Do You Care About Name Brand Clothes?

Navy Floral Tie Front Dress (only $19!) / White Ark Bag (only $43, also have this natural wood version) / Gold Bracelets (c/o) / Espadrille Wedges / Satin Lip Pencil

I remember the first day it started – my obsession with name brands. I was 19 and James gave me a Coach wallet with the colorful “C” pattern that was all the rage in 2005. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t even real (sorry babe), but still … I was so excited!

From there, I went through a phase with Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister. I also happened to work at both stores during the summer of my sophomore year. If there was a moose or a seagull on it, you better believe I owned it. Embarrassingly, I even had a local printer create a giant blue seagull decal that I stuck on the back of my Honda Civic just to let the world know how much I loved Hollister. Extreme much?

As you know, I also worked for Ann Taylor and LOFT managing internal communications for their stores. It was a dream job for me at the time and fueled my loyalty for name brands. But when a friend from out of town asked me where the best place to go shopping is in NYC, I was a little embarrassed to admit that my favorite places to shop all the big box retailers on Fifth Avenue, including J.Crew, Madewell and Anthropologie.

Yes, I’m guilty of being partial to name brands. It’s convenient, I know how things are going to fit and admittedly, and I can make some extra cash by linking to what I’m wearing. But I will say that my loyalty to brands are wearing thin. I no longer buy things simply because of who designed it (unless you count my Prada bag – whoops). Instead, I buy things because I genuinely love them and I feel good in them. And if there’s a cheaper dupe out there, you better believe I’m getting that instead (case in point: this bamboo bag and this bracelet bag).

I recently decided to try shopping for clothes on Amazon because of the 2-day free shipping and because some of this stuff of so damn cheap. This navy floral dress that I’m wearing? $19. And the material is actually pretty decent. This jean jacket that I wore in San Diego last week? $43. And I couldn’t find this light wash anywhere else online! Can I tell you the brand names? Absolutely not, but I can tell you that I love both of these pieces!

Not everything is going to be perfect – I bought two other dresses (this sundress and this striped skirt) and they were both ill fitting and felt cheap. But I’m definitely glad that I tried something different.