At Style School even the hottest of messes can learn a thing or two about how to strut the streets with just a little bit more style in their step. But here at Style School, we like to take things one stiletto at a time, so let's begin with some basics.
Lesson 1: You Always have Something to Wear- A Lesson in Home Economics
When you look in your closet and you say to yourself, "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR. I DO NOT OWN ANY CLOTHES," that's a lie. You do have clothes. You have lots of clothes. Otherwise you would be naked everyday. And if you're a nudist exhibitionist, that's awesome, but otherwise nudity is uncool. In fact, nudity is illegal in most public places.
It's not that you have nothing to wear, it's that you are tired of wearing the clothes you have OR you feel like you don't have the appropriate clothing for the event you are going to. In most cases, this problem is easily solved. In my apartment, the clothing starved can borrow sick shoes, dresses, and handbags from their totally chic roomie. Unfortunately I don't live in everyone's house. Sorry.
But borrowing is always a great option, unsatisfying in my opinion, but great. The thing with borrowing is that the clothes aren't YOURS, so if you eff that shit up during a blackout drunk night, you're totally screwed. And what if your BFF's dress is totally hot on you and you want to wear it all the time, now you have to ask her before you do and make sure it's dry cleaned before you give it back, it's a hassle. Also, you may not have many people readily available to borrow from.
So if you hate to borrow, like me, then you can always re-invent. I find that when I have "nothing" to wear, I can take a dress or top that I probably wouldn't normally wear to an event and style it in a totally different way to make it work. Allow me to elaborate:
The "No Clothes" Issue: "I need an outfit that I can wear out to dinner with my parents that can also work for when I go to the lounge across the street to meet my friends for drinks after. I HAVE NO EFFING CLOTHES FOR THIS SHIT!!!!!!!"
The Solution via my Style Cookbook:
Recipe: Dinner outfit that can also work to go out in afterward
Ingredients- Sift through your closet for:
-a basic sun dress or even a beach cover up mini dress
-with your go-to black cardigan,
-tied together with a thick or thin black waist belt
-paired with black strappy heels.
Directions:
Wear dress with cardigan over it and leave it open. Wrap belt around your torso tying the separates together, fasten in front. Wear to dinner with parents and be classy. Take the sweater off when you get to the club and leave the belt with the sundress and heels. Wear at club, drink, dance, and be sassy. Repeat with as many different dress and cardigan combos as you like. Do not say you have nothing to wear ever again.
Note: Black is always a great color to use to accessorize with to make a regular day time outfit work for nighttime.
Now let's say that perhaps you don't have a basic black cardigan but you do have a basic black zip-up hoodie. You also have a black NorthFace fleece...do those work? NO, EW. That is disgusting. Save that hoodie shit for the gym. Save that North Face crap for when you go hiking. Bottom line: If you don't have a basic black cardigan, you need to get one. In fact, you should really have two. They are great for almost any time of year and they can pull a ton of looks together for you, no matter what your personal take on style is.
Oh wait, do I hear, "I don't wanna buy one, I don't have money for that right now. I would rather be ugly than spend money"? You're ridiculous. Shut up. There is NO excuse to be a frumpy ass at the Style School.
Please note that the dress and cardigan I picked out as examples in my style recipe are both made by a beachwear company called LucyLove. You can find the line at Pacific SunWear. I chose this line for two reasons:
1) It's a basic casual wear line that anyone can buy, anywhere. It's not by any means "fashion forward". But its realistic that any average person might have a simple dress or cardigan from this line. My point is that basic, non-couture pieces can LOOK super stylish without the price tag or the effort.
2) I recently went to an AMAZING Lucy Love warehouse trunk show at a super cute beach boutique called Holly Sharp in Corona Del Mar (Orange County), CA while on spring break. My friend got that exact black cardigan for $5. YEP. WHOLE SALE PRICES PEOPLE. Proof that sample sale savvy/bargaining instincts can get you what you need, but we will get more into the whole sample sale circuit later.
But seriously, even if there isn't a super amazing warehouse sale near you. Black cardigans and other basic black pieces are not hard to find and not that expensive. I do not suggest going the Forever21/H&M route with your basics though, because you really want them to last you as long as possible. To be honest, the Gap is an excellent source for basic pieces (ie: white button up shirt, basic black pant, khakis, etc). And right now they are on this whole Spring cardigan kick, so go there in six weeks and all that ish will be on the sale racks for DIRT cheap. Plus Gap clothes are truly made to be worn everyday since they are all about the basics, so the quality is better.
Lessons Learned:
- You actually DO have clothes in your closet
- Your own wardrobe is your best tool to use in order to style for less
- The sweetest fashions aren't always at the most fashionable stores
- When it comes to basics, it's okay to fall into The Gap
Stay in school and listen for next time when we put the savvy back into sample sales.
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