Style: Nikki, the Sentimental Thrifter

dress: Austin, TX; Belt found at estate give away in the Haight

One doesn't have to compromise on aesthetics to "live green". Nikki is a perfect example of this. She combines eco ethics with great fashion and home décor. This social worker always sports stylish thrifted outfits and adorns her beautiful Cole Valley home with furniture and bric-a-brac scored at small town antique stores, flea markets and garage sales.

Objects are always more than they seem to be. In this consumers' society, they are signs of status, wealth, social class, of whichever identity one wishes to display. But for Nikki, collecting objects is about much more than just owning valorizing stuff: every piece has a story to tell, a memory attached. Like Proust's madeleine, they transport her through time, and she can remember the circumstances, the people, the place, the smells, the weather, the sensations. She has also learned from her loved ones the art of scavenging, mending, repairing, and creatively turning used objects into something new. She's the sentimental thrifter.

Blue vintage suitcase: Portland, Oregon,
Blue polka dot dress : Austin, TX; Necklace : New Orleans

Why do you shop used?
I like treasure hunts. It's rewarding to work, to sort, to dig for that diamond in the rough. It's less wasteful to buy something second hand than to consume something new. It's more cost efficient. I like to give discarded things a new home where they will be loved (just like Joey my Chihuahua).

Joey the Rescued Chihuahua

Where do you shop?
I grew up shopping at the Goodwill in Cupertino. I still make pilgrimages back to San Jose to hit this little known goldmine. Many things in my home town have changed over the years, but the Goodwill still stands. Besides finding great stuff there, I like shopping in the same familiar building I roamed as a teenager.

"reading is sexy"
Skirt : Haight street Goodwill; Shirt: Buffalo Exchange on Valencia;
Patent belt: Austin, TX; Shoes : Goodwill Haight street
Antique chair: Alameda Flea Market

I also frequent the Goodwills in San Francisco. A friend turned me onto Savers in Daly City, which has become a favorite also. For home items, I scavenge Building Resources in the Bayview. There is a women’s shelter in my neighborhood. The residents leave all sorts of things out on the street as they are in transition. I guess you could say that I ‘shop the street’ regularly.

Sun dress: Painted bird, SF; Bandana: Williamsburg, NY


Skirt : Haight street Goodwill; Tee-shirt: Buffalo Exchange Market street;
Belt : found on street in Bayview during bike ride

What are your favorite pieces?
Many of my favorite pieces have an adventure associated with them. The thrift items become wearable souvenirs from trips I’ve taken. Like some people’s tattoos, they remind me of different times and people in my life. The pink necklace from New Orleans, the polka dot dress from Austin, the gold brooch from Portland- they are all bits of my special memories.

Red shirt: Crossroads Haight street, Marilyn skirt: Alameda flea market;
White beads : Cupertino Goodwill; Suspenders : Buffalo Exchange, Haight street

Rooster bell scored at the (sadly) now closed Pickled Hutch
in Noe Valley

Do you use stuff for other purposes?
Yes, it's good fun. Mom’s pitcher holds cooking utensils. Dad’s toothpick cup now offers Qtips. Soup pot becomes garden pot. Spaghetti jar becomes vase. The possibilies are endless.

Mom’s pitcher holds cooking utensils

What do you suggest for recycled gift ideas?
I make cards out of flyers I find, out of scrap paper, ribbons and out of old magazines.
I like getting dishware at garage sales and filling them with a home made food treat.
Old glasses can be shined and served up on a vintage tray. A lonely piece of crystal from a broken chandelier transformed into a gift necklace.

Nikki's apron collection

Nikki's homemade cards made of reused materials

A gift for a friend: this chandelier part is now a vase

Do you mend?
Bien sûr. And staple and tape and pin. Whatever it takes! Grandma’s sewing machine is a girl’s best friend for mending and alterations.

Knit shirt : Savers Daly city; Pleated skirt : Goodwill Cupertino;
Broche : Goodwill Portland;
Shoes : Goodwill Haight street; Sparkle belt Austin, TX

grandma's sewing machine, vintage fabric

vintage fabric

What are your tips to earn karma points?
Growing my own food.

Nikki's garden (here: zucchini plants)

herb garden

this over 10 y.o. plant was saved and is now thriving

Dad's lilies

the seeds of this corn were a gift from a squirrel

Nikki can be found walking her chihuhua Joey in Cole Valley, training for triathlons in the chilly San Francisco Bay, sharing with friends some home-made rosemary-infused vodka, or in a cute vintage apron, cooking elaborate vegan dinners with Queer Food For Love.

Style: The cook-poet and her wardrobe.

Yasmin is a San Francisco-based poet, comic book artist and cook. Her tasteful aesthetics are reflected in her wardrobe, her living environment, her graphic art and her cuisine, a subtle mix of flavors and colors, that please the eye and the palate.

Meet the keeper of Grand Canyon dresses, American Pride dessert plates, vintage Rolodexes and very un-PC books.

Yasmin and her second-hand kitty, Parsnip the Little Cashew.

