Back to Basics

A favorite and well worn flat of mine.

Denim, everyday you are a breath of fresh air. 

Neutral nails, Essie A Crewed Interest.

A favorite dress, navy and cream stripe. 

Who wants to look great for less? Everyone. The trick to this is having a wardrobe with amazing basics. You can do with less, spend less, and look like a million bucks if you know how to buy your basics.

Consider some my personal favorites shown above. I've got a black and brown print flat, several years old, that I wear all of the time. Denim, denim, and denim, a fabulous wardrobe staple that never goes out of style. You'll definitely need some of that if you don't already have it. Neutral nails, which, are so classic, and I mean forever classic. Finally, a lovely neutral striped dress, that I've worn to pieces. All of these items, even my hands, the oldest of the bunch rounding out at twenty-three, are not new by any means. I've taken good care of these basics and they've served me well through the seasons.

Think about the difference in these items as opposed to say, a lime green top. Note that there's nothing wrong with lime green, as I own a lime green cardigan. The truth is that it's not going to stand the test of time like these visually interesting basics. I love the cardigan, but I can only wear it in spring and summer. You can't wear the same cotton lime green top to the mall that you wear to a cocktail party. However, you can wear that great black cardigan to both. See what I mean? I'm not saying that your whole wardrobe needs to never stray away from the black, blue, and brown. I am saying that you should have ravishing foundation pieces, especially if you're on a tight budget. Then, you can use accessories such as scarves, as in, THE SCARF DAY, or jewelry, or a great shoe to complete the basics. If you added just two solid scarves, and a fabulous pair of black pants to the pictures above, you'd have four outfits in mere seconds. Both scarves go with the dress. Both scarves go with the pant and denim shirt combo. The shoes go with both. Weekend trip? Done. Take a good look at those basics, I cannot say enough good things about them.