This weekend, I did some serious winter shopping. New coat, new boots, a new hat, the whole nine yards. While this might sound like a spree, some invested browsing time allowed me to purchase what I needed for little more than $100 dollars – this way, I can spend more on a Halloween costume.

Regardless of how much you’re willing to spend when shopping for a new wardrobe, the key to building up your fashion is knowing exactly what you’re looking for. When you know what you want – say, a pair of brown leather boots or a lacy black top – you won’t be distracted while in a mall or boutique. Having an idea about what you’re looking for saves you money and keeps you from buying something that’ll hang in your closet for the next six months.

For my own smart shopping, I’ve found that the best place to start is the Internet. Browsing through fashion sites gave me ideas on the style I was looking for. Surfing around on shopping sites after that allowed me to compare prices and quality between brands. Not only did it save me money in the long run (as I’m horribly prone to walking in a store and completely forgetting what I walked in to buy), but I bought items that I know I would love to be wearing all winter long.

To help you on your smart shopping journey, here are a few fashion Web sites that have never let me down.

Bluefly.com

Calling itself ‘the ultimate hookup for the fashion obsessed,’ Bluefly proudly displays discounts on new arrivals and offers specials on designer handbags, shoes and accessories. This shopping site is a must for the online shopper who likes sale prices and designer brands – not a bad combination, if you ask me. Shopping on the site is streamlined and efficient – you can sort products by category or by designer if you’re looking for something specific. Bluefly also has an e-mail subscription service for its members, so you can always know what specials and sales they’re running. Like most fashion sites, Bluefly keeps a blog (Flypaper) with style news.

Style.com

Visits to Style.com, the online version of Vogue, are a must for anyone with an interest in what’s going on in the fashion world. Loaded with style and beauty tips and tricks, this site also stays up to date with the most current news in the fashion industry and its respective celebrities. A regularly updated fashion blog has tons of news – whether it’s who-wore-what news, announcing a new fragrance, or discussing new medical developments for skincare.

Fashion.net

This site serves as a great index for the fashion industry on the Web. Their archives cover every aspect of the industry – from designers to labels to magazines to blogs to check out. There’s even a section of links for ‘green’ fashion, with stores targeted toward the environmentally-friendly consumer. Fashion.net also features a search engine – using a site like this to find a product instead of Google often yields more specific results.

Elle.com

Elle Magazine’s Web site is a great read for the fashion forward who want to know what has been shown on the world’s runways. With hours of photo catalogs to browse through, Elle.com gives its readers the most up-to-date information about what designers and celeb fashionistas are up to. As a bonus, it has a whole section and blog full of ‘Project Runway’ news for fans of the fashion-fueled reality show. To my surprise, they’ve had an ‘Elle-ection ’08’ blog about the presidential campaign. How else would I know that Sarah Palin wears peep-toed heels?

Melissa Daniels is a junior newspaper journalism major and she will be dressed up like a Charlie Brown-style ghost this Halloween.

Published on October 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm