Westfield Group
How does a girl build a budget wardrobe without ever looking cheap? Simple. Buy EVERYTHING in black and white and then punch it up with sexy, crazy metallic and earthy accessories.
Wearing white is a classic rich girl trick, In the day wear a retro white sundress (Target white pleated fifties dress, $69.00) with sexy chocolate corky soled platforms (Scooter, $89.95) then wear a white lacy cotton cocktail dress (Bardot, $79.95) converted to PM with lipstick red satin heels (Zu, $91.00). Look at the little black dress as a palette for bright jackets by day and witty metallic accessories by night.
Go for more stand out accessories than your dresses. Why? Because you might need three classic black dresses but if you get the MAD attention grabbing clutch right (rainbow metallic snake Zu "Aggy" clutch, $99.00) you only need one. The idea that thrift needs to be plain is a flat out lie. In fact the less you spend the flashier you should look. So lunge at a pair of killer silver heels (Aphrodite by Zu, $55.00) teamed with a slinky black satin belted pencil skirt (Target $49.95) and a white Bonds T’shirt (black bra optional)…and the tuxedo jacket isn’t even needed. All you need to do is steal some bankers tie. Lord knows they’ll be flying out enough big city windows right now.
WHAT'S NOT
Fussy frills: Because Marie Antoinette is so last year. Fiddly florals: as the recession is anything but an impressionist blur! And any ‘It’ bag that is priced in the thousands. I mean do you want to look like you paid more for your purse than most people earn in a month when you are contemplating a bread and water budget? Nuh-huh.
This whole notion of seriously indulgent style is well and good in an economy that is decadently fat, but in these times fashion needs a little more focus. The in-your-face style of Victoria Beckham with her Hermes Birkin bags in every colour of the rainbow (with a medium sized Birkin bag starting price sitting at AUS$12,755). Well it all looks like a false economy now.
Though don’t take it the wrong way. None of us are spending money to dress down and you don't have to stop updating your wardrobe. It's just that every thread, button and zip needs to earn its keep double duty and rise to any opportunistic occasion. Poster child for mod thrift and clean lined chic is Zooey Deschanel in a her A-line mini dresses, black eyeliner, go go boots and cheap and cheerful flats. That girl looks like she could bake her own bread or make her own bread, and THAT is not what one thinks of when looking at Posh Spice with a Birkin bag in one hand and a gazillionaire in the other. These days a girl’s just gotta’ do it for herself.
WHAT'S HOT
Think of Michelle Pfieffer in “Scarface” in those slinky little metallic jersey dresses and spiky bare heels. Think of Marilyn in a white cotton dress and sling backs. Think of Audrey Hepburn in the most famous cocktail dress in fashion history. Icons are remembered in black and white with a splash of silver or sedate gold.
Right now the classic black dress takes on a new life: as a maxi (Bardot Aztec knit Maxi, $89.95), as a sundress or as a composition in black and white (Crossroads, Grecian, black and white dress, $39.95). I love the idea of a black dress with a big white bag and who cares if it’s not leather? (Zu ‘B52’ bag, $32.00) or a little singlet dress worn over beige linen shorts with some gladiator flats. The key to the new style is to look definite. Not wishy washy. Not rich glitch. But radically simple and affordably chic.
