Bargain Styling

Today is the last day to enter the outfitkit contest! For more information, on how to win a complete outfit from OutFitKit click on this link: OutFitKit Contest.

Summer is almost over. I waited so long for summer to get here and the next thing I know it is Labor Day. Fall is actually my favorite time of year but around January I long for summer. So for those of you out there who might be getting to do something fun for Labor Day weekend I have a great Labor Day outfit.

This outfit is all from New York and Company. They are having a huge Labor Day sale and many of their items are buy one get one 50% off and they have a huge summer clearance section. On top of all that they have a $25 off of $75 coupon that it is good until September 3rd.

For this particular outfit, I tried to pick items that were summery but you could extend them into fall by wearing a blazer or jacket. Also, because of the buy one get one 50% off I was able to add a cute t-shirt for $7.48.

The 42nd Street Trouser $44.95
The Fairview Collection: Bamboo Halter $9.99

City Style Shoes: Brown Suede $19.50

Bowery Slouch Hobo: $24.50
Mercer Tee:$7.48

SubTotal:$106.42
Less: $25
Total: $81.42

In this month’s Elle magazine one of their Elle fashion trends was pebbled skin. Of course, almost all of the examples they give were of real crocodile and had price tags in the triple digits. Not really being a fan of either real animal skin nor being able to afford it, I went on a faux hunting trip to find one of this season’s hottest trends.

First stop, the usual suspects. Forever 21 didn’t really have anything on their site. The fifteen dollar store only had snake. Delia’s mainly deals in patent leather. I did manage to find a few cute bags at target.com. Below is one of my favorites.

www.target.com $14.99

The last stop was gojane.com where I did find several croc items. One being a pair of hot red croc heels.

Go Jane Red Croc Heels $20.90


Go Jane Metallic Print Animal Bag $15.99

I was a little disappointed that I didn’t find any faux croc bangles similar to what I picked up at the NYC wholesale district. I will be putting those with outfits for OutFitKit very soon.

I have no reservations about my love for vintage. It is the easiest, cheapest way to get a unique outfit. You know that you won’t see anyone else wearing your ensemble when you go vintage. In the past, I would mainly shop at Thrift stores to score my vintage finds, lately, I have been turning to the internet. Ebay is an obvious choice to look for vintage items but it can also be expensive. If 12 people are bidding on the same dress you can be assured that it will end up in the triple digits. The thrill of the hunt is also lost on Ebay because you can easily find good vintage on the auction site. For these reasons, I don’t hunt for vintage on Ebay.

One of my favorite past times is browsing the internet looking for new online vintage stores. 1000’s of stores exist and in all different price ranges. Two of my favorite stores are the Rusty Zipper and the Purse Diva. Both of these stores have a very large selection of reasonably priced vintage items. You may have to dig around a little to find something fantastic.

Here are a couple of dresses that I found on both sites:

Rusty Zipper $32.00

The Pursa Diva $36

The deadline for the contest with OutFitKit is fast approaching. If you have not entered you only have a few more days. For more information, on how to win a complete outfit from OutFitKit click on this link: OutFitKit Contest.

Sunglasses are the essential summer accessory. At one point, I had no less than 6 pairs floating around the apartment. I managed to only hold on to the one pair my eye doctor sister can’t stand. They are giant white plastic frames. I do admit that they are a little Willy Wonkaish. That would probably explain why every little kid loves them and when I wear them most of the compliments come from the under 8 crowd.

The best thing about sunglasses, besides being a great accessory, is that they promote good eye health. Research suggests that exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light may contribute to a variety of eye diseases. To protect your eyes most doctors recommend wearing sunglasses all year round as (UV) light is present even when the sun is not shining. To ensure maximum protection look for 100% UV block when purchasing sunglasses. Also, sunglasses are great for protecting the delicate area under and around your eyes against aging UV light.

What can be a better excuse to buy sunglasses all year round then protecting your eyes? In that case you should hit up the Forever 21 website as they have a sale going on right now on sunglasses. All sunglasses are 4 for $9. The only problem is that they do not list the UV rating. The couple of pairs that I have from F21 were 100% so I imagine at the very least they are UV 400.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

That is what I call a real bargain - a rockin’ accessory, great eye health, and an anti-aging weapon all for $4.50.

This post isn’t exactly about style, however, confidence is a major part of fashion. You need confidence to pull off an interesting outfit or make an outfit turn from ho-hum to fantastic. For me, it is really hard to be confident when my skin resembles a pepperoni pizza. I have struggled with skin problems since I was about 12. And have spent thousands of dollars on doctor visits, prescriptions, over the counter medicine, and all the other crazy stuff I was willing to try. Nothing ever worked or only worked for a short while.

