If I had to choose what I love most about this season’s fashions (and choosing one is no easy feat) it’s that purple is THE color to wear. From shoes to bags to dresses and jackets – shades of purple are popping up EVERYWHERE.

You can’t go wrong: neon, plum, eggplant. Deep shades of purple are h.o.t.

“But I will look more like a vegetable and less like a cute trendy person,” you say aloud as you hold up an amazing purple frock. To which I say: NOT SO! Add some black patent accessories, or a fun accent color and you are good to go!

Here are three chicks rockin the neon purple ensemble, but, as usual, the prices of these fabu garments are well out of our reach.

That’s where I come in! Your fashion researcher. Your best friend, the coolest person you “know” to bring you celebrity chic on the cheap: Purple Paradise. Read More »

If there is one thing I have learned how to do well since leaving college it is shopping cheap. It used to be that I would pass my time between classes stocking up on designer jeans and over-priced coffee concoctions. That, of course, was when my parents were footing the bill and I could tell my mom I bought 2 pairs of jeans, 3 shirts and an oh-so-necessary text book for the price I really spend on some new oh-so-sexy boots.

Those days are long gone.

Now the only person reviewing (with a mixture of shock and horror) and paying my credit card bills is me, so I had no choice but to do a little switcheroo on my spending habits. That doesn’t mean, however, that my love for fashion has changed. At first that made things difficult; it isn’t easy having an obsession with the latest runway styles on a post-graduation limited budget. But I soon found it was possible to be tre fabulous on a tight budget.

And here are the stores to visit:

Kohls: This store didn’t need the new Simply Vera by Vera Wang to be a go-to for women on a budget. Even before the uber fabulous line made its way into stores across the country (and my closet, obvi), Kohls had beautiful and stylish clothes at super affordable prices. Mix and match this stuff and it won’t be hard to make people think it’s from Neiman’s.

Target: Obviously. Take your pick of awesome clothes from their GO designers to their staples like Mossimo and Isaac Mizrahi; this store really does have it all. And taking weekly shopping trips will not kill the budget (or force you to choose between eating and dressing). Read More »