Polyvore.com. it's amazing.

If you haven't played around on www.polyvore.com, or at least looked at it for inspiration, well then you're missing out my dears! If you were a fashion major in college or a middle school girl at one point then, you're quite familiar with the concept of inspiration boards. Polyvore is basically a medium for creating collages minus paper cuts and glue sticks. It's a great site for experimenting with clothes and figuring out how a new piece would work in your current assortment. Also, a good way to kill time at work and a good alternative to wasting time stalking your quasi-friends on facebook.

Days into Nights into Days - by gagey on Polyvore.com

DIY Spring trends

Remember that you don't have to buy all your trendy new clothes. You can make them too! A lot of the looks shown for spring - cut-offs, ripped jeans, slouchy tees... can be made from clothes you already have in your closet. Please do not go out and buy J Brand cut up jean shorts for $176.00. That's crazy! Cut off your own. I swear they will look the same, probs better. If you don't have a pair you want to cut, go to the thrift store. I made some from a pair of hollister jeans from like 5 years ago and for reals, they look just like the ones I'm seeing in Bloomies.
Current/Elliot jeans are cute, but they also come with a pricetag of $200+. Boyfriend jeans are also easy to make and in fact I'm going to try my hand at these too! I have some light wash slouchy bootcut jeans that I'm going to hand distress. You could do bootcut or even some skinnies and distress them yourself with a cheese grater, or just slicing a few holes into them with scissors or a knife. Run them through the washer and dryer and no one will be the wiser. Plus, a lot of the boyfriend jeans have a man crotch and I really doubt we're going to think that's hot next year. If you still are into it, you might again want to try a thrift store and buy a pair of men's jeans or steal from your real boyfriend but it's unlikely his will fit (they'll probably be too big for you!)
Slouchy tees are easy too- a lot of the ones that are sold are literally hand stretched. So if there's a shirt that you're over, try stretching it out and experimenting with stretching out the collar, sleeves and body. Take cues from Alexander Wang or his muse Erin Wasson - this trend is all their fault because they handstretched their own shirts first.
There you have it! 3 trends from your own closet.

Making spring trends work for you

I hate to bring up the state of the economy, but honestly it's hard to avoid talking about it a little, isn't it? Well, we all still love fashion and staying trendy, so what's a girl to do? Current economy or not, I have to learn to save money! So this spring, I've decided to enact a new strategy when preparing for the coming seasons- actually think about what I want before I get it. Yes, it's pretty revolutionary. I have to confess that in the past I have just gone out shopping and dropped a decent amounts of cash I should not be spending on pieces that are completely impulsive. In the end I have some good individual looks but not really a cohesive wardrobe statement. This time around, I'm trying to change!
Here's my plan and I think it's a good one so I'm sharing it with you. (I'd love for you guys to comment on your upcoming strategies!)
1) Research and figure out what trends you like and want to try - if possible pick an overall theme or color scheme. Based on my clothes and current S/S trends, I've decided to go with purples and metallics and I really take advantage of the boyfriend look trends.
2) Haul out your spring and summer clothes! Try on your old clothes and figure out which ones work with the looks you plan on trying everything on and just experimenting with different ways to mix things. So I just did this tonight and it turns out a lot of my stuff definitely works with the current trends which is great. I can guarantee this will be the same for you, so just do it!
3) Identify holes in your wardrobe and figure out the pieces that will fill them preferably going for pieces that can work double duty, like going from work to weekend or day to night. Most of us spend the majority of our time at work so it's good to keep in mind that we should probably be buying more work appropriate clothes than items that can only be worn on the weekend.
4) Buy only those pieces!!! This is the tough part for me. I went out shopping after work today and I'm not kidding I tried to justify buying like 5 different pairs of shoes. If I hadn't been so hungry... well, my credit card might not have lived to tell the tale.. :)

Most importantly, you are allowed one really trendy item, but really, not more than one or two because the trendy stuff comes and goes (but I know you know that). For me I'm planning my one splurge to be a romper. I am desperate for one! So I found one that looks like two pieces and hopefully it will live beyond one season, but if it doesn't, it's okay because I'm only allowing myself one!

Jean Shorts. Will you wear them??

Jean shorts. (Jhorts, anyone? Heh.) Okay so cut-offs aren't anything new, but they seem to be out this season with extra oomph- kind of like your girlfriend that just broke up with her boyfriend and wants to be out on the scene every night, right?
No matter what year cutoffs will remain the epitome of relaxed sexy summerwear. Seen and sold pretty much everywhere for spring/summer, I think we'll be seeing this trend on more than just celebrities. Cutoffs made it through the year as Kate Moss and Lily Allen showed them in a new way and rocked them this winter with black tights.
Model extraordinaire Erin Wasson has "designed" a pair in her capsule collection with RVCA. Alexander Wang showed jean shorts last year which probably was partly to blame for the jean short fanaticism. The real question is, if you are not a model or a skinny high schooler- are you going to wear cut-off jean shorts? Madewell and some other retailers are showing cute jean shorts that have a rolled cuffed hem- for me, those would be the way I would choose to wear this trend, but I'm guessing some real fashion-types will go for the real deal. Where do you fall in the spectrum? Will you wear jean shorts?

Gladiators + Spring Trends

Did anyone else realize that gladiators perfectly suit the bohemian vibe of the new spring fashions? Or really any of the new spring clothes? Gladiators will look good with boyfriend jeans, jumpsuits, your awesome new tie-dye clothes. Just a friendly observation :)

Fantasy Spring 09 Closet

In college, one of my roommates and I used to play this game -the fantasy food game- it's quite a simple concept and I know you do it too, all you have to do is name and describe the most delicious sounding food thing you were craving in the moment. I believe we created this game while eating very unsatisfying dining hall food freshman year. So I'm going to apply fantasy food to clothes and tell you about some pieces I would have in my fantasy wardrobe for Spring if per chance I win the lottery or stumble into some other stream of extreme financial prosperity.
1) Stiletto Pant by Elizabeth & James
2) Gathered Bateau Sheath Dress by Milly
3) Draped Dress by 3.1 Phillip Lim (specifically because I feel like you could pretend to be Joan Holloway in Mad Men)
4) Alexander Wang combo dress - which is featured in this short video which as a sidenote- is worth it just for the model as she's not quite sure how to handle herself :)
5) Michael Kors ID chain bag
6) Marc Jacobs tulip hem wrap skirt
7) Dolce&Gabbana strapless bustier dress because, you know, why not?

Of course there are many others, but this is all I'm going to bore you with for now. Perhaps my one commenter will add her most coveted spring pieces?