How to Make It in Fashion: June 21, Dream Hotel Downtown, New York

Broke and the City

Friday September 2nd, 2011

Broke And The City: Our Guide for How to Get all the Fall Looks on the Cheap

The woes of adapting to a new season never seem to end when you’re short on savings and want everything that shows up on the runways. It’s tough to update a wardrobe without spending a ton, especially in this city. The key is prioritizing: decide what’s worth splurging on, what you’re going to skip (you don’t need to sport EVERY trend–you’ll look maniacal), and what’s trendy but not worth a large price tag. Easier said than done? Here’s a guide to some of the season’s biggest looks from easily-accessible retailers, all under $50 (with a few exceptions).

Broke and the City

Broke and the City: Actually Affordable NYC Thrift Stores

by Mickie Meinhardt

To most people who grew up outside of the metropolitan area, “thrift store” means cheap clothes that are quick fixes for an empty wallet and a starving wardrobe. A Salvation Army or local hospital charity store will yield sometimes cool and vintage-looking items for about $5; I spent most of high school scrounging secondhand places and the one vintage store in an hour radius of my hometown (where I once got a floor-length leopard fur coat for $40).

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I first moved to New York a few years ago and discovered that even Goodwill can be overpriced. An old tee that would normally cost $2 would be marked up to $20, and forget even looking at anything labeled “vintage”–even my grandmother’s muumuu can fetch $60 in certain Manhattan boutiques. I despaired. How else was I supposed to dress myself? I missed the thrill of the hunt, the sifting through musty men’s button downs and neon track jackets to uncover the perfect _____(insert heart’s desire). Plus, I liked being able to go shopping and not spend tons of money.

Though it’s taken me awhile, I eventually found few places that deserve the thrifty label, where I can nab four or five pieces for under $30 (as I did this weekend). Here are some of the city’s hidden secondhand gems (and some more well-known ones that are just plain awesome).

Beauty

Broke and the City: Beauty Treatments From Household Items

by Mickie Meinhardt and Sarah Ferguson

One of the most irksome parts of trying to get by on little money is that inevitable time when you run out of a necessary beauty item. Buying another is more of a need than a want but it’s like a pin in your side to have to shell out precious dollars on shampoo or mascara, especially if you share our opinion that it’s better to splurge on a few nicer beauty products that you’ll use every day rather than on an expensive article of clothing that gets much less wear.

However, while some beauty products are worth shelling out for, many others you can easily make at home for little to no money. Raiding the cupboards or local bodegas can be surprisingly fruitful and yields results identical to those of pricey packaged products. Here, we’ve compiled a how-to of basic at-home treatments ranging from hair conditioners to teeth whitening.

Broke and the City

Broke and the City: A Guide To Affordable Wardrobe Staples

by Mickie Meinhardt

I’m a huge advocate of staples. Most of my wardrobe is dedicated to button downs, blazers and black tights, which I jazz up with semi-insane accessories (including a collection of fedoras, men’s denim biker vest with an eagle on the back, leopard fur coat). I’m of the opinion that a solid white tee and crisp, cuffed jean shorts can make the best outfit when styled right. But not all staples are created equal, and it can be difficult to navigate one’s way through a sea of solids. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of the basics at several accessible retail giants.

Broke and the City

Broke in The City: Events

by Mickie Meinhardt

As if it wasn’t hard enough to just look stylish and not semi-poor at [insert place of work], today you have to attend an event after the usual 10-6 shift. Exciting? Sure. But now you have to dress up without looking out of place in the office. This means heels. But you can’t wear them all day and you don’t want to lug them around in a big purse at said event and look like a bag lady, rather than one of the stylites who belong there (i.e. were invited and aren’t just taking the place of a boss). Shit. Time to utilize that “high/low dressing”… only it’s a little different when your low is $2 faux pearls from Salvation Army and your high means something not purchased from a sale rack at Urban Outfitters. You settle for your roommates cool yet surprisingly comfy wedges and jazz up a dress with all necklaces you own and your mother’s vintage Gucci belt, the only nice designer thing actually in your possession and which bestows, with it’s tiny one-silver-one-gold interlocking G’s, a semblance of subtle monied style.

Broke and the City

Broke and the City: Rumbling Tummies

by Mickie Meinhardt

Arguably the biggest dilemma with having little to no money (depending on your priorities) is food. In the list of things that are fun to spend money on, groceries rarely beats that Topshop dress you’ve been dying for. Food here is ridiculously overpriced, and one can find that trying to stay on budget while working several days a week is pretty difficult, even painful, such as when your office staff orders from Olives and you have to decline and cry softly into your Cup-A-Soup. The key is knowing when to save, when to splurge, and where to shop (or scavenge).

Broke and the City

Broke and the City: How to Get Your Magazine Fix Without Spending Any Money

by Mickie Meinhardt

Hello, everyone.
My name is Mickie and I’m Fashionista’s summer intern.
I am also very broke.

Living in New York City and working one’s way through college is not easy. It costs me nearly double to live here than it does in a non-metropolitan area city, and I’ve given up having a consistent paying job to intern (which I love!) and thus hopefully ensuring that upon graduation I will not be homeless/penniless/forced to move to Hoboken. Woe is me, perhaps. Except I know many other interns with similar problems–simply put, to intern is to be poor.

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