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!

Trends We Love: Lace Pencil Skirts

This month's Lucky Magazine presented an Arden B. lace pencil skirt that's absolutely gorgeous, yes, but as we recall was also very expensive (and is no longer available, anyhow). Here it is:

We absolutely adore lace in any form, and this silhouette is just awesome. But... since you couldn't have this one even if your wallet said yes, let's turn to Etsy!

$17 at Happy'sVintageCloset, marked size 12P/31" waist
(we might snap this one up, yowza!)



$24 at RetroRenegadeVintage, size small/24" waist



$7.95 at Nuttinover20Vintage, size small/28" waist
(what a price! Major sale in this shop, too...)



$20 at LotusVintageNY, XS/S/26" waist (we die at the hotness)



$24 at ModPod (with matching jacket!) xs/26" waist



$16 at RedoRedux, M/L/30" waist



For the bold, $25 at Yesterdazed, Med/29" waist
(We think this could be very modern if styled a bit differently)

While we are really big on vintage for the obvious reasons of thriftiness and environmental soundness, we did come across a bunch of other inexpensive new options via this site TheFind.com, which we'd never heard of! You can search for anything and sort by price, relevance, etc., and so many options come up... We even found our own Etsy picks here! We're a little bit confused because the prices shown are lower than those when you actually click on the items... something to do with coupons, it appears.

$19.99, BisouBisou at JC Penney


$30.80, NYC Collection at Macy's



$24.99, INC International Concepts at Macy's


$17.99-$24.99, Worthington at JC Penney

$29.99, Newport News

Do you love or hate this trend? Hope you enjoy these picks if you do like it :D

Happy Shopping!

Steals and Deals: Body Central

We started receiving the Body Central catalog again quite randomly (cough, MetroStyle selling our info, cough) and were pleasantly surprised to note that the prices seem to have come down since last they solicited our business. Or maybe we're thinking of Boston Proper. Anyway, we found a zillion cute things under $30, so of course we are sharing!

If you've never checked them out, you'll notice that the aesthetic is somewhere between Victoria's Secret and Delia's: sexy tops and junior sizing and a little bit of slutty thrown in. Pieces are priced lower than either of the others, though: bonus!

We were thrilled to see animal-print cardigans offered at only $27-- a leopard cardi is one of the only items left on our list of things we're allowed to buy new! It's so ours. (Click pics to go to Polyvore for links to purchase).

Body Central: Animal Print and Ruffles Under $30 by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

The zebra print is adorable and totally on-trend also (we'd wear it with hot pink and turquoise, oh yes). They also offer it in a dalmation print (looks more like snow leopard to us, but whatever), if you prefer black and white to the brown leopard. Isn't the ruffly-charmeuse-neckline pencil-skirt dress stunning as well? And what a price!

We're always looking for cute, feminine layering pieces for work, and BC definitely doesn't disappoint with several little jackets and other great professional (but still fun) basics:

Body Central- Work by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

Quelle jolie! We especially love the styling of the pencil skirt with bold belt and flowy top- all three pieces are listed. And the lightweight sweaterdress (a major piece for fall into winter!) comes with the belt- both for $27. Not bad!

What BC really excels in is body-conscious (no surprise given the brand name) little tops for going out on the town. You'd be hard-pressed to find details like this at these prices at any other store:

Body Central: Sexy Tops Under $25 by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

The special little embellishments, like hook-and-eye closures and lace insets and ruffles and sequins just make us squeal with delight!

Have you found any awesome deals lately? Let us know. Hope you enjoy these finds!

Happy Bargain-Hunting!