Monthly Archives: October 2023

Maximizing Your Wardrobe By Being a Savvy Shopper

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We’ve spent this month talking about how to maximize your wardrobe. In week one, I explained the concept of Wardrobing where you build a wardrobe by buying capsules with items that mix and match and offer variety of looks from just a few pieces. In week two, I taught how to use closet staples to build a dream work wardrobe. In week three, I demonstrated how to use layers and accessories to expand those looks with the fewest number of pieces. This week, I wanted to end this series by talking about how to maximize your wardrobe on a budget by being a savvy shopper.

When I first wrote the title of this blog post, I chose the word “thrifty” to describe the kind of shopper I want to discuss today. Upon reflection, however, I decided “savvy” is a much better description. Being savvy means you are shrewd and practical and have the ability to make good judgements and be wise. You are astute, acute, sharp, intelligent and discerning. And, after all, this whole series has been about teaching you to be just that – savvy in the way you build your wardrobe and in the way you shop.

Follow your favorite stores on social media: Hopefully you have a favorite store or two that you have invested in following on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. As a small business owner with over 25 years of experience, the way we communicate with you has changed dramatically. Advertising when I first started in this business was mostly through traditional channels like newspaper and radio. As social media morphed into a place where many get their news and keep up with people and events, most small businesses have transitioned to reaching out on various social media channels. My business has a big presence on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest because that is where are customers are. Now, these channels are the primary way we let you know about in store events, sales, and promotions. They are also our platform for customer education like my weekly Wednesday Wardrobing Videos that accompany these blog posts each Wednesday night at 6 on my Fashion Crossroads Facebook Business Page. Being a savvy shopper means staying in the know on all of the ways to save money and get free stuff!! Smile. If you aren’t on social media, make sure your favorite store has your email address and check your emails!

Join your favorite store’s Loyalty Program: Many small businesses have transitioned from store wide promotions and sales to loyalty programs to incentivize and reward their best customers. Make sure you take advantage of these programs!! Beware of the fine print, however. Some loyalty programs are more gimmicks than real rewards ( i.e. more trouble than they are worth). But, when you find a good loyalty program, you really can save a lot of money by using it. In my store, as an example, our loyalty members earn $10 for every $200 they spend. This is essentially getting 5% off everything you buy. Our earned points don’t ever expire AND you can use them in all three of our locations: Fashion Crossroads, FC Outlet, and our online store http://www.fashioncrossroadsinc.com.

Use your favorites store’s Perks: As a small business, we are always looking for ways to stand out from the crowd and to make shopping with us more pleasurable than shopping with big box stores. We can’t always compete on price, as big box stores use their buying power to drive their costs down in a way that small businesses can never do. However, what we can offer is special perks for our customers. These can be things like store credit cards, layaway program, free gift wrap, free delivery, parking reimbursement, alternative pick up options, etc. Make sure you know what perks your favorite store offers and take advantage of them. In my store, as an example, we offer a layaway program with 90 days to pay and no fees. It is a great way to expand your buying power without having to pay credit card interest. Many of our customers use our layaway program for holiday buying. Friends and family can buy items off of layaway. That way, our customer gets what she wants in the sizes she needs, and her family pays what they can afford to buy her gifts. It is brilliant!! We also offer free gift wrap every day of the week, so when you have a gift to buy, getting the packaging and wrap isn’t just one more expense to add on top. Additionally, all of this can be done over the phone. Husbands can call us up, buy some items off of their wives layaways, have us wrap them, and then pick them up at our alley way drive up door. Special occasion buying for birthday, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas doesn’t get any easier than that!

Know when to take advantage of sales: Lastly, you can maximize your wardrobe and be a savvy shopper by knowing when to shop sales. The best time to shop sales are at or near the end of the season. As an example, we take our first winter markdown in November, our second in December, and our third in January. Shopping when these markdowns have just occurred gives you the best chance of grabbing the best sales. Our new spring merchandise starts arriving in February, so if you wait until then, most of the winter sales racks are very picked over. Simply ask your favorite store’s staff when they plan to do markdowns and then make a plan to shop as soon after that as possible.

