OOTD: Tuxedo Chambray

As you all know, I'm a meticulous planner. I've been very honest about planning my articles a whole season at a time. Sometimes, we'll shoot ahead of time and sometimes you'll get a real time look at something I wore the same day I post it. This look that I'm sharing with you today is one of those articles that was not planned, but I had to share it because of something that happened to me. I didn't actually wear it today, I'm just posting about it today....but it did get shot the same day I wore it.

As you can see, it's nothing too special. This is exactly how my hair looked that day, I had my signature poofy bun, no earrings, minimal makeup...just a winged liner and my favorite mascara. To me, this was super simple and ridiculously comfortable. I could live in stretchy skinny jeans and I wear this pair almost every day ( I wish I were joking). I decided to throw on my satin trim tuxedo blazer over a super comfy chambray top, and quickly thrown on booties....to me, this is a casual outfit. Then, I met a stranger at Starbucks.

STORY TIME!!!!......

I was in need of a disposable, Starbucks hot coffee cup for one specific shot. Judge me. So I'm standing in line at my favorite coffee shop, waiting to order my Venti Caramel Frappucino with soy milk, double shot of espresso, extra drizzle, no whip with an empty hot coffee cup (yes, I'm that person with the ridiculously pretentious $7 coffee order) and a lady leans over and says "I just love your outfit."

"Oh, Thanks!" I responded.

"You just look so put together and chic, I love it." And then she picked up her drink order and walked away. It made my morning, and put a smile on my face. Then I left, driving home with a newfound admiration of the sparkly link bracelet that I've owned for almost 2 years now. That's it. That's all I have to share with you, and I bet you're not wondering why the hell I just wasted 2 minutes of your life with that story. Let me dive a little deeper now....

At the risk of sounding like a vain little snot, I get compliments on my outfits a lot....I mean, a lot. I take pride in my personal style, and I enjoy that other people clearly like it too. Nothing should have been particularly different about this woman's compliment, but then I got home and realized my outfit literally cost me less than $10 from my ankles up. In true Viktoria fashion, everything on my body was on some sort of super sale or discount (with the exception of my J. Crew bracelet). My scarf, chambray top and blazer are all thrift shop finds and my skinny jeans I literally got for free after I stole $30 of Nate's 'Kohls Cash' form purchases he made. My booties, that highly resemble a pair of classic Calvin Kleins, I got on an off-season mark-down and if I remember correctly, were around $20ish from the motherland, Target.

Part of looking chic to me, means you look expensive, and classy. I barely spent a penny on this whole outfit, this outfit is literally everything I am trying to achieve with this blog! You can look expensive and put together without breaking the bank! I think some women are uneasy about thrifting because it's "gross" to wear preowned items, and some of them are embarrassed to be seen going through a sale rack....I know this because I used to be one of them. My mom took us to thrift stores growing up while all my classmates wore brand new Abercrombie and Hollister. It took me a while to get used to and swallow my pride because I wanted the brand new stuff from the mall too. I was at my most broke freshman year of college, and of course that was right at the time when I really wanted to reinvent my style. Those are the years I got really great at thrifting, because I had no other choice and I found myself in a place yet again, where I just couldn't afford to shop at the mall. What I'm trying to say is, who cares where you get the clothes from?! Who cares if you're seen shopping the men's department? Who cares if you're buying a pair of knee high winter boots in the middle of June? People walking by you on the street don't know where you shop, or what you paid for something. If you look good, you'll feel good....and in order to look good you don't have to shop the brand new, designer duds. Let this be a lesson to be learned.