How to Copy Celebrity Summer and Spring Looks for Under $100

Ladies, turn on your televisions. What do you see? Lots of svelte actresses and singers flouncing around in their $1,000 designer flip flops? What about those 'to-die-for' jeans with the trendy labels? Certainly you've skimmed the pages of [Insert Poppular Magazine Here] and coveted the wonderful ensembles adorning the latest "It" girl.

You've read all the How-To articles (including many on the Associated Content website) describing the many ways to "get your fashion on." We've all read them. The problem is that often the celebrity fashion alternatives are still just as expensive as the couture labels we covet so. When I was in high school, some of my classmates were under the distinct (and incorrect) impression that my family had a substantial amount of money. While we were certainly not poor, I wasn't afforded the luxury of blowing my parents' hard earned cash on weekly shopping sprees at the mall. Thus, the clothes on my back were often those without popular or trendy labels. But the greatest lesson that high school supplied me with was the ability to imitate (almost to the "T") the amazing looks that I saw in magazines.

Perfect example: In an old issue of Glamour magazine I spotted a model wearing a cream colored suit, black turtleneck, with a leopard print vest underneath. I could not get this outfit out of my head for weeks. I combed my mother's closet and located a suit of hers which was similar in color. Ironically, I had purchased a [cheaply made] tiger print vest on a previous shopping trip. And because I had a tendency to wear lots of black, I was not at a loss for black turtlenecks. The result of my ingenious brand of imitation, was that people assumed I (read: my parents) paid a lot for my clothes---when in fact, the opposite was true. If you pay close attention to what the stars are wearing (I mean really close attention) you will discover that their ensembles are a lot easier to reproduce than you think. Here are some ways to do so:

THE BASICS