The Impact of the Media

There is no doubt that the media today influences trends and the spread of fashion. What's hot or not is determined by designers every season, but the spread of this message to the public is done through ads in magazines and television, billboards, and the Internet. Through these mediums, the fashion-conscious can keep up with trends and potentially anticipate new trends in the future. However, the music industry is often overlooked as a catalyst for new and emerging trends. Artist and celebrity styles have often been scrutinized by those looking for inspiration for their wardrobes. While there are some that keep track of every red-carpet event to keep tabs on their favorite celebrities, music videos reach a much larger demographic. When MTV made its debut in the 80s, music videos only showed the artist singing along to an audio track. Music videos slowly become more and more innovative; some videos act as social or political commentary while others are simply moving works of art. Fashion often acts as its own character in music videos, lending a mood or characteristic to the artist. However, this can carry negative consequences.

Designer Alexander McQueen's spring 2010 line is featured in Lady Gaga's latest video. The video itself is captivating, and the fashion almost has a life of its own and adds another element of strange to the already bizarrely unconventional visual elements. However, the designer nature makes for very expensive items of clothing. Viewers could assume that in order to be as cool as insert-artist-name, large amounts of money need to be spent on clothing. The earlier consumers realize that they can still be on top of fashion trends without breaking the bank, the more rewarding it will be.

Of course, you probably won't find these lobster-claw heels at your neighborhood consignment shop, but you can still draw inspiration from even the most outrageous looks to create an outfit that is fun, original, and cheap.

Facebook and Shopping on a budget-An unlikely connection

Most people don't give online advertising a second thought. Not only because they carry the threat of viruses, but pop ups and other forms of online advertising is annoying and obtrusive-who wants their entire window to suddenly be filled with a movie trailer when they're shopping for shoes-and usually advertises complete nonsense (today I saw ads for instant cash prizes if you take a video game IQ test).

However, facebook has come up with yet another innovative way to set it apart from the rest of the online world by creating "engagement ads". This is an experimental form of advertising that has been evolving since its creation last spring. It incorporate's social networking into advertising, by allowing users interact with both what is being advertised and each other, instead of just seeing it in traditional advertisers. Also, depending on their profile information (your interests, relationship status, and other personal information) the advertisements are streamlined to what would interest users the most. To test out this theory, I set my relationship status to "engaged" one month ago. I was correct- most of my ads started becoming wedding related- today they are advertising a wedding photographer, a mosquito prevention company that specializes in weddings, a DC club that does bachelorette parties, and a "bridal weight loss". Since I am not engaged, this is not helpful, but for those whose facebook pages actually do reflect their interests, these ads can expose them to things they like but would never have found on their own.

I realized that the silly wedding experiment could also be tested to see if facebook's advertising was effective for shopping on a budget, by writing in "cheap clothes" as one of my interests, and "shopping on a budget" for my activities. Slowly, I noticed a trend in my advertisements becoming related to these things. While it was not as accurate as the wedding experiment-putting the word 'fashion' somewhere in my interests was probably have helped, since many of the ads were related to grocery shopping or other types of shopping- I still got many ads that reflected my keywords. These are some of my favorite new sites I have found through facebook advertising...

http://www.thebudgetfashionista.com/: Just like ours, this blog offers fashion and beauty advice for shoppers on a budget, information about sales, and even gives coupons!

http://www.go2tshirts.com/: This search engine made specifically for T-shirts allows users to find the cheapest price possible by picking from thousands of different websites that carry the same design of T-shirt and looking for the cheapest. It takes all the work out of bargain hunting!

http://www.fashionbug.com/home.jsp: This website offers a great selection of stylish yet affordable handbags, accessories, and shoes for a plus size women, a demographic that is normally not given many options in clothes that are stylish, let alone affordable.

http://www.theonlineclothingboutique.com/: The online clothing boutique offers designer clothing for discounts of up to 50 percent!

Thanks to facebook, I found all of these sites and more. Facebook also helps both the customer and the companies by allowing users to "like"and become "fans" of certain ads, and suggest to their friends the ones they think they would like. Sometimes you can even be rewarded by doing so, by receiving a discount code to the store's website after you suggest it to them.

So next time you see the ads on the side of your facebook page, don't dismiss them quite yet- by placing the simple words "fashion on a budget" anywhere in your profile, you can be sure that these ads will soon reflect them!

L.D.

Media and Fashion

How else would we know the latest trends and styles without our celebs? They are all over the news, TV, tabloids, magazines and all other forms of visual media showcasing the latest trends in fashion. But with media consumption in our society today at an all-time high, and we just barely have time to glance at things for more than a few seconds, learning the latest trends off the runway has never been easier, if you own an iTouch or iPhone, because there is an app for that. Or several!

