Urban outfitters. An outfit comprising of sale items.

Again- Click ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The entire outfit comes in at: £144.94. Not too shabby. Some may say black is boring but black makes a statement like no other colour. And Sonia Rykiel agrees with me, F-A-C-T.

£200 for a TopShop outfit

CLICK ON PICTURE TO VIEW LARGE SIZE


ps: does anyone know how to copy and paste
pictures off the Tshop website? I had to get these ones via google.

Just over $100 for this forever21 outfit...mad

I'm continuing my theme of the impact of the recession on fashion. So this inspired me to scan through forever21's website and come up with a cool outfit. Please bear in mind I have genuinely never done this type of thing before, it's just a bit of fun/experimentation. I didn't have a clue what the total was going to come to- I just got the basic dress and kept adding accessory after accessory.

The whole outfit came in at $101.30. I decided to start with the dress- everything after this just flows because you need to know what your central item is and you can just work from there. Like the foundations of a house- it all comes together in the end (fingers crossed). I chose the leopard print strapless dress because I'm a big fan of leopard print. Although I am aware that it can look cheap. But this leopard print is of a more subtle kind and has a great shape- and would look great in winter with black tights too. I chose the wedges because I think wedges are fantastic to bring you in to the S/S spirit. Although I purposely chose a black colour as to not be too enthusiastic. I think these wedges are incredibly versatile and can be worn with almost anything. The black faux fur shrug is great for spring because the weather is unpredictable and it is fashionable in my opinion.

I'm a bit of a mentalist when it comes to accessories so I understand that some of you may be overwhelmed when it comes to the neon yellow clutch etc. But because the shrug and wedges are black I wanted instant colour and the simple necklace and the shocking clutch really give the edge. I envisage the outfit to be worn by a girl with her hair up in an incredibly effortless manner (avec severe kohl eyeliner)and with the gold whoop earrings providing the focus. I love the cuff but I guess it is kind of an 'optional' extra.

Entire outfit available at forever21.com
4.80 necklace
32.80 shrug
22.80 dress
7.50 clutch
3.80 earrings
4.80 cuff
24.80 Strap wedge

Asos shoes S/S 2009

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO EXPAND AND SEE THE SHOES PROPERLY)

• On the 19th January, online retailer (and all-round beneficiary of my hard-earned cash) ASOS announced record trading; in fact sales increased by a massive 118%. So it's no surprise that during the recession we are turning to cheaper alternatives to clothing and accessories that are just as inventive and could possible rival the likes of Balenciaga, Givenchy etc. (okay maybe not that much, but you get the picture). Who, these days, can actually rock a pair of trend-driven studded 'Babouska' Gucci boots for a £1000 plus price-tag while their neighbours are being laid-off? It's definitely more acceptable and wise to buy a pair of simple yet très chic Louboutins as they will obviously carry from season to season.

So I say cheers to a new type of fashion where we have to be inventive. Let's make our own clothes, let's rock our Mom's '70s gear, let's look to the cheaper alternative and let's invest in timeless pieces- those that we can easily wear at a tender 16 or a delightful 60. It's not cool to be clad in designer gear, with Chanel and LV logo's prodding out- not cool I said! Let's go mad...

• Over the Xmas period I managed to buy around 5 or 6 pairs of really fabulous ASOS shoes, yeah that's right ASOS! Ranging from the fashion-forward (a black leather gladiator stye platform shoe that is aggressive and not too dissimilar to Mr. Wang's newish four shoe collection) to a downright futuristic wedged peep-toe heel ankle boot.

My favourite from my collage above has to be the pair on the right top-hand corner. I actually prefer these massive platform sandals in the pink and black colour- very sriking. And you can really enjoy the view in these skyscrappers- the heel is 6.2 inches/15.5cm. Like I said, enjoy the view!