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A few of us Chinashoppers were invited to go high-end vintage clothing dumpster diving with Than Luu, one half of the badass musical duo known as Black Gold.  Of course we said yes.  And of course we didn’t actually dive in any dumpsters. Than is a civilized smart and clean dude and yours truly is a germ-a-phobe.  Instead we went on the hunt for something distinctly Texas and obviously used that we couldn’t do without.

You could spend a week in Austin and never step foot south of Cesar Chavez and that’s exactly what most attendees of SXSW do.  Or is it – Don’t do?  Regardless, most out-of-towners spend their entire stay in the vicinity of 6th St.  And why not?  That’s where most of the action goes down, it certainly is where the majority of street meat is sold after the witching hour, where most of the Mardi Gras-esque amateur-hour mayhem B.S. takes place.

For those with a little curiosity and a little cab fare for that matter, South Austin is as rich with reward as its neighbor to the north.  No, not Canada.  South Congress Street has the best of almost everything important; the best boutique hotel, the best home made ice cream parlor, the best migas breakfast and the best thrift stores.

The only drawback to thrift shopping in TX during SXSW is the hipster tax that the vendors assess to everyfuckingthing in the store.  That said we were able to navigate temptation pretty maturely if I do say so.  We escaped the first store with only one $30 pearl-snap shirt and left the incredibly preserved $45 blue moon boots sitting atop their cowboy shirt rack throne.

Now, Than is a pretty fashionable man in his own right.  He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who looks to his girlfriend for what looks hot and what does not.  In fact, we found out the (relatively) easy way that the New York based multi-instrumentalist drummer pretty much looks great in anything.

Zoe, a true fashion maven (and our photographer for the story) had her fashion way with Than Luu right in front of anyone who wanted to watch (just me) and dressed him up and down and damnit if he didn’t rock just as hard in the gold dress as he did in the army jacket.  Must be something in the way he holds himself.

Words by Mark Roemer, Photos by Zoetica Ebb

 

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