One of
best things about being The Budget Fashionista is ability to "help" love ones. I often get frantic calls from friends and family members- asking for help with a major fashion emergency- like "My boyfriend has finally decided to take me to Sunday brunch at his parents. It's Saturday night at 6pm. What do a wear?". I love helping my peeps look fabulous and out of bind- it makes me feel like a fashion version of Mother Teresa. My most recent pleasure was helping one of my dearest and arguably fashion deprived friend develop a professional closet. My friend, Monique, has been buried deep in recess of a hospital for past three years, finishing a residency in Orthopedic Surgery. Needless to say fashion is not at top of her do-to list, her closets consists of white coats, worn scrubs, and these tank top bra things that make her look like she has a "uni-boob". The girl needed help.
It is not like Monique doesn't have style- she has quite a bit. But her style is most suited for warm, tropical climate of her native Jamaica, rather than harsh winters of Connecticut. Plus, she doesn't have much time for pursuit of fashion between removing bullets from people's butts and reading thrilling works on treatment of scoliosis.
So, last week Monique called up and said "I have a big problem". Okay, I thought, she has finally snapped from all those hours spent under horrible fluorescent lights and wearing plastic clogs. As a made a mental list of possible attendees for upcoming intervention, she continued, "I have a free weekend and desperately need a professional wardrobe. Help!". Having not seen my friend since my wedding two years prior, I jumped at chance to spend sometime with her and willingly offered my services in exchange for lunch.
When I arrived in New Haven, first thing we did (after eating about a billion maki rolls) was to develop a budget. By some brilliant banking maneuvers, Monique was able to gather $600 for this new wardrobe. Our goal was to focus on quality, rather than quantity. She needed a wardrobe that would last her until May 2007, end of her residency.
This was our shopping list: -Bra's and new underwear (No matter how much money you have, always start with underwear.) -Layering tops (great for wearing under suit coat jackets, sweaters, and other t-shirts) -Black velvet suit jacket (Very sexy and slimming) -Basic Black Dress- (can dress it up or down) - Pair of earrings (something basic that could be worn professionally) -Shirts (white, black) -Pants (black, grey, brown) -Shoes (black boots, black heels) -One fun item/ shirt
We set out in Monique's 1989 Nissan/ Toyota/Hyundai ( It is so old that I don't think it had any label on it) to Westfarms Mall in central Connecticut. The main reason we chose this mall was because it had a Lord & Taylor and a Nordstrom- two key stores to look for when trying to build a professional closet on a budget.
We head to Nordstrom first because they were winding down their semi annual women's and children's sale with an additional 30%-50% off. At Nordstroms, we were able to pick up a pair of Ralph Lauren ( green label) pants on sale and had them tailored to perfection for $83.63. We decided to spend a little more on black pants, because she would wear them quite a bit. We also pick-up a pair of black suede pumps and knee-high black boots for $80.00 total. Total at Nordstrom: 163.63
