Secrets of a Secondhand Shopaholic

Confession time:  While I love the Inspiration Calendar, I’ve been going rogue……and finding inspiration elsewhere.   Don’t tell Kimberly!

(To learn about the Inspiration Calendar and how I use it in my daily outfit decisions, click here).

One place I’ve found inspiration was from the the movie The Blind Side.  Not only was it a great story and very well-made movie, I coveted nearly every single outfit Sandra Bullock wore.

I actually rented the movie from Netflix, and spent a few nights watching it, studying the different outfits and looking for inspiration.  I thought to myself that maybe could re-create some of the outfits a la “The Look 4 Less”.

I was just sure with some careful studying  and some patient shopping at my secondhand stores I could come up with a Blind Side-Inspired series, and post several great outfits, then Sandra Bulluck would discover me, fall in love with my blog and become my BFF.

Well, I got bored searching for outfits pretty quickly so I had to let go of my dreams of grandeur.  But one outfit kept lingering with me -  the one that is on the cover of the DVD – the white capris, navy shirt, and cool silver belt.  So I decided to start there, and maybe revisit any other outfits and my new friendship with Sandra Bullock at a later date…….

I already had the capris, so I just needed the shirt and the belt.  It took me a couple of months to find a navy sweater shirt at Goodwill.

But the hardest part was finding the cool silver chain belt at a secondhand shop.  I looked everywhere, but didn’t find anything that was close to it.   I finally broke down when I was reading Daily Diva Dish and saw this horse bit belt which I totally fell in love with, but not enough to shell out $120.  So I Googled “silver circle belt” and found this one at JC Penney’s – it’s listed at $28 now, but it was on sale for 1/2 price when I bought it (yea for me!).

So here’s the outfit I pulled together.  In my pose, I tried to recreate the scene where Sandra Bullock’s character Leigh Anne Tuohy was yelling at Big Mike to think of his football team as a family:

Price Breakdown:

Navy Sweater:  Alfred Dunner $3.89 (Goodwill)

White capris:  Ralph Lauren $12.99 (Fashion Junction consignment shop)

Belt:  $14.99 + $5.99 shipping =$20.98 (JC Penney)

Shoes:  Bandolino $14.99 (DSW)

Total Cost:  $52.85

Kind of a pricey outfit for me, but world’s away from what I’m sure it cost Sandra/Leigh Anne in the movie.  I read that the shirt was Oscar de La Renta, and most of her shoes were Jimmy Choos or Christian Louboutin.

So I’m pretty happy with my take on the outfit.  Actually, this outfit reinforces one of my original goals of why I started this blog – to show people that they can dress like celebrities, but only pay a fraction of what the celebrities spend.

What do you think?