Clothes Encounters

A great way to end last week. After taking a look through Jenn Im's closet sale and made my purchases, I went up to her to say hi and take a picture. When I finally went up to her and I said hi, she instantly recognized that I seemed familiar! She remembered my face. How amazing is that, when one of your role models can remember you, after meeting one time. Life is complete.

The flea market opened at 11 am, and my friends and I arrived probably not even thirty minutes into the hour. I guess other fans got the memo. It was obvious where her booth was located with a crowd of fashionable college girls surrounding it.

It was surreal to actually sift through a portion of her closet and actually purchase a few pieces for myself. My clearance shopping with my mama and my few instances when I thrifted trained me for this day. As a college student, I only focused on the cheapest pieces, which were the clothing labelled with a red star sticker indicating it cost five dollars. I scanned the racks quickly for red stars on hangers or the clothing itself and picked out all potential purchases. I finally narrowed it down to my final three pieces (which will be featured in another post soon)!

At the beginning of the sale, as I started to sift through the racks, I overheard Jenn talking to other fans as they went up to chat or take pictures with her. It was incredible to hear where some people came from. I believe one came from Southern California, and another was a boyfriend of a fan who travelled far to buy something for his girlfriend. He told Jenn this, and she responded, "Aw, you are such a good boyfriend!" and he asked if he could get a picture with her, and of course she agreed. 

I also overheard another conversation of her and another fan about a pair of Jeffrey Campbell shoes she was selling. Apparently the conversation started out with the fan probably asking advice on if she should purchase a pair of shoes Jenn was selling. Jenn asked about her shoe size, something about wider or not, and Jenn was polite in advising her not to get the pair since they didn't seem to fit her well. It was great to hear that she isn't the type to just sell her pieces just for money, but really cares where her fans put their money. 

Anyway, the conversation somehow led to Jenn bringing up how earlier that day, an older woman came by and wanted to buy a pair of her shoes. When Jenn told her it would cost about fifty dollars, the woman was in disbelief and exclaimed, "What, fifty dollars? But they have scuffs on them!" Jenn was probably in shock and appalled, because all she was able to respond back was, "But they're Jeffrey Campbell..." and I guess the woman repeated herself and said, "So what does that even mean? They have scuffs on them!" This woman needs to know her brands and check her manners before going around attempting to haggle prices. 

Anyway, the morning was perfect for this flea market. Breezy, sunny, calm atmosphere, perfect for an outdoor closet sale and a meet and greet with Jenn Im.

One last conversation I overheard was about how this quarter is Jenn's last quarter before graduating. A fan asked about her plans for after college. Apparently Jenn is planning to travel and just have fun and enjoy being a graduated college student. Exactly what I had in mind for myself.

There were a lot of great pieces for great prices, surprisingly. However, I had to think practically and what I would get my wear's worth out of them. Some pieces I actually recognized her wear from videos or show off in hauls, such as her velvet, maroon dress, Mickey Mouse crew neck sweater, and pleated pleather skirt.

Hint: what I purchased that day are in my hands in the above picture. More details to come!

 Photo credits (the photos that include me) to my friend A. Dang. Thanks for sticking it out in the heat while us girls shopped! The other photos of the event itself were taken by me (on my terrible phone camera, sorry)! 

Hope you all enjoyed reading about this closet sale hosted by Jenn Im of Clothes Encounters! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Oh yeah, and Jenn Im actually liked my photo on Instagram. Unreal.