One shirt, four outfits: Getting the most out of your clothes

Similar to any other cheap college student, I’m a big fan of getting the most bang for my buck. Whether it’s Tijuana Flats’ Taco Tuesday special or Starbucks’ Frappuccino Happy Hour, I’m all about the bargains. My dad, an avid Groupon-er and the man who taught me my bargain-hunting ways, will undoubtedly be proud of this post when he reads it! I usually go into my shopping expeditions with a thrifty mindset, asking myself various questions while in the dressing room, including:

1. Will I ever actually wear this?
2. Is this really worth the money?
3. What else do I have in my wardrobe that will go with this?

I like to put a big emphasis on the last question because I like to get a lot of use of my clothes to reassure myself that it was money well spent. I do a mental run-through of my wardrobe, and if I think I have a sufficient amount of items to pair with it, I usually go in for the kill—I check to see if I have any gift cards and grudgingly swipe the plastic card of death I like to call MC (a.k.a. Master Card) because I’m just that cheap. After I get over my initial case of buyer’s remorse, I happily skip home with shopping bags in hand, excited to raid my closet and plan new outfits for the future.

To demonstrate how easy it is to get the most of your clothes, I put my Polyvore obsession to good use and styled four different outfits centered on one graphic shirt.

Outfit of the Day: Not-So-Traditional Kimono

It really blows my mind how Americans have a way of… well, Americanizing things. Let’s take everyone’s guilty pleasure – pizza – as an example. When I had real pizza in Rome back in seventh grade, I was pretty shocked at how different it was compared to the Domino’s I was used to. My initial thoughts were, “Dang, Papa John is such a poser. This stuff is the bomb.com.” Authentic Italian pizza is lighter and less greasy, and the ingredients are actually fresh as opposed to the often frozen toppings that American pizza chains use.

Let’s be real. I could talk about pizza for hours (mostly because I’m having severe separation anxiety without Gainesville’s finest Pizza By The Slice just a mere five-minute walk from my apartment). But let’s bring it all back to the focus of my blog—fashion. A major style trend for the summer is the “kimono,” a lightweight jacket usually made of polyester or rayon. These Americanized “kimonos” are flowy, open in the front and are often used as a layer to add a little ~ooo lala~ to any basic outfit. I think it’s necessary to put quotes around the word when referring to these types of “kimonos” because they’re far from the real thing.

Our American version of a kimono pales in comparison to legit kimonos—floor-length Japanese robes that wrap around the body. According to an old article that I came across on BBC News, new kimonos usually cost nearly $2,000, which is just slightly out of my price range. I personally feel like it’s a bit of a stretch to call these cheaper American versions kimonos. I mean, look at this gal on the left. She’s covered head-to-toe in a killer garment that’s rich in Japanese culture. Though the girl on the right is no doubt stylish, her “kimono” just doesn’t stand a chance in terms of the real meaning of the word.

[photo credits: ‪blog.coco-fashion.com and vampirextina.buzznet.com]

Outfit of the Day: Rockin’ Out

Greetings, blogosphere! Long time no see. This past semester was one of my busiest thus far. I took Reporting (a.k.a. the second most failed class at the University of Florida), which required extensive time and effort every week. I probably could have half-assed it like some of my classmates and gotten by with the minimum grade of a C, but that’s just not my style. I worked my little journalism booty off every week to pump out quality stories, and I ended up getting a B+ in the class! On top of Reporting, I had to deal with transitioning to prepare taking over my school’s chapter of Her Campus. Let’s just say I truly started to understand the diagram below. But in my case, I only had one choice, and that was schoolwork.

But enough of this mini pity party. After one of my busiest semesters thus far, I’m stoked to have this summer to get my blog back on track! Though I’ve been MIA, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been ~stylin’~ in the meantime. This past semester especially, I noticed that I took more time to plan out my outfits every morning to choose something comfortable and fashionable for running around campus all day. As I’ve mentioned in former blog posts, I’m a firm believer in the adage “Look good; feel good.” When I showed up to my 8:30 a.m. three-hour Reporting lab wearing something cute, I can honestly say that those three hours were a lot more bearable because I felt more put-together and awake. Don’t get me wrong—I also relied on my fair share of caffeinated tea before dashing out the door and nearly sprinting to make it on time to my lab. But wearing cute clothes definitely helped along the way!