"bitches on a budget" - cheap tips for big spenders

This recession has created a lot of guilt around spending money on things we want but don't necessarily need. I just discovered the sassy, say-it-like-it-is blog by author, fashion buyer and marketer Rosalyn Hoffman. Hoffman disagrees with the notion that living on a budget means abandoning the fabulous life. Her new book, which will be released December 29th, is designed to help the affluent woman who finds herself now on to a budget “learn to live a truly fabulous life on a shoe string,” as blog says. 

Bitches on a Budget, and it’s accompanying blog, illustrate how the values of the elite have shifted and ways for them to find compromise between their new budgets and their old ways. Her tips range from the best honey to how to get a stain out of a carpet (which involves paper towels and a stack of heavy books).

This leads me to a research idea for brands who play in the luxury space - have a group of customers read the book and give it a review. Ask them what tips they found most useful, which ones they passed along or actually tried themselves? How does the book resonate with their lives today and where does it veer away from how they budget and what they value?

trend: praise for thrift in clothing

Since the accusations of Sarah Palin being a hypocrite - speaking as an average American mom and then spending $150k on one outfit - the clothing on celebs has been a hot issue. Mrs. Obama was praised for getting her outfit at J. Crew and spending like an 'average American' woman, not a high-rolling star.

Apparently this kind of commentary has traveled across the pond. Just saw on Dailymail.co.uk, a post about the Conservative Party leader's wife, Samantha Cameron. She was photographed wearing a pair of shoes that cost 29 English pounds. The post goes on and on about how pragmatic this shoe choice is and how she pulled together more than one outfit by wearing these shoes.
Gotta love how a show of thrift can be applauded.

why i love lookbook

I've decided to start a new series on my blog called "why i love..." Not sure how often these will roll out. The last time I did one of these was on Kid Robot. But, with no further delay...

Why I love LookBook.nu

I recently decorated a tri-fold as a piece to introduce myself, the parts of culture that I love as well as a trivia game on those parts of culture. As it goes with tri-folds, it was for a science fair, of sorts, in which myself and my fellow students were the experiments on display. It was the annual Brandcenter recruiter fair and I was the nerd with the tri-fold.

One of the areas of culture that I hit on was fashion and as my board said "Fashion trends in the near future will not be determined by high-end designers, but by your 18 year-old neighbor with an armful of cloth and a camera."

Living, photographic proof of that is Lookbook.nu. LookBook calls itself the "collective fashion consciousness." It's a collection of photographs, submitted by members, of people in different outfits they have assembled.

Lookbook is truly brilliant because...

1. It scrolls down endlessly. You never hit the bottom of the page while scrolling through "looks," which means you could peruse it non-stop for 40 minutes (no, seriously).

2. "Hyping" looks - A quick and painless (i.e. it won't send you to another window, just takes a click) way to show your love for a certain look.

3. Exclusivity. You have to be invited to be a member in order to "hype" looks. And exclusivity makes people feel as though they belong to something elite, special. Something to be proud of and write long blogposts about.

4. Not only does it take the creativity of putting pieces together, but an acumen of photography to really earn a lot of "hypes." So in other words, this site combines two parts of culture that I love.

5. It showcases the best of young design trend navigators. Some of the members on here are 15 and posting a maturity of style that would have knocked the 15 year-old pig-tail laden me into a locker.

6. Global.

7. Look descriptions - "Looks" are posted along with the title of look, name, age, location and general description of the person. Some examples:



And that is why I love LookBook.nu. Let me show you some looks and who knows, maybe you'll love LookBook too.

en vogue

My fashion presentation was featured on the fashion section of slideshare.com the other day. I uploaded it three days ago and as of now it's had 139 views. Not bad. I'm a little worried it's not as followable without the voice-over, but I did a damn good job art directing that presentation and don't want to kill it by adding bullet points of what was said. Bullet points are the route of all evil.

Fashion Presentation

View more presentations from Katie Fitzgerald.

"In fact, romanticism and science are good for each other."

"The scientist keeps the romantic honest and the romantic keeps the scientist human."
- "Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins, pg. 150

I love this quote. It illustrates the idea that opposites attract. But is this true? One could argue with the equally common phrase "like attracts like." I personally believe more in the latter.

