Fashion has taken a turn. It used to be that people would wear a particular label or brand, head to toe. Now, that is so blasé. Fashion, well style (fashion and style are NOT the same thing. Fashion is a popular trend, amongst the masses or an accepted way of dress, style is the personal touch that an individual puts on that fashion). Style has taken over, and is the new benchmark for showcasing one’s personality, savviness, and knowledge of designers and brands and the visual ability of who can do it best. Within this style revolution, mixing high end and budget brands/designers is very, well “in fashion”. I do it myself. Mixing the two extremes creates an urban casual look that shows, one is edgy, effortless, and doesn’t care about the rules of fashion. When done well, the look is stunning and unforgettable. You may remember in 1998, Sharon Stone wearing to the Oscars, her Gap white button down shirt, with a Lilac Vera Wang evening skirt. With that, this style revolution was born.
Gap Shirt, Vera Wang evening skirt style choice
Her style choice then, is still relevant now and could easily be worn to another event.
But how do you mix high and low? My rule of thumb is to let your investment pieces (for this conversation a piece that you can have for years), be the expensive pieces, so bags, outerwear, shoes. Let your budget pieces be the more trendy items, or things you feel you won’t be wearing again in 6 months, for whatever reason. From there, just have fun with the mixing and matching as you would with any other outfit. Add accessories where necessary, and voila! A style icon is born.
Here’s a great investment piece to get you going:
The nude pump. You can wear a nude pump with EVERYTHING! Buy a pair to find out. Casadei
has a great investment pair:
From here, mix this fabulous pump with t-shirts and jeans or power suits and spring dresses. Those items can be had from anywhere. The shoe, is what will dress the look up and make it have umph. My one tip of advice would be invest in your suit if that is what you’re going to wear it with. The point of the example was to show the versatility.
Here’s a New Yorker mixing and matching. Which pieces are the expensive ones? Which are the deals?
Street Style mixing high end and budget fashion
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