Fashion-ocracy

To say Emika Porter shops thrift stores is to call Diane von Furstenberg a dressmaker. The 29-year-old Las Vegas local does more than shop secondhand. She monitors the stores, dissects them and then squeezes every ounce of style out of them. Only to leave with an overflowing cart that tallies up to the same amount you proudly spent on a jersey dress at Forever 21 last week.

We know what you're thinking. "If only it weren't for the time it takes, the patience it tests and the energy it drains." False, false and false -- for her clients, anyway. Porter has gone into business for herself as a personal thrift store stylist.

"Now everyone can have the benefit of saying, 'Yeah, my stylist picked this up for me,' " says Porter, creator of Haute Thrif'Ture. "I know which days to go, which stores to go to and my time doesn't start until my fingers touch the rack."

Porter starts her services at $25 an hour with a two-hour minimum and a free consultation. For around $100, clients can boast a bevy of new looks without the headache or the hunt that comes with shopping. Her clients will range from the UNLV coed who wants to spruce up her existing wardrobe with a few handbags here and a couple shoes there to the cocktail waitress-turned-secretary looking for a complete overhaul to the laid off mom in Summerlin trying to conserve both money and time.

With a track record in thrift shopping that dates back to the early '90s, Porter knows her way around every store in town. She knows who offers 50 percent off on Mondays (Savers) and who sanitizes all their shoes before displaying them (The Charleston Bin). She clips coupons, talks prices down and gives double digits an eye-rolling "as if."

Porter also wears her resume. It comes in the form of an authentic Louis Vuitton satchel bag, Burberry scarf, Donna Karan hoodie dress, and a slew of other names with stand-alone stores at the Forum Shops.

She'll never forget the first time she came across a high fashion prize. It was a Roberto Cavalli skirt in an exotic print and the moment she noticed the label, Porter removed it from the rack, held it close to her chest and made a mad dash for the cash register. Her shopping had just begun but she wanted to complete the transaction before "someone realized it was a Cavalli."

"It's so funny to think about it now, but I almost felt like someone was going to take it from me," she recalls. "That's when your fight or flight kicks in."

Season after season of digging the way only an archaeologist can and turning up true fashion gems catches people's attention. Porter's discounted duds impressed her friends enough for them to offer to hand over their credit cards if it meant scoring similar fashion deals. Once the recession gained momentum, the concept snowballed into an actual business plan for Haute Thrif'Ture.

"A lot of people don't understand the treasures that are out there," Porter says. "But, I love to do this, so why not do it for other people?"

Model: Hope McBane for The Platinum Agency

Hair and Makeup: Krystle Randall for MAC, makeupbykolor.com

Stylist: Emika Porter for Haute Thrif'Ture

Photos by: Duane Prokop, Las Vegas Review-Journal