Vintage Party Dresses $15-$30 on Etsy

We've progressed from just not-ugly into the truly spectacular realm, just by venturing above fifteen dollars... there are so very many more absolutely stunning items in this price range  (although, we concede, still a tremendous amount of crap to wade through! Forty thousand listings, many thousand pages... which is why you let us do it for you ;) )

Truly, we found so much awesomeness that there's no way it will fit into one post. So. We're going to introduce some themes. First up, the holiday party dress. When you're saving your possibly-meager pennies to buy gifts for other people, it hardly makes sense to spend $100-$200 on a brand-new dress, or, goddess forbid, get yourself into debt that will make January bleak! Yet we're sure you lament, as we so often do, that you have absolutely nothing to wear! (OK so we thrifted two velvet dresses and two party dresses this year, so we're probably all set, eh?)

Presenting the most lovely, thrifty vintage party dresses to be found on Etsy for the holiday season (click descriptions under pics for full listing and/or shop homepage). 

Red Satin and Black Lace "Spanish Princess" at CallMeChula, Small, $30

Red Scalloped Velvet "Deck the Halls" at McGregorGirl, 6-8, $30

Red Chiffon Romantic Ruffles at MagicalMirror, 30" waist, $15

Long-sleeved velvet minidress at LOLAVEE, 6-8, $30

Emerald Green Long Velvet at SavoyBetty, XS/S $30 

Hunter Velvet "Under the Mistletoe" also at McGregorGirl, 7/8, $30

Blue Sparkly minidress at BeckyPlantsTrees, S/M, $15

Purple Velvet "Pretty Woman" which we just had to buy while writing this, from IonicRoost (sorry, and please send literature for Shopaholics Anonymous), but check out the rest of the awesomeness.

Fabulously Unique Lavender at WillowCreekSparrow, approx. M, $29

We do lament the lack of vintage in not-modern-Small-sizes. We apologize that everything here is so teeny, but we do hope that someone finds the dress here or in one of the featured shops. 

In any case, Etsy is still a great place to find gorgeous, affordable vintage. We'll keep sharing our finds as long as you keep readin' about 'em. Possibly longer ;)

Happy browsing and hot-party-dress-selectin'!

Totally Not-Ugly Vintage on Etsy Under $15

We love vintage, as you know... and the idea of vintage, and the thrill of thrifting. Online vintage isn't nearly as exciting as browsing a real brick and mortar store, oftentimes, and there's the risk of things not fitting, too, and wasting time and money shipping things back (if the seller will even take returns)...

There is also, apparently, a plethora of absolutely hideous silhouettes and colors to choose from, should you want them... (seriously, was the blouson-waist secretary dress, or the pleated skirt, or the double-breasted blazer EVER a good look for anyone?)... We fully admit that the search function on Etsy can be extremely frustrating, but our use of the 'advanced search' function managed to weed out most of the dress patterns and into actual clothes, and get us into the general price range we were looking for (don't forget you can sort by low to high price within any search, as well). We are here to do all of that hard work of slogging through the ugly for you, though, so today we are presenting some beautiful clothes found amidst a sea of hideousness (er, no offense intended, vintage seller readers; we're sure all of the fugly was in others' shops), all $15 or under.

We seem to be in a pink dress sort of a mood today! Here are some of the lovelies that caught our eye:

Pink scoopneck with wrap-tie detail, $5 at MaryGoodness

Pink with magenta banding trim and pearl buttons, $6.99 at LoveLoves2LoveLove

Pink floral with smocked bodice, $9.99 at RandomStuff

Pink and white floral sundress with lace-up bodice detail, $12 at TheRustySuitcase

If you're a regular reader you'll know that purple always attracts us, perhaps to a fault! But how could you pass either of these awesome tops up?

Pure silk single-breasted 4-button blazer in deep indigo, $8 at VintageJetPatterns



Short-sleeved sweater in beautiful plum decorative knit, $7 at MyStrawberryTart

We are pretty much weeping over here that this amazing piece wouldn't fit us in a million years with a trillion sit-ups, but we hope one of our tiny readers snaps it up. It is just too adorable and too cheap to sit alone in that shop! GO!

XS/S plaid shift dress in greys and purple, $10 at EnchantedFuture

The little black dress tends to be a piece that holds up well through the changes in fashion over the years, especially with simple, feminine details like these pretties:

Black microfiber eyelet-trim sheath, $8 at MyWagonette

Black stretchy-bodice a-line, $9.99 at XHereLiesBootsX

Blue is purported to be the most popular "favorite color" in the world, and it's no wonder with hues like these:

Royal blue 1950s silk chiffon, $15 at oMARITo

Light blue ruffly 70s-era two-piece-look, $6.99 at FancyCatVintage

The last of our finds today are in lovely winter white, a gorgeous, crisp look at any time of year, really:

Stretchy cotton lace-up long boho-style, $10 at DirtyBettyVintage


Cotton tie-front cardigan, $15 at WillowCreekSparrow

We hope you enjoy these picks and that if you're shopping online this Cyber Monday, you remember to support small, independent suppliers, crafters and artists and vintage purveyors, rather than just bumping up the profit margins of the big box stores! Happy thrifting!

