by Roz Romero

Created on: November 11, 2008   Last Updated: December 11, 2008

No respectable girl wants to be on a fashion budget, but with today's economic constraints, it's a reality for many of us. This cold hard fact does not mean, however, that we can't find a way to party in style on the cheap! Faced with an invite to a formal affair and a one hundred dollar budget does present a challenge but, it in no way means you have to put a checkmark next to "regrets" on the RSVP. With one hundred bucks to spend, you can certainly pull together an outfit that you can be proud of.

The first trick is to survey your closet. If your pickings are slim there, raid your best girlfriend's closet, and then your sister's closet, and your cousins, and your Mom's! There are many of us who don't even think of this tried and true trick for fashion for the financially challenged. While you are at this initial closet raid on the friends and family, why not just commit to building a network of fashionista friends who don't mind having an "open closet" policy. Circulating your accessories amongst yourselves, while maintaining your core set of fashion basics, can yield lots of cool dressing options without spending a dime! If you're lucky enough to find a friend with a ready to go formal outfit, be glad! Now you have only to score the shoes. With a free dress, you've got $100 bucks to spend!

If you're not lucky enough to find your ideal on the hangers of your newly formed "open closet" club, be not afraid. Just move on to the next trick and in this manner of order, learn to reel in and maximize your options.

High on the list of any formal wear ensemble is the shoes. Fancy dress shoes, for the most part, stay in style from year to year so it's best to start with what you have and build your outfit from there. If the fancy pair from last year got too much of a work out on the dance floor and are too worn out now or you just can't bring yourselves to wear them again, go ahead and set aside your budget for new shoes. Just keep in mind that you will have to go cheaper on the dress if you can't find a way to resurrect those fancy dancing shoes.

If you're handy with a sewing machine, there are videos on the web that show you step by step how to take an over-embellished dress from the 80s and modify it to a dress for today. Check out http://www.threadbanger.com. A couple of ripped seams here and a dart or two there, and you've created something completely new. Put your fashion visions to work and take another look at those closets and see if you can't envision something fresh and stunning.

Not everyone can sew, and that's okay. There are other ways to score a formal dress for little cash. Get out your Yellow Pages and search for clothing consignment stores. Chances are really good that you can find one close by that is packed to the gills with gently worn formal wear. Google and Yahoo are also great search engines that can help you lock down sweetly priced formal wear. Narrow your cost range and do a search on Amazon.com. Yes! Amazon.com. Checking Craigslist and Ebay are also practical options. While it's harder to buy a dress sight unseen, don't be afraid of this option. If you blow it and pick something that doesn't quite work for you, you can just add it to the closet club. No worries.

Keep your mind set on the benefit of the end result - attending that formal party - and enjoy the process of staying true to your budget. No one will know what you spent on your ensemble, or even if you put down a cent for it. It's really, in the end, not WHAT you wear, but HOW you wear it. Just remember that, above all, you're never fully dressed without a smile.

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