The Look for Nearly Nothing: Pink Minidress a la Elizabeth Hurley

Having been rather obsessed with pink lately, and always on the lookout for cute summer dresses, I found Elizabeth  Hurley's outfit at Valentino quite divine:

(Just a word to the wise, though; if you're not Elizabeth Hurley, bubble hems and ruffles on enormous boobs will probably not do you any favors.)

In different light the dress looks purple, but this orchid-y hot pink interpretation was the picture I was working on. So, for your clearance shopping pleasure (most are on final sale!) here are the very cutest, cheapest little pink minidresses out there:

Wicked Thrifty Pink Minidresses by WickedThrifty featuring Wet Seal dresses

Aren't they stunning? And soooo cheap.Sweet.

Liz paired her lovely floaty dress with some (vaguely metallic) leopard-print platforms. Leopard goes with everything and is a fantastic counterpoint to the brightly-hued dress. Check out these inexpensive (under-$35) versions (also mostly on clearance so limited sizing is an issue):

Wicked Thrifty Leopard Pumps by WickedThrifty featuring Charlotte Russe shoes

I kind of love those slutty ankle-strap ones, from a site I've never heard of called MakeMeChic... They are  'coincidentally' only still available in my size (6.5). It's like a sign, right??

I trust you can find your own clutch or use one you own (I have a leopard pony one with optional chain that I picked up at a church yard sale) but in case you want some inspiration, some of the options reminiscent of Liz's nude exotic-skin clutch, all under $40:

Wicked Thrifty Exotic Clutches by WickedThrifty featuring Miss Selfridge bags

Enjoy these picks & let me know if you end up purchasing any of them!

Happy shopping for the look for less!

Fashion Book Review: Dress Smart Women

The used bookstore is the best place to spend a lunch break besides Goodwill, if you ask us. So many lovely tomes at half price or less... Delicious! One of the most fun sections to browse in our local shop is Fashion. As you know if you've been reading, a major challenge of late has been the adjustment of trying to look more professional (and sadly, less young/punk/hippie/fun) in the workplace. While obviously anyone can put on a twinset and pearls or a suit and white button-down, we are seeking ways to put forth a confidence-inspiring facade while still retaining a significant amount of personality (i.e. you'll never catch us dead in a navy double-breasted skirt suit, no matter how "professional" it may be). So we were excited to find this guide, called Chic Simple Dress Smart Women: Wardrobes that Win in the New Workplace.

We've had some good scores at Goodwill since reading the book-- unfortunately no suits, but some great wool pencil skirts, blazers and blouses that are much more professional than what we usually wear. Which prompted a VP to ask if it was "for Halloween." AUGH. Here are a couple of the looks:

New Work Looks for New Haircut by ThriftyStylist featuring Marc by Marc Jacobs jackets

Of course we didn't pay any of this ridiculousness. All from Goodwill except tights and shoes (purple- Payless; black- Famous Footwear.) and striped shirt (which has more pinky purple in it- from Kohl's?)

(Oh, yeah, and we lopped off 6-8 inches of curls in favor of an angled bob that has to be flat-ironed every day or put up. Madness. But, on the other hand, it's far more polished than the long hippie chick curls we were rocking.)

The idea is classic and still feminine, more serious than sexy (this can be difficult when you have DDs, as Suzannah of what not to wear points out), while trying not to lose too much of "us". While we lament the fact that purple hair and multiple piercings just don't get taken seriously in an office, even an academic-ish office, (sigh. Miss the lip ring.), it's clear that something had to be done to up the game, because much of our wardrobe came from the juniors section at Filene's Basement or the Vicky's catalog and it's a little bit tooo sexy (or just plain tight).

This book's philosophy is to pare your wardrobe down to essentials and accent pieces instead of buying a whole bunch of crap you're not going to be able to-- or probably shouldn't-- wear.

They suggest four suits as the basis for a full wardrobe, while fully acknowledging that many of us can definitely not afford that to start. Nevertheless, thrifting is mentioned as an alternative to buying new, expensive suits. We hope that the days of "ew, someone else wore that" are gone as we move in to attempted-planet-saving mode!

