Wicked Thrifty Shopping Spree: Arsenal Mall

It's been a long, long time since we set foot in a mall. Secondhand only, for a long while. Too long a while. Kiddo was at a birthday party this fine chilly Saturday afternoon, and with no fiance around to complain about the browsing time in the clearance section, it was an ideal shopping day. The Arsenal Mall in Watertown, run by the Simon company like many of the Boston area malls, is certainly not the highest-end nor classiest shopping center, but it has a couple of our favorite discount stores, and we could walk to it. Theoretically. If it weren't freezing out.

The elusive grey boot we found at Famous Footwear (finally!!!). Amiclubwear never sent the suede we ordered, but did send a refund. Sigh. These Steve Maddens were in the clearance section, a bit steep at $40, but we had a $10 off rewards coupon, so really $30:


Another view:

Yummy!

In order to qualify for the $10 off we did have to find another pair to get us up to $50, and we spotted these quite-unlike-anything-we've-ever-had cone-heeled brogue-inspired lace-up slingbacks by Hot Kiss for $15:



They're a little bit Fleuvog-y and librarian-nerdy without being too over the top with the crazy heel-- this one is a bit more timeless and less daring. Love the classic slingback shape and wingtip detail, and the hidden platform. They seem very comfortable, too-- we'll see after a long day hustling around managing an office!

Filene's Basement was a treasure trove for us today...

How about a gorgeous fall coat for $7.76??


Detail:



Ahhh... favorite colors, long-beloved pattern, cheaper than a skein of the poly/wool blend yarn it's made of... yes, please. Thank you, clearance goddesses.

Also, a divine teal float-away hem cardigan by Energie for $4.16!



This silhouette seems to do really well for camouflaging a bit of a mommy belly. Necessary sometimes.

Going with the bright theme, we couldn't resist this hanging-out-at-home top by Seven in a sheer hot pink cotton/poly blend with burnout velvet detail, at $3.19:


We also picked up some incredibly comfortable jeans in a deep aubergine heathered denim. So soft, so perfect a fit-- wow. They're a bit high-waisted compared to most modern jeans, and that seems to be the idea-- they're Not Your Daughter's Jeans brand, $11.96 No low-rise. But they're not really mom jeans either-- they're crazy comfortable but fairly flattering-- no major pooch. They have some kind of space-age flattening mechanism up front. Woot! .

Following the one-in, one-out theory (well, maybe not precisely, but in this case), we're going to toss (Goodwill bag) the $10 bright purple jeans from Metrostyle ordered not too long ago, which we really never wear. This is a much lovelier shade of purple and more flattering cut.

This lace tunic from DKNYC was marked down to a criminally low $6.79, down from MSRP $90, so even if we don't wear it and end up cutting it up and refashioning it for Edge of Seventeen, it was a good investment piece:


Detail:




From the clearance bin, some gorgeous tights-- purple butterfly-embroidered fishnets, $7.98, and 2 pairs of footless opaque for $5.96:




Then, on to Marshalls, where we found another long-coveted item (joy!), the black-and-white patterned cardigan, also in a float-away hem, by Kenar, $20:



...and also a great black tiered lacy sequined gypsy skirt by Max Studio that will most certainly be re-used to create something fabulous, for $7, which did not photograph at all, sadly.

Lastly, we finally gave in (though we weep inside) to the whole granny-panty-shaper-thing that Trinny and Suzannah (of the BBC's What Not To Wear) advocate. We have a couple of shorts-shapers, but what the hell, we'll give the Spanx-type panties a try. We reserve the right to not throw out all of our lovely matching bikini/bra sets just yet :( (It seems a bit extreme). Leopard $3.99, by Native Intimates "Confident and Beautiful," Black $7.99 each, by Maidenform.



We hope this isn't too bad for the soul, owning unattractive undergarments. At least they're not white or nude. And as the girls say in "What You Wear Can Change Your Life," while seduction is not a possibility whilst wearing these, they can be whisked off in the bathroom, and the mere mention of negatory (we coined it) knickers is likely to send any potential man-friends into a swoon that will incapacitate them from noticing any potential lumps and bumps under your dress ;)

Incidentally, a wickedly-figured Spanish chick saw us browsing the shapers (she was a customer, not an employee) and basically told us, with gestures and "Comprendo, Si?" which ones to get that would help with the muffin top. With-- um, demonstrations. On both of us. Erg. She was super nice, though... but she did pull up her shirt, and pull the waistband of her leggings to reveal that she, too, was wearing said shapewear and did not in fact just come into this world rocking flawless curves. Thank you, senorita!

