thrift shops). We stopped in a few but didn't spot any must have pieces.

We peeked into Salvation Army, where we did find a few cute pieces, but due to their lack of dressing rooms to try things on, we left them in the store. Next door we hit up the very busy Goodwill shop. Again this store was well organized, however as most Goodwill shops they organize clothing by color rather than size. Personally I find this to be a more difficult way to shop, however it is great if you are looking for a specific piece. Despite the extremely full racks and mobs of people I did manage to find a great eggplant colored skirt that fits perfect and was marked 50% off making it only $3!!

Our feet still in good shape at this point and determined to walk off the second latte we had each picked up by this point we headed down the 12th Street to take a peek in Cure Thrift Shop whos proceeds benefit diabetes research.

This shop was very cool. It is three stories with the top floor for offices, the ground floor for furniture(very unique and eclectic) and knick-knacks, and the basement which is packed with great second hand and vintage clothing. This store was well organized, clean and had a great vibe. We did find some cool pieces, but unfortunately they weren't in our sizes, but this is definitely a store I'll be returning too.

We continued south to SOHO in search of more great bargains and unique finds. Now remember, it was Fashion Week in NYC so there were designer sample sales EVERYWHERE! We stopped into a few and Mom managed to find this adorable gray winter coat that will be a great addition to her winter woredrobe!

We also hit up Screaming Mimi's on Lafayette Street which is THE place to go for high end vintage.

The racks are divided into decades and each rack is topped information about the organization in which the proceeds will benefit. The pieces available here were designer, much of the inventory is donated by the designers themselves or celebrities, and the price tags are reflective of this.

We of course stopped into Zara (one of my all time favorite clothing stores!) where Mom found a fantastic black drape sweater and I found an adorable multi-season sweater dress both off the $10+ sale rack!

Then it was off to Little Italy where Mom and I found a bench (first time sitting down all day) and people watched while we waited to meet up with my brother for dinner.

NYC is never without its oddities....

Hot pink panties, matching hot pink heels and purse with a TOTALLY sheer dress! Only in NYC people - but what was I to say, it was Fashion's Night Out afterall!

Doesn't everyone knit a sweater for their car? and a matching one for their bicycle?

We soon met up with my big brother for dinner...

My big brother and I in Little Italy, NYC

...and shortly after dinner he lead us into the chaos and mayhem of Fashion's Night Out!!!

I have been to events in NYC before, but this was bigger than even New Years Eve! But why wouldn't it be, fashion is one of the city's leading industries! Stores stay open later than normal, there are parties everywhere you look, live mannequins in store front windows and free drinks around every corner! Needless to say it was an experience!

We stayed as late as possible - not truely wanting to leave - I arrived home at 1:30am and fell into bed, only to wake up 5 hours later again with aching toes to head into work. The trip was fun! I was happy to spend time with my family, live the hussel and bussel of NYC for a day and find some great deals!!