hide & boutique.

It's been my mission to explore every clothing boutique and thrift store in downtown Athens for some time now. The past three years to be close to exact. My tendency to procrastinate - what I prefer to call working well under pressure - led me to hit up all of them in one day, a meager month before graduation. I went in search of a dress. Here's what I found:

Community.

An unassuming door, a winding flight of stairs, and another door later, a secondhand women's clothing and accessories boutique appears, promoting local and sustainable fashion with reworked pieces and vintage originals located in a sweet loft above Jittery Joe's overlooking North Campus and Historic Downtown Athens. In short, I wish I lived here:

community.

Or instead of my giant run-on description, this tag neatly summarizes what this boutique is all about:

The owner is a tall hot blonde German woman. No boutique snobbery, just friendly and genuinely welcoming, which never goes out of style. I saw this lovely number in the revamped section and tried it on even though it was a size 4, but even vintage has its limits I guess. I had to hold my breath to fill out the dress with my expanded diaphragm, but I quit the swim team after a week back in 7th grade and never smoked anything in my life, so my lungs never got the training necessary to hold up this gorgeous dress:

goodbye, beautiful :(

Dynamite

Next door neighbors with Community, give or take a floor, this thrift store featuring new, used, and local goods was way bigger than I expected from the tiny door that leads into it. I think I spent the most time in here, but it seems this is all I have to show for it:

these reminded me of sarah.

Highlights from other boutiques:

you can't really tell here, but this dress @flirt was an impressive shade of evergreen.

beading on a potential grad party dress @flirt.

i want this dress from pitaya for my actual grad ceremony.
with my red patent leather stiletto pumps.

or these round toe pumps, also @pitaya.
i'm obsessed with velvet lately.

And to round things out, I went to a coworker's CD release show at the Caledonia after my meeting:

tumbleweed stampede @the caledonia

And played a trombone for the first time! Thanks to the trombone player at the far right who gave me a crash course after the show. Really amiable group of guys. Fun show. Fun day. Super tiring. I was once again reminded that I hate shopping and I love Athens.