My second year of preschool my mother forgot it was picture day. That morning, a particularly self aware four year old walked into Westover Hills sporting a simple top and Gap blue jeans thinking it was just a normal day on the job. When I discovered what yearly occasion was taking place, my teachers must have forced me down on the photographers chair because although I have no recollection of taking the actual shot, I keenly recall the sheer rage I felt towards my mother for forgetting to put me in nothing short of my BEST, as well as the mortification of knowing I would be forever documented in a Sea World tshirt.

As this story somewhat illustrates, I have been in a conscious pursuit with how I express myself for quite some time, particularly through the vehicle of clothing. Simply put: I have been in love with fashion for as long as I can remember. With that being said, urged partly by curiosity and partly by the need to show prospective employers my dedication, I felt it fitting (...or even a tad late) on my twenty-first year to start documenting this interest.

I am a Marketing major at the University of Arkansas, and therefore a lot of my days are centered around the "New Consumer." All I have to say is congratulations everyone, because academia of late have proclaimed this generation of shoppers to be the smartest, most informed, no nonsense bunch to date. Being a member myself, I believe them. My mother will buy a white t shirt for $70. I'm not joking. $70 dollars. She has no concept that higher price does not mean higher quality. Nor does she realize that a viable substitute for this $70 dollar shirt is as close as your local Target. I blame it on the lack of information her generation could get their hands on, after all, Al Gore had not invented the internet yet. However, on the reverse side, our generation has been given the gift (or the burden... however you want to look at it) of SO much content. The plus side to this flood of data is that I feel we have shaped the market in our favor. The hard part, is to decipher through it all, and thats where I hope to help. I have come to realize that we all can keep the shop-a-holic inside us and be active functioning members of society too! My personal montra for this topic, is, for the most part... to splurge on the timeless pieces and find a cheap substitute for the trends (and yes like every rule....there are exceptions). Luckily, as I have just described, in today's society this can be possible! Hopefully through this blog I can show you both categories. Plus some extra junk I throw in here and there ( I honestly am not 100% on this theme yet) With that being said, my two chief goals for this blog....

(1) To express/ illustrate my views on the category
(2 ) To hopefully help others find expressive, practical, clothing without spending any unwanted time, effort, or money.

Ok....so first post? CHECK!

Oh, and as a side note, I am usually not this formal...I just thought this was important to get my overall thoughts for the direction of this project written as clear as possible...if in any case, for me! (because I really don't expect many people to read this) .

Until next time!
EGS