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!

Vintage Sweaters and Sweater Dresses on Etsy $30 and Under

Hope you enjoy today's picks of thrifty vintage knits on Etsy that totally rock, in our opinion!

Striped bell-sleeve boatneck with highly unusual pattern at NoCarnations, Medium, $15



Pink ribbed v-neck sweater at SadieLynne, Small, $15

Ruffly Cherry Red "VaVaVoom" v-neck sweater at FireGrog, approx. M/L, $15



Purple cabled v-neck sweaterdress at LorrainesVintage, approx. S/M, $30



Purple crochet "hippie dress" at RedoRedux, Approx. Small, $16

Happy Friday and Happy Etsy shopping!

Vintage Wool Skirts on Etsy

Hello dear readers!
Sorry it has been so long between posts... work has been busy and to be honest, we've felt like we don't have much to add to the blogosphere. Until we can focus on better pictures of our own outfits, we feel far too outshined by other bloggers, so... we're back but will be discussing shopping only, with a strong focus on thrifting!

Today we wanted to share our latest scores with you!

As you may recall, warm skirts are a hole in our wardrobe that our general shopping embargo rules do allow. We tire of pants in the winter and wish for more options, but we spend a good bit of time outdoors waiting for buses and such (have we ever mentioned that we've never had a drivers' license?) so we need skirts that will stand up to the frigid Boston weather from December through April...

We strongly recollect (rather traumatically, actually) being terrorized by hand-me-down kilt-style wool skirts as a child, when they were possibly the most obvious faux pas beyond the saddle shoes our mother tried to put us in... but now that we are grown, we recognize that they're not so ridiculous. Awesome, even. Especially the non-pleated, non-wrap variety.

First, from Etsy shop RuLaLa Vintage, we found this very affordable (even for us- $28) genuine Pendleton wool pencil skirt:


Isn't it divine? It's a bit snug on the waistband due to a severe lack of moving our ass lately, but a safety pin and a longer shirt work just fine ;)

We spotted this other vintage lovely in her shop, and what with the great price (also $28), reduced shipping for a second item, and the rainy weekend, we just had to have it (see how we justified like that?) even though we're not supposed to be buying sweaters. Especially pink sweaters.

(But it's soooo cute! And it has lovely metallic threads and that cutout detailing... swoon).

If you are horribly jealous, never fear: she still has this one available ($32)!


...And if you are also craving a cute skirt to get you through the colder months, here's another precious little thing ($26):


The package came swiftly, with delightful wrapping and a hand-written thank-you note as well as a copy of the (very generous) return policy-- quite unusual on Etsy, really, as most sellers say "as is, no returns." A fantastic seller-- check her out!

Tomorrow we'll share our latest Goodwill scores! (more wool skirt!)

Happy thrifting :D

What We Wore: Scarf Experiment

We had originally planned to wear the purple jeans, but it was just too much going on. The dark-wash trouser jeans worked out much better. The scarf was an afterthought when the sweater, tee and jeans were too boring, and instead of looping around the neck we decided to try the Kasmira-suggested approach of using a brooch to secure a scarf. We really used a hair elastic underneath, but to cover it we used our purple hair clip/brooch silk flower from Claire's ($2.99). We loved it! What do you think?

Raspberry crew-neck sweater, Victoria's Secret clearance, $12.99. Scarf, free with tee from Marshalls. Black tee underneath, $7.99 from Marshalls (also came with free, different, scarf :P)

Shoes are black boots (big surprise) from Famous Footwear (big surprise):

leather and suede boots, "Extreme" made in Brazil, under $30

Jeans are from Old Navy, The Diva cut, $30.

We felt pretty cute all day, even without any cleavage (trying to get people to take us more seriously at work?), even fighting the muffin top (sigh, can no one sell a jean that doesn't ride down in back?).

Happy experimentation!

What We Wore: Flamenco Wednesday

Love this skirt. Adore this skirt more than we can say, even though the bejeweled waistband is starting to fall apart and we'll probably have to remove the whole thing. But the trim, and the silhouette... ah it was love at first sight (TJ Maxx, under $30 but no exact recollection).


Please pardon the really terrible nighttime photograph (death for the crappy cell phone shot, even more so than usual)...

