Pin It and Thrift It -- Anthropologie Lookalike

I love Anthropologie--they have such an eclectic mix of styles, and a lot of it is vintage inspired. But, I will admit I don't own much from there (as in…nothing). It's a great store, but unfortunately there isn't one near where I live aaaaand of course the whole out of my budget thing (story of my life it seems). Anyway, I came across their "ruffled sweater vest"--which looks a lot better than it sounds--on Pinterest and thought it was cute, but maybe not $118 cute (plus they've been sold out online/out of stock ever since I first discovered it). Luckily for me, I came across a pretty close match at my local Goodwill a week or two ago.

Left: Anthropologie ruffled sweater vest, $118. Right: ChaudryKC sweater vest, Goodwill $3.49.

The one I found at Goodwill is by a brand called "ChaudryKC" which I've never heard of before, and only cost me $3.49. While the color and pattern isn't quite the same, it's definitely got the same look and feel to it. The back of mine has a beautiful (knitted? crocheted?) flower detail on the back that I actually prefer over the Anthropologie version. If my hair wasn't in the way, you'd be able to see it better but I may or may not have been wearing it inside out when I took the pictures and didn't notice until I had them uploaded to my computer. So, naturally, I chose the picture where my hair hides the tag to avoid embarrassment (but still embarrass myself my admitting to it…?). 

I'm super excited to have found such a close match to the Anthropolgie version, and definitely want to try wearing it with a button down like they had their model in. I probably won't get too much more use out of it this season, since it is a heavier knit, but know I'll get a lot of use out of it once next winter comes around! 

Let me know which version you like better, and as always, Happy Thrifting!! 

Pin It and Thrift It!

I love going to Pinterest for outfit inspiration (check out my Pinterest here!), reading other fashion blogs, etc. But what I don't love is clicking on the links of awesome outfits to find out that the prices are wayyyyy out of my clothing budget (...which should realistically hover as close to $0 as possible). 

So instead of dwelling on the fact that I can't afford most (or any) of what I'm pinning, I make it a mental challenge to look for items close to those that I've pinned and use that as a guide for what to thrift for (seems like the logical thing to do). 

Today I found a great deal on an outfit I pinned from The Northeast Girl (left picture). Her vest from the Gap retailed for $79.95, and her gingham button down is from J. Crew Factory, retailed at $59.50, rounding out for a total of $139 for the top half of the outfit.

Right photo: Red Land's End vest (Goodwill, $2.95),
navy Abercrombie & Fitch ginghambutton-down (Goodwill, $3)

I was surprised how easy this one was to find at Goodwill, and how close it looks to my original inspiration. The red Land's End vest was a steal at under $3--they are usually around $70, so it's safe to say I was pretty happy when I came across it. The A&F gingham was a great find as well--while I know Abercrombie screams middle/high school, I'm not ashamed to use the brand's clothes especially when it comes to basics. I can see myself layering this button down under a solid colored sweater with a statement necklace or with a different colored vest--I'm happy to have finally found a gingham shirt after searching for one for quite a while! Overall, I'd say for $6 I was able to come pretty darn close to my original inspiration!

The feeling you get when you find
 EXACTLY what you were looking for :)

And just as a heads up, I've been on a thrift hunt for vests lately, so don't be surprised if you see a few more in the near future :)

Happy Thrifting!!

Dressing Professionally for Less

It's that time of year again! The time where students everywhere scramble to revise (or start) resumes, search for suits in the depths of their closets, and pretend to know what they want to do in life. Yep. It's career fair time (…..yay….!).

Lucky for us kids in Iowa, ours got post-poned because of a blizzard (not surprising), so we were blessed with a whole extra week to prepare! Tis the night before the fair and I'm…not even close to prepared. But I did make some time to go through my closet and come up with a few possible outfit combinations to choose from (so I'm technically a third of the way prepared…?)

Anyway, I thought this would be a great opportunity to show off some of my more "professional" looking thrift finds! I love looking for business and dress clothes at thrift shops because 1) there's usually  plenty to choose from and 2) you can score some of the biggest deals on quality pieces at a fraction of the price. Suit jackets, for example, can easily run over $100 and I've found some of my favorites from Goodwill for maybe $6 a piece. And because dress clothes usually tend to have higher quality fabrics, many times the pieces will stay in good shape even after being worn (ex: I have no idea how many times my favorite thrifted black blazer has been worn, and it still looks brand new. I'll take it). 

A few of my favorite things to thrift for when I'm looking for professional clothes...