1) Style.com - Pulling looks has never been easier when you have the trends at your fingertips! Style.com has released an app where you can view new looks, trends, hair and makeup of the season. Check out the review here, or download it on your mobile device now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33cWrM6Sik

2) Fashion Sense app - "We know you will love the easier to use, additional items, and the new indispensable sizing charts! Fashion Sense is your indispensable shopping companion, helping you save money by buying the pieces that are worth it. This simple application will redefine shopping: No more wasted money on ill shaped, incorrect fit, or ugly clothing. Fashion Sense will teach you how to dress for the shape of your body using the same time tested rules celebrity stylists follow to keep the stars looking their best. With one tap, you will be provided expert advice on the nine classic wardrobe pieces every woman should own. Once you have the basics down, come back for additional wardrobe pieces and fit advice. Fashion Sense is designed to grow along with you."

3) Mark - this is a free app that I use. You can view new pieces that you can incorporate into your wardrobe, new hairstyles and makeup in this free and helpful app!

4) Lucky - Lucky magazine is all about shopping, so it’s no surprise they’ve brought you the first digital shopping concierge. With this app, you can browse through the latest trends and shop a wide variety of pieces for each (their selection of fall shoes alone offers over 100 styles), checking for locations nearby and even — here’s our favorite part — have it placed on hold for you. It sounds like the lazy fashionista’s dream, and if it didn’t adhere only to Lucky’s choices of trends (like “arty slick” and “worn in vintagey”), we’d probably never look up from our iPhone again. http://www.halogenlife.com/articles/3357-fashion-at-your-fingertips-iphone-s-few-style-apps-reviewed

5) StyleCaster - As amazing as this idea sounds — utilizing local weather reports to give you functional fashion advice — it’s a bit of a flop in practice. Based on the weather at the time, it gives you three modeled outfit options, which you can then dissect piece-by-piece and even shop for online. So far so good, but we have two major complaints: one, not all those outfits are actually weather-appropriate (if it’s 60 degrees, why would we wear a gold lame miniskirt?), and two, it’s unclear if there’s a way to set style preferences. Also, it’s slow as hell, so we wouldn’t recommend counting on this to decide your outfit for you — sadly, you’ll still just have to dress yourself in the morning. http://www.halogenlife.com/articles/3357-fashion-at-your-fingertips-iphone-s-few-style-apps-reviewed

E.E

Bluefly: a goldmine of bargains in the digital age

Last time, we talked about the media's negative impact on the spending habits of teens when it comes to fashion. But what most people do not realize are the hidden, positive effects of the media on teen spending. Even in the simple act of having an online website, clothing stores have used the internet to give shoppers an easier way to compare prices and find out how much things cost- with everything presented in front of you, its easier to make smart decisions on spending, whereas just going to a store can cause shoppers to buy clothes they could have found cheaper somewhere else- once you get into the store, its more convenient to just buy what they have there, so you are limited to their prices. The popularity of online shopping has been drastically increased by the media- we are so much more inclined to use the internet to shop when we are constantly connected to our computers. This has not gone unnoticed by clothing companies. This is especially apparent in the creation of Bluefly.com, an online-only website that sells a plethora of designer apparel and more for a fraction of the original price.

This website is like a department store, and makes it easy to browse hundreds of different categories to find the cheapest yet cutest items. Plus, their discounts make designer brands like Versace and Chanel a possibility for real students to wear. They even have a huge sale selection, with huge discounts on top of the already discounted designer items.

Bluefly's double discount on a designer blazer: ETAIL VALUE: $350.00

BLUEFLY: $210.00

SALE: $95.24

YOU SAVE 73%

As you can see, Bluefly really makes an effort to show shoppers the value of their website by showing them the exact percent they saved from an original price.

But how did I discover this amazing website? I can thank a 22 year old medical student from Illinois for letting me know it existed. No, she's not my friend- in fact I don't even know her. She was, however, interviewed by Seventeen magazine in an article about prom dresses, where she told the magazine how it was her favorite place to find cheap designer dresses. While magazines already help teens with fashion budgeting, this was the first time a magazine actually introduced me to a store I had never heard of. Thanks to that article, millions of teen shoppers will visit bluefly and find deals. This is just one example of how the media can collect information from many different sources and present it to us in a manageable form. Thanks to the media's influence on shopping, teen shoppers no longer have to deal with the frenzied shoppers and persistent sales people when they need to focus on finding great clothes as cheap as possible- they can just visit bluefly!

http://www.bluefly.com/

L.D.

