Second Chances is a trendy and stylish guide by Macy Eleni for sourcing wardrobe treasures on the secondhand sale venues (thrift shops, resale/consignment, estate sales, etc). Released 24th Sept 2024 by Simon & Schuster on their Simon Element imprint, it's 224 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
Funky, eclectic, exuberant, and kinetic the entire book feels like it's ready to burst its covers and explode in technicolor. The author has such an encouraging, chatty, and kind vibe. Definitely the opposite of snooty or "mean girl", she's inclusive and fun, and has filled the book with lots of good tips, but also the compassionately related background for her own style journey. She mentions her own challenges alongside tips for scoring great vintage clothes at an affordable price point.
The colorful graphics, funky photos, and non-conformist style choices give the whole a youthful (tween/teen to young adult) vibe. The chapters are short, with individual categories together, broken up by inset highlighted text boxes and photos (so many photos).
It's definitely not just fluff, however, and Ms. Eleni makes a lot of salient points about the unglamorous facets of the fashion industry, exploitation, landfills, fast fashion, and sustainability alongside her tips for scoring treasures. She also makes a conscious effort at inclusion and specifically includes tips for folks of all sizes/bodies, and LGBTQIA+ fashionistas.
The photos she includes are mostly her own (funky eclectic) style which calls to mind a bit of Cyndi Lauper with some 1985 Desperately Seeking Susan; not a bad thing, but not for everyone. There aren't a lot of specific, concrete bits of advice aimed at readers whose tastes deviate a lot from her own (and that's fine), it's just that readers who already know *what* they're looking for will probably find more to utilize.
The appendices include a list of good thrifts/sources arranged geographically by US state as well as a short glossary. There's a cross referenced index which allows searching by designer name as well as item.
Four stars. It would make a good choice for public or school library acquisition, for budding thrift buyers, or possibly for gift giving purposes.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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