Find It Cheaper Wednesday: 1st Edition: A More Affordable Alternative to Burberry's Wrap Front Silk Blend Dress

In my shopping lately, I've been finding some beautiful designer items that I know I can't afford so I thought maybe I should do a weekly blog post where I find more affordable solutions to current trends.  I know that several magazines do this already, as do many blogs, etc., so this is nothing new in the fashion world.  However, it has always bothered me that a lot of these places will take items that cost thousands of dollars and replace them with items that are still several hundred dollars.  Yes the more affordable items are significantly cheaper, but I don't feel like they are realistically affordable to the real, average woman.  Or at least they aren't to me and I don't think they are to many self proclaimed fashionistas my age.

So for today I have Burberry:

This safari style, wrap front, silk blend dress is $795.  Not a ridiculous price in terms of designer wear but still steep for the average Jane.  Dress can be found here.

The alternative I've found:

This belted trench dress from Banana Republic made of modal, rayon blend.  This one comes in at $140 which still could be considered high but Banana Republic has a sale going from now until the 8th that dresses, shorts, and polos are 40% off so that would bring this down to $84.  That's a pretty good deal, especially when compared to the Burberry dress above.  Total savings would be $711 or nearly 90% off and the dress is a pretty good alternative in design, textile, and quality... At least in my opinion.  Dress can be found here.

I just have one for today but more to follow soon...

Arts Festival and Accessories

Over the weekend I went to the Utah Arts Festival with my mom.  There were a lot of cool booths and I got inspiration of things to share with you.

I love when people have an idea, and can execute it well.  I love crafted, handmade, things, IF they are well made and don't look cheap or hand made.  Does that make sense?  If you are going to craft things and sell them, the quality should be good enough that others won't know that it's hand made.  No offense to kindergardners and their cute craft projects, but when I buy something, I don't want it to resemble those...

What are things that I loved from the festival?

The first booth that we went to was Mistura Designs (www.Mistura.com).

Eco watches.  Made of wood, leather, plant matter, recycled materials, etc.  These were very well crafted and very cool!  I would have loved to have bought one but they aren't exactly cheap (I believe they said they run from about $140 - $250) and I am broke.  They are very cool though.  The clasps and faces of the watches (except for the recycled ones) are carved wood. The watches are light, durable, and very comfortable.  You can see the different styles below.

Next on the list (and the list doesn't necessarily mean order of what I thought was best.  Just a list at random), You Got Mojo (www.yougotmojo.bigcartel.com).

They make jewelry out of metal from cars.  Above are necklaces and below are rings.  They also do mens accessories, bracelets, earrings, etc.  They are delicate and have a southwestern/modernness to them that is pretty cool.

Next up is Fat Cat Jewelry Studio (www.FatCatJewelryStudio.com).  Similar to the above, they make re-purposed jewelry but instead of from cars, their metal comes from vintage tins.  They had some cool things.  I was especially drawn to their bracelets.

This picture is one I took at the festival.  I love the bracelets.  I wish I had shown all of the one on the left.  It's a logo and I can't remember what it was for exactly.  Lemon Heads, Lemon cookies...., IDK, something.  I checked out their website and I don't feel like it was necessarliy the best website out there, which isn't bad but if I were going to buy from them, I would go to their Etsy store rather than their website to do so.  You can find that at: www.etsy.com/shop/fatcatjewelrystudio.  They had a cute business card too.  I'm loving it.  It's about 2" square (shown with another for size comparison):

Next is Bykali (www.bykali.etsy.com).  Up-cycled, unique belts and jewelry.  I believe I've seen these guys at the festival in past years and have always been impressed by their work.  Very creative and original and the quality seems to be great so that's even better.  Below is a picture of a belt and belt buckle that they sell. You can see that it's washers and nails.  Very fun.  Doesn't look how you wold expect if you were to just explain these to someone.

And the last one from the festival that I'm going to tell you about is, Octavia Bloom (www.octaviabloom.etsy.com).  Handmade jewelry.  Mostly bead-works from what I saw.  I am not normally too impressed with bead jewelry as most of what you find at craft fairs and things like that are not great quality and seem pretty elementary.  However, I did like these designs quite a bit.  They are delicate, simple, and have a soft, feminine feel.

I believe in supporting local artisans, craftspeople, small businesses, etc.  You can find more unique, one of a kind pieces when you shop that way.  Plus, it's just nice to support people that are trying to make it doing something they love.  I wish I had enough focus to come up with a plan for something like that.  My problem is that I have to broad of a range of interests so I can't seem to pick just one thing and stick with it.  Maybe one day....

