Coming into college, I planned to bring my whole wardrobe. All of my jeans, a million shirts, ten skirts, and all of my shoes. I quickly realized that if I was having trouble fitting all of my things in twenty-gallon moving bags, how was I going to fit it into my closet? (Spoil alert, I wasn’t!) Once I began moving in, I realized that I’d have to send most of my clothes back with my parents. Unfortunately for me, I had all of my favorite clothes and no staples to match them to. In this article, I’m going to share how I upgraded my wardrobe so I’d never run out of clothes to wear, and more importantly; how I did it without breaking the bank?
The first absolute necessity is a mid-dark wash jean skirt. The beautiful thing about a jean skirt is that they’re easily thriftable. Both of mine were thrifted for less than ten dollars, and you could even go to a vintage market or store and buy one there for twenty to thirty dollars if you feel like splurging. These skirts go with almost everything in my closet. You can dress them up to go to the club or a frat with a cute halter top or tube top, or you can make them more class-appropriate with a baby-doll top or a long sleeve. I am not exaggerating when I say I wear my jean skirt at least two to three times a week. Another thing I love about them is that they are great fall staples. I typically wear a cute long sleeve or sweater over a lace cami and add some leg warmers and boots.
While not a necessity, a good pair of boots is always a good thing to have in your closet. I had the hardest time finding affordable boots until I checked my local walmart. Forty-five dollars for boots that look extremely similar to the Frye Banana boots without breaking the bank. They also had dupes for the Steve Madden buckle boots that were also forty-five dollars. If you don’t get as lucky as I did; depop, poshmark, and even goodwill are great options. Boots are also a great item to dress up or down, you could pair them with a flowy mini dress for lunch with your friends, or wear a cute pair of shorts and a tank top for a more casual look. They’ll even look great with your new jean skirt.
This one might be a bit obvious but, having a few camis in different colors is a really cheap way to customize your closet. Having a few of these bad boys around can be super helpful when you can’t find anything to wear. You can wear them with almost anything; skirts, shorts, or jeans. You can always find something to match a basic cami. You can find cute ones in the lingerie section of any thrift store for two to three dollars, or at any Walmart or Target near you. My favorite way to wear these in fall is to add a cute sweater or to wear them under a baby-doll top. Some of my favorite brands to look for at the thrift store are American Eagle, Guess, and Bebe.