A

Making the Most Out of Your Wardrobe 3

From autum to winter, riders jacket will be a strong supporter for fashion.
It seems difficult to cordinate... but it is suprisingly fit to many of our clothes.
The sample below is Forever 21's (this is also a strong supporter for us!) French Terry Moto Jacket, $24.80.

Cordination1: with pants Cordination 2: with one-piece dress

Cordination 3: with mini skirt

Coedination 4: with maxi skirt

Cordination 5: with body-con dress

Making the Most Out of Your Wardrobe 2

Today's item is high waist pants.
This sample below is Forever 21's four botton pants, $24,80Cordinate tips: 1) change your outer's length -- especially for the marked high waist, it looks really different whether you show your waist or not.
2) change your footwear -- if you wear pumps, it is better to tuck up the pants for the portion.

Documenting DC Fashion

In her Scene In video series, AU alum Alexandra Garcia has documented the different flavors and atmospheres that DC neighborhoods have to offer. Covering everything from the Georgetown Waterfront to Capitol Hill, Garcia's series chronicles the bold style of individuals around the district, and highlights the trends and "vibes" that resonate within each individual neighborhood. Included online is where to find unique pieces that her interviewees are wearing, and cheaper alternatives. Whether you're looking to expand your style or are simply interested in the culture and history, the Scene In series is a great way to have up-to-date information on the city's fashion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/artsandliving/scene-in/index.html

Fashionable First Ladies: The Muses of DC

Let's be honest with ourselves, guys. When someone brings up fashion havens around the country, D.C. isn't usually thought of as being on par with places like Los Angeles or New York. The "business conservative" look that runs rampant all over the capital usually overshadows the fun and eclectic tastes that make D.C. fashion so unique. And while the leaders of our nation made significant contributions to foreign policy, our economy, and social issues, it's the First Ladies that made strides in expressing themselves through their choice in clothing. The National Museum of American History even has an entire exhibit dedicated to their bold sense of style. As the years pass, they continue to serve as inspiration. Who knows, maybe the boys on Capitol Hill will even take a few hints.

Dolley Madison

Thought of as very risqué for her day, Dolley Madison favored low-cut gowns made out of delicate fabrics that allowed her to show off her figure. She kept up-to-date with all the new European trends, and earned a few whispers behind her back when she started wearing rouge on her cheeks, as was practiced in France. She wore a gold satin turban to her husbands inauguration ball, proving that she valued her self-expression and sense of style much more than others' perceptions of her.

Frances Cleveland

Frances Cleveland became the youngest First Lady in history when she married Grover Cleveland at 21. She was unafraid to flaunt her youth through her daring fashion choices. Her fondness for low-cut and shoulder-bearing dresses even resulted in a petition issued by the Women's Christian Temperance Movement to urge her to wear more modest clothing. She was such an influential force behind fashion in the United States that bustle sales plummeted right after her decision to stop wearing them.

Grace Coolidge

While most of the country was still voicing its distaste over flapper fashion of the 1920s, Grace openly embraced it and displayed her courageous fashion sense at every opportunity, as seen above in the dress she wore to her President Coolidge's inauguration. Her sunny disposition and charm, paired with her love of bold and vibrant garments, made her infamously popular among everyone she met, even her gruff and controlling husband.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Women of the 50s and 60s tried so hard to achieve the grace and elegance that Jackie Kennedy pulled of effortlessly. Her high-waisted dresses and long silk gloves were a product of the times, but she added poise to outfits that on anyone else seemed common. She took inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Greek friezes. Her love of accessories is well-known, even today. Her pearls were sophisticated yet fashionable, and who could forget those glamorous sunglasses. Celebrities are still trying to embody Jackie's look, but they'll never come close to her classic style.

Nancy Reagan

Nancy Reagan's career in Hollywood before entering the political sphere definitely influenced her choices in fashion. She has a deep-rooted love for designers like Oscar de la Renta and Chanel, but her attachment got her into a bit of trouble. Unaware that the First Family could not accept gifts without first paying taxes on them, Nancy accepted free gifts from designers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, which eventually got her into trouble with the IRS. She faced a lot of criticism for continuing to purchase pricey clothing while the country was in a recession, but she refused to sacrifice her personal style.

Michelle Obama

Michelle has already been credited with bringing fashion back into the White House. Often seen baring her enviably toned arms in bright colored garments, she exudes confidence and vivacity in her wardrobe choices. In case her bold sense of style wasn't enough to impress you, there are Michelle Obama action figures with replicas of her best outfits. Take that, Batman.

Making the Most Out of Your Wardrobe

Since college students have a lot of trouble sticking to a budget for clothes and accessories, learning how to spread your wardrobe out is an important concern.

Even if you feel like you have nothing new to wear, you can play around with different combinations to create a limitless number of outfits.