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For those of you heading off to college and looking for a new laptop bag, I have the solution for you - Voltaic Systems. They have designed a solar backpack that will charge your cell phone, ipod, laptop and many other electronic accessories. So if you are in the middle of lecture and your battery dies you can plug right into your backpack.

The best part about the bags are that they are made of recycled PET a very durable fabric. The fabric only comes in black but to add a little style you can customize the solar panels covers with either silver, orange, green or charcoal. They may cost a little more than a traditional backpack but when you consider the environmental impact- they are a bargain!

Here are a few pictures of the backpack/laptop bag line:

By September 1st, two awesome Bargain Styling readers will each win a $34.99 outfit of your choice from OutFitKit.

Why You want This Prize: Each outfit comes complete with accessories including a bag and jewelry. You can choose any outfit on the site listed for $34.99. How many times do you get to choose your own prize! All outfits come straight from New York City.

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The Red Dress Shoppe is a retro inspired clothing store that sells beautiful, unique dresses at semi-affordable prices. Their dresses range from $119 -$56 but they have a summer clearance sale going on right now and I found some great dresses for $38.

Zooey Deschanel has great, quirky style. For those of you who may not know who she is - she is the sister in the movie Almost Famous and she was the girl elf in Elf.

image courtesy of www.fedge.net

She has a retro vibe, is not afraid to wear color and collects vintage coats. And how cannot you not love someone named after one of the title characters in J.D. Salinger’s, Franny and Zooey.

Here is my outfit based on Zooey’s style:

Because the dress is so bold you want to stick with simple accessories.

Vintage orange mini dress $17.99
Black Bangle $4.90
Black hoop earrings $3.90
Black bootlets $34
Camden Satchel Bag (available in black) $13.99

Total: $74.78 plus shipping

The Justin Timberlake concert was last night. My sister and I got all dolled up expecting to be the oldest twenty-somethings at the show. Much to our surprise 95% of the audience were women in their 20’s. If you really think about it most of his fans from his NSYNC days would now be in their 20’s so it makes sense. We weren’t fans until the FutureSex/Love Song album so we weren’t even thinking about his past NSYNC life.

The show rocked. It lasted for no less than 2 1/2 hours. And Justin played no less than 3 instruments, which is pretty impressive. The dance moves were fantastic and he put in 110%. The really cool thing was that they were filming for HBO and streaming the concert live to the troops in Iraq. I think that definitely added a little excitement for the crowd.

What about the fashion? Metallics ruled the scene. They were all over the place. Justin’s dancers were wearing 40’s inspired wide leg jeans. Leggings and baby doll dresses were being rocked. And, finally, my least favorite part- flip flops. If you are going to wear them at least learn how to walk in them. You have to walk down turned off escalators at the end of MSG shows. The sound of 30,000 flip flops banging on the metal escalators was almost too much to bear. It was louder than the concert!

Warning- Shameless self promotion!

A few months ago, I decided to combine my love of bargains, New York City, and fashion. It has always been my goal to start my own business(I teach entrepreneurship) and I always have a trillion ideas. This particular idea came to me because my sister and I were always getting compliments on our outfits. And people were always amazed when they found out how much we paid for them. I thought people would be happy to not have to go around to 12 different stores to get a complete outfit - so OutFitKit was born.

What is OutFitKit? It is an on-line website where you can get a complete outfit for under $60. Each $35-$39 outfit comes complete with a handbag and accessories. When you add shoes to your outfit - the shoes ship for free. The best part is the clothes all come from New York City.

Here is one of my favorites outfits:

You can purchase this outfit here

I am thinking about adding a new line of vintage outfits. What do you think? Would you purchase an entire outfit made from vintage clothes?

Personal Closet is a website where you can buy and sell clothing. I like it better than Ebay because there are no fees involved for sellers (except if you use paypal) and buyers don’t have to mess with waiting for an auction.

From their website:

“We know that just about everyone reading this (as well as those who aren’t) has something in their closet that they don’t wear. PersonalCloset.com is a place regular, ordinary people can buy, sell, and donate their new and lightly used clothes without the uncertainty of an auction environment, nor the extra auction-related fees that add extra expense and confusion.”

You definitely have to dig through the site to find anything really great. But it is most assuredly worth the effort. This tunic was one of my finds:

Striped Offshoulder V-neck Knit Tunic $6.90 plus $6.00 shipping.

I have already listed some random stuff that I have picked up here and there to see if it will sell. You can check my stuff out here. And I have tons more to add!

The accessorybug, an indie shop, is offering Bargain Styling readers 10% off when you use code MSJ10.

Cute bags abound but some tend to be a little pricey. However, with the 10% off coupon and their flat rate of shipping of $5 you can get a cool bag without breaking the bank.

Here are a couple of my favorites.