Fashion Crime

For ages now, I have been thinking of starting a blog in which I would shop once/week at a store with a crappy brand image for fashion (e.g., Sears) and I would limit myself to items on the sale rack. I wondered if I could find crazy bargains and still look good (relatively speaking!) or if it would be so confining that I would begin to look like a character in Mudflap Bubbas' old life.

On Thursday, I was running an errand and briefly stopped into the Dress Barn on an ancillary scouting expedition.

The findings are shocking: The Dress Barn fashion is a) actually worse than I ever imagined (and I'm pretty imaginative) and b) much more expensive than my middle American budget can afford.

Example: Marled Hooded Sweater Coat -- originally $49.99 | now $25.00

Their own site says, "Operates a chain of off-price women's apparel stores." But twenty five dollars for that? Is that "off-price" or just "off-fashion"? Is that affordable when half of all U.S. households generate income less than $46K per year?

So I have to rethink my middle Americana chic shopping blog. I'm not sure I want to drop $1300 this year on a load of crap just for the challenge.