I need to make a very big statement before I start drooling over Kate Spade. Call it a preface. I, Annie, am not the type of person who buys designer clothes for the status of it. In fact, you will rarely find me wearing something with a fancy label or an item that cost me even a quarter of a paycheck. You will, however, hear me blabbing about an amazing sale or a pair of pants I got for under $25. I firmly believe that cute clothes don’t have to cost an arm and a leg.
I realize that when you hear Kate Spade, the word “bargain” may not immediately come to mind, if at all. That’s ok. It doesn’t come to mind for me, either. I struggled over what to call the fashion portion of this site. Initially, “designer of the month” was what I had planned on sticking to, but that narrows things. Plus, now that you know I’m not a huge designer shopper, it wouldn’t make sense. By going with inspiration, I can feature a designer piece here and there, along with clothes that match or look like they could have been designed by the same person. Done and done.
Kate Spade has an impeccable way of color blocking without making anything appear too busy. Her pieces carry an heir of class, whether they are neon green or a timeless tortoise shell pattern. I fell in love with her style pretty recently. My mom, sister and I were Christmas shopping at Macy’s and decided to take a stroll through the purses. Lesson one: never do that. Lesson two: you will almost always find something for yourself when Christmas shopping for others. Lesson three: when you go search for it months later for a blog post, it will either be gone or on sale…which is the same type of torture when you’re trying to prove that you don’t need to spend a fortune to be stylish.
Anyway…I fell in love with this now on sale, navy striped bag, but wasn’t willing to spend over $300 for a shoulder bag. Since then, I feel like my designer crush has grown even more. Sticking to my guns about pricing, I figured I wouldn’t own a Kate Spade piece until Zac Efron proposed to me and we lived stylishly every after.
Enter: Gilt Groupe.
If you don’t want another website to suck away your free time, I wouldn’t suggest signing up for gilt.com. Essentially, it’s Groupon for designers. The deals are always hit or miss, but the pictures are always so, so tempting. Two pictures in particular have been tempting for me ever since my crush came about. I didn’t buy the sunglasses and the bracelet at the same time. I’ve actually been on a waiting list for the bracelet for months (yes, pre crush) and the sunglasses were a complete impulse buy. Since gilt gave me a great deal (I double checked by checking the website), I couldn’t really help myself. Of course, I’ve been treating these items with as much care as I treat a child, so I’ve hardly been able to wear them, yet.
The sunglasses are tortoise shell, but the inside portion is a beautiful turquoise color. The square shaped frames and thin appearance reminded me of both Kate Middleton and Jackie O. Sold.
The chunky, chain bracelet is something I’ve been on the lookout for for awhile. Reminiscent of a gold chain bracelet my grandma used to wear, I couldn’t help myself. Plus, with the amount of browns and beiges that always seem to creep into my wardrobe, a gold and blue bracelet could easily be viewed as an investment.
My goal for the month is to find similar pieces with the timeless qualities Kate Spade always seems to deliver. Cross your fingers that I’ll be able to do it, and I can guarantee my closet, wallet and I will all be doing the same thing!
