The new "it" fabric? Burlap.

Yup, burlap. As in the material that potato sacks are made of.

Call it a sign of the times, or "recession chic" or what have you, but for those who thought burlap was only relegated to Depression-era farm children swathed in coarse, itchy togas, think again. Burlap is back in a big way -- and not only that, if designer goods are your modus operandi, be prepared to spend big.

How big? Try about $1,400 for the Miu Miu burlap ensemble (above), complete with pink streak of spray paint, of course. I think the streak lends a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you? Or this dress, also about $1,400.

The New York Times is calling this new fad "bread-line chic". Clever. I call it "the Emperor has no clothes" syndrome. If you want a pair of matching shoes for your itchy little dress (move over LBD, the ILD is the new kid in town), then why not try Miu Miu's $600 burlap pumps? But why should we stop there. Why not, say, use the coarse fabric to upholster high-end furniture? Oh wait, that's already been done. I'm just waiting for a burlap bikini. Perhaps I should fashion one once Love and I get through cooking all the potatoes in our kitchen.

Seeing this I can't help but be reminded of that I Love Lucy episode, entitled "Lucy Gets a Paris Gown." In it Lucy decides to go on a hunger strike until Ricky agrees to buy her a designer dress, which he saves for until he finds out Ethel has been smuggling Lucy food. Ricky decides to teach Lucy a lesson by putting together a haphazard burlap dress and passing it off as a Paris original. Lucy believes him and wears it proudly. Hilarity (of course) ensues, especially because this is how ridiculous she looked:

"Coupon Queen" spends $10 on $150 worth of groceries

I'm speechless (and impressed):



Is this seriously possible? I know it takes a lot of research and hard work, but still. (P.S. Love the image of this tiny woman with a Brooklyn accent pushing a giant overflowing grocery cart almost as tall as her through the aisles of her local supermarket. Priceless.)

The Sad Clown

Betty, post-meltdown

I was watching a rerun of Mad Men Season 2 on AMC last night when I was reminded -- as if I needed reminding -- why I think it's the best drama on TV, period. It so beautifully captures a time period in our nation where we were hanging in a balance; WWII had ended, the Vietnam War hadn't yet happened, the Kennedys were in power and you knew you were living the American dream if you owned a powder-blue boat of a Cadillac replete with fins.

As we all know now in hindsight, this world was not set up around a pillar of equality. Women had their place, and that was generally in two locales. If you were married, you played house, raising the children, cooking, cleaning, running errands, and looking pretty and proper as arm candy at your husband's work functions. All other women worked "out there" in the real world, which tended to elicit sympathy and is another post to come.

Anyways, the episode last night (called a "A Night to Remember") is one of my favorites and includes a scene in which Betty Draper finally confronts the fact that she and her husband (Don Draper) are on unequal footing. Not surprisingly, she feels vulnerable and embarrassed. Embarrassed because what finally spurs this flitting thought to take a seat front and center in her consciousness is that she suspects Don of cheating on her, and not only that, she feels like everyone must know except her -- as if this elusive world of men that Don is a member of is all in on it. And she's right -- everyone knows...Betty was just the last to find out.

A little background: Before the confrontation, Don and Betty have a dinner party for Don's coworkers, which Betty has painstakingly spent days preparing for. In her polka-dot "clown" dress, Betty offers Heineken to the gentlemen, which elicits lighthearted laughter because (unbeknownst to her) Don has been working on a Heineken ad campaign in the office. The embarrassment from the dinner party carries over to Betty's confrontation and climaxes with her telling him that he knows her so well and she knows nothing.

I can't help but wonder how many of our grandmothers had similar conversations at some point early in their marriages, during the 1940s, 50s and early 60s. After all, men were heads of the house and women came second, including in any decision-making that involved the family or finances. Because men were characteristically seen as "providers" for the family, I think it was subconsciously accepted that they could do as they pleased because they brought home the bacon and held the purse strings. This sort of financial power that men held gave them a sense that they afforded their philandering lifestyle and crippled women like Betty into the submissive Stepford wife she portrayed all through Season 1.

To TV watchers, not only does Betty know nothing about where Don is every day, or what kind of affairs he carries on with, she also literally knows, well, nothing -- especially about the family's finances. If Don were to leave for good, Betty would have no other option than moving back in with her parents (her two children in tow), and it's this sort of purgatory that kept so many women in the 1950s and early '60s stuck in dead-end marriages. Not only was there a financial incentive to stay with your husband, but also divorce was not a term thrown around lightly. (A divorced, single mother that lived down the street from the Drapers in Season 1, for example, was looked at as a pariah in the community.) To be a female divorcee translated to being a failed woman.