I’ve included some social media posts that are getting ready to launch for upcoming November events that I plan to host in my stores. They are:

11/10-11/11: Dress Yourself Before You Dress The Turkey: for this event, we choose some amazing giveaway items from both Fashion Crossroads and FC Outlet and then our customers earn raffle tickets for the giveaways by coming in, checking in on Facebook, and for every item they buy. It’s a great way to get a jump on your holiday shopping and get a chance to win BIG.

11/17: Pink Friday: this event is all about shopping small businesses before you shop the big box stores on Black Friday. During this event, we do all things pink including pink drinks, snacks, and decorations. For this event, both Fashion Crossroads and FC Outlet will have a gift with purchase.

11/24: Black Friday: Earn Bonus Bucks for everything you buy in store and online. For every $100 you spend, earn a Bonus Bucks for $20. For every $75 you spend, earn a Bonus Buck for $15 and for every $50 you spend, earn a Bonus Buck for $10. Spend these in December.

11/25: Small Business Saturday: We are celebrating small business this Saturday with a Kendra Scott gift with purchase. Spend $100 on Kendra Scott and get a FREE Nash Pendant Necklace from Kendra Scott (a $60) value, while supplies last. FC Outlet is offering a free soap and lotion pack from Greenwich Bay for an order of $40 or more. We will have food and drinks too! Then get in the holiday spirit with the annual downtown Christmas Parade which starts at 6 p.m.

Maximizing Your Wardrobe With Layers and Accessories

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My October Wednesday Wardrobing Series has been all about Maximizing Your Wardrobe, or getting the most looks from the fewest pieces. First we looked at the basic concept of wardrobing. Next we looked at how to use closet staples to provide maximum benefit. Today, I want to talk about how to use layers and accessories to maximize your wardrobe.

First of all, let’s talk layers. Although most people think accessories are the most important tool to get different looks from the same pieces, I would argue that you can get more benefit from investing in layers than you will from accessories. That is not to say there is no value in having a great store of accessories available to you. Merely, I will make the assertion that layers will actually take you farther.

As you can see from the looks pictured at the top of this blog, when you plan your wardrobe around being able to mix and match layers, you can get multiple looks by simply changing up your layers. Let’s break down how you could layer the eight pieces pictured here:

  1. Four looks as pictured (4)
  2. Blue puffy vest with striped sweater, heart sweater, and light blue sweater (3)
  3. Blue denim jacket over both plaid shirts and heart sweater (3)
  4. Shacket over top plaid shirt (1)

This gives you 11 different look with eight pieces. If you were to add a solid, long sleeve, tan top into the mix, you could then pair it under all of layers, including the puffy vest, shacket and denim jacket, giving you 3 more looks with only one additional item, for a total of 14 different looks from 9 pieces. You could also layer three pieces together and combine the tan top under the plaid blouses and then layer over that one of the jackets or vest and add even more looks. And, in this example, we are assuming you are using the same bottom. If you have three different bottoms to rotate through, you could have a month’s worth of different looks.

Now, let’s talk adding accessories.

If we were to take two different handbags and add it to this wardrobe capsule, you would have a handbag that would match each and every outfit we have discussed. In this example, I have chosen a solid tan handbag from HOBO and a mixed blue crocodile handbag from Anushka. One is a bit more casual and the other a little dressier, but they would both work with every look. Add a couple of necklaces into the mix and a tan scarf, and you would be able to change up the looks even more.

This is the art of maximizing your wardrobe with layers and accessories. For even more ideas, watch my live Wednesday Wardrobing Video tonight at 6 p.m. MST. You can see all of these items in store or on our online store here: https://fashioncrossroadsinc.com/collections/fcr-10-21-23

Maximizing Your Wardrobe With Closet Staples

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My October Wednesday Wardrobing series is all about maximizing your closet. Last week, I covered Wardrobing 101 and how to buy smartly and provide yourself with multiple looks with wardrobe capsules. This week, I wanted to talk about maximizing your wardrobe through closet staples.

