The truth behind my Australian Fashion Week – Outfits: I fucked several designer at the latest with target buy less than $ 70 – and nobody knew it

When I stutte in it Australian Fashion Week With a sharply custom -made dark gray suit, knee -high snake skin boots and statement gold earrings, I didn’t feel like stopping.

Compliments flowed freely. “You look great!” said one. “Is that Camilla and Marc?” Another asked.

Few they knew that my entire outfit cost less than $ 200, and every piece was of Aimed at Australia -We have it from head to toe.

Not designer. Not borrowed. Just smart styling, budget find and struting in the trendy week of the year of Australia with a lot of bravado.

Did I want to go to designer boutiques to play dressings and to splash luxury, expensive dresses for the occasion? Of course I did that. I am a millennial woman who lives in it SydneyWorking in the media and one that -hard Carrie Bradshaw fan -it’s hard not to do that.

My rapid realization of the Cost of livingA recent house movement and the costs of repairing a leaking bathroom – my credit card said it was difficult no.

This year I decided to test the greatest myth of fashion: that you have to drop thousands to see the role.

I wore nothing but budget-friendly, off-the-rack pieces for the entire week and still served high fashion. And based on the reactions, nobody suspected anything – or maybe they looked at themselves too much to even save.

Fashion Week used to be about the clothing on the catwalk, but now it is just as much about the street style outside.

It has become the unofficial Olympic Games for influencers, where the competition is not only fierce, it is calculated. The goal? Puist are posted by photographers in street style, again by fashion pages and of course to make viral content for Instagram.

In the midst of the chaos of large sunglasses, exaggerated silhouettes and borrowed designlooks, it was strange refreshing to appear in outfits that were really mine. Styled, bought and worn with intention.

I was there for work and report, which was such a luxury, I am well aware of it. But Fashion Week is about self-expression, and I found the incredible empowerment to express my style without publishing a fortune or chase trends.

The current collections of Target are bursting with elevated customization, trendy silhouettes and luxurious looking details that ridiculed mixing vala bibs with real-world prices.

From bubbles that rival aje, to drop -toail dresses that could pass for Anna Quan, I discovered how versatile – and stylish – budget fashion can be.

And only one of these outfits that I bought brand new – the other two were the targets that I already had in my wardrobe.

Bonus points on the savings for me.

The Power Suit -moment

Let’s start with the look where the fashion did double take.

On day two I slid into a preview ride blower ($ 70) and a lily loves custom -made wrap mini skirt ($ 35), both in a steel -like gray, fully lined and amazing quality.

In combination with faux snakeskin Evie Kitten all long boots ($ 60), a neutral Panini Snakeskin shoulder bag ($ 25) and sloping drop earrings ($ 6), I felt polished and ready to be in the front row at Aje.

The total of this entire outfit? $ 196.

The bubble dress

Another striking moment was my white $ 30 bubble zoom corset mini dress from Target, which I had bought more than six months ago and dug from the back of my closet.

It had convinced people that I was wearing the Aje Violette Bubble Heme dress – a designer dress that sells for a stunning $ 495.

The parable was creepy, with the same voluminous silhouette, flirty zoomline and cotton dust.

I stylized it with my oversized pair of black Celine sunglasses, a target cream over-sized blazer (also from my wardrobe), my Marc Jacobs cross-body bag and of course the snake skin boots because they were so incredibly comfortable.

The Drop-Taile Dress

I ran to the end of last year to get this $ 60 drop waist midi dress Because it looked like an exact victim of the $ 550 Anna Quan drop waist maxi dress.

I knocked myself on my back when I also pulled this style together for day three look for Australia Fashion Week. Nobody would know, right?

Clean lines, effortless curtains and subdued elegance – the shouted quiet luxury, and I felt a look picked from the pages of Vogue.

It is a bonus that the body is elastic and was so comfortable to sit, stand and (literally) walk between shows for 10 hours in a row.

Fashion week can feel intimidating. It is a place where the unspoken rule ‘the more expensive, the better’. But I felt the opposite.

Knowing that I can keep my own among influencers, editors and stylists in outfits that cost less than a few designer socks? That felt empowerment.

There is also something wonderfully subversive about rocking an $ 200 outfit in a sea of ​​a thousand dollars and getting just as much, if no more compliments.

It proves that style does not come from a price tag; It comes from trust, curation and knowing how to dress for you.