Unbeatable Prices: Body Central

Florida-based body-conscious clothing company Body Central somehow got my name and address (Victoria's Secret, I'm looking at you!) and while generally the juniors-focused clothes are a bit on the young side for me (short skirts, destroyed jeans, etc.), they have some truly amazing deals on clothes that emulate the look of Vicky's at a much lower price, so I am not complaining about receiving the catalog.

Anything with nice detailing at VS is going to run you at least $40, especially anything corset-inspired or lacy, and dresses generally debut over $70. Not to say you can't find great clearance deals there, as I've discussed, but in general a few items will add up to $100 rapidly. Not so with Body Central, where nearly every piece is in the $15-30 range. Nearly all of the summer line is pretty darn cute, but here are my personal favorites:

Fabulous Dresses:

Sublimation print B&W elbow-length sleeve dress, $24.50



Also in gorgeous pastel multicolor, $24.50

Psychedelic print banded-waist halter maxi dress, $29.80 

(my catalog says $26.50 so maybe call if you order and demand the lower price! (Source Code C5A109C)

Adorable Tops:

Crochet-back flyaway-hem cardigan vest, $19.50

Lace-overlay corset-inspired cami with padded cups, $16.50

Corset top with sheer cap sleeves (also in white), $19.50

Layering cami in 9 colors, $8.50! o_O

This picture also wins my "lovely!" award for best styling in the catalog. So summery, so pretty with those chunky bangles and the long necklace, matchy-matchy after my own heart, plus the perfect balance of the floaty skirt and form-fitting tanks (skirt available at $29.50, teal bangle, wood bangle and necklace $6 each. The whole outfit a mere $64.50!

  Ruffled eyelet-applique sleeveless blouse, $16.50

 I'm so attracted to this sequined cami but it's probably better for the less-curvy girls, $19.50

My only major issue with BC is the lack of extended sizing. Most things come in S, M, L or 1-13 or S/M and M/L. That cuts out, oh, a good 60% of the population. Uncool, BC, uncool. Voluptuous ladies like cute clothes, too! That and that a lot of the stuff is polyester (ew), but at these prices you can hardly expect organic cotton or something, right? The ever-present quandary of ethics vs. poverty, *sigh*

You'll have to let me know if you end up buying any of these, because my shopping embargo is actually going pretty well since that last spree at Vicky's-- oh yeah, and that other one at the mall-- but for all of June I haven't set foot in a clothing store or mail-ordered anything! Go me!

How do you like these picks? Have you ever ordered from BC or gone to one of their (apparently 194) stores? Let us all know what you thought, if so. 

Happy shopping, vicariously or otherwise ;)

 

What We're Wearing Today: Hippie... Zebra Chic?

Another long skirt. We're aware it's not the best length for petites and yet we love it so.

How do you like the uncropped mirror view for a change? (Still promising real photos in mere weeks...) You get a glimpse of the extra-purple condo and some of the power tools lying around during demo (cutting out walls to open up hallways to make the place a little bit more livable and that sort of thing).

Here's the zebra-striped scarf we got free with a black t-shirt at Marshall's recently, with a turquoise Mossimo tee and a linen skirt from TJ Maxx we've mentioned before, with a new slip (also from Marshall's) since it's a wee bit see-through.

We wore turquoise sparkly flip-flops (sorry, A, who hates them) for some super matchy-matchy (aaahhhh), until we got to the office, when we changed into these embellished silk with suede and wood heeled slides (OK, still matchy):


...except then we walked a block in them and they gave us the biggest blister we've ever had (seriously! Ever! One block!) so we went back to the flip-flops. Sadly, these ones are destined for the bin, however cute. We kind of despise both wood and kitten heels anyway, and can't exactly figure out why we would have purchased these in the first place (they've been under the desk for a long while now). Oh, right-- they have sequins. And they're teal! Case closed.

Accessories: earrings by us (silver/turquoise mini chandeliers in Swarovski and Czech glass) and a turquoise butterfly charm stretchy bracelet we probably got in an egg in some machine or something... Really :)

What We Wore Monday: Orchid Hippie Chic

You can take the girl away from Shakedown Street, but you can't take the hippie chick out of the girl.

It's pouring rain and yet we couldn't resist this ankle-length tiered cotton lovely that we found at Marshall's a few weeks back for $15. Our new favorite color seems to be orchid, which isn't particularly extraordinary considering that it's always been one shade of purple or another...

The hot pink lace-trim cami underneath was another Marshall's find, discussed recently. The black top is by b-slim and was a splurge at $30 from Macy's for the bachelorette party in April.

We sported our cute new rain boots, which we scored at Famous (you may see a trend here) for $5! Down from $80 originally! They're shearling lined and absolutely perfect with their pink and purple and stars! So us. We swapped 'em for the Hot Kiss black peeptoe slingbacks once we got to work, though.

Aren't they adorable?
We were excited when wellies became trendy, since we have hundreds of days of precipitation here in Boston, but we'd hesitated to spend as much as they tend to go for. $5 was more our speed :) Hooray Famous Footwear clearance!