When we asked Karen whether she had any final thoughts to include in her post, she wanted to thank her “mum” for always bargain hunting while growing up. “It has become the blood of my life. Nothing beats turning one man’s trash into another man’s treasure. Making something out of (apparently) nothing is brilliant, and vintage is like my version of crack.” Karen is making her “crack” into a career, with her unique insight and creativity of how she dresses on her blog, Where Did U Get That?. The idea came from her curiosity about what other people were wearing and having no inhibitions to ask. It’s somewhat serendipitous that I am writing this post after just returning from a trip to London, shooting for SLU. She possesses that certain unpretentious, not taking herself too seriously, fun with clothes that I was loving while there. I remember leaving Karen’s shoot inspired to wear LONG dresses for summer, whether sequins, prints – “old lady” or “old hippie.” Like Karen, I tend to obsess. When she told me the story of running to a DSW in Manhattan, when she heard they had a certain Balenciaga shoe. And then jumping on a train, right then and there (when she found out they didn’t have her size) to a Long Island DSW, I knew we were comrades. She said “the clouds parted like a movie” when she found them. Karen has found fulfillment in her committment to addressing “the hole”, in her on line diary, that we all might feel when we get trapped into “buying for buying sake.” Today, she says it is about “feeling what you are wearing,” and her message is making an impact.

If you like Karen, you might also enjoy Byrdie Bell and Maggie Godwin.