Stretching your wardrobe dollars in a recession

Just a few notes on style and the recession - with my focus on book deadlines, my blog is getting the leftovers. Sorry about that. I felt this topic was too important to ignore right now...

Since the downturn in the economy, we’ve learned a new term: “recessionista.”

While being a recessionista is all about learning how to be fashionable on a budget, to me, it’s not so much about scaling back what you buy and how you shop, but being smarter and more conscious about where your wardrobe dollars are going. It’s a great skill to have to protect your own wallet - regardless of what’s happening with the economy.

Investment Dressing

The first question to ask yourself – before you spend a cent is “Do I have the basics?” What constitutes the basics is pretty much based on your industry. Do you need suits or jackets, pants and skirts – or maybe even a few pairs of good jeans? These are your investment pieces. Everything else (including shirts and blouses) are your accessories.

Make sure that your basics are timeless – nothing that is too hip or trendy – and in basic colors like black, navy, brown, tan or gray.

One of my favorite tips is to only purchase something new if it goes with 3 other pieces in my wardrobe.

Buy fabrics that are year-round. Cotton pants and shirts and tropical-weight wool will stretch your wardrobe further.

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We’ve been told for years that when it comes to our wardrobe, less is more. Now it’s time to put that concept to work.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but cut out frivolous purchases. I see so many closets – both men’s and women’s – that have multiple items with the tags still on them. It’s sad because those were clothing dollars that could have been spent more wisely.

Never pay full price. Before you buy, do your research. Scope out where the sales are on what you need. Some men’s stores have two-for-one deals, and every weekend department stores have big sales. There really isn’t a need to pay retail for anything these days.

Change your stores

Do you tend to shop in stores within a certain price range? You do not generally lose quality in taking a step down to the next level of store. But you may save a decent amount of money.

In the Cleveland area, we are lucky enough to have Filene’s Basement and Nordstrom Rack, which are the discount versions of department stores. (Filene’s Basement is related to Macy’s.) You can find many of the same goods, but at a much lower price point by shopping at these locations.

Recession style isn’t about designer labels. A lot of people are still caught up in the idea that because there is a designer logo on an item, that means it’s better. In some instances, designer clothing is higher quality, but these days, many designer pieces are manufactured right along with non-designer brands.

If you still love and need your designer brands, try outlet shopping or buying them on ebay.

Spend more on items that last longer

Suits and shoes are two of the top items that I recommend investing in. Suits last much longer if you dry clean them every 3-4 wearings.

And be sure to care for those shoes! A $10-15 investment in cedar shoe trees prevent the leather from wrinkling and can help you get twice the wear out of your shoes. When your shoes wear out, take them to a shoe repair expert, and they will be almost as good as new.

Seek Professional Help

Are there items in your closet that don’t quite fit properly, but you think they can still be saved? Take them to a tailor! A good tailor can tell you if the piece can be salvaged, or if it’s something that should be replaced.

A professional wardrobe expert can also help you see your closet through a different set of eyes. Many men and women are surprised that they have exponentially more clothes than they think they do. We tend to get into a rut of putting the same items together over and over again to create outfits. Sometimes it’s just a matter of taking apart suits and using them as separate pieces, combining different items, and accessorizing. You can have a whole new wardrobe just by shopping in your own closet!

Accessorize

What the current economy is teaching everyone is what many of us have been doing all along – making our wardrobes go further with the inclusion of a variety of interesting accessories.

Women can quickly update an older outfit with accessories. I like shopping at discount stores for fun and trendy accessories – earrings, necklaces, scarves, even bags. You can pretty much change your accessories at whim and it doesn’t cost much.

Maintain what you have

If you’re used to spending every month to have your dress shirts laundered, an excellent investment is a professional steamer. In a short amount of time, you will have saved enough to pay for it, and will never have to pay for shirt laundering again.

You can even freshen up suits this way, between dry cleanings.

My 'Deep Throat' Memory - huh?

The death of the "real" Deep Throat from 'All the President's Men' brought back an old, repressed memory for me.

I am a Robert Redford fan. He played Bob Woodward in the movie. Remember?

