“I love shopping on a budget. I believe that more fashion mistakes are made by people with deep pockets than by those who shop on a budget.”

Tim Gunn, obtained from picturequotes,com

Shopping on a budget can be a hard task. Fashion can be expensive – and cheap clothing is too often associated with cheap quality. However, style does not equal expensive. You don’t need to drop thousands – or even hundreds – on an outfit in order to be stylish. And while inexpensive clothing can lead to poor quality, this is certainly not always the case. It is possible to dress fashionably without breaking your bank account. You just have to know where to look.

I believe that style is a personal expression. Fashion is a unique avenue of excitement and opportunity. People should not have to be wealthy in order to be heard in the fashion world. Anyone can acquire excellent style within a range of prices. The media, particularly surrounding celebrities, has made many people feel otherwise. Celebrities are often photographed wearing thousands of dollars of clothing, whether walking down the street or attending a glitzy award show. The glamorous nature of award shows appeals to fashion lovers. However, the styles displayed at these exhibits are not realistic, meaning that they do not in any way speak to everyday fashion. Most celebrities borrow their looks from designers rather than purchasing the outfits themselves. And in regards to celebrities walking down the block sporting thousands of dollars worth of clothes – well, that’s just because they have enough money in their bank accounts to pay off my student loans, as well as the loans of my fellow 67,000 classmates at Rutgers University.

Fashion is fun, and breaking your bank account certainly is not. I have three main objectives when navigating the fashion world and explaining what I know to others. My first goal is to compare celebrity clothes to similar outfits with a much smaller price tag. My second goal is to provide helpful tips on acquiring cheap clothing while leaving the cheap quality behind. My third main objective is to show that even celebrities don’t always wear super expensive, unattainable clothing. Overall, my hope is to cultivate a stronger sense of fashion confidence in the average person – even if this means I help just one person feel better about style and affordability.

Yours Truly, Mary Connelly (Broke college student and lover of fashion).