Happy thrifting and reading!

Fantasy Look For Less

Polyvore is a treasure trove of gorgeous items that most of us will never be able to afford. Today we'll take a look at some of those gorgeous yet expensive items we covet (alas, if money were no object!) and try to find suitable replacements that won't break the bank.

Romantic Gypsy- If Money Were No Issue by ThriftyStylist featuring Celine shoes

Items in this set:
SEMON CASHEMERE SWEAT WITH FITS ORCHID CASHMERE -, 95 GBP
Amazon.com: Patchwork long silk sari wrap skirt by Jedzebel PW121:..., $1,000
CELINE - Women - FOOTWEAR - Ankle boots on YOOX.COM, $425
Marie-Héléne de Taillac 18-karat gold rose quartz and pink tourmaline..., $3,675
Mars and Valentine 'Thera' Ring, $240

The first exciting discovery when styling "the look for less" was that the sari skirt featured above is not, in fact, $1000. It's only $31 on Amazon. Unfortunately at a lower price point stuff is generally not nearly as cute (sigh) but we still think we put together a comparable outfit, for only $110.39 instead of over $4000!

Romantic Gypsy for Less by ThriftyStylist featuring Charlotte Russe cardigans

Items in this set:
Pointelle Knit Cardigan, $8.99
Amazon.com: Patchwork long silk sari wrap skirt by Jedzebel PW121:..., $31
PLOTNER, $35
Yoslyn's Aqua Blue CZ Cushion Cut Cocktail Ring, $30
Floral Fixation Headband, $2.50

A girl can dream... and play on Polyvore :)
Happy look-for-less hunting!

Work Wear This Week

We had a bit of Polyvore fun with recreating our work outfits this week. They say "dress for the job you want, not the job you have," and that advice has hit home recently since we have been trying for a job title change to something involving "manager." We want to cover up and look more professional than we usually have in the past, while at the same time still enjoying putting outfits and colors together...

Work Wear- Tuesday by ThriftyStylist featuring Forever21

Silk blouse, Victoria's Secret, Jan 2010, $35 (now on sale for $33.99!)

Tiered ruffly skirt, TJ Maxx, 2007(?), $15

Lace tights, unknown, about $5

Black pointy leather boots, Off Broadway, Summer 2009, $30

Black ruffly cardigan, H&M via Goodwill, $4.49

Work Wear- Wednesday by ThriftyStylist featuring Petite Collection sweaters

Teal-green featherweight sweater, H&M via Raspberry Beret, Summer 2009, $17

Plaid pleated skirt, Free People via Goodwill, December 2009 $4.99

Teal tights, Vera Wang at Kohl's, January 2010, $9 (do not recommend- not opaque, ran immediately)

Same black boots as above, $30

Turquoise rose/feather hair clip, Summer 2009, SweetXcessories (Etsy), $7

Earrings - similar style by me (DesireeDesigns)

Work Wear Thursday by ThriftyStylist featuring GAP tops

Grey blazer, Calvin Klein (interview emergency Spring 2009), $49.99

Pink wool straight skirt, J.G. Hook via Goodwill, November 2009, $4.99

Grey tights, drugstore or Payless (?), about $5

Magenta ribbed crewneck sweater, Victoria's Secret, Winter 2008, $14.99

Peeptoe slingbacks, Hot Kiss via Famous Footwear, summer 2008, $15

Earrings and necklace featuring vintage jet glass by me

Clearly, we still gravitate toward a matchy-matchy aesthetic, and, with very few patterns in our wardrobe, tend to colorblock one solid with lots of black if we're not matching. Not so fashion-forward, evidently... but we still really love each of these outfits! We'll keep trying to be more adventurous in our remixing and in purchasing printed garments!

How do you reconcile your personal style with needing to look professional? Any tips and tricks?

Happy outfit-planning!

Work Wear We Love: The Vest

We are semi-scarred from a childhood involving hand-me-down sweater vests, and recall with horror and revulsion the tux-inspired gold-threaded satin-backed vests of the early 90s (shudder). We have suddenly, however, begun to adore the waistcoat-style vest as an alternative to the blazer for workwear. We picked up a version by AB Studio on clearance a couple of weekends ago at Kohl's, which fits like a dream, with five buttons, a deep v neck and interesting collar detail.

