Jeans for 99 Cents & Other Consignment Store Deals

Consignment stores offer value and selection. That's what my sister Debra discovered after she complained about the cost of maternity clothes at a national chain. A fashionable co-worker shared her money-saving secret:

Try consignment shops, which include items that are new with original tags. Shopping with a friend, my sister purchased a wardrobe of affordable maternity outfits and school clothes for a 10-year-old boy at a well-organized consignment store. Here's how they filled the shopping bag.

• Red-tag specials. Consignment and thrift stores have weekly specials, including red-tag sales on different categories of merchandise. For example, my sister and her friend found several outfits, including jeans and school clothes, for a total of $12. The price included a 50-percent discount from the weekly red-tag special. The affordable clothes were ideal for the pre-teen, who had outgrown his last wardrobe within months.

• Fruitful deals. At one national chain, my sister found a pair of maternity jeans for $79. At the consignment store, Debra found six pair of jeans and dress slacks, in excellent condition, for $10.20 and a pair of maternity denim shorts for 99 cents. At those prices, my sister was able to splurge on a wardrobe that she would need for less than a year.

• Seasonal garments. Consignment stores are an excellent place to hunt for ski clothes and other specialty outfits that may have been barely or never worn. For example, at one upscale consignment store, a friend spotted a full selection of ski clothes for pre-teens and teenagers. The deals included an insulated overall set for $12.

• Designer fashions. At one consignment store in a fashionable shopping district, I've found designer clothes, including Chanel bags, Prada dresses and Manolo Blahnik shoes. The prices are steep, but far less than the full retail prices at designer outlets.
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Sharon is the author of the Frugal Duchess: How to Live Well and Save Money and a contributing writer in Wise Bread's 10,0001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget.

Prom Dress for $10 & a $370 Dress for My Book Party? Nah!

I've been agonizing over the right dress -- frugal & fashionable-- for my upcoming book launch party. (June 12th at Books & Books in South Beach.) I almost (gasp!) broke down and purchased a $130 dress (the Belted Bubble Dress) from the Armani Exchange. One problem: I would need to buy two versions of the same dress in order to make one dress that is modest enough for my lifestyle.

Going to a seamstress to create sleeves and a new, longer hemline would cost another $100+. Bottom Line: I would spend nearly $400 for a dress for my South Beach party.

Thank Goodness, Marshalls rescued me: I found a $20 dress that is so cute and will require only a minimum amount of adjustments. (I purchased a second dress for $20, just in case I need the extra fabric.)

Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other thrift stores are also a source of affordable fashion. Check out this release from the Goodwill in my area. The same logic applies to other areas of the country. Here's the release:

FRUGAL FASHION FINDS SALES ARE BRISK AT SALVATION ARMY FAMILY STORES: PROM DRESSES FROM $9.99-$29.99

"The housing crunch, rising gas prices and lack of consumer confidence in the economy are causing more families to drastically cut back and curtail their spending. According the Salvation Army, all six Salvation Army Family Stores in Broward County and the four in Miami Dade are seeing an increase in customers who want name brand labels at a low cost for their growing families.

"Everyone's a winner and everyone gets a deal when it comes to shopping for bargains at the Salvation Army Family Super Stores," said Melissa Zegans, Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center Stores Supervisor.

Many of the items are either new or gently used but in excellent condition. 100% of the proceeds from sales at the Salvation Army Family Super Store go directly to the operation of The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centers.
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Recycled Cinderella: Same Outfits, Different Holiday Balls

Who cares if you wore that same outfit to last year's holiday party: "No one goes crazy and says: You had that on last year," my dad tells me. In fact, for a recent holiday party, my mom wore a 10-year-old red suit that was purchased for a retirement party. No one else knew or cared. The outfit was expensive at the time, but a decade later the suit still sings: "I got so many compliments," said my mother after returning from the party.

Cinderella had a fairy godmother and I have my parents, who provide lots of advice about recycling party outfits. I've needed their magic wand. In the last few weeks, I've been on the party circuit: 3 weddings, 2 bar mitzvahs and a few other dressy events.

And for the last seven events, I've trotted out the same three outfits: two embroidered silk suits and one long black skirt, with a bolero jacket. By the way, all three outfits (designer labels) are hand-me downs, from either relatives or wealthy friends. I've learned about the art of recycling formal wear from my mom and dad. "We make use of things we already own. We don't go out and buy something new every week," my father says.

