BLOG-UST DAY 31!!!! Mixing Expensive Staples with Bargain Finds, featuring H&M dresses.

High End, Ebay and FREE.....Oh My!

I love outfits like these.  You know what I'm talking about, where you pair one of the most expensive pieces in your closet, with one of the most inexpensive pieces from your closet.   Sometimes, people have the misjudgement that if you're wearing a bargain find it's going to be some ratty old thrift shop shirt from the 70s, and that is so not the case.  Today, I'll be styling two H&M dresses that I got a while back when they were having a Buy 2 Get One Free sale on all clearance items.  I ended up spending a whopping $25 for 3 brand new H&M dresses.  All three dresses, fully priced would have been $85, so I saved a grand total of $60!!! Yeah, that's a bargain.  I got the two shown below, and the other dress you'll see very soon, in a really cool way.  

***IMPORTANT VikTip: A lot of times I don't get around to blogging things for months, but I talk about sales and awesome promos on my Facebook page, so please take the time to give a 'Like' and follow me on there.***

'A Friend Checks off a Short List Item'

             If you're new to my blog, you won't know what my short list is, so I highly suggest reading about it more here, then popping back over to this article, or else none of this will make sense to you.
             One of the most important and most searched for items was THE PERFECT leather jacket.  I'm talking about a black, silver zippered genuine leather jacket.  Even though I'm not on the level of P.E.T.A member, I tend to stay away from genuine leather, and I absolutely refuse to wear real fur.  For this jacket however, I wanted a real leather jacket if for no other reason than quality.  I want it to last a very long time for as long as I can fit it.  Well, I found it.  One of my friends works at a Wilson's Leather and I was visiting her one day and saw out of the corner of my eye this really fun red jacket.  Even though it was kind of Michael Jackson-y, it was fun and was absolute perfection in every way except for the red.  And then, the most magical words I ever heard "we have it in black too!" Well, to make a long story short....I fell in love. My friend picked up the jacket for me and the rest is history. The best way I can describe it is by showing you this picture I found on Pinterest.

 So anyways, let's carry on. With my amazing new wardrobe piece in hand, I felt complete.  It just screams "Viktoria's style" so I personally, wear it with everything.  Now, onto the outfits.....

'$10 H&M and $135.00 Wilsons'

For this first dress, we are playing with an edgier look by styling everything around the leather jacket.  This dress itself is kind of in the middle so you can style it edgy and rocker, or style it girly and feminine.  It goes both ways.  To compliment the leather jacket fabulously, I choose these buckled black wedges from Express that I previously wore with Vera Wang, here.  For accesories I choose a silver bubble necklace set.  That's it.

**VikTip: Certain leather jackets are full of zippers, clasps and closures, so keep any extra accessories/jewelry to a minimum to prevent from looking like you just walked out of a Hot Topic catalog.  (Unless that's the look you're going for in which case, accessorize away my friend)  You're jacket already has plenty of metal, so you don't need a lot of extra.**

'$7 (Free) H&M and $129.00 J.Crew'

If you read the top carefully and if you've read past articles carefully you will know both of the things I'm about to tell you.  Let's see how well you know the All Size Fits One closet.  One, my Fuchsia blazer I got from J.Crew after Cyber Monday had their sale, but it was also part of my Short List. Two, this dress was the free piece I got during H&M's clearance sale.  I actually wanted this dress when it first came out but it was a little more than I was comfortable paying, the fact that it ended up being my free item was sheer luck.  My Fuchsia blazer was on my short list which means I was  on the hunt for it for years and finally found the most perfect color at J.Crew.  I took a chance with ordering it online, never having ordered anything before from their website, and got a size 10 Tall.  It arrived and fit like a glove.  I talk about my experience with this blazer more in the J.Crew article here.
Now, for those of you wondering size reference for H&M let me just lend you this little bit of insight.  They're dresses, if nothing else, run big sometimes but for the most part are true to size.  Their "Conscious Collection" however, runs super big.  I usually wear an 8 or 10 if I'm buying a shift dress, like the two pictured in this article, but for the Toucan dress below I had to buy a 14 for it to fit as I feel it should, considering the style. 

Both my necklace and my earrings were Ebay finds.  My earrings came free with a different purchase as a little 'Thanks for shopping our store'.....a lot of sellers will do that with your first purchase to keep you coming back.  The necklace, I previously wore with a fun embroidered tank top as part of my A.W.I.S series, with denim cut off shorts.

My ADORABLE little bitty bag, was one of the last purchases I made from my old job and I just can't get enough of it, it's like a clutch sized purse with all the fixings of a normal size bag, so cute!!!

**VikTip: Any curve that an article of clothing has to go around makes the length shorter and shorter, boobs are not exempt from this fact.  If you are "well endowed" like myself, buying a Tall can be the answer to your prayers.  Sometimes tops don't fit as they should just because we have the twins, so get a tall and the length will fit just right.** 
 

I hope you all enjoyed this article, and it proves to you that high end pieces, low end pieces, and even Ebay finds can blend seamlessly together to create the perfect look for any occasion. 

Thanks so much for reading.
Stay Stylish
xoxo
-Viktoria

TOMORROW CHECK BACK FOR THE F.A.Q ANSWERS FROM ALL OF THE QUESTIONS I'VE BEEN GETTING IN THROUGHOUT AUGUST!