By Sophia StrawserAssistant Features Editor
We all know that it can be quite expensive to keep up with the latest fashions. Luckily, there are ways of staying fashionable without spending an absurd amount of money. In order to keep money in your pocket, you need to know the art of thrifting.
One of the huge fall trends right now is oversized sweaters. There is no need to spend anything over $15 or $20 on a sweater when you can easily find extremely similar ones at Goodwill, the Salvation Army or any other local thrift store. If you walk into H&M or Forever 21 right now, their clothing racks are full of funky-patterned and bulky, knit sweaters.
Luckily for us, we have an alternative option. Not only does buying our “trendy” fall sweaters at a thrift shop save us money, but it also gives us a better chance of standing out; the odds of someone having the exact same sweater as you become increasingly difficult. Although some sweaters may seem too big or too unflattering, sometimes it is still worth the purchase.
Old sweaters often have tight collars that just don’t look good on anyone, but just as t-shirts collars often get cut off, so can sweater collars. If you want to go for the off-the-shoulder look, all you have to do is cut a deep swoop neck on your sweater, angling the majority of it to one side. You can also cut the collar off in a “V” shape, creating a V-neck for your new sweater. Both of these cuts immediately make your sweater much more flattering.
If you are like me, you probably have far too many bills to pay to even think about shopping right now. Don’t let that stop you. Take a shopping trip to your parents’ closets. This may seem odd, but you don’t know what kind of brilliant finds you may stumble upon.
This year’s fall fashion has a majority of ‘80s trends coming back into style. If you have parents who held onto their clothes from the ‘90s and ‘80s you might have just found yourself some free clothes. I have gone shopping in my dad’s closet more than once. My finds were a blue, oversized button-down sweater, a collared sweater that I cut off the shoulder and a denim jacket. If I had bought those items in store I could have spent upwards of $50 or more.
My mom’s closet had been more recently cleared out, but I was still able to steal a few short scarves. Although in the ‘80s or ‘90s you would have worn these short scarves around your neck, I turned them into headbands. All you have to do is fold the scarf up into a rectangle of sorts before tying it around your head, leaving the tie in the front or the back.
From thrift shops to our parents’ closets, we are able to revamp our closets without breaking the bank. Saving money is easy; all we have to do is learn how.