Again, this Mad Men story line resonates because similar scenarios have happened to many of our grandmothers -- and maybe even our mothers. I'm not some raving feminist, but I can't help but be grateful that as women we now have the right to choose what we want our lives to be and we all have the freedom to be in charge of our finances, stigma-free. I love being married (and I admit, I do love Don Draper, the cad), but it's refreshing to know that nowadays we don't have to get married to feel financially secure, or fully depend on a man (and a cheating one, at that!) to make the right financial decisions for us because we have no other option.

For the entire day after the confrontation, Betty pads around the Draper house in her disheveled party dress from the night before, makeup in disarray, and rifles through Don's suits and desk, trying to find any evidence of his cheating ways. The image that struck me most in this scene was when Betty sat in Don's desk chair in his home office, trying in vain to open his locked desk drawers that undoubtedly carried the family's files on everything from finances to health insurance. These were drawers Betty, as a wife and woman, was not allowed in.

Betty looked so out of character sitting in Don's chair, as if she had usurped -- for a brief moment, at least -- his head-of-house throne. Luckily for us, though, head of house is a character we can all play now.

Fashionable Fridays: Miss Dior Cherie

I was perusing the latest issue of Elle Magazine two nights ago, getting more and more bummed with the turn of every page due to wanting all that I couldn't afford in the mag, when I came across this beautiful ad for Dior's new fragrance:


I immediately fell in love with the picture. Not only do I love the model's ensemble, but I love the way the picture captures the whimsically magical and romantic side of Paris -- you know, the idealized side of the City of Lights us Americans always imagine it to be like through movies like Amelie and Paris Je T'aime. I'm looking for the original print to frame, minus the Dior wording, but in the meantime I figured that with Paris on my mind, I'd find a way for us girls on a budget to also pull off the Miss Dior Cherie look.

Here's how to capture the look above without breaking the bank (click on pics for prices):

Miss Dior Cherie by BrunetteOnABudget featuring Hudson rings

Floating above Paris, optional. ;)

I want my Mtv

The men I spend my Sunday nights with.

Okay, maybe not my Mtv, but definitely my AMC, as I firmly believe I would die a slow, painful death without Mad Men (yes, I've actually pondered this scenario). For that matter, I also wouldn't be able to live without my TCM either, as it's my umbilical cord to all things classic film (feed me, Robert Osbourne!). Add to that HGTV, the "real estate porn channel" that allows me to live cathartically through strangers on House Hunters International as they navigate the lux terrain of Parisian apartments. And don't get me started on the Travel Channel and my daily, necessary (or what Love has dubbed "obsessive") dose of Anthony Bourdain. I'm a productive person, an astute multi-tasker, and yes, I do enjoy watching television -- sometimes more than I should. My point is that these are things ... shows ... I don't want to live without, people. They are the backbone of my stunningly vast pop culture knowledge and most are sadly not offered for free online.

Why am I presenting you with this panoply of favorite channels? Well, I'm going to be acting on a giant, exciting, I-can't-wait-for-it decision next month that will alter how much I'll need to save and how my budget will look strutting into this next year. "What is this life-altering decision?" you may ask with baited breath. I know, I feel your plight. I often amaze even myself with my impulsive decisions, but patience, my pretties. That's a post left best for mid-May. (And don't go buying me chic maternity clothes just yet, there is no pregnancy or baby involved.)

In the meantime, I've had to analyze my spending style and list what sorts of accoutrements I can cut out in my month-to-month living to conserve cash. In our household, our Comcast bill is one of the larger, more expendable bills we pay on a monthly basis, which brings me to the shows and channels that propel my weeks forward, like buoyant seaweed draped on the overactive rudder of my life. I like my seaweed and want it hanging off my rudder, thankyouverymuch.

Love and I debated the other night as to whether we could do without cable television. Left to his own wits, he'd never watch any of the shows I tune in to weekly (though since we've gotten married he has seen the light -- well, sort of -- with Mad Men, Grey's Anatomy, Anthony Bourdain and The Hills. Lucky, lucky man). In fact, Love isn't a big TV person at all. He's more of a DVD kind of a man, and thoroughly enjoys such cinematic masterpieces like Big Trouble in Little China and Reign of Fire. Yes, I know. I, on the other hand, enjoy dramas centered around faux Seattle doctors, foodie trips to Bangladesh by ex-drug addict chefs, and the nitty-gritty stories spun between bottled blondes and their beaus in La La Land, with a dollop of Kelly Cutrone on the side. This is all when I'm not watching TCM, naturally.

So how does a couple who is out to save money compromise? Do we cut the cable and watch what little is available online? Rent episodes on Netflix DVDs when they are released? (Boo.) Keep the cable and stop buying the small amount of action movie DVDs we actually purchase?

