I usually hit the antiques flea market near my place once a month. Even if I don't buy anything it's fun to see all the interesting things. As a former antiques/vintage dealer I know that most of the best deals go early. So I usually arrive at 7 am when they open and stay for a few hours.

I have a pretty standard uniform for these ventures. Because when I arrive it's really cold (like 40's/50's) but by the time I leave it's usualy mid 60's to low 70's. So I have to "layer down" as the day goes on. I also need clothing layers and shoes that are easy to take on and off, in case I want to try on clothing or shoes while I'm there.

So the uniform consists of:

• Beat up leather jacket (in winter, anyway)
• cashmere hoodie or cardigan
• form fitting tank top or tee
• looser jeans or pants with pockets
• comfortable to walk in and easy on/off boots or shoes
• Scarf
• bag that holds a ton and can be worn cross-body
• gloves (depending on time of year)

Also, nothing terribly nice looking or pale in color. Flea markets can be grungy and you sometimes find yourself pawing through stuff that isn't terribly clean (I always bring a bag of wet wipes in my bag for just this reason).

Here's yesterday's "flea market uniform". I don't usually wear lace up shoes but those Born oxfords are so comfortable and easy to pull on and off they're worth the extra 3 seconds it takes for me to tie them. The outfit isn't stylish but it is highly functional for the task at hand!

Found some very cool stuff yesterday. I included a few photos of a few of my finds. My favorites are:

• J Crew 100% cashmere frog sweater for $20. I don't usually wear pale/pastel colors often so this was a good cheap way to push myself to try out a pastel sweater (and it's a frog!!!! How cool!)
• Purple patterned cashmere Nordstrom scarf for $20 (forgive the blurriness, my camera actually broke while I was taking pics and now it adds this weird blur). I wear shades of purple as an accent often and this scarf doesn't duplicate anything even remotely similar in my closet
• Jan Michaels nouveau style ring and artist made brass Stingray ring for $30 each
• Very cool vintage slouchy cardigan sweater in earth tones. Doesn't look like much on the hanger but I really liked the oversized drape on this and where it hit on my body lengthwise. But the real reason I couldn't resist is because it's made entirely from different shades of woven LEATHER. For $40 I was thrilled to find it and cant wait to put together an outfit around it (once I get it cleaned).

Bought a few other cool pieces that I didn't take photos of (because of now busted camera. Guess I'll finally bite the bullet and get a new one). I'm also loving a pair of vintage leather pointy toe lace up platform boots that look almost identical to the Prada ones in the photo provided (only with a lower platform and chunkier heel so I can walk in them w/o my arthritic foot hating me).

Anyone else a fan of the flea markets in their areas? Do you find stuff there when you go?