As I've watched What Not to Wear, I've learned that part of building a wardrobe is having a few basic pieces that can be worn with many different items of clothing. A good pair of trousers, a nicely tailored jacket or a classic a-line skirt in a neutral color has much more “use value” than an unusual cut or printed/brightly colored version of the same item. These items can be mixed and matched with more eye-catching pieces and give you lots of outfits from a smaller wardrobe. Versatility is the name of the game. This is week four of sharing my little What-Not-to-Wear-distance-learning-on-a-shoe-string-budget experiment.
My mom got me this purple top with the fun little ties at the neckline for my birthday. I'm pretty sure she got it on sale. Like $10-or-less on sale. I love it! {Just FYI, if you get me something cute and you get it on sale, you get bonus points.} It goes great with jeans {the same pair I've shown you the last three weeks. Really, I do have more than one pair of jeans. I promise to show them to you . . . sometime.} and my favorite repurposed red cardigan. For a little bit dressier look, it goes great with the mustard yellow corduroy jacket and chocolate brown trousers.
Purple ¾-Sleeve Top
Birthday gift from my mom
Corduroy Jacket, Christopher & Banks
I've had it this for probably three years and I am not sure how much I paid for it. Knowing me as well as I do, I am positive I got it on sale and I would guess that I paid no more than $25 for it.
Chocolate Brown Trousers, JCPenney
I've had these pants for about three years as well, but I remember how much they were; $22 on clearance.
American Eagle Women's Avery Bow Flat, Payless Shoes
Retail: $19.99
Out-the-door: $7.25
Levi's 512 Dark Wash Bootcut Jeans, Macy's
Retail: $54.00
Out-the-door: $36.32
Red ¾-Sleeve Cardigan
I got this second-hand {for free
}. It was a mock twin-set. The front panel, which was a full-length dickie of sorts that posed as a top underneath the cardigan, had a really high neck, but I loved the shape of the cardigan. I cut away the front panel, took off the buttons, dyed it from a sort of coral pink {because I already had a cardigan that color} to red, added some pretty pearl buttons with silver trim and voilá. A cardigan to dress up any outfit. Total cost in dye and buttons: $8.00.
6 comments:
Reading your posts over the past few weeks has really made me even more conscious of what I spend on clothes. I usually buy things for 40 bucks or less (that's obviously my psychological limit ) and spurge on things like great jeans(my last pair was about 135 bucks ) and really dressy tops. Im not averse to op shop finds either so some of my clothes are ultra cheap!
You look stunning as always.
Maybe you should run a competition where you challenge people to post pictures in their cheapest outfits!
I love all your photo shoots, looks like you have a blast doing them all!
I've never watched the show "What Not to Wear", but the name of the show scares me. I might never watch it just for fear of them describing to the world all of my fashion habits. ;)
Both of your pairs of shoes in these pictures are my favorites.
Well put together, Elizabeth. I like that mustard jacket, especially the collar interest (lack of a bulky collar?). Love the bow flats!
Great wardrobe advice. I find it good to have some basic pieces and add some interesting accessories.
Loving the shoes!!
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