The Best Thing I Ever Thrifted With Erika Veurink
The secondhand shopping savant shares her favorite thrifted button-down
There’s something so comforting about a well-worn button-down shirt. It’s the kind of thing that only gets better with time — cooler with the ease with which it is worn.
A button-down can take you anywhere: to the office when tucked into a great pair of trousers, to the beach when thrown effortlessly over a bikini. And it’s always made better when it comes from someone else, be it your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse or a complete stranger, courtesy of a thrift store clothing rack.
Erika Veurink — a contributor to Vogue, New York Magazine, WSJ, and GQ, among others — understands the lure of a great button-down.
Erika pens the fabulous Substack Long Live, which is largely about secondhand fashion, and she was one of the first people to write about my book when it came out more than two years ago. I asked her about the best thing she ever thrifted and, naturally (because Erika is, to me, the epitome of cool) she responded with a fairly simple answer: a button-down.
“Right now, I'm really partial to this button-down shirt I thrifted in Delaware with my best friend. There's a tiny monogram on the sleeve and it fits perfectly. In fact, I might have it remade out of new material at some point—it's that good. I paid less than $5 for it, maybe $3.
Thrifting with my best friend is one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon. She is meticulous and very detail oriented, aka the best kind of partner in crime. We love dusty, massive thrift stores with zero curation. This was discovered on one of our expeditions. I was drawn to the strong collar initially, but trying it on, I knew it was special. Striped button downs are my most-worn clothing item, so it was a real shoo-in.
I paid $3 and stuffed it in a Baggu with a bunch of other stuff before washing it at home.
It now hangs proudly in my closet and I reach for it almost every week. I love that the sleeves are massive and the shape is a little slim without feeling too tailored. It's great with jeans and shorts alike.
It looks like any other button-down at first glance, but after a second look, I think it's incredibly special. But I'm biased!”
Huge thanks to Erika for sharing with us her best thrift find ever. Be sure to check out her wonderful Substack Long Live, if you don’t already. If you want to catch up on past Best Things I Ever Thrifted, you can find them all here. So many more fun guests in the pipeline for 2025, btw!
Speaking of button-downs, did you know that you can get a free monogram on any of the Tomboy Shirts at Sezane? When you throw it in your cart, a pop-up will appear that allows you to embroider a name or monogram, along with a star or heart. I have the blue one (VC with a heart) and even with the monogram it arrived in less than a week.
On Thursday, I’ll be sharing my full take on the 5-day Kroma Reset, which I did last Monday through Friday. I’ll share it all (how I felt, how I made the meals tastier, what I loved and loathed — and, my results). Spoiler alert: I actually did lose kind of a surprising amount of weight even though I didn’t do the Reset for that reason.
Did you watch the Golden Globes last weekend? What were your thoughts? I loved Ayo Edebiri’s callback to Julia Robert’s iconic 1990 look and, like everyone else, I drooled at Andrew Garfield when he seductively placed his eyeglasses on his face to read the teleprompter (that man knows exactly what he’s doing). I also loved Nikki Glaser as a host.
And I’ll leave you with this…
So fun!! Thanks for having me x