Much like choosing a blazer, selecting a vest requires thought about your body type and what would be most flattering. Most of us will be looking for something more than one button, to create that "locked and loaded" hourglass. If you are concerned about your hip area, look for a vest that skims and covers them rather than a cropped version. If you are slim and straight-up-and-down, look for details like princess seaming, nipped-in waists, shiny, light-bouncing fabrics, and bustline emphasis in order to create additional curves:

Waistcoats for Three Body Types by ThriftyStylist featuring Forever21

We think vests are a particularly adorable addition to a circle-skirt and slim-fitting shell t-shirt combination, but they are equally adorable over wide-legged tweed trousers or dark-wash jeans. They really help to flatter any woman's figure as they all essentially work to create that curvy silhouette most of us are after!

Do you like waistcoats? (We love pronouncing that word-- WESKIT!!!) If you've been wearing them, what are your favorite outfit pairings?

Happy bargain-hunting and have a wonderful weekend!

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!

Fall Footwear Trends We Love: Jeweled Flats

We're excited that jeweled flats are one of the hot shoes for fall, chiefly because we already own some-- purple satin, Rampage brand, with purple faceted crystals (sadly, shopping for new items is not an option for us right at the moment!)

We found some cute cheap versions on the interwebs, so here's a Polyvore set for your clicking pleasure:

Jeweled Flats by ThriftyStylist featuring Presence flats

Studs are definitely the embellishment of the moment, so if you prefer metal to glittery sequin-y sparkles, you're in luck!

To be honest, we're not really sure what we're going to pair these with. We tend to shy away from flats, being hella short, and we also concede that ballet flats and skinny jeans are the best combination, yet refuse to try to squeeze our Spanish hips into tapered pants... so... we seek suggestions from our readership! They will probably look cute with knee-length skirts and opaque or modestly patterned tights, we think (perhaps a loud print or lace pattern would compete too much with the embellishment), but we're not sure how to branch out of matching with a purple top... Of course, opposites are always perfect, so a yellow top like this gorgeous Anne Klein chiffon version (on sale for $29.70!) would be divine, except that we don't wear yellow. Maybe we should start.


Here's to your thoughts and new experiments!

Happy comfortable walking ;)

Covetable for Fall: Blue Shoes

We are absolutely obsessed with blue shoes right now, but all of the options we'd been seeing had been far over our self-imposed $30 price point... So we decided to do some serious digging. As usual, a set via Polyvore (click the pic for links to purchase- sadly some of these are UK-only stores. Boooo!):

Cobalt Blue Shoes under $30 by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

Did you realize that Amazon.com has super-clearance items from other stores? We totally didn't until recently!

We also found (we wouldn't let you down!) several vintage options on Etsy... these lovelies encompass three of our ideal characteristics: cheap, unique and earth-friendly. Why choose what everyone else is buying when you could have some of these? Click here for our public favorites for individual listings.

If you own a pair of bright blue shoes, leave a comment and let us know what your favorite outfits to pair them with are!

Happy Shopping!

InStyle's Key Pieces for Fall: Bright Trench Coat

Today we're looking for bright trenches that aren't astronomically expensive, like the Versace and other high-end designer coats in InStyle's fall "five key pieces" feature. A stunning, saturated coat is a wonderful alternative to the staid and traditional beige or black- and we don't advocate staying away from color completely underneath as InStyle does; have a little fun! Why not?

We're willing to extend our $30 price limit a bit for certain key pieces like a great coat or pair of boots... possibly even up to $100, but all of these pieces are half of that, or less!

Our Polyvore set includes both brights and an incredible zebra option (animal print is classically awesome no matter the season or style, but it is hot right now), $29-$50 (click the pic for links to purchase):

Fall Trenches for <$50 by ThriftyStylist featuring Nine West

These are from some unexpected sources (Nine West at Wilson's leather? Home Shopping Network? Patagonia?) but they're all lovely and quite affordable.

