clothes

Congratulations! You're on track to nab the job of your dreams, and while you're confident that your work experience and references speak for themselves, you're a little shaky on whether your first-day outfit makes the right statement. Don't cower before your closet; just follow our tips for nailing the office dress code.

Take Copious Interview Notes

Even before you walk through the door on your first day, think back to your interview. Hopefully you took note of what your interviewers were wearing! Were jeans prevalent, or did you see a predominant mix of khakis and pencil skirts? Focus particularly on your new team members, since your clothing should more or less reflect your team's vibe, but it doesn't hurt to pay attention to other people you met with, like HR contacts, or even the general dress code around the office.

Follow the Leader

Pay close attention to what your manager (and her manager) wears. Your wardrobe should reflect your team and department but also state your desire to advance and eventually lead. While you don't have to copy your hirer's power pantsuit motif verbatim, your choice in attire should be aspirational and point you toward the next level. And on casual Fridays, it helps to keep it classy until you see for yourself whether she's laid back in ripped cutoffs or snappy in pressed bermudas. For more tips, just keep reading.

A new guy joined Dunder Mifflin on last night's episode of The Office, and he's making everyone swoon. In fact, Danny Cordray, who is played by Timothy Olyphant, is so handsome, Michael thought he was a male model. I'm excited to see how Danny's going to stir things up at work. After all, he dated Pam a few years ago, and before he was hired, he used to steal clients away from Dunder. I admit, he does look pretty crushworthy, but there are many ways you can look good at the office, too! Remember, you want to look great, but not as distractingly hot as Danny is. Here are three tips you should keep in mind:

• Stay comfortable: Wear clothing that you feel comfortable in. For example, don't wear shoes that pinch your feet or shirts so tight that you won't be able to breathe. You do not want to look like you're in pain; you want to look confident and fresh.
• Don't overdo it: You're in the office. It's daytime. Keep those two things in mind and dress yourself appropriately. Lay off the Snooki poof and the heavy makeup.
• Figure out the office fashion: Observe what your fellow co-workers are wearing, and follow in their footsteps. That's the easiest rule of how to dress accordingly to your company's officewear guidelines. After all, you don't want to be the one all suited up when everyone's wearing sundresses!

We're thrilled to present this smart Learnvest story here on Savvy!

As the weather cools and we start to rotate our closet into fall, we can’t help but think about the fact that having lots of stuff comes with a lot of nonsense: fixing broken furniture, dropping clothes off at the cleaners, reheeling shoes. That’s not to mention the stress of losing expensive items. The New York Times recently profiled a woman, Tammy Strobel, who reduced her belongings to just 100 total, including everything from cooking gear to shoes to a bike—she doesn’t even have a TV.

Everyone's Doing It.
Tammy Strobel went from having a two-bedroom apartment and two cars to living with her husband in a 400-square-foot studio. She has far fewer belongings but also fewer concerns...not to mention the fact that she’s cleared herself of $30,000 in debt. Similarly, our very own in-house Certified Financial Planner Lauren Lyons Cole recently embarked on a project with her friend and fellow financial planner, in which they each cut their spending by $1,000 in the month of August. As an experiment, they also had a week in which they only spent $100 total. This idea is all about simplicity, cutting out the noise that gets in the way of what really matters in life.

We Challenge You.
We don’t expect you to reduce the materials in your life as drastically as Tammy or Lauren have, but strive for simplicity nonetheless. “As a financial planner, I thought I was already living as frugally and responsibly as I could,” Lauren says. “I had no idea how I’d manage to cut a whole $1,000 from my budget—that’s insane. But in the end, it was far easier than I’d imagined." Our challenge for you has two options, keep reading to check them out.

Most of the time, I ignore those "dry-clean only" tags and wash my stuff at home. Apparently 65 percent of clothes can be machine washed, according to financial adviser Randy Hardy. So far so good, none of my clothes have been damaged and I've managed to save some money here and there. Just to be on the safe side, I still dry-clean the clothes that I don't want to risk damaging. Here are some handy tips to follow:

• Wash in cold water — You definitely don't want to shrink your clothes so opt for the cold water cycle to prevent that from happening!
• Turn them inside out — With clothes that have more decorative embellishments on them, such as ones with beading or studs, I turn them inside out for less damage during the tumbles in the washer and dryer.

For more tips, read after the jump.

I recently wrote about a New York Times reporter who decided to make copies of designer clothes in China for cheap after getting the OK from law experts. Well, turns out reader prblms4loki had already done that and she kindly decided to share her experience with us. Read on for the highlights of the interview:

• Traveling to China: My parents decided to take a trip back to China this summer and I went along. I'm from China so I was just visiting home. I decided to take all of my fabric back to China with me and find a seamstress to make them for me.
• Finding a seamstress: My relatives asked around for me and recommended asking around at some of the booths in a nearby mall (for lack of a better word, it was more like a flea market in a building, quite common in China). Most seamstresses in the mall had pre-made stock and the customers simply picked a fabric and it was tailor-made for them. Oftentimes, this was comparable to buying something off the rack (approximately $20/30USD including fabric cost).

To find out how much prblms4loki saved in total and more, read on!

My friend really wanted a pair of crystal studded Christian Louboutin shoes that retail for over $3,000. She's a shoe fiend and budgets her money properly so she can splurge on the occasional pair of designer shoes. Unwilling to fork out thousands, she bought a pair of plain suede Louboutins for about $600 and painstakingly stuck Swarovski crystals on them. It took her two days, but the final product looked exactly like the ones in the store.

In the New York Times Bucks Blog today, reporter Jennifer Schultz is planning on doing something similar to get cheap designer clothing. She's taking her name-brand clothing with her to China and hiring Chinese tailors to make copies for her. Afraid of the legal implications, Schultz asked lawyers how copyright laws apply to consumers making their own imitations. Turns out that as long as you're not copying the item to sell or trade, you're safe, according to Susan Scafidi, an academic director at Fordham University's Fashion Law Institute.

I guess this all depends on how badly you want the designer goods. What do you think of this idea — genius or not worth the hassle?