Here's how to take one item (a shirt dress) and make 5 different ensembles:

Day 1: Wear it as a one-piece dress with tights.

Day 2: Wear it open like a cardigan, with a skirt and boots.

Day 3: Tuck it into a full skirt and pair it with a high-waisted belt.

Day 4: Wear it as a dress with a high-waisted belt and bold footwear.

Day 5: Leave it unbuttoned over a band tee and Converse.

By picking a few basic pieces that you already have in your closet and using some creativity, you can really expand your collection of clothes without spending a cent.

Real Guys Dressing For Less

So we got B, a 21 year old college senior, to show us 2 looks he would wear on a normal night out on the town, and where he got his clothes. He loves to shop (shhh, don't tell!) and makes a beeline for the sales. He's a huge fan of outlets and finding great clothes at affordable prices. Here's our first look:

Blazers are in this season, and in some shops, actually affordable. B said his jacket was bought earlier in the year at American Eagle for $39.99, but you can still get a classy blazer like the one shown at Urban Outfitters, on sale for $59.99. Check out the Urban in Georgetown on M street or in Chinatown right off the Metro!

His jeans are from Hollister, and the ones shown are a dark, classic, straight legged jean for only $39.90. Check out the Hollister nearby in Bethesda, MD, only one Metro stop away from AU!

B got his white oxford from American Eagle for $39.99. Check out the AE in Georgetown, right near the intersection of M street and Wisconsin ave!

His shoes are from Steve Madden, where there is a great sale going on, for only $47.70!

Here's the second going out look he pulled off:

The button-down is a very typical DC look. Get B's shirt at Urban Outfitters for $29.99!

His shoes are from Payless, at a mere $34.99!

His Levi's are from Urban again, for $29.99.

His belt is from American Eagle, on sale for $19.99.

A day-time look for guys:

Be trendy but affordable with the choices below. Deep V-Neck cardigans are huge this season, along with lots of plaid and flannel shirts.

Thanks for the help B!

College Staples For Winter

If you already go to American University or have been there for the winter, chances are you already own these winter staples. But if you haven't had a winter here yet, better head out and grab these and make them your own for the cold months!

1) The black Northface. Wear it to class before it gets too cold, or choose it as a lightweight jacket to wear over your going out clothes. Get it at:

3333 M St, Washington - (202) 298-5510

or order online at www.thenorthface.com

2.) Leggings. At least one pair of black leggings is necessary. Useful for going to the gym, hanging around at home, going to class, or wear them out with a classy top for a sexy going out outfit.

Get a pair at American Apparel:

3025 M Street NW

Washington, DC

(202) 572-016

3) Fringe Scarf. They come in a million different colors, are long, soft and comfy and a very normal thing to see girls wearing on and off campus.

Get one at Nordstrom's Junior Department

7111 Democracy Boulevard

Bethesda, MD - (301) 365-4111

4) Ugg Boots. Wait, not any Ugg boots. The short or tall classic sand colored boot.

Get them at Nordstrom or www.uggaustralia.com

5.) A classy pair of skinny jeans. Seven for all mankind, Citizens of Humanity, Rock and Republic, True Religion, Hudson.. any of these will do. And although they might be a bit of an investment, if you buy them at Nordstrom they will tailor them for free! And these jeans will last years. Dress them up or wear them with Uggs and a northface jacket.

Get them at Nordstrom

or Neiman Marcus

5300 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington - (202) 966-9700

But if you can't afford these designer brands, check out these cheaper versions below. You'll save a ton of money, and will still look fashionable!

Sam's Club: Yes, this wholesale warehouse where your mom used to buy large quantities of ice pops every summer also stocks women and men's clothing! Several friends have tipped me off that this is where they got their almost identical Northface lookalike jackets.

2365 Crain Hwy

Waldorf, MD 20601301-932-9408


Target: This store has everything fashionable for unbelievably cheap prices- like these black leggings, only $6!
3100 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20010-2415
(202) 777-3773(only 12 minutes from AU!)

Urban Outfitters: This store can be pricey, but they always have great sales. They currently have a wide variety of scarves, including this fringe one- for $13!

737 7th St NW, Washington, DC

(202) 737-0259‎

(Located right next to the Gallery Place / Chinatown metro station exit)

Payless: Located right in Tenleytown, you can't get much more convenient than this! Find Ugg lookalikes that will keep you warm and fashionable for a fraction of the price. Look for Airwalk boots (below) for $34.99 (Uggs can cost up to $160!)

Forever 21: For dark skinny jeans that are a staple in every wardrobe, this store has what you need! These jeans are only $26!

6500 Springfield Mall,Springfield, VA‎ -(703) 313-6200

(only a half hour from AU)