For the creative execution of one of my recent projects we compiled interesting love stories. I find listening to these stories very optimistic. In an America that is increasingly lonelier I can only hope that my optimism isn't blind naivety. My favorite is still my friend Amy's.

Amy, an American student was hiking alone in Chile when she came across a winery and decided to take a tour. Amy was the only guest on the tour but just before she and the guide began a young French man, who was also hiking Chile solo, arrived. Amy and her new companion, Jean, conversed in their second language, Spanish, as Amy spoke no French and Jean no English. After the tour the two became traveling companions for a few weeks. Upon returning to South Carolina, Amy began taking French lessons and Jean began learning English. Less than a year later, Amy graduated from college and moved to New Zealand with Jean to become organic farmers. As it was the rain season, the two were stuck in doors. Amy later told me that if their relationship was able to survive those months farming in the rain and being stuck in the same small space, it could survive anything. She was right. The two got married about a year later. Amy and Jean now live in France.

the here and now

Sorry for the hiatus. School. It's my only excuse. Could there ever be a better one when you go to Brandcenter? Here's what I've been up to...

Today Jakob Trollback from Trollback + Co. spoke at Culture Crash. Soft-spoken yet powerful I found his work incredibly inspiring. It reminded me of what I love about graphic design and how good the creative executions side of the industry I am entering can be. Loved this spot for Pop!Tech 06: Open. They are very conscious of the power of music and consequently their work would be powerful even if you had your eyes closed.

Media assignment: Working with a non-profit website whose aim is to get ordinary people to do good things. Trying to give their site real function and meaning to people who do want to do good things.

Fashion assignment: Falling in love further with things I can't have. Exploring theories on fashion and amazing photography. I know I have stumbled upon something good when 20 minutes feels like two. I love this girl Johanni's flickr account. She realized that she wasn't wearing everything in her closet so she created a mini-project for herself called 'the wardrobe project.' She is going through her closet one garment a day, building an outfit around it and documenting it with a photo. She has some amazing clothes and is a total classic beauty. I'm inspired by this idea, but not enough to do it myself as half of the time I am wearing sweatpants these days.

Assignment for Rick's class: My group is working on Scope. We're trying to shake up the aged image of Scope and bring some vibrancy into the mouthwash category. My strategy is a hybrid kind of like "the method and axe of mouthwashes." No, I promise that's not the line. No I don't think the company would actually do something like this but that's what's great about doing work that is hypothetical. You can be daring, do something crazy and fun for creatives.

Outside work: Soon to be starting a project outside school for a small bank in Richmond to get small businesses to bank with them. We have formed a small agency basically and will be working with two great advisors: Caley Cantrell and Kelly O'Keefe. Really looking forward to this one. Still doing some research for Naked here and there.

Might head out to Belle Isle today to enjoy the last of the summer sun. Can't believe how great the weather here has been.

hang this in your closet

Assignment in Cultural Explorations class: Give a 3 hour presentation on fashion.

The topic of the presentation is broad and I need to find a topic that focuses it. I am currently contemplating how "recycling" could be the concept of the presentation. Here are a few ways I think this could work:

1. The recycling of trends/decades - Sartorialist's coverage of Stockholm shows beautiful 40s fashion


2. How a concept cycles out -The cycling of design concepts from the designer down into TJ Maxx. This could include the scene from "The Devil Wears Prada" where Meryl Streep talks about the significance of cerulean (for a chick flick, amazingly insightful scene)

3. The literal recycling of clothes - thrift store fashion and the creativity that some employe to make amazing outfits out of old garbs.

4. And of course, recycled goods going into clothes or as I'd like to call it "fashion with a conscious." Could include Vegan goods by Natalie Portman.
I want to avoid too much "green" talk though, I'm sure people are tired of having green shoved down their throats.


Still thinking, still searching, open for any and all recommendations!

fashion mining

These chicks are so not dressed appropriately for mining. Is this ad asking me to change my belief as to what is mine appropriate? Or not to be afraid of the changes global warming is creating? After all, if you aren't sending out 'green' messages today, you are so last year.

Although this ad copy may be over-compensating, the clothes are sending some very soft messages. I'm digging the 40s hair style. Next month's issue of Cosmo will no doubt include an article on how to do this 'do.