Shopping Tips-Shop It To Me

Mar 18, 2009 by cluelessfashionista

Yes, budgets are tighter.  Yes, the economy is going through some changes.  However that doesn’t mean we have to stop shopping.  There are some resources available to us out there that will help keep the shopping budget manageable.  A great resource is through a company called Shop It To Me.  When you go to the website and sign up, you can select your favorite designers and receive a daily or weekly email called Salemail featuring the items that are on sale that day or week.  Plus, they just introduced a new feature called Sale Spot where you can view all of your sale items in addition to the ones in your Salemail.  In essence, Shop It To Me is your own personal bargain shopper.  I don’t know about you but I enjoy the thought of having my own personal band of shopping elves out there scouring the net for deals on the brands and shops that I enjoy visiting.  Here is an invite so you can become a member of Shop It To Me.  It’s free to join and they won’t email you beyond what you request when you sign up.

I enjoy every SaleMail that I receive from Shop It To Me even when I’m not doing any shopping.  Sometimes the deals are so great, I end up buying something anyway (naughty shopping is good shopping when it’s sale shopping!).

Happy Shopping!

read more

Shopping tips: Designer shopping for less

Jan 9, 2009 by cluelessfashionista

While I’m not a complete designer snob, I do appreciate the higher quality that designer clothes typically represent.  However, I am often unable to afford to make the investment that many designer clothes and accessories require.  It made me smile when Target began partnering with designers to create lower cost collections for their stores.  Early on, we started to see Issac Mizrahi,  Mossimo and Converse added to the Target brands that we have come to know and love.  Even before Target began partnering with designers, their clothing was typically much more preferred by the fashionable but budget conscious community.  Once they began introducing lines by well known high end designers, their clothing and accessories improved even more.  Now, Target is a great shopping destination for those budget conscious fashionistas.

Well Target decided to amp up its designers collections by releasing capsule collections from different designers as a part of their Go International section.  This is great for us Clueless Fashionistas who often don’t know how to start incorporating designer brands into our wardrobes and may not be willing or able to pay the higher prices.  Well you can visit Target now and browse their Go International collections and learn about different designers.  Currently they are featuring apparel by Thakoon, a designer that’s very popular with the high fashion set.  Now the line is available to virtually everyone at Target.  I recommend that you stop in and pick up some of his pieces out but do it quickly because it will be gone after January 31.  Check out the website at www.thakoon.com and then compare it to the Target line.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  Another designer currently being featured at Target is Hayden-Harnett handbags.  Typically those handbags can run upwards of $700 or more but the Target collection ranges from $19.99 to $44.99 without sacrificing the high end look and quality.  Check out the website at www.haydenharnett.com.

Go forth and shop Clueless Fashionistas!  I know that the economy isn’t doing very well and we all have to cut back but Target is making it possible for us to cut back without looking like it and that’s why its one of my favorite stores.

Photo credit: by Photocapy

read more

More Sex and the City talk…

Jun 1, 2008 by Clueless Fashionista

Hi there!  I’m sure that many of you have already been to the movies to see the Sex and the City movie.  For those of you who haven’t had the chance to check it out, I won’t ruin it by discussing what happened.  What I will say is that it’s a lovely movie that will please the fans of the show and create new fans.

What I would like to talk about are the fashions that are a major part of the movie.  Even if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you should have seen the ads and commercials for the movie.  You will notice that the ladies ALWAYS look fab-u-lous.  I have a suggestion for how we can work on adopting the Sex and the City style into our own wardrobe on a realistic budget.  As I watched the movie two things stood out to me most.  The ladies wore to most wonderful dresses and accessories.

What’s the lesson here?  You can make your wardrobe more fabulous by expanding your accessories and adding bright, colorful dresses.  You can visit stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshall’s and Target to find reasonably priced dresses of all types.  These stores also sell a wide variety of accessories along with stores like Claire’s and Wal-Mart.  Don’t feel pressured to go out and buy everything all at once.  Take your time and add to your wardrobe slowly.  Keep things manageable so that you don’t become overwhelmed.  Fashion shouldn’t be overwhelming (unless you’re in the tents of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, which would be a wonderful type of overwhelming).  It should be enjoyable.  Go out, and enjoy shopping for your dresses and accessories!

read more

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend…along with emeralds, rubies, pearls, etc…

May 3, 2008 by cluelessfashionista

Nothing makes an outfit look more polished than a well placed piece of jewelry. However, some of use don’t have the deep pockets to purchase that lovely Harry Winston bauble. Don’t fret. You can still add the sparkle and glimmer of jewels, golds, silvers and bronzes to your wardrobe as you work on creating your dream shopping nest egg. Here are two websites that will feed your jewelry longing without emptying your bank account.

www.overstock.com

www.overstockjeweler.com

Overstock.com is a website that sells different types of discounted goods such as clothes, bedding, purses and jewelry (of course!). Check it out. I’m sure you’ll find something you like. Overstockjeweler.com is a site that specializes in selling designer inspired jewelry. I recently purchased a ring that was inspired by a Tiffany ring that would normally retail for about $900. The ring I got was a little under $60 and it looks great. It came fairly quickly and was in a lovely little box. One day I will be able to purchase that Tiffany ring (their gold jewelry is SO much more expensive than their silver jewelery) but for now I will be working it out with my Tiffany inspired ring.

Happy jewelry shopping!

read more

Budget Fashionista

Mar 10, 2008 by Clueless Fashionista

The world of the truly fashionable has always seemed like an expensive world to me. I’ve always wanted to be a part of that world but my middle class upbringing didn’t allow for the purchase of expensive designer goods. As I got older and became an adult, I still wanted to be a part of that world but now that those types of purchases fell solely on me, I was even less inclined to get them. I was constantly looking for inexpensive ways to become more fashionable. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially when you’re fairly clueless about fashion overall.

One day I stumbled across this website www.budgetfashionista.com and was overjoyed. I immediately signed up for the newsletter and I suggest that you do too. I also discovered that the creator of the website also wrote a book by the same name. I immediately went out and bought the book. It was a great read and instructional in an approachable way. The tools suggested in the book were very valuable in pointing me in the direction of becoming more fashionable.

That book is definitely required reading for anyone who visits this blog. Make sure you pick it up ASAP!

read more