This looked way better at the beginning of the day... by nightfall the sweater had stretched and wrinkled a bit and the hair was a total nightmare, but we wanted to share anyhow. Perhaps we should keep things like this to ourselves.

We're just guessing here but we think the sweater was about $15 at Filene's Basement. It's viscose. What the heck is viscose? Oh, OK, it's a type of rayon, basically. Which makes it sort of, kind of natural (made from cellulose, or plant fiber). Not so bad.

Boots: our faux python stretchy/scrunchy new-ish stilettos, $30 at Famous Footwear over the summer (detail shot here).

Happy Hump Day!

What We Bought: Target Finds in Teal

Ah, the excitement of scouring the clearance racks on a "quick" trip to Target for toiletries. (We're loving the letter T today, apparently.)

We put back a couple of practically irresistible tops that were under $5 each, but as the man pointed out were neither on our list nor actually needed. Oooh it hurts to have someone acting as your shopping conscience whose finances are actually about to be intrinsically connected with your own.

We had no luck in the tights department (we still need more patterned ones, and a few more colors) but we did find some lovely, fairly supple leather gloves in a cranberry-pinkish color, with wee buttons like old kid gloves (Victorian detailing will sell us every time) for only $17.99, a matte satin belted trench coat in teal for $27.99 (listed online for $39.99! Our store also had purple (we amazed ourselves by resisting) and red, and perhaps one other color? And we also snagged a teal hangbag (it really was on the list!) for $10.98 on clearance. It's absolutely comically huge, but will no doubt fit the lunchbox cooler we also purchased, and even our work laptop, if need be. We would rather carry one huge bag than be that lady with way too many small bags. Here is our autumn collage for you :D

Autumn Target Buys by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

The man was highly skeptical that we actually needed any of these items, but truly, a girl has to have a fine pair of gloves that she really doesn't want to lose (but that aren't too horribly expensive), and we've not got a handbag in teal (and for goodness sake, $11! It'd be a crime not to buy it). And the trench-- a fall coat is of course necessary, yes? And teal is so goooorgeous, darlings. And under $30! Impossible to pass up. Right?

The first thing we're planning to do is to replace the buttons with something vintage so it looks more distinctive and not so mass-produced (shudder. Our conscience/wallet dilemma again...)

When we want vintage buttons, we turn to Etsy. We'll either buy a set or perhaps several different buttons altogether... check out these lovelies we found (our favorites here have the actual listings):


Should we swap out the belt for something contrasting, too? Hmmm... Maybe a little bit of trim somewhere? Ideas...

Did you buy a new coat for fall? Do you own a really nice pair of gloves, or a bag in your second favorite color? (We had at least 3 purple handbags but nary a single teal!) If not, perhaps you should consider buying cheap this time around... and then putting your own spin on it. We find that coat buttons are hard to change well oneself, so we are entrusting ours to the lovely seamstress 'round the corner who repaired our down parka zipper so beautifully last year. (John's on Mt. Auburn in Watertown, if you're local!)

Happy Shopping!

Steal-Sharing: Ann Taylor Loft $7-$30

We just recently signed up at ShopItToMe, a site we discovered on Ramit Sethi's personal finance blog, and we recommend you do the same, unless you are on a personal shopping embargo!

You answer a few questions, give them your email address, and pick your favorite brands from their list (you can add more as you go), and then they send you emails (you can adjust the frequency) with sale items in whatever price range you designate! You can even choose what percentage off the item has to be to show up in your inbox, in addition to the final sale price.

We are pretty enamored so far. Since we're not exactly "into" brands, it was difficult to make our initial selection, but we're glad we branched out of our comfort zone, 'cuz they showed us an adorable skirt at Ann Taylor Loft (middle below for $29.99) and a bit more digging by us resulted in the rest of these awesome steals (pics loaded via Polyvore due to difficulty copying from Ann Taylor site; click through to be linked to actual listing):

Ann Taylor Loft Sale- Skirts by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

Ann Taylor Loft Sale- Pants by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

Ann Taylor Loft Sale- Tops by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com

Great basics for super cheap, and the quality and fabric are worth far more. Upscale clothes for Target prices= score.

They're also offering free shipping on any orders over $125.00.

We will be sharing our finds periodically, but for now we'll leave you with our final pick, a too-cute-for-words ruffly-puckered-bodice summer dress for less than $20:

Ann Taylor Loft Sale- Dress by ThriftyStylist featuring Tarina Tarantino jewelry

You love us, right?

