BDG BOYFRIEND CARDIGAN – comes only in white and black. $ 38.00 at Urban Outfitters.

J. ALDRIGDE (BY SEA OF SHOES) SATIN BOW HEEL – comes in black and light pink. $98.00 at Urban Outfitters.

SWEET LIFE BY DOLCE VITA HEEL – comes in black only. $69.99 at Urban Outfitters.

BLACK LEGGINGS – comes in black only. $14.99 at Urban Outfitters.

While on the topic of Paris, I stumbled upon a blog entitled The Cherry Blossom Girl. Its a blog about Fashion, Food, Photography, and Paris. Most of the blog is in French, but under each entry is an English translation. I will add it to my links, its a really interesting blog.

This picture is from the notorious LookBook. I saw that I got a view from Paris, so I decided to create an outfit inspired by a look from Paris, where this photo was taken. Being a french student, I absolutely adore France, and I especially love Paris. I visited there with my family and we loved it. I instantly fell in love with the food, the atmosphere, and the fashion. During the summer, it doesn’t get dark in Paris until about 9:30, 10:00 o’clock. The food is to die for, and the shopping is amazing. Visiting Paris persuaded me to take French, so to all of you Paris viewers (or viewer) THANK YOU! This is for you.

I would like to address the discussion of materialism involving fashion. It has been brought to my attention that some people think that the fashion industry revolves around being materialistic, and around money. Well, you heard it here first; IT DOESN’T! Fashion is about creativity, individuality, and the world seeing you as you want them to. In some cases, materialism can be brought into the fashion business, when people let designers and labels get to their heads. But this blog is in spite of the overly-priced designer things. I’ll be the first to admit; designer things are really nice! But when you can get the same thing for much cheaper, its really worth it. So let your materialistic state of mind stop here, because that is not what fashion is about.

Chanel Tote for $4.99

In this wonderful world of blogging, there is something known as a ‘ping-back.’ A ping-back is when you make a post about another person’s blog entry, and your thoughts on it. Since there aren’t a lot of interesting blog entries on fashion, I decided to make a post about a new fad that seems to be sweeping this economy-stricken nation. This fad would be the creation of knock off designer bags on a paper bag, or a canvas tote.   No, I’m not talking about the illegal bags being sold on the streets of China Town; people on a budget draw a designer logo on a paper bag or a cheap canvas tote (which can be found at a Michael’s Store near you for under $4.00) and use them for everyday use. This shows individuality and creativity, without costing thousands of dollars for ‘the real thing.’

Lookbook has been expressing their excitement for this new concept through pictures and comments on their blog. Therefore, LookBook has become the victim of my ping-back. I completely and 100% agree to LookBook’s decision to suport this. I think it gives a chance of creativity outside the realm of high fashion, which can be incredibly expensive. I encourage you to look at LookBook, because this is one of many things that I have found incredibly interesting on this site.

OPEN-SHOULDER TUNIC: comes in white, black, and blue. $14.99 at Urban Outfitters.

VINTAGE ANKLE BOOTS: only comes in black. $42.00 at LA Vintage.

GOLD STUDDED BELT: only comes in black. $28.00 at Urban Outfitters.

FLORAL LEGGINGS: comes in black, blue, and purple. $14.00 at Urban Outfitters.

This was put together in inspiration of an outfit found on the website LookBook. Lookbook lets people from all over the world post outfits that they think are ‘fashionable’ and that deserve to be shown off. Yet not everyone can be apart of this exciting experience; you have to send in pictures by mail (yes, the old fashioned envelope and stamp) to the owner and they determine whether you have enough style to be on the website. Your style gets critiqued and analyzed by a series of stylist, and they decide who makes the cut, and who doesn’t. Most members of LookBook are not from the United States, or North America for that matter. Some regions of origin include Paris, Stockholm, Poland, Bern Zurich, Luxembourg, Sweden, Madrid, Finland, Sydney, Olso, the list goes on and on! You will find that on this blog, I will refer to LookBook a lot. Its really an interesting website, for those of you who are interested in fashion and for those of you who are not, so check it out sometime. Seeing  the separation of what’s considered fashionable within different countries is really cool.

Hello my name in Ashley, and this is my blog about fashion. Many of you might be wondering as to why I chose fashion as the topic of this blog. This has been something I have been interested all my life. When I’m older, I hope to go into the fashion business, working as a writer for a magazine such as Nylon or Vogue. The whole idea fascinates me; New York Fashion Week, textile designs, and the fact that fashion gives everyone a chance to express themselves.

Though some people look at clothes a different way, I see it as a way of individualism and creativity, and there is nothing more important in the fashion industry then that. If everyone wants to dress to the latest status quo, then they should be able to! Yet a big issue comes to mind; how expensive being fashionable can cost. Everybody should be able to dress however they want without breaking their budget.

Therefore, this blog will be about the newest looks in fashion that you can get for yourself, for much cheaper then you except. There are so many cool things out there involving fashion that I would love to introduce. I want to hear your ideas, so please let me know! Hope you enjoy:)