Here are M&D's rules for dressing for formal events without spending a lot.

1. Check out your closet. "The first thing you need is a clean closet so that you know what you have." That's my mom quoting Suze Orman. This advice makes sense, my mom says, adding that through better organization, she has learned to stop buying the "same thing over and over." That saves money.

2. Organize clothes & shoes by color: A whole new wardrobe emerged when my mom started to arrange her outfits by color. She had a clearer picture of what she owned and which pieces worked well with others. She's even done that with her shoes and that bit of color coordination has saved money because she realized that she had way too many black shoes and didn't need to shop for more.

3. Play dress up: Try it on. Mix it up. Create your own dress rehearsals.

4. Play with accessories: Dollar Stores, thrift stores, discount chains are all great sources for playful jewelry, dress-up pieces and trendy items. "I just change up accessories," says my dad. "I just switch around." With the same basic suit, he'll wear different ties, shirts, etc. By mixing it up, he creates a new look.

5. Purchase quality basics: Although my mom will pickup accessories on the cheap, she enjoys shopping for quality for the basics: the dress, the suit, the slacks. "Buy things that you really like and feel comfortable in," she says. Above all, make sure the garment fits.

6. Don't dress for praises: "People don't look at the details of what you're wearing," she says. "They look at your overall appearance and the fit of your clothes." And if by some weird chance someone notices that your outfit has been recycled: "I would say so what!?!," my dad says.

7. Avoid trendy items. Wear elegant, but non-basic clothing.

8. Buy vintage fashion at a (real) thrift store. My parents love the Goodwill outlet near their home. Some of the items --especially the formal clothes -- are new or barely worn. (My father, however, scorns used shirts or pants, which may be too worn for another wearing.

9. Buy a fun outfit on eBay. I've seen amazing formal wear at eBay for less than $10, including shipping.

10. Party with strangers: My parents have gotten extra mileage by wearing the same outfit to different events with different crowds of friends and strangers.

My Previous Posts

Today:

Saving Money with CFLs: A Formula for Bright Lights & Lower Expenses

Yesterday:

My Jane Austen Biz Plan: 10 Smart Career Moves: An English Major's Aria

Brewing Ideas in the Hot Tub & Other Tips from Carnival of Smarter Investing

Turn Garbage Into Liquid Cash: Save 1000s of Gallons of Water

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Part 2: Frugal Tips from GQ's List of 25 Most Stylish Films

Classic Hollywood films have great tips on dressing well without spending a fortune. That's the insight I acquired after reading "The 25 Most Stylish Films of All Time," by GQ magazine. A little while ago, I featured the first half of the list, here's the rest.

How to Steal a Million, director: William Wyler 1966

Stars: Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn

Style Tip: Excellent fit makes you look like a million.

Due to precise fit, even in a bathrobe O'Toole looked "suave." Here's the style verdict from GQ:

"He looks so fluidly elegant, you almost--almost--don't notice his magnetic costar Audrey Hepburn dressed head to toe in Givenchy." --GQ

In the Mood for Love, director: Wong Kar-Wai 2000

Stars: Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung

Style tip: Hair and attitude matter.

The characters wore beautiful suits and traditional Chinese qipaos, but their hair and attitude grabbed even more attention.

The Harder They Come, director: Perry Henzell 1973

Star: Jimmy Cliff

Style Tip: You don't need a big budget to look good.

As a classic reggae film, the movie was shot on "an extremely tight budget."

• The cast wore clothes from their own closets.


• "Cheap local stores" in Jamaica provided additional garments.


• The film's costume designer imitated high-end fashion by buying a black fake-leather jacket and a fake alligator skin cap.

Also Mentioned:

Blowup, director: Michelangelo Antonioni 1966

Godfather II director: Francis Ford Coppola 1974

Ocean's 11, director: Lewis Milestone 1960

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Frugal Tips from GQ's List of Most Stylish Films (Part 1)

Classic Hollywood films have great tips on dressing well without spending a fortune. That's the insight I acquired after reading "The 25 Most Stylish Films of All Time," by GQ magazine. Here's a partial list of the most stylish movies & the frugal tips about clothing.

