Clothes shopping as a college student can get really complicated. Clothes that do not cost as much cost fall apart. Clothes that are well made are so expensive. Where is the middle ground here?
How do you know when to save and when you should splurge?
When I was younger and had no bills I splurged A TON on clothes. It was great for like a year until I moved out and couldn’t do that anymore.
The expensive clothes that I bought were made to last, but I was in no position to keep them for as long as they would last.
My style has really evolved over the past couple years. I have gone from really goth to wannabe pinup to preppy maybe? Some pieces can be used for different styles: I still wear midi skirts from my pinup phase in order to make an outfit retro inspired. But I bought a lot of 1940s dresses which I doesn’t fit my style anymore.
Of course you always think your style will be the same forever, but you have to consider how versatile each piece is when thinking about splurging on it.
If it is something you are not sure about, can you find it cheaper?
There are so many cool ways to find clothes for less nowadays. Thrift shops are great if you have a general idea of what you want. I get very specific though so I look for the exact name on Poshmark. I am able to find a lot of the pricier items there for much less.
Can you find a similar one?
This is #1 thing I do. Learning the basic style names of clothes makes it very easy to find similar items. Such as: peter pan collar, houndstooth, gingham, midi skirt, pussy bow. The technical term narrows down the search significantly.
That is what I did with this outfit. For some reason, this style of dress is really hard to find/ is expensive when found. Unless it is a Wednesday Adams costume apparently.
I found this style of dress on one of my splurgy websites, but is it a style worth splurging on? For me, I did not think so. So I searched everywhere and found a similar one on amazon.
The first one comes with a belt, the second one does not but the second one was 35$ cheaper. I already had a belt so I added that to add a little bit more form to this outfit.
Dress, Similar Belt 1, Similar Belt 2, Similar Belt 3, Shoes
It is very similar to the more expensive dress. For me, it worked well because I was not looking for a dress to last years.
Also this is fast fashion, it is short termed cute outfits. Unfortunately this is what I can afford as a college student on a budget. But! You can take clothes that rip or break to H&M and they recycle the fabric.
Hopefully this is helpful!
Until next time,
Hailey
Lincoln's Side Style 