In cases as dire as this, we do what I want -- and naturally, that's what we did. Which means we're keeping the cable and finding other costs to cut so that I can tune in to Mad Men Season 3 this summer, Love at my side, as planned. I can't wait.

Gucci for less

If you love Gucci but can't afford the haute looks, maybe this re-creation will satisfy your designer appetite, compliments of DesertRose:

Gucci Style Budget by DesertRose on Polyvore.com

Loves it! Not sure if the dress is still available, but horizontal stripes are big this season -- in fact, I saw a dress very similar to this one recently at H&M for about $35. The yellow jacket, pumps and belt round out this outfit nicely at about $50 total, which isn't bad for accessories that can be paired with many other ensembles!

Vogue's cat is out of the bag

Not like you sign up for mag subscriptions in the hope that the free swag you get will actually be quality (right??), but if the driving factor in becoming a Vogue reader was the new purse you were promised, you may have found yourself a little...underwhelmed.

According to the New York Post, wannabe Anna Wintours hoping to score free glamour with a Vogue Magazine subscription need not apply. You see, in the Vogue ad, the Post says the bag appears to be red leather with a crocodile embossment and a clasp with over-the-shoulder straps.

"Instead what shows up in the mail, in a standard 8 in. by 10 in. polybag, is a red canvass bag with "pleather" handles about the size of a small gym bag. The bag also has "pleather" patches on the bottom corners and a zipper closure."

Classy!

What happens when the empty nest isn't so empty?

Here's a guest post from my friend, freelance writer Trisha Wagner. Enjoy!

Do you remember the first time you moved away from home? The feeling of excitement, independence and freedom? The joy and trepidation of finally striking out on your own with no parents looking over your shoulder or bossing you around? I know I remember those feelings well and nothing ever compares to moving into your first place. Now imagine fast forwarding five, ten or even fifteen years and having to face the fact that you can no longer make it on your own. While it has become somewhat common for some college grads to bounce back to the family homestead until they get “established” the current state of the economy is forcing grown men and women out of their homes and back to mom and dad's place.

With the tough economic times that we are facing, this situation is becoming a reality for many families. To say the least this arrangement can be stressful for both parties and it is important to set some ground rules to prevent both of you from falling back into your old roles. The following tips can help you get in and out of the family home with the least amount of disruption to all involved.

Set Rules Before Moving Home. This is important for both the parents and the adult child to establish what is expected of all parties. If the move home is a result of a financial hardship, agreeing on what will be expected of you will go a long way toward a peaceful co-existence. Due to the current state of the economy your parents may want to help you financially but find themselves unable due to their own financial situation. Both parties need to agree and feel comfortable discussing these financial responsibilities before you move home.

Be Respectful Of Privacy. Let's face it, you have grown accustomed to having your own space and so have your parents. Remember this is their home and just because they want to help you doesn't mean they will relish having another person (even their child) hanging on the sofa all day. Be respectful of their privacy and the daily “routines” that we all have.

Have A Plan. Remember moving back home with the folks should be a temporary arrangement to help you get back on your feet. This means if you are unemployed you should continue to look for work. If you are currently working, you should be extra mindful of your spending habits. You don't want to be a mooch, cost your parents more money or spend your paycheck on fabulous new shoes. Make the most out of this opportunity to get your finances in order by saving as much money as you can possibly afford. This may mean making sacrifices or adjusting your lifestyle but that is the reality of your life at the moment.

Learn From Your Mistakes. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Successful people however learn from those mistakes. There are many reasons why an adult child may be forced to move home. Some situations are out of your control (loss of employment or major medical issues). Other circumstances may have been preventable had you managed your finances better. Don't let past missteps stop you from moving forward toward your financial goals; establish where you went wrong and make the changes necessary to prevent the same mistakes from happening in the future.

While no one wants to move back home under the watchful eyes of their parents, certain situations may leave you with no other options. At a time when your pride might be hurting don't forget to be thankful and appreciative that you have parents and a home to fall back on-- not everyone is as fortunate.

Trisha Wagner is a freelance writer for DepositAccounts.com where you can compare rates of deposit accounts from dozens of banks in one place. Trisha writes regularly on the topics of personal finance and savings accounts.