Suggestions for Styling Blue Shoes & Choosing Colors

Inspired by Struggler's recent post about getting rid of her new blue shoes for lack of ideas for styling them (don't do it, darling!), we decided to mock up a few outfits that we think would be perfect. Polyvore to the rescue, as usual. This time we decided to create with a starting point rather than just searching until we found something we liked, so we turned to one of our favorite websites, ColorSchemer, where you are able to buy fabulous color design software, but you can also search the member-curated color galleries for free to find a scheme you particularly like.

We looked through many pages looking for a nice rich blue hue and a lovely palette. There are some combinations that we would never use, of course, but generally speaking they are inspired and quite attractive.

(Another color site we absolutely adore, especially for our design business, is Name That Color. We were searching for a sort-of-royal, sort-of-slate-y blue, perhaps something like "Biscay" (#1D3967). Play with the color wheel tool- you will adore it and improve your color vocabulary drastically. No more "ish" and "-y" in your descriptions ;) )

First, we chose a theme called "Not Your Average Wedding," featuring orchid, peach and charcoal grey.

Styling Blue Shoes by ThriftyStylist featuring Dorothy Perkins bags

A couple of cute work looks, with the commonality of color and patterned tights and a feminine, flirty silhouette. We focused on the look here, not the price, so some of these items are a bit on the astronomical side and we advocate you look for suitable budget-friendly replacements if you enjoy the styling.

The second group of colors we chose was a bit too broad in range, so we picked just four of the colors out of it (besides the existing blue of the shoes we chose). It's called "Lady Liberty" and our selections were blue-green, eggplant purple, peachy-pink and navy blue:

Styling Blue Shoes II by ThriftyStylist featuring Pixie

These looks would probably be fine for work but might be better on the weekend or going out as they're a bit on the fancier side, but whatever works for you!

Happy confident and creative blue-shoe-sporting!

What We Wore: Neutrals that Are NOT Black!

We have already received a staggering number of compliments on today's outfit (along with repeated questions about whether or not we have an interview!), so apparently it is a success. No pictures today, sadly, but we recreated as best we could:

Outfit 10-22-09 by ThriftyStylist featuring Miss Selfridge

Planning began with the new blue shoes, $11. We don't seem to have much in the way of skirts at the moment, so the obvious choice was the Vicky's floral circle skirt ($30). Instead of doing all black for the rest, as we normally would, we made a concerted effort to try some other neutrals! For some pattern-mixing, striped grey tights (in a 2-pack from Marshall's, $5 for both). To tie the tights in, our grey Calvin Klein suit jacket (an emergency splurge at $79.99). To pick up the white in the skirt, a v-neck tee from Vicky's ($10), which we promptly spilled coffee on (sigh- this is why we so rarely wear white). We threw a bit of turquoise into the accessories to add a bit more interest to the all-grey-and-royal (cuff bracelet, gift from mom, chandelier earrings by us, flower hair clip from Claire's clearance, $2.99).

The shoes are indeed super high, so we wore our black velvet ballet flats in on the way to work, which still looks cute but not quite as killer.

We are ready to cast off the shackles of our black-centric, patternless wardrobe and move into a new era where we don't eschew all other neutrals. Don't hold your breath to see us in brown or navy anytime soon, though :)

Happy playful outfit-building (and crazy fun Polyvore-set creating!)

What We Wore: Tights and Boots and Blue

Fall is definitely in the air in Boston today! It's going to get up to the mid-seventies later, but the morning was certainly crisp. We have been stocking up (haha, we love that pun every time) on tights for the cooler weather and had also scored a couple of pairs of gorgeous boots on clearance over the summer, so we possibly jumped the gun-- it still being technically August-- on the autumn thing.


Does anyone else feel like doing laundry is like going shopping all over again? We finished five loads yesterday and in one of the black loads (we did an all purple/pink load, an all teal/blue load, two black and one white. Ha!), we found this cute, cute little smocked-elastic-waist v-neck cotton dress that we had completely forgotten about picking up (at Marshalls, probably?) recently. We were like "what the heck is this?" But we're thrilled we decided to be super-productive and plunder the depths of the hamper, because it is magnificent with the bright tights, boots, and new-by-us statement piece (OK so it's not huge or anything, but still, multiple strands are a stretch for us). We know the whole thing is pretty matchy-matchy, and frankly, we like it that way.