1. Three Days of the Condor 1975

Director: Sydney Pollack

Starring: Robert Redford

The Look: College Professor/Intellectual

Frugal Lesson: You don't need a large wardrobe to make a style statement.

Evidence: "[Robert Redford] wore one outfit throughout the whole picture." --Sydney Pollack

2. Stranger Than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch 1984

The Look: Anti-fashion

Frugal Lesson: You don't need a big budget to dress with style. Don't follow the crowd.

Evidence: Fashion for the main characters came from the casts' personal closets.

"We were like 'Yeah, yeah, yeah--that's great. Nobody wears that.' " -Jim Jarmusch

3. Badlands by Terrence Malick 1973

The Look: Outlaws and outcasts

Frugal Lesson: Shop at thrift stores

Evidence: "Donna Baldwin dressed the cast in thrift store finds," CQ reported adding that star Martin Sheen used his own t-shirts and jeans for the movie.

4. Bullitt by Peter Yates 1968

The Look: Hard-driving, no-nonsense look for actor Steve McQueen

Frugal Lesson: Don't be a snob

Evidence: McQueen's wardrobe came from "someplace like Sears," said the costume director.

5. American Gigolo by Paul Schrader 1980

The Look: High-end elegance

Frugal Lesson: Reach for the unknown. Skip past the well-known designers.

Evidence: Giorgio Armani was just "an up and coming designer" when his clothes were selected for Richard Gere (one of my favorite actors). "He had tiny distribution at the time," said an Armani executive about the designer's status during that era.

6. Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino

The Look: Low-budget

Frugal Lesson: Cheap can work. It's all in the frame.

Evidence: The film maker and designer sought to: "keep it black, white, cheap and simple."

Although the suit worn by actor Harvey Keitel was a gift from Agnes B. (a French designer), "everything else came from vintage stores and bargain bins."

The Rest of the Stylish List:

Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick 1971

North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock 1959

Get Carter by Mike Hodges 1970

Diner by Barry Levinson 1982

Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard 1959

Purple Noon by Rene Clement 1960

Shaft by Gordon Parks 1971

Quadrophenia by Franc Roddam 1979

Rushmore by Wes Anderson 1998

A Hard Day's Night by Richard Lester 1964

Shampoo by Hal Ashby 1975

8 1/2 by Federico Fellini 1963

I'll have the rest of the list tomorrow.

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Angelina Jolie's $26 Dress & My Best Cheap Fashion Tricks

Angelina Jolie recently wore a $26 dress to a Red Carpet event. Her shoes, however, cost over $1,000, according to press reports. Nevertheless, I give Jolie high marks for her frugal fashion choice and she picked a great dress.

Here are the details from Hollyscoop.com:

"Angelina Jolie stepped out with her man Brad for her "A Mighty Heart" premiere in a $26 vintage dress but dressed it up with a pair of $1000+ Christian Louboutin shoes. Jolie told Access Hollywood that she found the crushed velvet black frock at the vintage store Wasteland on Melrose Avenue in LA." source: Hollyscoop.com

Her fashion choice sparked rave reviews. Here are a few samples:

The Celebrity Cafe, StyleDash and Damn I'm Cute.

Unlike Jolie I can't combine frugal fashion with expensive shoes, but here are:

My Best Five Cheap Fashion Tricks

1. Borrow clothes from a friend with a great closet or try the HMD (Hand me Down) store. Get give-aways from well-groomed, fashion friendly pals.

2. Find second-hand (thrift, consignment, vintage) stores in upscale neighborhoods. I know an older woman who loves to go the Goodwill and Red, White & Blue stores in wealthy areas. Her reasoning: Better Zoned Donations.

3. Shop off-season for classic garments. I found a well-made $129 skirt for $29 and a $99 outfit for $9 at Anthropologie during an end-of-season sale.

4. Make friends with the salesclerks. One store manager gave me her markdown schedule and once tracked down a past-season tweed skirt that a customer had returned. The skirt (still new) was unworn, but marked down to $6 because it was a year-old.

5. Stop stressing about the clothes and buy a great tube of lipstick, a cute hair ornament or unusual jewelry. I've even dressed up an old dress with a new hair cut or hair style.