If you prefer to score something that no one else will have, try a vintage piece from Etsy. All of these stunners are under $50 as well: thrifty and environmentally conscious (bottom right, orange, is only $8!!

(Since the Etsy mini won't publish, go to our public favorites for individual listings!)

Are you going to buy a new trench for fall? Would you consider vintage? What colors do you like best? (We're dying over the purple one, of course!)

Happy Friday and happy shopping!

Purple Handbags - All the Rage for Fall

We already own a gorgeous handmade, upcycled vintage leather purple handbag, which we've discussed a few times before! But that doesn't mean we're not thrilled about the preponderance of such for fall.

Inspired by SavvyMode, who found some beautiful-- but PRICEY!-- options for one of her readers in this post, we scoured the interwebs for options that are on-trend but won't make you (as we did) fall off your chair when you see the price!

Via Polyvore, brand-new versions from stores you probably already knew of (some on sale, some just cheap by nature)- click the pic for the Polyvore set with links to purchase:

Purple Handbags for Fall Under $50 by ThriftyStylist featuring Old Navy bags

And, from Etsy, options from the Vintage and Handmade categories (click here to go to our public favorites to get to the individual listings):

Do you have a purple bag? Are you looking for one? (Or another one??)
What is your cap for purse spending? Ours is $100. And that was the one time, only, and only because it was handmade of vintage leather (so sweet!).

Polyvore Blog Feature!

Holy crap!
We were featured on the Polyvore blog - our set from the other day with our hot pink and blue outfit!
We're sooo honored :D

Check it out!

If you're a fashionista/bargain-hunter/shopping addict and you're not on Polyvore already, get thee to the website. It's terribly addictive and can eat up hours of your time, so be warned, but it's so much fun to put together outfits and design sets (interior design as well as fashion there btw) and discover new stores and terrific deals (we first found the uber-inexpensive and fabulously cute e-shop Charlotte Russe on Polyvore!)

A not-so-fabulous start to our weekend has just been brightened. Thanks Polyvore!

Two via Polyvore: Probably Too Much Black

We know we wear "too much" black (although we're not entirely convinced that there's such a thing). We're not in New York City or Paris, we're aware. However... we love it so!

Today we regale you with tales-via-Polyvore of yesterday's and today's ensembles. Of course, we couldn't find a single exact match, but they are fairly faithful representations, anyway.

We told you about this hot pink skirt a while back. It's still one of our favorite statement pieces and it gets a lot of comments, for sure! Hooray for no one else being willing to risk a hot pink skirt, 'cause we scored it for about $10 on super clearance at Filene's Basement, and it's real silk and CK. Here's yesterday's outfit:

Outfit Aug 4 by ThriftyStylist featuring 1928 jewelry

(In case you're wondering about the background, we're desperately lamenting our lack of beach visits so far this summer, that's all!)

We adore this Arden B cardigan shown, but ours is NOT as cute, sadly!

...And then, today is our first wearing of the "party skirt" mentioned in our MetroStyle clearance post recently... This satin bow-detail version captures the same flirty spirit. Our jewelry today is all by us and is at least similar to that shown... augh, we still promise we'll find a way to start taking awesome pictures soon! (Does anyone know if the Canon Powershot S5 IS works with a remote control? We're not so into this self-timer "run-for-it!" idea, and we don't see a remote listed in accessories, sadly.)

Outfit August 5 by ThriftyStylist featuring Dorothy Perkins

As we mentioned, we have decided we'll be wearing a flower in our hair as much as possible for the forseeable future. People seem to love it, too, especially the guys in the office. Our sweet Russian co-worker said "women are so lucky to have so little restriction in their dress." It's true, we are, don't you think? Another male colleague said "it just adds so much SUMMER!" Which we all need a little bit more of after this worst-weather-summer-EVAR, no?

We really shouldn't be wearing flip-flops to work... but sometimes you have a morning meeting offsite and forget you won't have time to grab pumps from under your desk and then just give up on changing since your boss has already seen you in the totally-inappropriate-footwear for several hours, right? Or maybe that's just us.

Hope you enjoy these little glimpses. Too much black and probably not very adventurous, but we enjoyed them anyway :)