Unlike in Halle, Germany, people in Toulouse, France, have
a lot more style. It's a real city, with an eclectic mix of fashion.
There’s a definite Moroccan flavor, a little Paris, a little Florida,
and a lot Toulouse in the melting pot of fashion and people here.

In Toulouse right now in every store, there are sales (soldes in French) from 20 percent to 70 percent off. They are everywhere. From Sonia Rykiel to C+A to the side-street cheapie store, soldes, soldes, soldes.
But with the dollar at a lovely all-time low here, even a fantastic
sale is not necessarily a deal for us New York people who, in our
minds, convert everything into dollars. We, the fashion obsessed, must
find the fashion finds wherever we go.

There is a Wednesday
market at the Capitol (Town Hall) Square here, but similar to many NYC
street markets, it had a lot of same-y same stuff, albeit in a Toulouse
way, such as genie-style pants and shorts. Yes folks, the MC Hammer
low-crotch genie pant is in full swing here. There were generic tables
of cheap jewelry and sunglasses, but as cheap as 5 euros seems for a
shitty pair of sunglasses, when I can get them on the street in NY for
$5, it just doesn't do it for me.

Then the thrift store search began. The overall best one I have seen so far is Le Grenier D'anais,
which means "the attic of Anais," serving you clothes for women and men
from 1900 to the 1990s, including men and women’s accessories, gowns,
costumes, coats, wedding dresses, uniforms, costumes hats, shoes -- you
name it. Prices are totally fair and it makes more sense to spend 20
euros on a dress here, where you can get quality sweet duds closer to,
if not totally, one of a kind, especially when compared to any of the
MC Hammer pants at the market. I am going to go back to Le Grenier
D'anais and continue my search, since the very sweet gal working (she
was wearing an antique white slip as a dress) kicked me out (nicely of
course) because she was going to lunch. Lunchtime is one to two hours
here and meal times are taken very seriously. I would never want to
stand in the way of a lady and her lunch.

Theo Kogan is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. Her THEOlogy column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every other Tuesday, she answers your questions with her tough-love advice. Send your questions via e-mail or here on MOLI