Interview: Kathryn Finney, The Budget Fashionista

Quick Update to this Post to anyone reading this in a feed reader like Google Reader, or Bloglines, etc. I just realized today that the video portion of the interview doesn’t appear in your browser. Please click through and visit my website. It’s my very first on-camera interview and I am really happy about it. I think it went pretty well!
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Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Kathryn Finney. You may be familiar with her website, The Budget Fashionista, and maybe you have her books on bargain shopping. We had a really good time talking about maintaining your wardrobe on a budget and still keeping it fresh. Kathryn is delightful to spend time with as well as being informative.

I found out minutes before the interview that both our grandmother’s were seamstresses. There are some very practical words of wisdom that you learn from women who made their own clothes during the depression.

Kathryn gives sensible advice and I love that she doesn’t tell you what to buy, except for expressing her love of statement necklaces! I was also very pleased that our conversation included some encouragement for full figured women to break out of the black/brown box and wear some bright colors and bold patterns.

I liked everything she had to say: look for sales, negotiate for a better price at retail stores, ask for tailoring.

I heard on my local news a couple of years ago that if a store offers free alterations for men then they are required to offer the same for women. Kathryn talked about the importance of ironing and hanging your clothes (she said this off camera) to maintain freshness. She also suggested that you can keep your wardrobe looking spot on with seasonal trends by buying statement pieces and accessories.

Do you have any follow up questions for The Budget Fashionista? Post your comments and share your insights into budget shopping.

Disclosure: The interview was sponsored by Tide To Go and Kathryn handed me one of the stain preventing sticks as I was leaving the studio. I haven’t used it yet, so I can’t tell you anything about it, but now you know that I have one. This interview was not conducted just so I could get a free stain stick.