Earrings and necklace with vintage jet faceted glass, a gift from our dear friend IVStuffs and IVJools at etsy aka InspiredVintageJewelry- check out her blog!

Left hand: our David Anderson leaf antique bracelet, plus a luscious "end-of-day" charm bracelet in blues by us. Filigree ring from MetroStyle and pretty lilac sapphire engagement ring by JewelsCurnow at Etsy.


Right hand: Awesome new double-serpent crystal ball ring from the Oregon Country Fair, and studded faux leather cuff, totally pilfered from our just-about-teenage son (someone should really talk to us about this...)


We're terribly excited about our new faux-snakeskin scrunchy boots from Famous Footwear, complete with almost- perfectly reasonable walking heel. Oh, yes.


Are you apprehensive or pleased about the impending change of seasons? Are you feeling it yet where you are? Summer is our absolute favorite season of all, but boots are our absolute favorite footwear of all, so we're kind of OK with it.

What We Wore Monday: Pastels With Zero Edge

Today we just decided to go girly. No punk rock; no skulls; no black AT ALL. Can you believe it?!
Here's our fairly faithful representation via Polyvore!

Outfit Aug 17- No Black! by ThriftyStylist featuring Forever21

This is the first appearance of the lovely teal linen skirt we found at Goodwill a few weeks ago and then promptly got foundation on the first day we tried to wear it (sigh).

We'd like to take this moment to lament that debenhams.com does not ship to the US, because dear god we find the greatest, cheapest deals while looking for "like items" to our wardrobe on Polyvore, like this adorable little linen-blend with silk trim cardigan on clearance for $8.30. Please come across the pond, debenhams! The thrifty fashion chicas on this side also love good deals! You lucky, lucky Brits!

Our actual cardigan is a sheer mesh shrug-type thing with a center tie. We found it at Vicky's on clearance a while back and we swear we'd buy one in every color if we could find them... Perfect office cover-up without the bulk or heat of a "real" sweater (it's looking to be in the 90s this whole week so we sure wish we had a few more of these!)

We're rocking more flowers in the hair (of course), although this time it's a hairpin-type double flower stuck into the top of our messy bun, instead of a tucked-behind-the-ear clip. We just ordered some rose-and-feather clip fascinators from SweetXcessories and can't wait to get them! We honestly can't believe we haven't been wearing flowers in our hair always. It's so us.

The least thrifty thing about this outfit is the bag. We did mention this purse back in the beginning, but it's worth another word. We normally don't care for expensive handbags- especially if they're only expensive due to the name brand- but we discovered this one, at HoakonHelga at Etsy, made from reclaimed leather (we're pretty sure it was something Prince made Sheila E. wear) and we had to have it. And we're glad we did- it's held up extremely well, looks terrific with just about any ensemble, and receives many compliments, which can be turned into opportunities to spread the bleeding-heart-liberal message about the issues of buying new leather :D

Do you like? What are you wearing for the "dog days of summer" (if you're in the northern hemisphere?)

Today's Outfit (via Polyvore): Bold Color

You would never have seen us in this color combination pre-blog, but we're becoming much more adventurous thanks to our fellow daily fashion bloggers! Sorry for no pictures today-- our bathroom is a construction site at present and that's the only full-length mirror-- but we re-created as best we could on Polyvore.

Outfit August 3 by ThriftyStylist featuring Forever21

We got our cute cropped cardigan (minus the flower detail here, sadly), $7, and crepe-y crinkle skirt at Marshall's, $15, our silver strappy sandals at Payless, $15, blue T-shirt at Old Navy, $10, and the pink flower hair clip this weekend at Claire's, $2.60 (we told you we needed to start wearing flowers in our hair and made good on the promise with 6 clearance clips for under $10 this weekend!). We are giving the tucked-in T-shirt a shot, too (another something we never do!)... Our earrings are actually by us, not the ones in the mock-up, but these:


(We like 'em way better anyway), materials (?)~$7. They were destined for the shop but, as things are wont to do, ended up in our collection before photos were ever taken.

Cost of entire outfit: approximately $56.60

Just in case you feel you must duplicate the look because we are so totally rad you can't help yourself, here are some other thrifty options! (Has anyone else noticed, by the way, that the UK seems to have all of the cute, cheap clothes? We keep finding awesome deals- if you click through to the listings on Polyvore we suspect you'll see what we mean!).

Copy My Oufit! by ThriftyStylist featuring Dorothy Perkins

Happy color-mixing!

Steals and Deals: Tulle4Us

We discovered this brand- Tulle4us- in our new Lucky mag and made a note to look for comparable pieces in a lower price range, since the featured items were sooo cute but fairly expensive. But Robin at ThreadbearThoughts posted about a cute little skirt from them that was only $14.00, so we figured there must be more sale stuff! And there is.