So what is a closet staple? These are the building blocks of your wardrobe. They are your Go To pieces, so to speak. Here is my definition of a closet staple:

  1. Closet staples are always neutrals in the color palate. If your skin tone is a cool, these basics are probably going to be white, black, grey and navy. If your skin tone is warm, they will likely be brown, tan and cream. They are considered “neutral” because they mix and match with many other colors.
  2. Closet staples are basics like leggings, tunics slacks, skirts, tanks, blouses and cardigans.
  3. Closet staples are solid in color and not printed.
  4. Closet staples can be mixed and matched together to create multiple outfits and are easily paired with accessories

So let’s consider the basics at the top of this blog post. I have chosen a black legging with a faux suede front, a black faux suede cardigan, and a black skirt. I have also chosen a grey pant, tunic , short sleeve top and cardigan.

With these seven pieces, you could create multiple looks, getting you through and entire week of outfits

  1. Grey tunic with grey pants
  2. Grey tunic with black leggings and vegan suede jacket
  3. Grey top with black skirt
  4. Grey top, grey cardigan and grey pants
  5. Grey top, vegan suede jacket and black skirt
  6. Grey tunic, black vegan suede jacket, grey pants
  7. Grey top, grey cardigan and black skirt

You might also add into the mix a basic black and white tank and a basic white blouse. If you then amp up your wardrobe with multiple scarves in the key colors represented by this basics capsule, you could add another entire week of looks. This is the basic principle behind maximizing your closet with staples

If you are just starting out in your professional career, this is how I recommend that you begin to build your wardrobe because it is, by far, the easiest and most economical way to outfit yourself for work. Once you have a great base of closet staples built, then you can start branching out to adding more colors and prints.

If you would like to see this concept demonstrated, I will be showing you how to mix and match these pieces in my live video tonight at 6 p.m. MST on our Facebook Business Page. If you missed my video last week, you can find it on my YouTube Channel.

Wardrobing Basics: How To Maximize Your Closet

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Are you familiar with the term wardrobing? In doing a google search for a definition, I learned, to my surprise, that the word can be applied to a type of fraud/theft where a person buys and item with the intention of returning if after it has been worn. Yikes! That is NOT the use of the word, I am referring to. You may be familiar with “wardrobe” referring to a collection of clothing, usually that which is in a closet. You may also be familiar with a “wardrober” who works on the set of a movie and puts together the outfits the actors wear. Perhaps I have made up the term, but I have taken the noun wardrobe and turned it into the verb wardrobing to refer to the act of putting a wardrobe together, smartly.

It is the “smartly,” that I want to focus on in this blog post. We all build our wardrobe each and every time we purchase something new to add to our closets. But, if that item can only be worn with one other thing in our closet, or worse yet, doesn’t really match anything in our closet, we have not made a smart wardrobe choice. When we intentionally choose items that mix and match together, offering us multiple outfits that cover a variety of needs such as work AND casual, that is wardrobing at its best.

Consider the wardrobe pictured above. Within this small collection, there are two bottoms. One is a vegan leather jean which is inherently more casual and a corduroy pant that is dressy enough to wear to work. The tops include three blouses, two that are dressy enough to pair with the cords and one that might be better worn as a casual top. There are also three layering pieces. The vegan leather jacket works to dress up a look and also as a light weight coat. The two sweaters are classic cardigans, one long and one short, that can be layered over any of the blouses and worn either casually or as a work cardigan.

Thus, within this one wardrobe, there are the following looks:

  1. Paisley green blouse (hunter) or (emerald), vegan leather jacket and vegan leather jeans
  2. Paisley green blouse (emerald), vegan leather jacket and cords
  3. Paisley green blouse (hunter), hunter cardigan and regular jeans
  4. Paisley green blouse (emerald), emerald cardigan and cords
  5. Plaid blouse and vegan leather jeans
  6. Plaid blouse, hunter cardigan, and regular jeans
  7. Paisley green blouse (emerald), emerald cardigan and vegan jeans

This is not an exhaustive list of all the possible combinations, but it shows that with these 5 pieces, you could create a week’s worth of looks. The belt bag would match them all so could be worn with each look.

Now, if you were to add in some neutral ivory pieces like the cardigan, blouse, and long sleeve tee pictured above, imagine how many looks could be created??

This is wardrobing! When we are intentional about how we build our closet, the result is a closet that works for us rather than against us. You can see this entire collection here and watch my Live Video tonight at 6 p.m. MST on my Fashion Crossroads Business Facebook Page to see these and other examples in person!