mall of America

It goes without saying that colored bottoms are the hottest trend this season. While you can find colored bottoms in nearly every clothing store at Mall of America®, I scoured the Mall to bring you the most budget-friendly colored bottoms.

When it comes to maxi dresses, you can choose a few different ensemble paths: casual, dressy or a mixture of the two. I found this gorgeous cobalt number at Old Navy and was drawn to it because of its versatility. You could easily dress this number up with heels and some jewels, or you could throw on a pair of sandals and a denim jacket for a more casual look. I decided to combine the two and dress it up with these smashing leopard wedges, but threw on a fedora to give it more of a laid-back look.

“Mad Men” is one of the few TV shows that I make a point to watch religiously. Everything from the genius writing to the fashions on the show has me glued to the tube every Sunday night. I, like many others, anxiously awaited the return of the show after a long hiatus. Therefore, in honor of its highly-anticipated return with Season 5, I decided to piece together a “Mad Men” inspired ensemble for this week’s $100 or Under.

Color-blocking with two bright hues is a trend that I’m fully embracing and H&M is currently a hot spot for bright colors, making it uber easy for any fashionista on a budget to find workable options to pull this look off. These bright navy crops came in several other fun colors, but the navy + coral combo won my heart over.

For this week’s $100 or Under, I’m bringing you a casual-meets-polished look. This faux leather skirt from H&M is easily one of my new favorite finds as it transitions easily from day to night. I chose to pair it with a slouchy sweater for a more relaxed vibe, but the versatility of this skirt will make you giddy. To finish off the look, I threw in the green clutch for a pop of color and topped my lips off with my new favorite MAC Lipglass, “Knockout.”

I’m all about working to pair various pieces together from your wardrobe to make unique work-week outfits. There are certain days, though, where I don’t even want to think about what I should wear, and for those days, I turn to a dress like this simple but glamorous frock from Francesca’s (Level 1, South). All you have to do is pair the dress with accessories to your liking, and voilá! Your morning just got that much easier. Another plus with this dress is that it makes a great transitional piece from winter into spring. Since spring is on my mind, I decided to go sans tights but you could easily pair black opaque tights with black heels or boots and come out with an equally sassy ensemble.

I had been hearing from a few fashion sources that Old Navy was the hot place to be for fashionable frocks and amazing steals. Naturally, I wandered in there for this week’s $100 or Under hoping to find a piece or two to feature. Well, as you’ve noticed, I ended up finding my entire ensemble (sans the sunglasses) from there. The preppy, layered look is a current fashion obsession of mine and one spring tip I have for everyone is to make sure you have a chambray shirt hanging in your closet. You’ll thank me later after discovering the oodles of outfits you can incorporate it into. And the final piece to top off the outfit had to be these polka dot sunglasses from For Love 21 because I will take any opportunity I can to mix stripes & polka dots together. It just doesn’t get much better than that for me.

Even though we’ve just stumbled upon the first remnants of winter in Minnesota, I can’t help but dream about spring fashion. This year, spring fashion is bursting at the seams with color – especially on the bottom half. Colored jeans are practically everywhere and they aren’t just for the teeny boppers (check out these Not Your Daughters Jeans at Nordstrom).

This week’s post was inspired by the latest surge in colored pants. I kept it somewhat modest with the teal skinnies from Lola that don’t wander too far off the beaten path of denim. But, if you’re looking to do one thing to spice up your wardrobe come spring, do yourself a favor and add a jolt of color to your lower half.

P.S. I may have also been inspired by fellow blogger Bridget’s Pick of the Week a few weeks ago  :-)

As much fun as it is to mix up your wardrobe with out-of-the-box pieces, sometimes it’s refreshing to get back to the basics. I’m a sucker for fashion blogs and had seen a post with an outfit similar to this, and it immediately caught my attention. The black and the white combo with the neutral accents screamed glamorous and chic. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to recreate this look with budget-friendly prices. Hope you enjoy!

Moving into the new year, I’m looking to have a little more fun with my wardrobe and brave some of the trends that are a little out-of-the-box for this gal from North Dakota. One such trend that I’ve been lusting after is the maxi skirt/dress. I’ve donned a maxi dress or two during the summer months, but I’ve seen so many fashionistas rock these ankle-length frocks during the colder months and am absolutely LOVING the look! I decided to give it a try, and while I normally like to share the love with multiple stores in these posts, Forever 21 was the hot spot for finding all the pieces I needed to complete my ensemble. And I’m not going to lie, a couple of these pieces have now found a new home in my closet. Looking forward to the new fashion ventures 2012 will bring!