Shop ’til you Drop ShopGirl spree gives Winterport woman chance to update wardrobe

When I first spoke with Laurie Albert on the phone, she made a startling revelation – she still had clothes in her closet from high school.

Fair enough, I thought.

Then she told me she graduated in 1976.

Albert, 44, needed a bit of a push to overhaul her closet. She also needed some shoes. Fortunately, she won a $250 ShopGirl shopping spree, sponsored by the Bangor Daily News. Unfortunately, she didn’t have room for anything new in her closet. And while I didn’t exactly arrive in a cape and tights, I gladly came to her rescue.

In all fairness, things weren’t as bad as she made them out to be. I expected to find polyester disco suits, corduroy wrap skirts and a leotard or two. The only ’70s items I could find were a jacket from her grandmother and a suspicious-looking sweater vest. The jacket could stay.

Laurie, like every other woman I know, had a surfeit of clothing she didn’t wear – pants that she bought on sale that never fit to begin with, sweaters that her little sister handed up to her that weren’t exactly her style, thrift-shop gems that were almost right. Most of it was in good enough condition to keep, but it was stuff she never wore, and her closet was bursting at the seams. Literally.

So we went through every piece of clothing hanging from the rack, folded on the shelf or stuffed into boxes. The vests had to go. So did the white lace dress. I even talked her into tossing the sequined, beaded, and generally bedazzled Christmas sweater – a huge ShopGirl victory. Anything she hadn’t worn in more than two years went into a pile on her bed. Ditto for clothing that didn’t fit, clothing that was too worn to save, and a huge portion of her fleece collection.

When we were done, we had amassed eight vests, 19 blouses, four sweat shirts, 20 pairs of pants, 15 sweaters, seven fleece jackets, eight coats (including blazers), one pair of ski pants, eight dresses, four skirts, five purses, eight pairs of shoes, and five belts. Ninety-four items of clothing and 18 accessories makes for one of the most successful closet-cleanings I’ve ever been a part of.

I immediately suggested a yard sale.

“Ew,” Laurie said, squinching up her nose. “I couldn’t do this to anybody.”

Once she gets everything into bags, which could take weeks, Laurie plans to donate the clothing to charity – a much better idea.

But we had more pressing issues than bagging after we cleaned out the closet – we needed to refill it. I took notes of the gaps in her wardrobe – khakis, sandals and black dress shoes were at the top of her list, and she also needed a fitted white tank to wear under cardigans or button-down tops. We flipped through a few fashion magazines to get a handle on the latest trends. Fortunately for Laurie, her favorite styles – flowing, feminine blouses and skirts – are everywhere this season.

“I love clothes,” she said over coffee at her kitchen table. “I just don’t like to shop.”

That’s where I come in. Because I love to shop, I know what’s out there. And it was clear that we needed a game plan so we wouldn’t spend hours aimlessly wandering around. Laurie is a stay-at-home mother of two sons, Mark and Matt, so she didn’t need suits or office clothes. She needed a few dressy items, but most of all, she needed comfortable, casual items that fit her style as well as her lifestyle.

Even though she doesn’t really care for shopping, Laurie does love a bargain, so we decided to stop at Marden’s first. They had just received a shipment of Old Navy jeans, and Laurie found a pair she liked. She tried on a pair of shorts, a dress and a couple pairs of pants, but nothing really worked except the jeans. Next we headed to the shoe department, where she found a pair of black leather flip-flops adorned with flowers. Very cute. And cheap. The total bill, with tax, at Marden’s was $26.23. We still had a ways to go.

Next it was off to T.J. Maxx ‘n More, where we hit paydirt. T.J.’s was having a sidewalk clearance sale, and Laurie and I scoured the racks for bargains. We found a pretty blue silk sweater, and a ramie-blend orange tank, both printed with flowers and embellished with a few beads, as well as a flowing red and blue paisley blouse. All three were feminine yet modern, and they went as well with jeans as they did with dressier black pants.

Inside, we found a gauzy aqua silk blouse, the elusive white tank top, a stylish white T-shirt with three-quarter length bell sleeves, a great pair of sandals and the big splurge of the day, a beautiful pink sweater set by Max Studio, which cost a little more than $55 for both pieces. Though it cost a bit more than the rest of the items, it was worth it. The total bill at T.J. Maxx, with tax, was $151.14.

We headed to the mall, where we grabbed a bite to eat and browsed the merchandise. A skirt and some capris caught our eye at Eddie Bauer, but they didn’t work. Next we hit the Gap for khakis, and Laurie instinctively headed toward the men’s section because she’s so used to shopping for her sons. I steered her back to the women’s side to try a pair of khakis, but we didn’t have any luck. So it was off to Filene’s for Customer Appreciation Days – an excellent chance to save.

The one gotta-have item that Laurie wanted was a pair of Dr. Scholl’s sandals, which she remembered wearing the first time they were trendy. She had a red pair back in the ’70s, and Filene’s had the updated version in red, white, navy and tan. She picked up a pair in white, and we headed off to the clothing racks for a futile final attempt to get khaki capris. They weren’t happening, but a pair of loden green shorts by Lee fit the bill. So did a bias-cut black and white skirt and a black fine-gauge sweater to match. With the discounts, our final bill came to $94.96. We went a bit over budget, but hey, who doesn’t?

We were exhausted. Our feet hurt. But Laurie had a new wardrobe, or at least the beginnings of one, and that’s what counts.

A few days after our shopping spree, I went to visit Laurie at home. Several of her new purchases were hanging in her now-roomy closet, and her husband, Madison, was thrilled with the massive purging. He said the clothes were a good start for someone who doesn’t like to shop for herself.

When I showed up, Laurie was wearing the new white T-shirt, which looked great on her, and she was contemplating exchanging her jeans for a different cut. Her new pink sweater set – the big splurge – ended up being her favorite purchase. She had reclaimed a few items from the mountain of discarded clothes, but the Christmas sweater was not among them, thank goodness.

I asked her how she felt, and she paused for a moment. Then she looked around her, first at the mound of clothes on the floor, then at her closet.

“It’s the greatest,” she said, smiling. “I’ve been wanting to do this forever.”