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Sarah Jessica Parker's New Line of $20 Clothes

Sarah Jessica Parker -- fashion maven and queen of high-ticket, high-heel ($500) pumps -- now advocates "affordable fashion," according to the June 8 edition of People.com.

Her new clothes hang-up makes cents because Parker has launched her own line of affordable clothes. The Chicago Tribune reports that Parker's new clothes line Bitten, for the Steve & Barry’s stores features an extensive selection of garments for $20 an under. The photo on this post features a sample from her line.

"You should be able to have affordable, quality fashion," the actress told PEOPLE.

Parenting Magazine offered this review of Bitten and recently named the line one of its top editor's picks. Here's a short snippet of the review.

"While everything's stylin', nothing in the line costs more than $20. And the sizes range from 0 to 22, so you'll get a great fit for your body, not just your budget. ($20 and under; available at: Steve & Barry's stores nationwide)."

The Budget Fashionista has also been tracking this thrifty line from Parker.

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Hot & Used Gowns for the Oscars, Public School Rip-off: Midday News Wrap

An inside look at the Costco "treasure hunt," a public school rip-off on Wall Street and a few items about falling home prices. Those are a few of the stories in my daily news wrap. My personal favorite is a Vanity Fair piece about the hot market for used gowns at the Oscars. Old has become the new black.

Here's the roundup:

Deal or No Deal? Is Costco really a bargain?

Small businesses are big customers at Costco, but the company also has managed to make discount shopping fashionable for affluent Americans by offering fine wines, books and big-screen televisions at low prices, and staples such as paper towels and razor blades in bulk.

2. Real Estate: More weakness in the home sector.

Many economists are worried that the housing bust, which followed a five-year boom, could be a prolonged one as sellers struggle to reduce record levels of unsold homes.

3. New York Times report: Falling homes prices:

The biggest price declines were concentrated primarily in two kinds of cities: the formerly booming markets along the coasts and in the Southwest, and in Midwest and Northeast cities hurting from the loss of manufacturing jobs. The biggest declines, for instance, were in Florida — Sarasota-Bradenton (down 18 percent), Palm Bay-Melbourne (17 percent) and Cape Coral-Fort Myers (11.7 percent). The declines in prices were especially steep for condominiums.

4. Our aging brains: Bonus points for getting older

An emerging body of research shows that a surprising array of mental functions hold up well into old age, while others actually get better. Vocabulary improves, as do other verbal abilities such as facility with synonyms and antonyms. Older brains are packed with more so-called expert knowledge -- information relevant to your occupation or hobby. (Older bridge enthusiasts have at their mental beck-and-call many more bids and responses.) They also store more "cognitive templates," or mental outlines of generic problems and solutions that can be tapped when confronting new problems.

5. Broken Vows: How Public Schools Were Ripped by Wall Street.

Wall Street created $7 billion in bonds for housing and schools. The tax-exempt deals were a ruse; banks and advisers collected millions in fees and investment gains. The public got nothing.

6. Fashionistas & The Oscars: The Bullish Market for Used Gowns from Vanity Fair (at MSNBC.com)

With so many beautiful, new gowns available, why would actresses continually opt for something, well, old? “It’s a surefire way of protecting your individuality, and it lends mystery and allure to an actress," says Cosgrave. “You can’t just look at her and say, ‘Oh, that’s an Armani, that’s a Valentino.’”

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Sienna Miller: The Star Power of Borrowed & Vintage Fashion

Why pay for the dress if you can borrow it? Why buy new, if a vintage (translation: "used") outfit looks great? That's the wisdom that I picked up from this recent red carpet photo of Sienna Miller in People magazine.

Miller is snapped in a vintage dress and she also loves borrowing the clothes from the wardrobe department of her latest movie.

Sienna Miller does the shimmy shake in a vintage dress at the New York premiere of her film Factory Girl on Monday. "I love the clothes!" the actress told PEOPLE about the movie's '60s-inspired wardrobe. "I haven't actually gotten to keep any yet, but I'm working on it. --Sienna Miller in People

But it's not just stars that have the luxury of stepping out in frugal, but fashionable clothes. The other day, one of my neighbors appeared in a super outfit.
She told me that it was from the HMD (Handy Me Down) Boutique, in other words, a gift from a friend.