And the actor Hal Holbrook played Deep Throat.

I met Mr. Holbrook way back in college. He was in town playing Willy Loman in 'Death of a Salesman' along with Steven Webber from 'Wings.'

I asked him what Redford was like. I can't remember his answer. Yes, I am an absolute dork.

Ironically, years later, I trained in wardrobe consulting with one of the people who dressed his wife Dixie Carter on Designing Women.

Probably should have asked him what it was like to be married to a Sugarbaker woman instead....

Maybe I wouldn't have seemed so stupid....


P.S. I also need to plug my favorite Watergate movie 'Dick.' Will Ferrell as Woodward is the best. Have you seen it?

I Wrap Better than Jay-Z

Like many of us, I eagerly wait every year for Christmas. You may be wondering why.

* Am I looking forward to seeing my family? Not particularly. I see them all the time.

* Is it for religious reasons? I would like to say yes, but in reality, not so much.

* Do I want a big pile of presents? Well, duh. But that’s not why.

The truth is, I WANNA WRAP PRESENTS. REALLY, REALLY BAD.

For this little elf, wrapping Christmas gifts is a once-a-year way to express myself visually in a medium besides creatively dressing myself and others. I find it to be an extension of my job as a wardrobe stylist. If pretty wrapping paper is the clothing, then the bows and ribbons are definitely the accessories. No wonder I love it! (Plus, I hate to admit it, but I am a little crafty too – but I don’t scrapbook or make crafts.)

At Christmastime, nothing delights me more than creating attractive packages for my friends and family to open. In my mind at least, I am pretty good at it. So I wrapped early this year and decided to share some of my secrets.

The Essentials

1) Tags – sticky ones and hang tags in colors and patterns that compliment my wrap

2) Scissors, scalloped-edge scissors, hole punch, matte scotch tape, glue stick

3) Various ribbons, string, raffia, and pipe cleaners

4) Lunch-style Christmas bags

5) Tissue – Red, green, and all sorts of patterns

6) Scrapbook paper

The Tradition

I usually wrap everything at once on the Sunday night before Christmas while watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s a movie I don’t have to watch to know what’s going on. For me, it’s like my background music.

The Wrap

In the past, I have done uniform wrapping themes (for instance, all the gifts I wrap are gold or red and swirly, or made from natural materials).

Now, just like with my closet, I buy and use what I am attracted to most. My decorating aesthetic tends toward mod, retro or swirly patterns and bright colors, and that’s where I go with my Christmas wrap as well. People can immediately tell which gifts are from me based on the colors and patterns. It’s kind of my signature.

I really like non-traditional colors for Christmas like lime and orange. If you look closely, you will notice that these colors have made their way into Christmas wrap and accessories. I still do the traditional red and green and metallics, but if the colors are more vibrant or funky, that seems to inspire me more.

You can also use non-Christmas wrap! One of my best secrets is to get away from the Christmas section of the store and see if anything in the regular wrap section inspires me. I found this lime green wrap and added deep red ribbons for a Christmas look.

Proportion

Just as petite people look “off” in large patterns and larger people don’t look quite right in tiny prints, proportion is vital in wrapping Christmas gifts. Keep small, medium, and large-patterned paper on hand.

I tend to buy small and medium-size gifts, so that is what I focus on when buying wrap.

(Note: the Christmas tree package’s ribbon is greener than it appears.)

For the Kiddies

I don’t particularly care for buying character wrapping paper. This is what my mom has always done. To me, it’s much more fun to find pink and lavender Christmas wrap for my nieces (below) and fun boyish wrap for the nephews, without having to wrap everything in giant pictures of Barbie or Spider-Man.

Mixing Patterns

I love creatively mixing patterns in wardrobes, and with Christmas wrap and accessories, It’s really no different. As long as you use one larger, further apart pattern and one smaller, more closely spaced pattern – or they somehow relate color-wise - you should have a winner.

Candy cane stripe ribbon with green polka dot wrap!

Yellow bag, funky tissue paper, red-on-red polka dot paper.

Tag!

