Cuffed high-waisted shorts for $0

Summer is coming, and shorts are out again in a different 80s incarnation. I really love the high-waisted shorts look. It's so classy, and such a flashback to old times.


Image credit: sartorialist.com


Image credit: painfullyhip.com

The great thing about high-waisted shorts is that you can show a whole lot of leg, without having the feeling that your clothing is barely-there. Mile-long legs without skank? Style without trash? Perfect.

But, as usual, I don't have any money to buy new ones. A quick look at Aritizia shows that their new wilfred high-waisted denim shorts are in the $110 range. Yikes. So, being the frugal and crafty person I am, I decided to make my own!



And they look super hot.

It was about 100x easier than I thought. Think of the easiest piece of clothing you've ever made - this was about 100x easier than that. I just cut off the legs of my mom's old 80's Esprit pants. Then I rolled up the cuffs and stitched the simplest stitch to keep them in place.

How to make your own

















Materials
1. Pair of old high-waisted pants. Jeans or pant material all work. You can grab these from your mom's unwanted storage, or thrift them at the Salvation Army for about $2-$5. Seriously.
2. Scissors
3. Pencil, pen or piece of coloured chalk
4. (Optional) needle and thread

Instructions
1. Wear pants. With your pencil, pen, or chalk, make a mark where you want to cut the legs off. I made this mark about 2 inches longer than I wanted the final short length so I could fold the cuff over twice.
2. Take off pants. (Put something else on... or not.) Fold pants so the two legs are on top of each other and you can clearly see the mark you just made.
3. Cut off the legs.
4. Put on your new shorts. Fold the cuffs to your desired length - you should fold it at least twice.
5. From the inside, sew a running stitch (that's the basic stitch, people) to secure your new cuff. If you don't want to sew, that's fine, because jean material will naturally fray into a rough-and-tumble look.
6. Look hot.

For further reading:

Why $350 boots can be a smart choice
Why department stores are not your friend

The fashion manifesto

Let's get something straight:

1. I love to shop as much as the next girl. I love spending hours in BCBG, ogling over the latest heels and dresses. I rejoice when I see Banana Republic has put their latest jewelry on sale.

2. There are plenty of websites helping you to part with your cash by "saving" money on 60% off designer merch. Gilt Groupe is probably the best-known, though by far not the only one.

I am not here to help you buy more goods. I am very much anti-spending. If all the clothing I owned were to be perenially chic, original, and weather-appropriate, by heaven I would wear the same pieces from now until kingdom come. And I hope to show that this is the case.

The Student Sophisticate Fashion Manifesto

1. Style is not achieved by buying more clothing. Style is about what you do with the clothing you already own.

2. When wanting to inject something new into their look, budget fashionistas will be resourceful and look into their own closets, their parents' closets, their grandmother's attic, the thrift store, the vintage store, and then the sale racks, in that order.

3. Student Sophisticates do not bring out the wallet without a premeditated reason.

4. Student Sophisticates do not splurge on clothing that will fall out of their price per wear range.

Stores would like us to think that by spending our money there, we're helped to look more fashionable - but chances are, it's not the case.

My Budget Plan

May 2010
Current debt: $20,000
Current bank account: $4,700
(awaiting $750 from council - $430 for SL=$320, $250 from student organization)


Let's get something straight - students are in a lot of debt.


This much money? Yeah, right!

It's said that the average Canadian medical student graduates with $100,000 of debt. In the States, this number is around $150,000. My financial planner likes to quote these numbers to "help me" get a line of credit and plunge further into the borrowing pool.

I don't buy it.

This is my journey to buck the high-spending, debt-spiralling student lifestyle. I am going to live well, eat well, and dress well while taking on my medical education, being incredibly busy, and trying to maintain my sanity.

I plan on graduating medical school with a minimum from my line of credit, and minimizing my spending to as close to zero as humanly possible. My goal is to pay off my debt by the end of residency, and have at least started an annual savings account contribution by my last year of medical school.

I'll give you some background. I come from a single-parent family, I don't have an inheritance, I don't have high-value stock options or a high-paying under-the-table student job. I also dress well, buy clothing from BCBG, French Connection and Club Monaco, carry a Chanel purse, and eat organic. I refuse to sacrifice my lifestyle, but I try to make smart choices.

Let's see how this plays out.