Forever 21! Woooo

I've been troubled lately. well not troubled troubled. More like, ANNOYED with the current state of my wardobe, bank account, and the lack of affordable yet well designed clothing. I was hoping H&M would be able to help me in this department. While I am bothered by the fact that the clothing at H&M must so clearly be made in sweatshops, I sometimes splurge and spend $15 in there. I walked into the store in The Rockingham Park Mall in Salem, NH hoping they would have some colorful and cute tops to add to my everyday denim. I couldn't find a thing. Sure there were things I liked here and there like a cute brown and cream polkadot dress but at $40 bucks, I knew it wasn't worth the price. I wandered around the mall, bored by The Gap but still buying my favorite undies at their back to school price of $5 a pop. I then went into American Eagle Outfitters. I often shop on ae.com which seems to always have cute things. Then I get to the stores and everything is tiny or has some lame logo on it. I was just about to give in and drop $400 in J Crew and guy a few boring pieces like I do every fall when a store with no name out front caught my eye. I walked inside and realized I was in Forever 21. When I lived in New York City I passed their store in Union Square everyday on the M14 or on my bike. I figured it was just another lame Strawberry's-esq NYC chain of trashy clothing. A few days before New Years '05, stoned and silly, my roommate Adam pulled Kerry and myself into Forever 21 claiming it was a young new york girls best kept secret. He wasn't kidding. I am a bit of a snob when it comes to discount clothing. I am a sucker for good quality and often times would rather spend $60 on a good sweater from J Crew or elsewhere than buy 3 trendy ones from some place like Target or H&M. But there seems to a recent trend in retail, HIGHER PRICES. Anthropolgie has always been the more expensive sophisticated older sister store to Urban Outfitters. Since the opening of the Boston store (about 10 years or so ago) I have always admired their clothing. Lately however, their price points have sky rocketed. I feel like I am at Barney's Co-Op not Anthropolgie. If I am going to spend $300 on a dress I am going to buy something fancy like Marc by Marc Jacobs. Sorry Anthropologie. I have also noticed this trend at J Crew which is now offering the J Crew Collection that includes items like $400 handbags, $250 Shoes and my favorite, a $1,600 winter jacket (pictured right). With these trends on the rise and the current state of my wallet, finding anything remotely cute has be incredibly difficult. Feeling defeated and poor, I made my way to Forever 21. What I found blew me away. The mall was closing in 15 minutes and I didn't even know where to look. My eyes grew big, everything was cute, fashion forward, good quality and cheaper than you could possibly imagine! I picked up a light cotton cami in a rust orange and white bold print that hit at the top of my thigh and three white buttons in the middle. It reminded me of something Marc Jacobs would have designed but oh yes, $15.30! I continued to frantically go through the racks picking up everything in sight. What I ended up with, 5 shirts, 1 dress, 3 headbands and a red plastic bangle all for $135 and change. Everything adorable and most of the shirts cost around $15. Unfortunately, the website doesn't have any of the adorable things I bought on it. I will update this later with pictures of the stuff I bought. You MUST check out forever 21 in person. Be aware of one thing though, they have a very strange return policy. You only have 21 days to return your items for store credit only. All accessories are final sale. I tried on 8 things in 3 minutes since the store was closing. So, as long as you try on beforehand, it shouldn't be an issue. And really, if a $15 shirt doesn't last, is it the biggest deal?

I have a million other things to blog about and photos to upload. I hope my new found love for Forever 21 has motivated you to go to the store and spend barely any money for a million little things. Now all I need is a pair of those skinny jeans and a new pair of flats. (yeah, Azim chewed the bow right off my favorite purple marc by marc flats. i love having a puppy)

Any advice on skinny jeans for girls who aren't so skinny?