Baby on a Budget

You don't have to shop at designer stores to buy cute clothes, but you also don't have to get caught shopping at Wal-Mart with a bag over your head in order not to break your budget either. Here are some fun, fashionable places to buy adorable clothing in the mist of our country's economic melt-down.

1. Forever 21: http://www.forever21.com/

Sells women's and men's clothing at affordable prices, (like a prom dress starting at about $25 each), is part of a chain of stores including Heritage 1981, Twelve by Twelve, and the newest edition, Faith 21, a line of fashion forward plus size clothes. With 21 specials daily, (a 20% off sale on 21 different items everyday), this will be your new one stop store for everything from cute outerwear to sexy swimwear.

2. Charlotte Russe: http://www.charlotterusse.com/
A preppy, pretty, girly store featuring casual and formal dresses and tops to fit any girls' needs. With their new Shop, Share, Socialize tool bar, you can shop and chat with your friends anytime, anywhere. Charlotte Russe also features seven7 jeans and chic accessories to complete any look.

Morph Your Closet

With summer coming and the colder seasons away, dig deep into you closet and turn something old, into something new.

Go from a fashion scarf to a statement belt.

Recently, Teen Vogue had a feature in their magazine called "Blues Traveler" that featured vintage, and authentic American finds. They also used an ordinary plaid or checkerboard fashion scarf as a belt wrapped around the waist at the middle. I personally thought it was a cute idea, and making your ordinary played out scarf versatile in many ways. Below shows one of nine designs in the feature, were they took a Dosa scarf and a vintage safety pin to make a stand-out belt with a country twang.

Change your ordinary dress to a cute skirt or top.
This one is easy and an old trick of the trade. To take your dress to classic skirt, just throw a coordinating blouse or shirt or whatever else you have in your closest on top. To take your dress to a pretty top, just throw on some pants or a skirt on top. I suggest pairing you checkerboards with your plaids, your stripes with your florals, or any other daring combo you might dream up, but it always works best when you stay within a color scheme like red white and blue, or cool colors like blues and greens, or purples and darker pinks. Caution: Make sure you try your ensemble on and do a 360 in the mirror before going out in order to prevent you from looking tacky, I know it seems like basic procedure but, you should be cautious while layering. :)
On the picture above: Chloé dress (worn as a top). Luella skirt.