For awhile now, I have seen What I Wore Wednesday posts popping up around the blogosphere. While I loved the idea of seeing real world women model real life wardrobes, it just wasn't for me. First of all, I'm not a huge fan of the self-portrait (or should I say my self-portrait) and I feared it being a bit self-indulgent.
Until I began to realize how educational a few of them were to me. Through WIWW posts, I became acquainted with online stores and designers on etsy that I never would have found on my own. And I saw how so many women are paying way too much for their clothes! Hey, I'm a girl who loves fashion and yet lives with the desire to keep my purse strings wide open to whatever ways God desires to use what's inside.
So today I thought I'd add my two cents to this series and maybe share a few of my tips that I have learned through many a frugal shopping trip!
Lesson #1: You do not have to spend HOURS sifting through second-hand and thrift stores to get name brand clothes at discount prices.
A new favorite blog I follow (one of the handful of ones I actually subscribe to) just finished a series on thrifting. While I wholeheartedly agree with her tips and wish thrifting in my city was as lucrative and vintage friendly as others, I just have not had much success. Plus, I have been buying my brand new clothes for similar prices and the bonus with BNWT (brand new with tags) clothing is that the styles are modern and now. Sure, designer jeans thrifted is a great steal but sometimes there's a reason why the original owner forsook those acid wash jeans in the first place...they are SO 90's!
Outfit 1 is a new outfit, just bought on a recent trip to Toronto. There's a new Banana Republic Outlet store there and when I visited this time, the entire store was marked down 40-60% with an additional 30% off clearance items. The 100% silk blouse and textured skirt were both $17, down from $70-80. Another bonus to shopping retail is that if you find something you love, chances are you can find it in your size, not the case when you find only one of it's kind at the thrift store. The vintage-y gold plated bird necklace was from another store in Montreal that had a 2/$5 accessories sale. The sweater has sweet detailing in the back and was a steal for $4, JoeFresh (another tip for another day!). Shoes are Nine West, bought off amazon for less than $20. I love NW for their comfort and style and since most of my shoes are from them, I can order online with confidence because I already know how their sizes fit on me.
Outfit 2 is an easy casual outfit for days when I have to see and interact with real people outside the house! Blouse is Gap, bought off clearance rack for $4. Cords are J.Crew (my favorite brand!) and bought for $16 at their outlet outside Chicago. Sweater, 3/$20, from Bass Co. (another great place for amazing shoe sales!). Necklace, free gift from hosting 31bits party. Ruffly ballet shoes, $10 off amazon.com.
Outfit 3 is my bumming outfit, one with comfort and ease on my day of errands. Shirt is Hollister (I know it's the IT store for the teenyboppers but they have gorgeous cotton shirts that feel amazing and hold up super well!) and was clearance for $6. Jeans are old Banana Republic, bought bnwt for $10. Scarf was free gift my papa bought after walking together to the corner store without a hat last winter. His kind purchase is the reason I still have ears today! :) Shoes, designer driving shoes for $15 years ago.
Tips recap for buying retail at non-retail prices:
#1: Swing by your favorite stores (my staples are Banana and J.Crew) a couple of times a year. There is a few times every year that they are clearing out last season's styles to make way for the new. At this time, their prices are usually slashed 40-70% and clearance items are usually further reduced.
#2: Sign up for email updates from your favorite online stores. I get notices from BR and J.Crew a few times a week and always ignore them until they say, EXTRA 30% OFF CLEARANCE. I had my eye on a gorgeous vintage-inspired jersey lomellina swimsuit from J.Crew that was $125. I kept my eye on it and it finally got down to $60 but because of a shipping snafu, I got it for less than $40. More than I've ever paid but was willing to splurge because it would last a few summers and was still comparable to prices at Walmart!
#3: Try on sizes at the stores but check online prices before purchasing. I needed a fancy dress for an upcoming wedding and tried on a beautiful 100% silk Monogram dress at BR. The zipper was broke and was missing a belt so they were willing to come down from $250 to $125 for me. However, I knew online I could get the same dress with functioning zipper and belt for only $69.99. I opted to order online and I finally received it the day of the wedding! Cutting it close but loved dancing in my bargain dress all night long!
Hope a tip or two helped challenge you out of thinking that fashion is just too expensive and inaccessible! Feel free to share any retail tips you have in the comments below... :)
Hooking up here and here.