One last thing before I call it a day on here:

There's a craft blog that I sometimes like to read called Stars for Streetlights.  You can read it at: www.StarsForStreetlights.com.  Some of her projects are really cool and some others I'm not very crazy about but I think that is just the nature of crafting in general.  Anyway, she posted Friday about something she's partnering with a start up craft company for.  It's for a magazine purse kit, see below (picture stolen from her blog):

I think that these are actually pretty cool.  You can buy the kit at: http://www.darbysmart.com/projects/magazine-clutch for $29, which I feel is pretty reasonable for the kit.  The kit comes with the current Vogue magazine.  I'm not in love with the cover so that doesn't excite me too much but it would be cool to do with a different cover.... not sure what exactly but I'm sure you could find something cool that matches your personality (and she talks about that on the site).  The site says that there are only 164 kits available left, so if you want one, you might need to jump on it.

That's it for today.  Support small businesses, crafters, local stores, etc. :)

Accessories, Accessories, Accessories

I've wanted to talk about accessories since day 1 but haven't quite known where to start.  I've taken a little time to think about it and am going to wing it so hopefully I manage to get the point across how I intend.

Most people know that accessories can make or break and outfit and can take you from "blah" to "wow" but accessorizing can be a lot harder than it seems like it should be.  I mean, all you have to do is throw on a necklace, a hat, shoes, something right?  What's so hard about that?

Well, there are a lot of things to think about.  What's the occasion?  What look are you going for?  Do your accessories match the style of your outfit?  How to combine prints and colors?  Etc.  But really, accessorizing isn't as hard as we make it out to be.

Start with your outfit.  Now, where are you going?

Work?  Wear practical shoes, either heel or flat, just something you are comfortable in and is appropriate for your work.  Good accessories for work are cardigans or blazers.  Keep jewelry keyed down for work.  Some good work outfits and accessory examples are:

Accessory wise, there isn't much to this outfit.  A simple cardigan, black heels, a belt, and a watch.  Easy.  But still a fun outfit.

I love this outfit.  Love the sharp lines on the blazer.  Simple necklace, bracelets, watch, belt, clutch.  Again, not too much to it right?

I could post dozens of examples for work but I think you can get the idea.  For work, keep it classy, keep it simple.

Date night is a little more fun.  You can use more accessories, brighter colors, just have more fun with it in general.  You still don't want to overdo it but you have a little more flexibility.

This outfit is fun for a casual date.  A statement necklace and a belt.  Super easy.

I love this outfit.  I could go from work to a night out pretty easily.  Work with a blazer and probably some different shoes. Date night, lose the blazer, sexy shoes.  Super easy.  You could add a necklace or some earrings.  Easy to put together and looking hot!

Summer casual?  Hanging out, shopping, going to the beach, luncheons, etc.

Simple eyelet dress is amped up with a belt, bracelets, a hat, simple jewelry.  Very cute.

Blazer, belt, bracelets, shoes.  Effortless but very polished and put together.

Accessorizing is easy, takes little time, but makes a huge difference.  Just keep colors, patterns, and proportions in mind.  Don't mix big, loud prints with more big, loud prints.  Aim for solids or simple prints instead (and yes, it is OK to mix prints with prints within reason).

Still not sold on accessories completely changing the look of an outfit?  Check out The Uniform Project (http://www.theuniformproject.com/year1/home/monthly/June.html).  A woman wears the same dress every day for a year and just styles it differently every day.  Some of her outfits are interesting to say the least, but it goes to show how differently you can make the same thing look depending on what you pair it with.  Here's an example of 10 days worth of her outfits:

I am sure I will do more posts on accessories in the future (I already am planning one dedicated to scarves), but I think this is a good, basic overview of accessories and the effect they can have.  Have fun accessorizing, but also keep it simple.  It's very easy to over accessorize and that can make you look like a little kid playing dress up (or worse, like a cheap hooker - that may have more to do with makeup than anything else but accessories can get you there too).

Side note, I pulled all my example pictures from Pinterest.  I generally try to search the pins back to their original source so I can give credit where credit is due, but I didn't have time for that today so I apologize for that and if anyone knows the source of the above photos, feel free to leave that info in a comment below.  I'll do my best to avoid doing this in the future.

"A woman makes an outfit her own with accessories." Oscar de la Renta

One last thing, Banana Republic is doing a giveaway right now.  You can win a $1000 gift card there, a 2 night trip to one of two locations, and a Fiat 500.  Enter here: http://on.fb.me/13qpRRI.  You can enter every day this month so be sure to enter daily :)