Personally, I prefer hanging tags for my presents, but find a better selection of sticky tags. So I make my own hang tags. I stick the to/from stickers to patterned scrapbooking paper, cut them out with my scalloped scissors, and punch a hole in them. Then I have the freedom to affix them to my gifts however I like.

The odd-shaped gift

I don’t know about you, but I find that I have to wrap at least a couple of cylinder-shaped gifts every year. They naturally become candy!

I double-wrapped this with a piece of colored tissue paper inside, and cut the ends of both with my trusty scalloped scissors.

I also like printed lunch bags for items that are hard to wrap. I use the scalloped scissors on the top and then punch holes across. I then lace cord or raffia through to close them.

Ribbons & Bows

I use the standard, store-bought bows, but sometimes I add to them with curls or raffia.

On an extra large package, instead of spending $5 on a bow that will get tossed in the trash, I staple a bunch of curling ribbon onto a small piece of cardboard and curl it. Then I tape it to the package under where the bow will go and I arrange it around the bow.

Or sometimes raffia gives it an extra kick.

Or, if you’re a traditionalist and like to use satin ribbon, you know it isn’t the easiest material to work with. It takes a little engineering.

To create the following look, I first taped the ribbon to the bottom to secure it. I then tied a bow and used a trick from my “bag of tricks” (and I do have one) – double-stick tape. Instead of taping a client into a dress, as I sometimes need to do, I simply molded the bow the way I wanted it to look and stuck it to the package. Looks simple, huh?

Storing it all until next year

I bought this container from Target this year.

It’s supposed to hold Christmas ornaments, but I found it perfect for storing all my wrapping materials. The tissue paper and scissors, tags, tape, etc go on the top, and the bottom is for the ribbons.

I also use small hair rubber bands (the black “ouchless” kind) to secure the ends of my wrapping paper rolls. Try this! It will save your paper for next year.

Where to buy

Here are the places where I seem to find fun and well-priced wrapping paper and supplies:

(It does end up in the garbage, after all!!)

Target (found that green ‘candy’ wrap above in the $1 section!)

Factory Card Outlet

Dollar Tree

Tuesday Morning

Jo Ann etc.

World Market

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So those are my wrapping tips and tricks. Anyone want to share theirs?

(Sorry about the fonts switching around - Blogger gets ornery when I use a lot of pictures, and I don't feel like going all the way through the HTML code to figure out the problem.)

Just what is up with my hair?

I have a waged a constant battle with my hair since as far back as I can remember. I do not have an ideal head of hair to say the least. It could be far worse, I know, but I still fight with it daily. Please allow me to lament.

* My hair is stick-straight naturally. Other people complain about their hair being too curly or getting frizzy. But I have never experienced anything of the sort.

* My natural hair color is an ugly mousy blonde shade. The kind of hair that is pretty and golden blonde when you are a child and then gets dingy and dirty-looking as you move into your teen years.

* It's thin - but I have a ton of it. It is especially hard to dry. One of my stylists likened it to blow drying a rug.

* It doesn't look great short - the shortest I've had has been a chin-length modified shag. I think it looks better long, which it is right now. However, it is not the best hair to allow to grow long because there are inherent problems - the ends are weak and dry and split easily. The top is very oily. I need to shampoo daily.

* My collection of hair care products rivals my collection of makeup. Nothing works great, so I just keep buying more, looking for the magic potion or pomade.

* I had to learn how to do it right. The only things I have ever known to do with a curling iron have been to curl hair under or to flip it up. So I learned how to do unconstructed waves and spiral curls, which seem to work for me. Thank goodness for tutorials on YouTube! I can actually look like I just left the salon in about 10 minutes now. In fact it's my preferred 'do since it has been longer.

But here's what I don't get:

In order to make my hair look nice straight, I need to use a flat iron. I think that is crazy since my hair has absolutely no natural wave whatsoever. I recently figured this out on my own. To do my hair straight, I have to wash it, blow dry it, set it in large velcro rollers for volume, and straighten it.

I guess I should be happy that at least I can make it look okay. But why does it have to be such pain??