Fabulous Fashion
By Tiffany Raiford
Copyright 2011 Tiffany Raiford
Smashwords Edition
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One – Learning to Become Fashionable
Chapter Two – Realizing my Mistakes
Chapter Three – The Most Important Lessons in Style
Chapter Four – Shopping for Handbags
Chapter Five – Shoes
Chapter Six – Jeans
Chapter Seven – Dresses
Chapter Eight – Budget Shopping
Chapter Nine – The Internet
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
A pair of 5 inch gold Jimmy Choo slides for $680? Not a problem, here’s my American Express. I can already see my husband’s eyes rolling in his head as he sees how much the check for the Amex bill clears for at the end of the month. I momentarily consider telling him I bought 5 new pair of shoes at the Jimmy Choo boutique because I was the one luckiest girl in the world to stumble upon some sort of fabulous sale. Then I remember that we’ve been together 10 years and he sees right through me.
Before we had children I shopped till I dropped. Literally, I shopped until the cords of my shopping bags dug into the skin of my wrists and caused me intense pain. I’d have to walk back to valet and have one of the valets place my bags in my SUV so I could finish shopping without my wrists bleeding. We had a good life. More than good; it was amazing. We traveled a lot, we shopped a lot and we went out a lot.
I had no problem walking into Dior while vacationing in Hawaii and spending $450 on a pair of sunglasses or dropping $495 on a new DvF dress along with an additional $30 for overnight shipping so I could have a new dress to wear to our every Wednesday night dinner date at our favorite local restaurant the following night. My closet shows like a Saks 5th Avenue showroom. Did I mention that I then lost those Dior sunglasses in the Caribbean Sea while on vacation? They were stolen right off my face when I was attacked by a giant wave. Don’t worry – as I exited the ocean panicking because they were the only brown glasses I’d brought with me on our trip and the thought of wearing black or white glasses with certain outfits designed to go with the brown Dior’s was horrifying, I stepped on something hard and realized it was my glasses slowly being sucked into the sand beneath the ocean.
Three years ago our lives changed and I suddenly had a problem shopping lavishly; we had our first baby. When I held her for the first time my entire life changed and I became the person I never thought I’d be; a bargain shopper.
All right, all right; I’m not buying my clothes at the dollar store for goodness sake. I’m a high-end designer bargain shopper. We went out less because it was more fun to stay home and take long walks around the golf course with our daughter or to try and see whom she would smile at first. When we did go out I was petrified to wear my clothes because baby spit up is virtually impossible to remove. And my dry cleaner started giving me evil looks when I walked in expecting her to work some sort of magic on an $800 dress.
I could no longer wear necklaces or bracelets because my daughter liked to grab onto them. The only thing I was still comfortable wearing was my fabulous shoes and my gorgeous handbags. Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton and Chanel were all I had left. I mourned the loss of my clothes as I realized I could no longer wear them with a baby. They were impractical.
And then the unthinkable happened; I became responsible. I suddenly realized that there was more to life than designer clothing – my daughter and her future to be specific. I realized that while I could still buy the designer clothing I wanted it no longer meant as much to me because I so rarely wore those clothes and $500 dresses that I’d wear once suddenly seemed like such a waste.
Still, I couldn’t give up on my style. I grew up with none. Seriously, I had no style until I was 22 years old. Not even an iota. I am a self-taught fashionista and I am proud. While I felt an extreme amount of guilt buying and wearing expensive clothes only once before they were ruined or no longer practical for me with a child, I didn’t want to give up the style I spent so many years perfecting. It was then that I decided I’d start buying clothes on sale.
In the beginning I felt a sense of accomplishment buying clothing on sale. I’d score a $398 DvF wrap dress for $199 and feel like I’d just found a cure for the common cold. Then one day I realized I could do better. Suddenly it became a competition to find the most gorgeous and latest clothes for a fraction of the retail price and my competition was myself. I was addicted. I tried to outdo myself every time and that’s where I learned that I can walk out my front door wearing a $3000 outfit that only cost me $100. And now, my friends, I’m going to share my secrets with you.
CHAPTER ONE
Learning to Become Fashionable
One of my biggest reasons for spending so much on designer clothing and accessories was that I look so young. Okay, I am young. I’m currently 28 and I only finally started looking like a 17 year old. Because my husband and I enjoy fabulous restaurants and we travel to high-end resorts it became glaringly obvious to me that everyone assumed we were children that did not belong in such places. The service we were given was atrocious, at best. I realized that while I wanted to sightsee around New York City in a pair of flip flops and boot cut jeans I looked disgustingly out of place in the Four Seasons. I quickly learned that the more expensive our clothes were the better service we received. Roxy flip flops and a pair of Old Navy jeans together did not make for a designer outfit.