Total shopping high!!! Some major wardrobe holes filled, some potential creations underway, and a few staples and long-coveted items gotten for a ridiculously low price. Lower than Goodwill, much of it.

We were sad to not have a chance to hit the new-ish 2-floor F21 nor the brand-new Ann Taylor Loft Factory Store (!)... But... next time....

Hope you had some great bargains this weekend if you went shopping!

Tell us all about them if you did!

If you're from or have visited the area, have you been to the Arsenal Mall? What do you think?

Today's Thrifty Treasures

Today's finds are brought to you by the local Goodwill. We've been looking pretty much every week, just in case someone gives away a gorgeous skirt suit that is not in a "teeny" (seems rare). Didn't find anything in that department today-- although there was ONE petite suit, it had the strangest pants- they zipped in the back (?) and definitely gave us a penguin crotch situation. No good.

But, thankfully, we didn't come away empty-handed, as the jacket rack presented us with a decent find (we're always on the lookout for bright blazers with more than one button and not totally-80s-styling, which are often hard to come by!) in one of our favorite colors:


The buttons are silver-toned with a great funky crest pattern. Love the cut-outs at the bottom! Yay. It's polyester (microfiber) which we kind of hate, but eh, for this color we made an exception. It'll go with tons of stuff we already have and add another bright piece to our awfully-black professional wardrobe for $6.49.

Second score:


Polish cobalt-and-clear bowl, clearly never used, only $5. We have a real thing for cobalt glass and have been starting a wee collection. One can never have too many mixing/fruit/decorative bowls, can one?

The last thing we'd like to discuss today is not exactly thrifted, but bears mentioning. Lately we've been trying to keep the nails painted, but it goes from professional to scary pretty quick since we have nearly no patience for waiting for them to dry and certainly not for a topcoat, so they begin to peel pretty quick. Enter, for our waiting-phobic pleasure, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry polish. Seriously, no kidding, we grabbed some remover and a gorgeous orchid purple called Lovely Lilac and headed into the work bathroom, from which we emerged not five minutes later with dry-enough-to-type, perfectly smooth and even nails. Two coats. Less than five minutes (a lot of that time was taking off the stubborn chips of the last attempt). The longevity is yet to be tested, but it's still going strong after a long day on the computer. Highly, highly worth the sort-of-exorbitant-for-nail-polish price of $6-7.

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!

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 Tuesday: Shawls-R-Us

Just a quick daily outfit post for you!
Wish we had more info on these pieces... sorry...



Teal ribbed sweater, most likely thrifted, ~$7
Black linen ruffle-bottom long skirt, TJMaxx, under $30
Turquoise butterfly-print scarf/shawl, Marshalls, $7.99
Unseen: Black pleather faux-Fryes by Mudd, Famous Footwear, ~$20
Barely visible: Teal flower hair clip, Claire's, $2.99 on clearance
Earrings by us- vintage jet glass (gift= free) and silver filigree balls. Cheep.

Evidently we felt pretty matchy-matchy, much like Monday. Sometimes a girl just wants to rock a theme, can you blame her? We were mostly excited about using the new handbag from the Target mini-spree... Here we have a terrible, terrible photo for you, with coat and purse, in which we look like a psychotic bag lady or something (but at least you can get a better sense of the awesome ruffle situation on the skirt)...


Coat: Brocade from Target, $29.99 several seasons ago- faux fur collar removed, buttons replaced with vintage from Etsy.
Bag: Faux leather from Target, $10.98

Let us know what you think!
Happy Day :D

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!

End-of-Summer Trends We Ended Up Loving

We bought a maxi dress! We had questioned the sanity of such an item on our short little frame, but we found the perfect one that we don't step on (even in flip-flops). It has a Grecian-inspired, drapey empire-waist bodice with adjustable straps (woot!) and in an absolutely divine peacock print. Really, we just love it-- and best of all, it was half off at that dreaded T-conglomerate, for $14.99. It was marked a size 2, which is possibly why it was the only one of its kind on the clearance rack. Remember, never believe the label- try it on if there's any possibility it could fit!) Here's a really terrible picture:


The print is turquoise, teal, periwinkle, spring green, bright violet and seafoam. Luscious:



We also thrifted a statement necklace back in June at Raspberry Beret, which we paired with (our first wearing of) our new psychedelic flower-patterned mesh surplice v-neck at the office on Friday (on the bottom, our orchid tiered hippie skirt). We doubt we'll be owning a bib necklace or anything else enormous in the near future, but layers of chains and teal-and-sea-green glass beads are just fine by us. We're flouting the petites-can't-wear-bold-jewelry rule:


It seems like the big-necklace trend will still be huge (ha, ha) for fall, and we recently saw (in September's 15th Anniversary InStyle) teal referred to as a fall color (? really?) so hopefully this will last us a while before we look hopelessly out-of-fashion. (Like we'd really care...)

