Paris With a K: Little City Style: Secrets Revealed

This post is a little long, but I'm setting you up for many posts to come in the future! Little City Style will be a common feature on this blog from here on out. I am not from a little city, (quite the opposite) but the precious details of my life have led me here, and I have refused to let it damper my love for fashion and all things style related. I choose to adapt. After many years of living in denial, it's official... labels just don't mean as much to me as they used to. This is a funny thing to admit because at the same time I admit this, I would REALLY like to say that I could CARE LESS.... but it's even still not 100% true! I still swoon every time I walk into an Anthrologie and Juicy still makes my heart flutter! Why do we take such large amounts of pride in who designed our over priced v-neck and where we bought our over-bedazzled jeans. I'm on a journey out of this silly mindset, and this post and on-going feature is a result. So here we go....

OK, I'm letting you in on a HUGE secret of mine. Like a big one. Are you ready? (whispering...) Right now, some of the favorite pieces of my wardrobe came from low end departments stores. GASP! Can you believe I just said that?! I'm talking like the kind of stores you just don't talk about when you shop there... especially for clothes! It's one thing to hit up Sears for a new power drill, but for a date night top?

One thing that living in a small town has forced me to do is improvise when it comes to shopping. There are little to no shopping options right here in town.

Here's the Centralia line up:

A couple of thrift stores that have good vintage options: they are a tad smelly, and I want to bathe in anti-bac gel when I leave, but still VERY cheap and loads of great vintage finds because there is just not a market for that kind of stuff here. They don't even know what they have!

Maurice's: Good for emergencies and blue jeans, but mostly just not quite my style)

Walmart: Just plain old Walmart. Not even a Super Walmart. I didn't even know normal sized Walmarts still existed until I moved here.

Peeble's: Like a Palais Royal or Bealls, but worse.

A Payless, another shoe store, and I think that completely sums it up as far as retail goes.

Store options that are less than 30 minutes away:

Cato

Sears

JC Penny

Bath and body Works

Resale Shops

Kohls

The Shoe Dept.

A Super Walmart

So, there you have my options. A trip to St. Louis is an hour away. With gas prices, my SUV and a toddler who is currently fascinated by escalators, on most days it's just not worth a trip. The good news is that one most days, you don't need a trip.

Sears, for example, has several trendy lines of clothes (including the new Kardashian line) and absolutely incredible clearance racks that are usually stuffed full. Here's a tip: smaller towns = less of a city influence which means the edgier, more trendy options stay on the rack longer! Most tops I get from Sears are less than $10. (the top in this post, and both tops in the post on our trip to Birmingham were from Sears and all $7.99 each. Three words: told you so.)

Cato is harder to find tops and bottoms that I can work with, but they always have a stellar collection of shoes. They even usually have several options of 3" heels, rather than the typical 4-5" and that just makes this tall girl happy. (Even though I don't hesitate to splurge on a fabulous 4")

J.C. Penny is home to Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen's line as well as a couple of other trendy and dare I say "hipster" lines.

Kohl's is home to Vera Wang, Elle, Lauren Conrad, and as if those weren't enough a new Jenifer Lopez line, and lots more. Also, my most favorite pair of jeans that I get compliments on day in and day out are from the Kohl's jr department. They are the Kohl's brand "SO" and I got them on sale last Christmas for $17. They ran true to size, have kept their shape, length and fit beautifully even after several months. (I typically stay far far away from juniors jeans, but are a current wardrobe staple of mine)

So I hope that helped some of you small town fashionistas. Don't make a several hour trip to the big city just for the sake of a designer, or a favorite spot. I still shop at my favorite city spots when I have the chance, and I am constantly on their websites pulling inspiration and applying it when exploring any type of retail store. My wardrobe consists of pieces from Sears, Walmart and Forever 21 all the way to Anthrologie, Nordstrom and H&M.

Fall, family day, here in town at the park.