Much of it is very much not our style, and (as per usual, sigh) , it's clearly geared toward juniors and definitely not generally affordable- except for the sale section (you can sort low to high, and skip whatever pages are out of your range!) But we thought we'd mention a few inexpensive and adorable standouts (click pics for links to purchase).

Blazers and jackets are usually priced fairly high because their construction is much more complicated than, say, a skirt. So we're excited to see these two cute corduroy ones for only $14.99 each, available in either the tangerine or the celery:

Personally we're not into brass or gold hardware (then again, buttons can be changed), and we're not sure the pocket details would do us any favors, but we think these are very cute for someone else!

And now some blue dress love!

Ruffled shirtdress, $17.20

Tiered voile dress, $18.00

Pleated cotton dress, $18.00

Terribly cute and terrific prices, right?

We also found this lovely lace-cut-out-detail slip for only $19.80, far less than just about everything at Frederick's or Vicky's; it is crazy sexy but functional, too (we have quite a few see-through skirts and this looks like just the cure). And it's made from cotton jersey, not that nasty hot nylon/poly blend most slips are!

We're forever seeking out cute cardigans for layering, and they're amazingly elusive. We're not 100% sure about the tie detail in this sweater here-- for us, that is-- but it's a linen/rayon blend (hooray nice fabric!) for $12.00 so we're sure someone needs this (shown in rose/ "berry" but also available in black and pale yellow/ "banana"):

We love bamboo but haven't seen much of it around except in really high-end stuff... it's so soft and lovely, if you've never felt it! This is a bamboo/rayon/nylon blend short-sleeve sweater in a really cute shape (again, not for us but maybe for you!) at a truly amazing clearance price of $14.00:

Definitely another site to add to the "let's-see-if-anything's-marked-down-further lists... Enjoy the finds and Happy Shopping as always :D

What We Wore Friday: Roses and Peonies

It was a flowery day. We've posted about this lovely circle skirt from Vicky's before... oh how we love it! (We think this print is peonies? Anyway, it's gorgeous. The mirror streaks are lighting-related. Pardon)

We paired it with too much black (probaby), but the rose-embroidered Chinese slippers (from Rocket Dog via Famous Footwear for less than $10) are just precious, right? We felt the need for flats after too many days in high, high heels!

Earrings are by us, something that was intended for the shop but ended up making its way into our own jewelry box before ever being listed, as things are wont to do :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

What we wore today: Professional Dress part II

Another day of forced conservatism. A bit sad, but it was OK. We wore this terrific floral circle skirt from Victoria's Secret London Jean collection, which we got on clearance for about the same as this ebay listing for it!

It's lovely, super comfortable, lined, cotton, with pockets (but they're hidden so it's flattering), such saturated color and lovely print... it's honestly just perfect, down to the cute cotton ribbon tie. We wouldn't normally wear such a print, or really any print at all in a skirt, but the black/white/blue was striking and we do love it.

A few more circle skirts we also love:

This one from BarriePace is certainly not inexpensive- $79, but down from $148-- and we personally never wear brown nor white-- but it's definitely a fun look (could use a some bigger jewelry, in our opinion, though), and the little faux shrug here is actually not that gouging at $29 on clearance.

We seem to be finding a lot of brown lately, which we'll gladly pass on to our sisters! We found a great deal in this cute printed skirt and jacket set, $33.94 if you join some sort of shopping club... not sure about all of that, but it's a cute look to seek out. We would enjoy a periwinkle scarf and peridot chandelier earrings and a cute brown suede platform peep-toe with this. But we're into matchy-matchy.

A few incredible one-of-a-kind looks we loved... this skirt is just amazing...  If you find a piece like this, who cares what it costs?! You can only be thrifty most of the time, you know? 

We also love this turqoise circle print skirt at right, rom Weezi in Canada, found on flickr, although we can't quite figure out how to purchase it. She's certainly one to watch, though. We love the light, summery feeling her clothes evoke. 

However, since it's not summer yet, we paired our circle skirt with a black sweater- ribbed, with faux shrug detailing like the white short-sleeve above... While looking for something similar, we found this adorable ruffly cardigan that is on clearance for ONE DOLLAR for our full-figured sisters. We have one just like it and it really dresses up and (well, to be honest) goths out a simple sheath or jeans and ballet flats. (OK, so it's Fashion Bug, but whatever, it's a dollar!), or check out this lovely detailed pullover on clearance at Soft Surroundings for $19.99. 

Now... we hate to tease you with something that's discontinued, but we'll leave you, perhaps salivating like we are, with this incredible version of the faux shrug in teal velvet by Boston Proper, one of our favorite catalogs to cut pictures out of for "someday" sewing projects... Oh, the sadness that it's gone... We'll hope for happy thrifting karma, that we may find something as wonderful.