Shirt: Thrift Town; Jeans: Crossroads; Princess bed: Craigslist

Which are your favorite pieces, and why?
I have several favorite pieces.
I love my mermaid scarf, a memorabilia from an aquatic show in a theme park in Florida, in the 50's. The scarf illustrates the different numbers in the show, and ladies in bathing suits posing as mermaid. It looks really gay. I found it at a thrift store in Berkeley. I have hung it in every place I've lived for the past ten years.

The amazing Mermaid Scarf

Florida mermaids

I guess I have geographic inclinations: I have a growing collection of state plates and an amazing, hand-sewn, Grand Canyon dress, probably made from a sheet or curtain fabric.

Proud to be a State plate

Proud to be a crock pot owner
Grand Canyon Dress: Mars, Berkeley

I also have an original 1950's UC Berkeley library card catalog, that I bought from a furniture maker who buys old items and refurbishes them. I was going to use it for art, but now I want to keep it as furniture. I also love vintage Rolodexes, that I use for art projects, or as decorations.

Books, vintage Rolodexes,
and a library card catalog purchased via Craigslist.

My bicycle was also bought used for very cheap and a friend did some work on it.
And last but not least, my favorite piece is my second-hand kitty, Parsnip the Little Cashew, a former stray cat who was saved from the pound.

Yasmin and her used bike.

Sweater and shoes: Thrift Town, San Francisco
Collar: Montreuil flea market, France

I love finding old, out of prints, nicely-made, books. Books written in a particular moment and wouldn't be considered interesting by today's standards. Books from the 1910's, the 1940's, are interesting time capsules. The content is very colonial, outrageously not PC but funny to read. I own "I went to the Soviet Arctic" by Ruth Gruber, "Our wonderworld", a 1918 textbook about the world and its peoples, written in a very colonialist way, "Vogue's book of etiquette", a 1948 manual on how to talk to servants and shoeshine boys.
"For men lonely" (1947), a guide to twelve women's colleges, how to harass and pickup on women who chose to go to college.
"The modern home medical adviser", mostly for women, about taking care of their family. There is weird stuff about sexuality and masturbation, homosexuality, but also tuberculosis.

What percentage of your wardrobe is used?
I would say 75%.

The cook in front of her second-hand stove and salvaged cast iron pan,
wearing an embroidered gingham shirt.

Why do you shop used?
I find nice, well made clothes for less expensive. The vintage pieces I find are very well sewn, from the 50's, in a very nice fabric. They don't fall apart, they last. They are inexpensive, but not cheaply made.

Yasmin at her salvaged desk,
drinking tea out of her vintage dish ware.
Her comic book, Maid's Room, is an illustrated poem about Paris' minuscule servants' bedrooms and their dwellers.

Do you use stuff for other purposes?
My books are for research and inspiration purposes for writing, I get a sense of a certain writing style.
I make new clothes out of old clothes, like this collar that I made from a recycled sweater, when I was living in Paris. I needed new clothes but was too poor to buy anything, so I made them.

Do you mend or discard?
Things that need repair, I try to repair or take it to a seamstress, if it's an important piece.

Sweater and scarf: Goodwill.

Where do you shop?
I go to Thrift Town, which I find cheap and interesting, mainly for clothes and cookware. I also like Goodwill. I sometimes go to Crossroads, for work clothes. I found my Grand Canyon dress at Mars, in Berkeley.
I found interesting pieces, like my State plates, at garage sales.
For furniture, Craigslist or the streets have provided me with invaluable treasures.
For art supplies, I shop at Urban Ore in Berkeley, Scraps in San Francisco (Scrounger's Center for Reusable Art Parts), or the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, in Oakland.

Yasmin's chocolate love cake, on a plate bought at a garage sale.

What are your suggestions for recycled gift ideas?
I reuse paper for cards or wrapping. I also buy used cake pans and bake my friends' birthday cakes.

What are your tips to earn karma points?
Two of my everyday choices to be environmentally responsible are:
1. Riding my bike to run errands rather than taking public transit or borrowing a car. Even though sharing a car and riding public transit are already steps in the right direction, when I ride my bike I get exercise and burn no fossil fuels.
2. Borrowing and lending. We don't need to own one of everything. It's more economical and environmentally responsible to share something useful than buy your own. For example, a car, a book, a large cooking pot, gardening tools, camping equipment, etc. -- when you're not using them, someone else could be. When we share and lend eachother things for free, we lessen our own consumption in the process.
The public library is a great example of responsibly sharing resources, and on an individual basis we can do the same with our friends and property. The key is making sure we return things in the same condition we borrowed them, so that people will trust one another.


Yasmin runs a catering business, Calico Pie, an ethical, green-based business that supports sustainable agriculture, small businesses, fair wages, and good food. You also can taste her fine cooking at San Francisco's Queer Food For Love dinners.
Yasmin's comic books can be found in San Francisco boutiques: Needles and Pens, the Curiosity Shoppe, or online, on Etsy.com.