What are your favorite trends that are continuing on from summer to fall? We discovered that our maxi dress looks adorable over a body-conscious teal sweater (from the same thrifting trip as the necklace) as a jumper, with our fake Frye motorcycle boots from Famous Footwear beneath, so we'll be wearing it well into the colder weather (it's also a magnificent just-hanging-around-the-house dress, as the empire waist and cup-and-strap construction mean braless is a possibility even for those of us who are more largely endowed and can rarely enjoy the non-constricted luxury).

While we usually advocate vintage thrifted and/or handmade, we have to admit that we're drawn to the clearance racks at the demonic T. Aren't you? Definitely hit them now, as they're transitioning out for fall items, so you can probably find a lot of cute stuff. Also, some of the dorm decor isn't so awful-- we just grabbed a microfiber "storage ottoman" in black, for $19.99, which is now housing our dumbbells so they're not just lying around the living room waiting for us to do something about this teacher arm! Check it out (bottom left/center):


(Yes, we are obsessed with purple).

Ooh! We forgot to mention that our Tar-geigh has all of their house brand (Prospirit) Balance Balls on clearance for $5. We got one for home for an office chair, and we're thinking we're going to go back and grab a blue one for the office, if we can convince them it's professional enough! Hooray for working the abs while you're required to be sitting on your arse!

Enjoy the last of your weekend!

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?)

What We Wore: Embellishment Galore

Today we are sporting our new-ish-to-us silk beaded mac n jac skirt from the consignment shop again. It's going to be another ridiculously humid day, so we tried to find a sleeveless top that wasn't too horribly revealing for the office, and realized (thanks largely to Kasmira and Audi's awesome layering) that we could wear a pretty lacy see-through top with butterfly applique IF we put a colored camisole underneath! Eureka!

Skirt, mac n jac, thrifted: $15
Teal camisole, mossimo @ Target, $10?
Black lace shirt thingy: ??? By a Neiman Marcus label, label looks quite old- clearly thrifted?
Teal satin metal-heel ankle-strap shoes: Fioni via DSW, probably $30 or less?

Detail of top- applique and lace over cami:

Shoes (we think they speak for themselves):


And earrings, not by us, which is pretty unusual, but the shells pick up the iridescent sequin embroidery in the skirt oh so well...


We feel super cute today, so yay! What do you think?

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. 

Today we talk about scarves.

Scarves are one of our favorite accessories. Since we wear a lot of all-black and we live in New England, they serve the twofold purpose of jazzing up an outfit and keeping us from getting frostbite of the neck. While we're not big fans of the pinned-or-tied-kerchief scarf (reminds us too much of our mom), we do like to use a cool scarf as a big necklace, hair ribbon or belt.

If you've been reading, you know we like to buy vintage when we can. It's not only thrifty, but good for the earth. Here are some bright, eclectic vintage options from Etsy, several on the super-cheap, all totally gorgeous!


From left to right, top to bottom:
Maggie Rouff Paris collection, silk, $60 at GeneralWhimsy2
1960s geometric print, silk, $10 at RoomForCake
Psychedelic "Warhol" print, unknown material, $10 at DriveThruVintage
Silook Japan, polyester, $8 at VintageEmbellishment
Pink japanese print, acetate, $10 at PetiteKaloo
Oscar De La Renta, silk, $15 at TheCuriosityShoppe
1970s geometric mod print, silk, $8 at TheLuckyFish
Large rainbow shawl/sarong, polyester, $14 at TheKoruBranch
Oscar De La Renta striped teal with gold threading, silk, $15 at Autumnie

We know that it's quite nearly summer (or, if you're in Boston, quite nearly spring), but that doesn't mean knit scarves are out of the picture completely. The chunky wool ones should probably go back in the closet (if only to promote the power of positive thought!), but think about lighter textures and fabrics... These finds from Etsy are a few of the beautiful handmade textured scarves available. On the left, from alonalona, a UK fiber artist, sari remnants that would otherwise be thrown away are spun into luscious yarn and then hand-knit into this beautiful, airy long skinny scarf, $16. On the right, in a gorgeous peacock- colored blend of designer Italian yarn and microfibers , a fluffy, fun, light decorative option from Maine-based designer Cathy of BabbidgePatch, handknit, $35.



Three of our favorite other sources for cool scarves are the bargain stores, of course- we often find cute ones for about $7 at Marshalls, street and craft fairs, and Oona's vintage resale in Harvard Square. Happy accessorizing!