Monday, March 18, 2013

Consignment Couture Chic in Marin County, CA

Marin County is known for it’s fabulous views and coastline, but it also has some very good consignment stores for designer clothing.  I have been to Marin County many times over the years, but never had visited any of their consignment stores.  On Saturday, I invited my roommate, Alex, to come with me and serve as navigator.  We headed out in the morning for San Rafael, which is across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and is about a 30-minute car trip.  Our first stop, Encore, was in a small shopping center near the center of town.  Encore is owned by Linda Hensley (11 Mary St., San Rafael, CA 94901, 415-456-7309, encore415@sbcglobal.net, www.wncoreconsignment.com).  This small store was jammed packed with designer clothes, shoes purses and scarves.  Once I started looking through the clothes in the racks, I found one beautiful thing after another.  It was definitely a treasure hunt. And best of all, prices were very reasonable.  Very few items I saw were over $100.   The back wall of the store also had a very large 50% off area.

In downtown San Rafael only a few blocks away, we visited Couture Revival owned by Susie English (1403 Fourth St., San Rafael, CA, 415-454-5999, couture.revival@hotmail.com).  Couture Revival not only had a nice variety of designer consignment clothes, but it also had vintage jewelry. I especially liked the necklace that Susie was wearing and got a photo of it for the blog.  Susie is also very knowledgeable about Louis Vuitton purses and was nice enough to print a copy of the factory codes for my own research.

After leaving Couture Revival, we drove to the neighboring town of San Anselmo and visited Stellas (224 Greenfield Ave., #3, San Anselmo, CA 415-453-6191, stellashoppers.com).  Stellas is owned by two sisters, Laura and Anna.  It’s a fun store and there are tasty snacks everywhere.  I loved that you could snack while you shopped.  It was almost 2 and we were getting hungry.  Laura suggested we go to Bubba’s – a diner on the main street of San Anselmo.  We had a great lunch there and then walked around the town a little bit before heading toward our last destination of the trip, what poppy wants in Larkspur (1106 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur, CA, 415-925-1145, www.whatpoppywants.com).

what poppy wants had a mixture of consigned designer and vintage dresses, shoes and purses.  Its sales rep, Joan, was very friendly and showed me so many beautiful things to photograph.  While I was there, many shoppers came by the store and it seemed to me to be a local favorite for the very best at consignment prices.  Hope you enjoy photos of my trip!


 Linda welcoming you to Encore
 Louis Vuitton handbag ($58) at Encore
 Encore
 Hot winter boots at Encore
 Boots, boots & more boots at Encore
 Prada slip on heels at Encore
 Metallic Manolo Blahnik heels at Encore
 A view of the store at Encore
 Silver beaded Cinderella slippers at Encore
 Yves Saint Laurent power heels at Encore
 Red rain boots at Encore
 A purse to match at Encore
 Hot violet Coach wedges at Encore
 Metallic blue midi dress at Encore
 Lady in Red Nicole Miller dress at Encore
 Little black dress at Encore
 Sexy purple strapless dress at Encore
 Hot pink Gucci scarf at Encore
 Versace flowered scarf at Encore
 Isabel De Pedro's leopard print jacket at Encore
 Tangerine leather jacket at Encore
 Marc Jacobs jacket at Encore
 Yves Saint Laurent jacket at Encore
 Sexy Armani suit at Encore
 Armani jacket at Encore
 Dolce Gabbana suit at Encore
 Valentino tuxedo jacket at Encore
 Couture Revival
 Spring jacket at Couture Revival
 Couture Revival
 Sandals with a twist at Couture Revival
 Self-portrait suit by Moschino at Couture Revival
 Bronze metallic sandals at Couture Revival
 Gold sandals with bling at Couture Revival
 Alex in a very hot pink hat ($438) at Couture Revival
 Cowboy boots with a flair at Couture Revival
 Couture Revival
 Transparent Chanel dress at Couture Revival
 Gray dress shorts with rhinestone pockets at Couture Revival
 Susie modeling her vintage necklace at Couture Revival
 Cameo-style necklace at Couture Revival
 Silver choker at Couture Revival
 Art deco bracelet at Couture Revival
 Jeweled bug pin at Couture Revival
 Stellas
 A view of the store at Stellas
 Flowered shawl at Stellas
 Short evening jacket at Stellas
 Suede platform heels at Stellas
 The perfect outfit for spring at Stellas
 Prada bag at Stellas
 what poppy wants
 Colorful mannequins welcoming you to what poppy wants
 This is out of sequence, but it is a very interesting red sueded skit at Stellas
 Vintage afternoon tea dress at what poppy wants
 Tangerine summer dress with a gold beaded purse at what poppy wants
 Red polka dot midi dress hanging from the ceiling at what poppy wants
 Slinky floral dress at what poppy wants
 The best dressed cat at what poppy wants
 Interesting black lace-up heels at what poppy wants
 1950's purse at what poppy wants
 Yves Saint Laurent heels at what poppy wants
 Girl on the go at what poppy wants
 Pearl evening purse at what poppy wants
 Purses & pearls at what poppy wants
 Little black Moschino dress at what poppy wants
 Elegant dressing gown at what poppy wants
 Boots with bows at what poppy wants
 Cape top with satin trim at what poppy wants
Feathery evening jacket at what poppy wants
Herve Leger metallic cocktail dress at what poppy wants
 Moschino jacket with pink bow at what poppy wants
 Alex holding a baby Armani jacket at what poppy wants
 Gucci jacket at what poppy wants
 Vintage shoes & purses at what poppy wants
 Gowns at what poppy wants
 Gowns at what poppy wants
 Red hat & shoes at what poppy wants
 1950's-60's leather purse at what poppy wants
 Shoes for summer parties at what poppy wants
 1970's platform sandals at what poppy wants
 Scarves for everyone's style at what poppy wants
 Multi-colored faux leopard coat at what poppy wants
 Artist hat at what poppy wants
 Shopping at what poppy wants
 what poppy wants
 Spring coat with pink gloves at what poppy wants
Lacy cowgirl shirt and flowered hat at what poppy wants

1 comment:


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