Myer vs Cotton On!

Our video is up! Head on over to ISYS100: Fashion on a Budget: Myer vs Cotton On., or watch the video below. We search for an outfit in Myer and look for a budget alternative with the exact same look. Follow us on our night out!

Graniph

My last post was about my love for T-shirts. (I’m not the only one who has a T-shirt obsession; there’s a print journal about it.) I wrote about blank T-shirts, which are good for making your own band T-shirts and screenprinting on them. But what if you’re like me and have zero ounce of creativity but still want to have T-shirts that look cool? Enter Graniph.

Graniph is a Japanese T-shirt website whose aim is to have cutting-edge designs on the “timeless medium” of the T-shirt by making them in limited numbers. They also sell other items of clothing apart from T-shirts like parkas and dresses, but when one mentions Graniph, T-shirts are the first thing that comes to mind.

You can buy T-shirts from their online store for ¥2 500 each (about AUD25) and if you spend ¥10 000 or more they’ll send it for free to your address, anywhere in the world! Otherwise shipping is ¥1 000. They also have a physical store in Westfield Sydney, but the T-shirts are much more expensive there; one T-shirt is AUD45 and two T-shirts cost AUD80. It may seem expensive, but the T-shirts are well-made and the likelihood of running into someone wearing the same T-shirt as you is very low as they’re limited-edition.

You can find Graniph’s only Australian physical store at:

Shop 1001D, Level 1 (Urban Level)
Westfield Sydney
188 Pitt St
Sydney
New South Wales 2000
Australia

Happy T-shirt hunting!

Wendy

The T-Shirt

In last week’s post, I mentioned that I love my jeans. There’s one other thing you’ll find plenty of in my wardrobe apart from jeans and that, my fashionable friends, is the humble T-shirt.

I have more T-shirts than I do dresses, no joke. I have plain T-shirts and T-shirts with prints and T-shirts in the same cut because they fit so damn well on me. Do you know how hard it is finding the perfect T-shirt? I don’t want to be too low-cut because I have nothing to show. Nor do I want it to be too tight-fitting as my body isn’t entirely perfect. Which is why I have this T-shirt in five different colours (yes, I think I may have problems):

The AS Colour Womens Wafer Tee is THE best T-shirt for me. The model in the above photo is wearing my most recent colour that I purchased - Grey Marle. I already have this T-shirt in Black, White, Navy and Royal Blue. It’s not low cut, it’s of a nice length (if a little bit long for my not-as-long jackets), it’s not made of lycra (have you seen a lycra T-shirt after wearing it for a few years? Eugh) and unlike American Apparel (whose T-shirts are featured in the first photo), not too expensive for a plain T-shirt! Did I also mention that it comes in many colours?

I highly recommend checking out the AS Colour website for other cuts of T-shirts and clothing. If you’re not comfortable with shopping online, they also have a retail outlet in Paddington. You can find them at:

266 Oxford Street
Paddington
Sydney
New South Wales 2021
Australia

Are you as much of a T-shirt addict as me? Let us know in the comments below!

Wendy

Tips on saving

Strings of Cotton is brought to you by a group of university students and the biggest problem I have while trying to keep up with fashion trends is the cost. I mean, what university student has that much money? Haha well, I've compiled a list of things I usually to keep my spending to a low. Hopefully this list helps you save some money too!

1. Always check for student or corporate discounts.
   
   

   
   
   
   
2. Fill out surveys, sign up for company's mailing list (physical and email), like on facebook, follow on instagram and twitter to get all the promos you can.
3. Just because something is a good deal doesn't mean you should buy it. Only buy what you would wear (or what you are sure that you can resell for more).
4. Buy things that work with your existing wardrobe.
5. Only buy things that you will wear. If something is the wrong color, size, texture, shape, or if you already have a better alternative that you will always wear instead of it, or if it doesn't match your style or doesn't fit in your wardrobe, dont buy it!
6. Shop the clearance racks. items who's season just ended often hit the clearance racks. if possible, buy things like coats at the end of winter, and shorts at the end of summer.
   
   

   

   Just an example of a clearance sale.

   
   
7. Know what you want. think out the looks you want to complete and have a list of items you need.

With just a few of these tips you'll be able to save some money when it comes to adding more to your wardrobe.

Hope it helps!

Wei

Denim Days

I LOVE my jeans. You could say I live in them. Unless I’m working or it’s someone’s birthday or I feel like wearing a skirt/dress, you can always find me in a pair of jeans. (Actually, I wear jeans to work too but don’t tell management that; I’ve been caught before.) Even in Summer where it’s 40 degrees plus, I’ll wear jeans.

The jeans I tend to wear are skinny jeans. Because I myself am a relatively skinny person, if I wear any other kind of jeans - I used to love flared jeans a decade ago until I grew out of it - they will look ridiculous on me. Skinny jeans thus look like normal sized jeans on me (or so I hope).

Lately, it seems that jeans have been thrust into the spotlight. An article recently appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald regarding David Jones’ new denim campaign, part of which involves taking a picture of your bottom in jeans and sharing it on social media. The article also mentions the General Pants store in the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney where all they sell is jeans (with free alterations if you’re short like me). It also mentions that David Jones’ customers prefer buying jeans that cost between $149 and $179. (Sounds about right in my case.)

As for what jeans brands I wear, I prefer Levi’s and Lee, but I recently bought my first pair of Nudies from work (after driving to THREE stores to get them – they were on sale and staff discount made them 44% off so I wasn’t going to give up that easily) and so far I’m liking them! Unlike Levi’s and Lee, they’re made in Italy, too.

What brand of jeans do you like to wear? Let us know in the comments below!

Wendy

Disclaimer: I work for David Jones. No, unlike the article, I am not trained in ‘specialised denim fitting’ as my department doesn’t sell jeans but I can assure you first-hand my colleagues are, having sought their advice on a number of jeans that I now own.