While I once was squarely in the realm of “Clothing is to Cover and Nothing More” (probably since my dreams were solely in archaeological field work…I’m getting there!), having an office job has quickly jolted me from that position. I don’t want to be either the Kid or the Slob, and though I sometimes still dress like both (*quarters for the laundry*, grumble, grumble), I’ve still taken a deeper interest in fashion over the past year.
So, a little while back, when when we had a party to go to in the heart of Boston, well! That was just too good an opportunity to pass up. However, I did not have $500 to spend on (on-sale) Marc Jacob shoes and a dress from the Banana Republic with accessories from some Newbury Street shop. Nor did I really even want to spend $100.00.
After a few dead-ends (Macy’s with a huge coupon, Express, Banana R. Clearance, etc.) I went into H&M. Now I’d originally passed by H&M since I had tried on practically everything in the store on a previous trip–or so I thought. I found a nice belted black satin dress that was not only a dead-ringer for Michelle Obama style, but was only $35.00. At that price point, I had a bit of extra room, so I threw in a pack of silver bangles for $5.90 as well. A quick stop to Payless found me a pair of shiny faux-patent-leather-faux crocodile high heels (with a pair of maroon tights half off for a later occasion) that completed the ensemble for $24.90. That was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I don’t like shoe shopping (I own 3 pr. of dress shoes, 1 pr. of sneakers, 1 pr. of everyday shoes and 5 pairs of flip flops that you can see the floor through the bottoms), so since I actually liked…no really, almost loved, this pair, I thought them highly worth it.
And so it was that I had a brand-new outfit I loved for only $65.80. And since the dress & shoes were black, they can be re-used season after season!
I do love fashion, but I especially love re-usable, cheap, and chic fashion!