Likewise, for a relative's wedding, I wore a borrowed gown. After the night was over, I dry cleaned the dress and returned it. The benefit: limited cost on my part and I don't have to wear the same gown again.
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Luxury For Less: Tom Ford Chats about Cheap Chic

Low prices are the latest trend in high fashion. That's the word from Fashion Guru Tom Ford (formerly of Gucci). Ford offered his overview of Frugal Fashion trends in a recent article from the Wall Street Journal.

Here's a snippet of his comments.

"With Target, for example, you go in there and find something that is a great price and wonderful for its intrinsic value. This is democratization of fashion. I love this high-low concept," he says, adding: "There is all this accessibility -- everything is now online."

Signs of Cheap Chic as spotted by the WSJ:

*$69 frocks from designer Vera Wang, who usually makes red-carpet gowns (at eye-popping prices) for celebrities.

*The expansion of upscale designer names at low-priced stores such as Target and Wal-Mart

* The popularity of high-fashion at low-ticket vendors such as H&M

My own insights:
Designer fashions are often wildly overpriced. There's a huge price difference between the cost of production and store price tags. Marketing and Advertising usually add to the price tag. I wrote about that subject in this article for the Budget Fashionista.

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Recycled Fashion with Supermodel Kate Moss

Supermodel and style icon Kate Moss is always well turned out. I love her style: understated and very elegant. Between designer freebies, clothes loans, fashion industry perks and her own shopping sprees, Moss has a seemingly unlimited supply of clothes.

Therefore, I enjoyed seeing Moss featured in the "I Really Love My..." section of People magazine, in which Paparazzi snapped Moss recently wearing the same tunic shirt in different settings. It was quite a fashion statement: Equal doses of creativity, frugality and attitude go a long way in the fashion recycling business.

"NAVY TUNIC

The ever-stylish Kate Moss gets the most out of her velvet bow-trimmed navy tunic by pairing it with shorts and skinny pants while out and about in N.Y.C. and London.
source: People Online"

What's more, People magazine provides a link to a store, Forever21.com which features a $16 look-a-like version of the shirt worn by Moss. Honestly, the look-a-like is not as cute, but it works.

I have a little black YSL Bolero jacket -- a hand-me down from a wealthy friend-- that I wear everywhere from Miami Heat games to black-tie parties. Of course, I'm no Kate Moss, but my little multi-tasking black jacket serves me well.

In fact, I'm wearing that designer jacket in the head shot on my blog.


Here are links to a few of my favorite frugal fashion sites or blogs.

The Cheap Chica

Diva on a Dollar

The Budget Fashionista

Frugal Fashionista


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Natty, but Cheap. Thrift-Store Tricks from a CQ Fashion Insider

How do you shop at Salvation Army, Goodwill and no-name thrift stores, but still look like something that stepped off the glossy pages of an upscale fashion magazine like GQ (Gentlemen's Quarterly Magazine)?

I discovered a few answers to that question quite by accident when I picked up the November issue of GQ, which featured a cover shot of Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade. The entire issue, dedicated to sports legends and superstars, offers excellent profiles and smart features. Check it out at the library.

My favorite piece was a savvy and surprisingly frugal article called "The Art of Wearing Vintage." The article features fashion maven Derrick Miller, creative director of New York-based Barker Black shoes.

The author of the piece --The Sartorialist (www.thesartorialist.com) -- is "shocked" that Miller wears vintage (translation: thrift-store garments) but always looks as if his outfits are "tailor-made for him." Miller and his brother both look natty, but nice in the photo by Scott Schuman, who also wrote the piece.

The GQ question for Miller:
Q. How do you shop at thrift stores and "not end up looking like a dorky college student?"

Here are the style tips that answered that question:


1. Avoid Vintage stores, which are usually overpriced, Miller said. He loves going to the Salvation Army in upscale neighborhoods, even when he's on vacation.

2. Shop for quality fabrics.


3. Don't obsess about labels. If something is ugly or looks terrible on you, a fashionable, trendy or expensive label will not change that harsh fact. Put the ugly thing back.

4. Fondle the sweaters: "If you're hunting for sweaters, this is the one time it pays to touch every piece in the store."


5. Obsess about buttonholes and shirt-patterns: Make sure buttonholes work and are not frayed. Seek out shirt patterns you like.

6. Socks and underwear: Don't buy used socks and underwear!!!

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