High Fashion on a Low Budget, Part 2

All of us are a bit more budget-conscious these days. Here are five more ways you can save money getting the styles you love.

5. Shop It To Me

Shop It To Me is what happens when the Sunday sale pages from your local newspaper get personalized for you. This is how it works: you go to their site and create a profile of brands you love and they scour e-shopping sales and send you pictures and prices of things you might like. Sign up to receive updates as often as you like (or can handle) getting an inbox full of things you want to buy.

4. Independent Designers

Independent designers don’t always have the caché of the bigger names, but you can pay a lot less for a high quality garment from an independent designer than a commercialized one. Why? ADVERTISING. Independent designers don’t buy glossy pages in W or hire teams of publicists, so their price point stays lower, and in general, the customer service is a lot more customized. Etsy is my favorite source for independent designs. I recently purchased this gorgeous cocktail dress from independent designer, Desira Pesta, for $298, and had it custom-fitted for an extra $50. That’s less than $350 total for a custom-fitted handmade dress. Try getting a deal like that at Gucci!

Circus Dress by Desira Pesta. Photo Credit: Desira Pesta

3. Designer Discount Retailers

Designer Discount Retailers purchase overstock from designers and sell it for way less than the designers want to sell it for in their own stores. This is a great way to buy gorgeous clothes if you can be flexible about what you’re looking for. My favorites are:

Bluefly: I have purchased more from Bluefly than from any other single retailer in the past several years. They carry everything from Seven jeans to Valentino gowns, all at at least 20% 0ff retail. Online only.

Loehmann’s: Always has a great selection of lower-end designer clothing, like Free People, Anthropologie, etc. Sometimes they carry more expensive things, but the selection is off-and-on. Stores nationwide.

Century 21: Mecca for recessionistas. Every designer you’ve ever heard of at prices you wouldn’t believe. This place has the atmosphere of a wrestling ring, so be prepared to fight for that last pair of Rodarte tights. Only in/around New York City.

DSW: Amazingly diverse selection of designer shoes, great for shopping from the highest of the high-end to finding a cheap pair of Chuck Taylors. Stores nationwide.

2. Get on the Mailing List

This sounds simple, but the very best way to find out about sales at the stores you love is to be on their mailing list. This works whether the store is online or otherwise. I left NYC almost three years ago, but every time there’s a sale at the Miyake store in TriBeCa, I get a beautiful little postcard from them. If you buy something from an online site, you will usually be placed on their mailing list by default. Make a list of your favorite stores, or places you would like to shop if you could afford to, and get on their mailing lists. You will find that your inbox stays, sometimes irritatingly, packed with deals.

1. Follow Trends Wisely. Use Cost Per Wear Analysis.

The best way to spend your clothing budget intelligently is by knowing the difference between what you like today and what you will wear forever. Cost Per Wear Analysis is a fancy way of figuring out how much you are going to use something. For example, if you love love love the new Love Story handbag line by Marc Jacobs (and who doesn’t?), take a second to stop and think about how often you would use this $1,895 tote:

Marc Jacobs Big Heart Tote. Photo Credit: Marc Jacobs

If you are  going to use this bag every day for the next two years, then at 730 wears, the Cost Per Wear is about $2.60, which is pretty worthwhile. But if you are only going to use this bag once a week for the next two months (and really, unless this bag really speaks explicitly to your personal style, how often are you going to use a giant pink tote covered in hearts?), then the cost per wear goes up to $236! Yikes.

You don’t actually have to do this math to make it work for you. Just think about how often you are going to wear something when you buy it. Here’s the easy version of the equation:

Things that you wear more often should cost more money. Things that you will only wear a few times should cost less.

In case you missed the first part of this series, check out these high fashions on a low budget.

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