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 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!

What We Wore Tuesday: First Picture Edition

We went a little bit 50s today, we think (maybe we have it on the brain).

Please pardon poor photo quality... Um, yeah.

We got a tiny bonus at work a few weeks ago and headed to Marshall's to spend it. We found this luuurvely silk taffeta skirt with massive pleating detail, for about $30. We don't mind paying more for real silk (even if our fiance swears it couldn't possibly be silk and that it's plastic... he's never seen taffeta before). It's voluminous, for sure, but we still think it's a fairly flattering silhouette.

It's been a super pink week, apparently, as today we chose this silk/cashmere blend cowl-neck sweater in powder pink, from Victoria's Secret online clearance a year or so ago. The sweater kittens... quite nice we think.... sweaters are far underrated. We probably paid under $30, because that's generally our single-item maximum for Vicky's clearance. You will notice that a good proportion of our wardrobe comes from their awesome sales, so keep your eyes out! (We get waaay too many catalogs from them, as you probably do, but the sale/clearance section on the site is where we shop!)If you like turtlenecks, they have this one on sale for $7! This one is silk and cashmere, so the $39 clearance price isn't quite as scary...

Not showing: sparkly silver glitter tights- not sure where we picked these up, to be honest, but an inch or two of these showing above the boots when we're walking is a nice touch, we think :)

It's just a pink sweater and black skirt, in the end (with awesome boots, Famous Footwear), but we hope the detailing and retro silhouette give it enough va-va-voom... what do you think?

What We Wore Monday: Almost No Black Edition

We really should have taken a photo, because there is not a single internet image available that represents the fabulosity of today's skirt, found at TJ Maxx for $10. We turned it down the first time we saw it (culled from a group of several skirts), then kicked ourselves for two weeks and were THRILLED to come back to the same store to find said skirt tucked deep into whichever rack we had secreted it. Score.

We're talking fully-lined, spring-green tiered petticoat lace. Amazing. It really defined our spring look last year (and there's nothing wrong with it this year, either).

This one is pretty cute, similar, although not as voluminous. It's available online from Firebird Clothing in the UK for 28 pounds... ~$41 as of today...

We paired the terrific skirt with a bright pink sweater. This is not a color combination we would normally go for, but because we'd been dying to wear this hand-painted silk scarf our boss brought back for us from a trip to China-- it has bright green leaves and big pink flowers-- we went for it.

The sweater we found for under $20 at Filene's Basement- it's similar to the one at right (unfortunately sold out) from Target... We really enjoy the boatneck detailing-- anything a little "different," you know... and they do still have a few nice pink sweaters on clearance like this one in plus sizes, this one in deeper pink, and this one, too, all $25 or under. We are definitely not above Target clearance for essential pieces!

We capped off the floral motif (from the scarf and floral lace) with these adorable rose-applique boots we bought on Etsy... Black boots are a subject for another day... one might say (our friends might say) that we have a terrible addiction and one can only own so many pairs, but we so enjoyed the ribbons cascading from the lace today. Hooray for girly details!

What we're wearing today

Today we are wearing a FABULOUS hot pink silk skirt from Calvin Klein that's very similar to this little tamale by Ralph Lauren, which apparently retails for $755! 0_0
We got ours for, as we recall it, less than $10 at Filene's Basement, due to this flamboyant color, which some people might feel a bit meek about pulling off, and also its having accidentally been marked a size 2 (never trust the labels in markdown stores- just learn how much fabric you need to get 'round your arse!)

We paired it with a silk/cashmere blend black square-neck decolletage sweater (hey, there's a cute guy in our office; flaunt 'em if you got 'em) from Vicky's online clearance. We doubt we paid more than $30, but it was years ago (thrifty tip: take care of your fabric and it will last!). There is scarcely a place we like to find sexy bargains more... you did know they had more than just unmentionables, right?

Tall black boots from Famous Footwear, $30. They're not real leather, but new leather uses so much water to finish, that synthetic is fine by us. Fabulous argyle-pattern fishnets, CVS, $5. Yes, CVS. It's not just your mother's L'Eggs in an egg anymore. Black-and-silver chandelier earrings (made by us, quelle surprise!) finish everything off.

You walk a little differently when you're wearing a piece this fantastic :D