Fashionable Fridays: Casual in the city

Today was like any other day: I woke up, decided to run with the smokey-eye look, threw an outfit together and spritzed myself with perfume on my way out the door. I guess I looked cuter than usual (is that even possible?) because my garb caught the attention of many passerbys (don't even pretend like you weren't checking me out, you trio of men in suits -- I saw you out of the corner of my dark sunglasses). And of course I also got compliments from friends throughout the day. It's funny, at least in my case: When I don't try that hard with my outfits, they always come out being the best. Anyway, here's a sample of what I wore:

Friday in DC by BrunetteOnABudget featuring GUESS? sandals

Nothing amazing, but it looked very polished and put together. What's pictured isn't exactly what I wore, as my tank was a darker gray and pleated all around the neckline, plus my shoes were slightly different (and much cheaper than these), but you get the point. All in all, my outfit cost about $30 total (yes, $30), minus the gold necklace, which was given to me as an early bday present from a friend at lunch today. My point? You can look fashionable and modern without spending tons of money.

A tip to remember is to not talk yourself into the wrong clothing just because it is cheap or is on sale -- buy it because it looks fabulous on you and will be able to be mixed and matched. Also be on the lookout of ways to accessorize the "blah" you already own. A drab gray tank will always be a drab gray tank unless you get creative (like above). Cinch it with a big belt in white or brown and play it up with the right jewelry, statement handbag and killer heels. All of a sudden your drab gray tank will become the base palette for your divine outfit, and not the focal point of an otherwise boring ensemble. But you already knew that, right? ;)

Have discounts gone the way of leggings?

Were discounted designer duds out before they were even in, much like leggings that were so 17 seasons ago the minute they re-debuted for the first time since the early '90s? The jetsetting, I-step-on-the-heads-of-the-middle-class-on-my-way-to-tea-at-the-Ritz seem to think so. After all, if everyone else can also buy a $3,000 Dolce and Gabbana dress (albeit heavily marked down for us normal folk), than what would distinguish them from us? It would be utterly blasphemy, this near-incestuous melting pot of classes, from the very poor to the very rich, all buying the same things and festering in uncalled-for solidarity. I shiver at the thought.

But you see, that's what would happen if This Economy continues to take its toll on poor designers like Eileen Fisher, Oscar de la Renta and Versace, who it seems would prefer that department stores go bankrupt rather then have to slash prices in order to keep peddling the very designer goods that so many of us covet as an escape from the confines of mid-tier stores like The Gap, et. al. Do the Anna Wintours of the world have a point? If prices were slashed mercilessly, like the sad peeps at Rite Aid sitting restless and 50% off post-Easter, their once-vibrant pink coats now a faded shade of sour pepto bismol, would the playing ground become more even, thus upsetting the equilibrium of the world? Would it all really matter? Does there need to be a defining line -- in this case, made up of obnoxiously unattainable couture clothing that I admit I really, really want -- that separates the successful from the striving, the haves from the have-nots?

If This Economy can absolutely bury the oldest of what we thought were bullet-proof financial institutions (aurevoir, Lehman Bros.), and pick apart and plunder the most notable of giant law firms, pummeling laid off partners and associates in its undertow (aren't these people all supposed to be "recession-proof"?), then surely the economic tsunami can -- and should -- do something as insignificant as lower what are -- let's face it -- purely ridiculous and inflated clothing prices connoting a higher-end lifestyle we all lust after.

Does a full-price, $1,200 Carolina Herrera dress have any more value than, say, the knockoff of said dress at Macy's? Both sides of the class line are beginning to ponder that question, especially the side that was duped into paying full price for it (ahem, Ritz Carlton tea-goers.)

According to The Wall Street Journal, the price swings of designer goods have "confused" high-end customers (poor things), leading them to question the real value of their purchases. Apparently those in this group feel duped for having paid full price.

Shortly after Nancy Novogrod paid full price at a department store for a pair of spring Jil Sander slacks, the editor of Travel + Leisure Magazine got an email saying the store's spring sale was under way. "Spring sale?" Ms. Novogrod said when New Yorkers were still shivering in mid-March. "That's not buyer remorse. That's buyer rage."

Oh how I feel your plight, Ms. Novogrod. (Hold on a second, I need to toss my Target clothes in the laundry. Ok, back.) And so, once the rich feel ripped off (gasp), then of course the designers are left to bear the brunt of the backlash, which has recently caused many to demand being left out of department stores' sales.

"All our brands are taking great care to ensure that what happened in November will not happen again," Paola Milani tells the WSJ. Milani is a spokeswoman for Gucci Group, which owns Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and other brands. And what happened in November was that it was the first time designers saw their merchandise so drastically marked down by the retailers who carried their goods. "The idea is to maintain pricing coherence in the regions in which our products are sold regardless of channel of distribution."

The article states that the luxury brands want to control when they take discounts and on which products. And the deals will likely be less sweeping. Why does that not surprise me...and make me feel somewhat left out. Oh wait, it's because I can't readily flick my debit card over the cashier's counter whenever I get the slightest notion to buy a new coat or handbag costing over $1,000. Come on, Economy, work your magic in the sale section of this brunette on a budget's nearest Bloomingdale's...