5 FALL STAPLES FOR LESS

Happy Thursday all!  I am needing to go back to my writing calendar and start scheduling my posts out again.  I was somewhat drawing a blank for new material today until I came across a new blog, Daily Dose of Design, and was inspired by her 12 picks for fall staples.  There is an amazing ombre sweater by +American Eagle Outfitters that I'm going to keep my eye on.  That got me to thinking and then looking over the call outs for fall fashion this year.  I love looking through the style experts picks, but it always makes me sad looking at the high end, designerwear that I can't afford.  With that, I looked at a few fall staples and found affordable look alikes to allow you to refresh your wardrobe at a tenth of the cost.

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.  By clicking on these links, I may receive a commission at no cost to you.  This has no impact on my style selections or opinions.

1.  Classic Trench

2.  Wrap Sweater

Have you ever watched The Fall?  If you haven't, you should watch it for 2 reasons 1) it's a great show on Netflix 2) Gillian Andersen's character, Stella Gibson, has amazing style.  It's how I want to dress when I become a big girl (oh wait, I am, but alas, my buisness wardrobe is sorely lacking due to a long time working environment of business casual).  In one of the pivotal episodes, Stella wears a red wrap sweater that's by Diane von Furstenberg.  I think my first pick by Banana Republic is gorgeous, close in style, made of merino wool, on sale and you can currently buy it for $61.

3.  Crossbody

Drawstring

Flap Cover

4.  Suede Shopper

5.  Pumps

When I think of an investment I should have made in my wardrobe, giving me a lot of bang for my buck, it would be a pair of the pointed-toe pumps.  The ones that do it best are Manolo Blahnik BB, Gianvito Rossi, and Jimmy Choo Agnes.  I took a lot across ShopStyle and found some pumps that get close to the designer brands.  I think my favorite neutral is the one by Sam Edelman and my favorite fun take on this classic shoe would be the Sole Society and Mod Cloth shoes with the bows.  How cute!!  Last, have you ever heard of or used Rank & Style?  It's a site that pulls together top ten lists based on buzz, customer reviews, and its sales.  The Michael Michael Kors Flex pump is number 4 on there list as a classic black pump based on user reviews and its sales.  At $99 it's already a good deal, but you can buy it in red for 50% off or buy it in gray suede at 30% off.

Classic neutrals - gray & black

Fun colors

FRIDAY FEELING HALLOWEEN EDITION - Inexpensive & Fun Costumes

We're back with #FridayFeeling Halloween Edition.  Are you starting to think about the holiday and what your kiddos will dress up as?  Below are some affordable costume ideas that could be matching mommy & me costumes.  For a majority of these costumes, you could use everyday clothing or buy wardrobe staples as the costume base that your child can wear again.  I'd like to do a follow up post on daddy & me costumes that could extend into a full family theme.  I was going to do it as one big post and majorily ran out of time (maybe because I was fixated on boots yesterday).

Mommy & Me Costume

1.  Witch

Spend $10 on accessories and invest in a black dress that you can wear for other ocassions.

Mommy & Me Witch Costumes by mbcandacejean featuring cotton dresses

// 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 //

Throw on some knee high socks to liven up your look more.

2. Little Red Riding Hood

Mommy & Me Little Red Riding Hood Costumes by mbcandacejean featuring a short lace dress

// 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 //

My Mommy outfit totals under $75; girls' outfit totals $38.  My thought with the men's blanket scarf - it would be large enough to drape over your head to serve as the hood.  Rather than buying a red cape (I found a couple on Etsy under $50) that you might not wear again, buy a blanket scarf that you'll get plenty of wear out of and it's only $22!  The red sweater cape by Target's Genuine Kids Oshkosh line is so stinking cute.  I have it on good authority my mom got this as a birthday present for Faith and I'm pretty excited to see it on her.

3.  Dorothy

Mommy & Me Dorothy Costumes by mbcandacejean featuring red sneakers

// 1 - $34.50, 25% off SHOPNOW // 2 - $7 // 3 - $9.99  // 4 - $15.99 //  5 - $42, extra 15% off // 6 - $29.95 //

The only thing that I don't see as a practical investment are the glittery ruby red shoes.  But, at $30 that's not too shabby in terms of a price tag on extraneous stuff you'll never use again.  Although you could both totally rock your ruby red glittery shoes during the holidays.

4. Princess / Queen / Lady

Mommy & Me Princess Costumes by mbcandacejean featuring lovers friends dresses

// 1 - $10 // 2 - $5 // 3 - $49 // 4 - $19.99 // 5 - $37, 40% off site // 6 - $19.99 //

These dresses and headband are a bit of a stretch for us moms, BUT, if you plan on going to King Richard's fair for family fun (check out this post), then you could totally reuse it.  The dresses are a bit racier than I'd normally wear, but I think I could totally rock the black lacy number at a wedding.  Now if someone could get married, I've totally justified it.

For the little girls' dress up, the Belle princess dress is already in Faith's closet (you saw her in it here) so it would cost me $5 to complete her costume.  The second dress option she'd love since it's a rainbow dress.

5. Hogwarts wizard

Mommy & Me Hogwarts Wizard Costumes by mbcandacejean on Polyvore

// 1 - $16.99 for all 4 // 2 - $3.99 // 3 - $16.99// 4 - $21.99 //

So this is the only costume that doesn't involve buying some clothing staple.  But you can get the Hogwarts wizard accessories you need for under $30.  Then you can wear whatever you feel like underneath as long as it's white top and black bottoms.

What are your go to costumes for Halloween?  Do you already have your Halloween costumes planned?

This post will be shared on these linkup parties.  And over at Friday Favorites!  #FridayFeeling #ShopStyleFW

3 Ways To Reboot Your Fall Footwear

Since the weather is finally starting to cool off and wearing boots is becoming a remote possibility, I figured it would be a good time for all of us to assess our boot game.

Do you have what you want/need for different outfit pairings? Do you have missing holes in your boot collection like OTK boots to wear for a night out? Are you missing a pair of chelsea boots that can provide a small amount of heel, but would be totally comfortable to wear all day in the office (my inner shopping beast is raising it's hand say "me, me")? So here is a round up looking at Shopstyle my favorite way - filtering and then sorting by most popular (discussion and my love of the Shopstyle app here).

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a commission off of you checking out my boot roundup (at no cost to you).  This has no impact on my style selections.

1. Black Boots

When you look at trending shoes over on Shopstyle site, Lucky Brand boot is 13th.  I also happen to think it's a great deal at $99.95.  I've also seen some really cute outfit pairings with similar Lucky boots by Andrea over on Living on Cloud Nine with the cutest Target floral dress (check out her post here).

2. Brown Boots

You can see that a few of the most popular boots in brown and black overlap - Steve Madden troopa boot, Steve Madden pistol boot, and Vince Camuto gravell.  The BP boot is also trending on the webospheres and coming in at 11 on trending footwear on Shopstyle.

3.  Black Chelsea Boots

I really, really, really want a pair of chelsea boots. I do have a lot of boots, but most of these are either heeled boots or knee high.  I have two pairs of short, low heel ankle boots that are a few years old and don't give the polished look I need for work. I think a pair of chelsea boots would fit that bill for me.

What do you think - what are you looking for this fall?  #ShopStyleFW

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