Spring Break

This spring break I changed it up a little. I went on a cruise with a friend to Cozumel and Costa Maya, both are in Mexico. I learned a lot about traveling on a cruise ship.
1.Don’t plan on seeing sights the vacations is more about the boat.
2.The drinks they serve are flooded with liquor (cause they want you to get drunk and keep drinking).
3.There is unlimited food. You can order free room service whenever.
4.Royal Caribbean does not pay their employees that serve the travelers (waiters, room attendants), instead the workers rely on customer tips for their salary.
While I did learn a lot from the experience I had a good time. The water down in Mexico is beautiful. It goes from aquamarine to the most gorgeous shade of turquoise and finally blends into a wonderful cerulean color.
The activities on the boat were fun and the food was great.

Sharing is Caring

In February, I read an article out of Elle Magazine socialite ladies who share their clothes. Their closets become a lending library of sorts.
I thought to myself while reading: this is a ridiculous article. Everyone shares their clothes with someone, usually a close friend or relative. The article, though it seemed to discover the obvious, had some ups to it. It showed that the ‘other half’ try to save money on clothes just like the rest of us.
I mean they are sharing $10,000 dresses from Gucci and Narciso Rodriguez, but at least they are making an effort to look like they don’t have all this money.
I share my clothes with friends if they need them, usually accessories. Sharing clothes works best on vacation. It’s like you have two suitcases instead of one. My main sharer is my mother. She has a closet full of clothes, most are ugly in my opinion, but every now and then you find the diamond in the rough.
Sharing can be unsanitary though, never share underwear no matter who it is. Be careful with shoes and jewelry. Shoes get sweaty and gross; you may want to keep them to yourself. Jewelry is expensive and if someone losses your diamond necklace or damages it; how are you going to react?
Don’t share something that means something to you. The antique brooch your grandmother gave you. That dress you love because no one else has it (if you share it someone else does).
Sharing is fun and a great way to expand your wardrobe, just make sure to set rules about replacing lost or damaged clothes and what you will or will not lend.

eBay

We’ve gone over the online revolution, but one thing that we skipped over is the gargantuan internet company e-bay.
eBay has revolutionized the way America shops. They have re-instituted the bartering system where an owner can put their product up for sale. They give a price, a date for the bidding to begin and end and hopefully a picture and some details.
It is then up to the perspective purchaser to decide how much they will spend on the product. With frequent sellers, there are customer reviews on quality of the product, shipping and handling fees and anything important for a customer to know. The site actually quantifies these responses and gives a satisfaction rating. They also post the reviews and customer feedbacks, which are sometimes important and other times frivolous.
This is a great place to find clothes to wear, and you can’t decide what you think is a reasonable price. They like other internet shopping sites have organized their product in several different cross-categories. They even have some very interesting vintage pieces and custom made pieces available. I especially like this feature because it’s not every street corner that has a vintage shop.
Like I mentioned earlier about consignment shops, it is very important to make sure to wash the clothes and inspect them for holes and stains. Before purchasing read and re-read the shipping policy and the return policy. Some sellers can be trickier than others, know what you are getting yourself into.

TV Fashion

Like the Oscars, television will not help you find the most affordable clothes. It will however put some ideas in your head: What looks good? What are other people wearing?
Watching TV with those questions in mind you can take your findings to Target, Marshalls or Value City and find some cheaper variations of Debra Messing’s button down shirt or Teri Hatcher’s sun dress.
Besides the regular sitcoms and dramas there are shows on cable that deal solely with fashion, there is even a network (Style). From Style we have “The Look for Less” this show began a couple of years ago and has changed from little vignettes of shopping to a show where stylists race around a mall to find an outfit for their “client” that is identical to a picture of a designer piece. Oh yeah and they’re on a budget.
The show in my opinion is not the look for less. They used to have $100 budgets but now the rates have gone up. They give their stylists more money and some of the outfits they have to get are very simple and sometimes the outfits they come back with just don’t work the way they should.
I prefer TLC’s “What Not to Wear” with hosts Stacy London and Clinton Kelly. The show does not pretend to be looking for cheap pieces. For an hour one person is deconstructed, having their clothes thrown out, given some rules and $5,000 to shop in New York City. London and Kelly dress well themselves and they give their charges the best advice they will ever get. They know what works on body types and they know that you can find a way to incorporate all the things you want into an outfit that will accentuate any figure.
Watch these shows and get ideas, then go shopping with your own set of rules.

Oscars

The Oscars, which took place last night (Sunday March, 5) are quite the opposite of affordable fashion. Stars walk the most celebrated catwalk (a.k.a the red carpet) with photographers snapping away, fans screaming and Joan and Melissa just waiting to know who they are wearing. Though the stars wear thousand dollar gowns and millions of dollars worth of jewels that doesn’t mean you can’t get more affordable versions of their gowns.
One of the most famous fashion after effects of the Oscars are the knock-off gowns made by Allen Schwartz for ABS. Schwartz manages to take these extremely expensive gowns and make them with cheaper material but all things considered they come out pretty close to the real thing.
Here are my picks for the top dresses that should be knocked off if you will.
1. Sasha Cohen (Olympic Silver Medalist) in a dress by a talented and skilled designer that is currently unknown.
2. Salma Hayek in Atelier Versace
3. Felicity Huffman in Zack Posen
4. Diane Kruger in Elie Saab
5. Sandra Bullock in Angel Sanchez
Please visit Getty Images or Style.
I do have to comment however that there were more fashion mishaps this year then ever before. It can be seen in the lack of color and ill-fitting dresses at the show.