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Blink your eyes and the holidays will be upon us. Heck, Thanksgiving is days away. Got your holiday wardrobe planned? Buying something new to wear to that party you’ve been invited to/are hosting? No? Me neither. And that’s why I’ve come up with ten cheap tricks to make what we are wearing right now seem somewhat more festive – for far less money than a new dress. Ready?
Wear the office outfit but add a chunky necklace and heels. If you own a chunky necklace and heels to add to the outfit, great. If you don’t? Get thee to Delia’s or someplace like that – buy a cheap knockoff of those necklaces we are seeing in all the catalogs and magazines. No heels? Payless has a huge variety. Turn everyday wear into evening wear. You might consider opening one extra button on the blouse too.
Paint your nails red. You can do it yourself for ten dollars or have a nail salon to it for twenty to thirty, depending on where you live. Red is festive and fun and sophisticated.
Put your hair up – or down, just do something different with it. Blow it straight – or don’t, if you usually do every day. Buy a box of home highlights and streak them through your tresses. If you mess up you can always buy a box of your natural color hair dye and cover them. Wear long dangly earrings from Target.
Bring a pair of your trousers to the tailor and have them tapered or shortened or both. Short narrow trousers are very hip right now and expensive, too. But for a small investment a good tailor (or maybe even the one at your dry cleaner) can taper the pant legs and shorten them to update your look. It’s $25 in my town and that includes cleaning them. You could have a skirt shortened too.
Get together with some pals and do a clothing swap. You’ll need a couple of friends who aren’t dramatically larger or smaller than you. Open some wine and ask them to bring over three dresses or skirt and blouse options. Most of us don’t wear our party clothes very often and have a couple of things hanging in the closet – see what your friends have and borrow something for the party circuit.
Enlist a friend to be your personal stylist. Not brave enough to swap? Ask a friend whose taste you admire to come and browse through your closet. Ask him or her to put together an outfit or two for you and don’t give them any leads as to how you usually wear things. Chances are your friend may spot a skirt/blouse combo you’ve never thought of.
Hit the thrift shops. I think the best ones for dressy things are the Junior League shops where the Ladies Who Lunch drop off last year’s party clothes. Ladies Who Lunch don’t wear their party clothes more than a couple of times, which is wonderful for the rest of us.
Buy a new eye shadow and lipstick for your holiday party: at the supermarket. There are wonderful colors and brands for a fraction of department store prices right around the corner from where I pick up my eggs. Revlon and L’Oreal are two of my favorites and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t look pretty with shiny cherry-red lips. A little liquid black eyeliner is very Mad Men. Go for it.
This one is tricky – and I’d be useless at it: bejewel a sweater. I’m not talking about embossing a holiday scene on a sweatshirt, I’m talking about adding rhinestone buttons to an existing cardigan or sewing some gems or lace on a pullover you already own. I know there are readers out there who can pull this off. Check the J Crew website for inspiration and someone send me a photo of a sweater they’ve added silky roses to, please!
This one’s free! Slow down a little and change your attitude. I’m not especially happy that I can’t buy a dress for my holiday office party but I do have a dress I haven’t worn in a while that could use some tailoring. Getting it done makes me feel empowered rather than downtrodden. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves as women/wives/mothers/daughters during the holidays and once we are knee deep in decorations and food it’s out of