1. Blazers: Check back often because the good ones get snagged fast, but when you find a good one it's totally worth it! 
2. Button downs: There's always a TON at Goodwill, get one in every color! Keep an eye out for the wrinkle free ones that won't require ironing (who has time for ironing in college…)
3. Slacks: Again, always a ton to choose from, but you'll have to dig. Look for familiar brands that you know fit you well to reduce the amount of guesswork since they all kind of look the same. Also keep an eye out for pants that match blazers (many times they come donated as a set, but get separated when put on the floor). 
4. Skirts: I just recently discovered the skirt section--I'd always envisioned it as having all strange floor length denim numbers and out of style minis (which a lot of it is), but I've recently had a lot of luck (two favorites in the pictures below!). If you like skirts, it never hurts to give it a look!

Below are some outfits I came up with, all items that I thrifted or found on super clearance (minus the first blazer that was a b-day gift from mom, and the dress pants in the last one…but trust me, most thrift stores have enough black pants on hand to clothe a whole town). In reality, I'd mix up these pieces with more colorful items but for the purpose of this post I really wanted to stick to strictly thrifted items. 

Left outfit: Black Merona Skirt (Target clearance, $12), Gap boots (Gap Outlet, $1.95), black blazer (A. Byer, gifted)
Middle outfit: NY Collection shirt (Goodwill, $3.49), grey Ilyse Hart Ltd skirt (Salvation Army, .79), black Cable and Gauge cardigan (Goodwill, $3.49). boots (Gap Outlet $1.95), watch (eBay, $3.99)
Right outfit: Merona top (Stuff Etc, $1.99), necklace (eBay, $4.99), skirt, boots and watch same as previous. 

My favorite find the above three is the gray (or is it grey..?) skirt. It fits perfectly in the waist and comes just above my knee (my fellow short people can attest to this being a semi-rare find). Plus, it's 100% wool which makes it great for the colder months. Fun fact: I wore this exact middle outfit to an interview aaaaand got the job, so I'm proud to say it's got some extra luck woven in from here on out :).

Also, the 1.49 boots from Gap Outlet? Not a typo. Found them years ago at an after-Christmas sale--best purchase EVER. I wear them all the time, I'm not sure how they're still in tact.

Left outfit: Black La Belle shift dress (Salvation Army, $2), black A. Byer blazer (gifted), Charlotte Russe booties (Plato's Closet, $7)
Middle outfit: Black Merona top (Stuff Etc, $1.99), The Limited red skirt (Salvation army, $2), Roommates cat (free)
Right outfit: Black Saville blazer (Goodwill, $4.49), turquoise New York & Company button down (Goodwill, $3.59), pants (…have been in my closet forever) 

My favorite find in this second set is  the black shift dress (left) that I found at a Salvation Army for less than $2--the picture doesn't really give it justice as you can't see it too well, but it's so versatile and I love the classic cut. I've worn it plain (it's sleeveless underneath the blazer), with colored cardigans, with tights…my only complaint would be the amount of cat hair it attracts, but then again most of my wardrobe fights the same battle. Other than that, two thumbs up!

Of course, not all of these outfits are career-fair worthy--but I could see myself wearing them in a work setting. My main point here was dressing professionally doesn't have to be expensive. I spent less than $10 on almost all the outfits above, and I'd like to think that you can't tell. I'd encourage you to go out and give Goodwill and Salvation Army a try if you're looking for some variety in your business wardrobe--you just might be surprised at what you come by! 

Thrift OOTD

I'm a sucker for black and white. It's classy, easy to find matching accessories (in this case I used my roommates cat, but you could also use something more practical like a purse), and never goes out of style. Last week I found this Banana Republic chiffon shirt at Goodwill for $3 and I absolutely love it! It's hard to see in the pictures, but it has a few delicate ruffles in the front along with some unique "petal" action happening with the sleeves. Today, I chose to wear it with leggings (because I'm short and most normal sized shirts end up being long enough for me to do so), but I also think it'd be cute paired under a blazer with dress pants for a business professional look or tucked into a skirt. Since it's cold out today, I left it untucked and wore it with a longer black cardigan to make it more suitable for the whole winter thing. I probably have at least five more black and white thrifted chiffon shirts stowed away somewhere in my closet, but who knows when you might need that sixth one…! :)

Shirt: Banana Republic (Goodwill, $3)

I have to admit that I'm new to this whole blogging thing and was at a loss on how to display clothes on here! I'm not a huge fan of selfies and spent forever trying to make my clothing look exciting hanging on a wall (top right picture) but after looking at the results, I decided it wasn't going to cut it. You know when you're shopping and find something that doesn't look too exciting hanging on a hanger but know it has potential to look better once you try it on? I'm running into that problem a lot here. I finally gave in to the dreaded selfies…we'll see if they stick around. Let me know which display you like better, or if you have an entirely different idea. I'm up for anything!!