Before I dive into what I’m going to tell you about, I tried to sit quietly and think of a way to explain my taste in fashion to you guys. That way you will know pretty quickly if you want to keep reading my fashion posts or not. (But remember, there is also always the concept of “hate-reading,” which you xoJaners turned me onto!)
An actress on a show once asked me to describe my personal style to her and the best I could come up with was to say that I'm a combo of “The Bad News Bears meets Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface.”
Which I think is to say “tomboy meets cocaine whore”? I just never like anything that is too pretty, too perfect or too ladylike. If I am wearing a totally frilly perfect dress, I don’t pair it with spindly stiletto heels. I wear wedges, boots or clunky platforms.
If I am wearing a very conservative, covered-up dress, I wear the most teetering, skinny, ridiculous skyscraper heels I own. There just has to be something slightly "off'" about every ensemble I wear. It’s all about contrast, balance and extremes to me. That’s what I think adds interest and makes for a good outfit.
That's me at a wedding last week. It's about as fancy as I ever get. And the dress is from Target, natch. I think the camouflage heels would add a little cool girl gruff into any outfit. They are Rodolphe Menudier, and they were pretty stunningly expensive. But they are the perfect match to my Rodarte for Target dress and vintage Gucci clutch that caused me to miss my friend's baby shower due to being in a very tight eBay bidding war for it.
(OH, P.S. TENACIOUS D PLAYED AT THIS WEDDING. In the middle of the vows.) I mean, come on!!!
It could just be that I’m weird about style, as weird as my friends above who got married on a Monday night in a Masonic Temple with Tenacious D as the house band.
But stay with me; if you’ve followed me this far, you might as well let me tell you about the website I’m currently into for fun, quirky, street-influenced fashions at great prices.
She Inside (what is it with these fast fashion sites and their insanely silly names??!) is a website with tons of inexpensive pieces, most of which have interesting design details that are actually a cut above your average cheapo schlock.
Left: Lace dress, $42.88. Right: Yellow skull jacket, $49.28.
Left: B&W stripe skirt, $33.44. Right: Chiffon star dress, $57.70.
The thing I like most about the site is that they have a good range of really cheap stuff mixed in with some nicer, better-made items. There's a great selection of both inexpensive vinyl handbags in addition to some well-priced leather options.
Left: B&W Doctor bag, $72.08. Right: Green/orange bag, $69.00.
Sometimes I'm feeling like a $72.00-aire and just want a pick-me-up that's not a total cheap piece of junk. She Inside also has an interesting feature called "The Daily New." I've started checking the site daily, and this is a fast way to see if there is anything fresh worth scoping out.
Left: Silver metallic cut out flats, $51.20. Right, Gold coral necklace, $12.80. Both new yesterday!
There are also tons of cute blazers on She Inside for working girls and/or Kim Kardashian wannabes.
Clockwise from top left: Royal blue contrast collar jacket, $76.80. B&W floral stripe blazer, $46.08. Turquoise shawl collar jacket, $42.81. Black scallop hem blazer, $67.44.
I wish Kim K. hadn't totally cornered the market on the cute blazer look. It's quite irritating, as I always come late to every trend. Once I see it on a million girls and decide I like it enough to try it, it's totally over. But babes in blazers is so Melanie Griffith in "Working Girl" to me, so I will give the look a pass for another few months. Kim dresses way different now that Kanye has his hooks in her anyway.
She Inside is a pretty clear knock-off artist in a lot of ways. Case in point: These galaxy leggings I wanted from Nasty Girl for $55.00 are on She Inside (albeit a lesser quality) for $29.90.
Left: Galaxy leggings from Nasty Gal, $55.00. Right, Intergalactic leggings from She Inside, $29.90.
And then there is the very obvious (as in, they named it the exact same thing!) "Cambridge Satchel":
It's sort of scandalous and awesome all at the same time. I don't really have an opinion about it, for once. It boils down to what your budget will allow and what you consider to be worth it. I just like having options.
She Inside also has lots of random promotions, discounts, free shipping, etc, so it pays to keep checking out the site. One day I swear I'll post about something proper and fancy. I'm just wayyyyy into cheapness right now. Enjoy or don't enjoy, I suppose.
XO,
Alison
(I'm on Twitter: @IveyAlison)
