PennyChic Blog By Shauna Miller Tries To Make Walmart Chic

Refinery29.com:

It's no wonder that Shauna Miller's fashion blog, PennyChic, is gaining widespread popularity. Her posts are cleverly written and creatively styled, her "models"--Shauna's friends--are real-life gorgeous, and her clothes are both super chic and super cheap. But most intriguing to readers may be her backstory: Miller's a born-and-bred L.A. fashionista, NYU grad, and Emanuel Ungaro alum who gave up haute-couture aspirations for the world's largest and most notoriously dowdy discount department store: Wal-Mart.

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Comments

[Kirsten Nunez]

08:48 PM on 03/21/2011

I run a fashion DIY blog so naturally I'm all for inexpensive style, but......whether I'm shopping for clothes or a bag of oranges, I'd never want to put Wal-Mart on a pedestal.

[jojofromneworleans]

05:02 PM on 03/20/2011

What I really don't understand is why people shop exclusively for clothing at Walmart when you have Target, etc., which is at the same or a similar price point but much higher quality. For the price of most of the outfits on this blog you could buy a nice dress or a pair of jeans and a top elsewhere which would last must longer, HAVE A MUCH BETTER CUT (Walmart's main sin is its egregious cuts and unflattering tent styles... latent one-fits-all mentality), and just look better.

I really do think that in this day and age, with as many options as there are, limiting one's options to Walmart alone is a matter of laziness, not income.

[BittyBittyChangChang]

01:28 PM on 03/17/2011

If your definition of "chic" is poor quality goods made with by poorly paid employees in distressed parts of the world and sold alogside guns, tires and diareaha medication, then Wal-mart is the Chanel of Bentonville, AK. yeeeeee---haaaaaa!

[bluguy8]

09:25 PM on 03/16/2011

No. The people if Walmart will show you who the customer is . Enough said

[Bellanova]

03:10 PM on 03/16/2011

Many people have brought up the People of Walmart site as a proof that Walmart and fashion are mutually exclusive. It is easy to forget that poverty is the main reason people featured on that site dress the way they do. While the photos cause a knee-jerk reaction of ridicule in most, the scorn is undeserved, in my opinion; especially since fashion shows are full of monstrosities of style, in their hideousness factor not that different from PoW, yet we treat them with reverence just because they have famous names attached to them and cost thousands of dollars.

Quality-wise, Walmart clothes are not dramatically inferior, if at all, from those found in other department stores, including the upscale ones (gasp, I know how blasphemous it sounds). Their selection is limited, however, and historically has been focused on the drab industrial style -- something Walmart has been desperately trying to remedy for some time now with mixed results (its Norma Kamali line the notable, mostly positive, exception).

Then there is the question of W's labor practices, which is understandably brought up in this discussion, but, in fairness, this does not have much to do with the matter of Walmart and fashion. Moreover, Walmart is not the only company with a questionable record in this respect.

[wolfiegirl]

01:51 PM on 03/15/2011

A chic line? Has anyone been to the People of Walmart site?

[playsindirt]

01:07 PM on 03/15/2011

Good luck with the task of making Wally World chic. When we were newly married I bought diapers there and that was it. Most women who are into fashion aren't into shopping for fashion along side rednecks and hillbillies. You'd have to figure out a way to remove the stigma and that's a huge obstacle.

[Aesthete]

03:07 PM on 03/15/2011

You're right. I was given a Walmart gift card for Christmas and I found a pair of black leather Mary Jane pumps that were really smashing on me. Granted, the choices are a bit limited, but it is possible to find a few items that look chic. As far as "stigma" is concerned I wouldn't worry about that. I shop all over the place---ranging from the Goodwill to high-end fashion boutiques.

[playsindirt]

08:41 PM on 03/15/2011

You're my hero. When I try that route I can never find anything. Or maybe I'm just a bad shopper. I hate shopping and that's probably the problem.

[Sebbybear]

12:00 PM on 03/15/2011

We need to learn to be frugal like our great-grandparents. To buy higher quality clothing on sale and to shop wisely for a few quality, well designed and constructed items instead of buying a closet full of slave labor produced junk. $9.00 for a pair of shoes! How can they be anything but total crap. Buy three or four well made pairs, take care of them, have repairs done when needed and they will last you for years.
Learn to sew. A few evenings sewing instead of watching TV and you can make most anything. The end product probably won't cost less than you would have paid at Walmart but the garment will be better quality than anything you could buy.

[DaMojo]

12:31 PM on 03/15/2011

You forget that this article is about fashion. Fashion trends come and go. Most women wouldn't wear the same five pairs of shoes till they wear out. Most women do their best not to be caught dead in last year's clothes. It's a shame, but true. I bought three pairs of black leggings at WalMart and the start of winter....to wear with boots. They held up just fine and can be worn next year...I paid $7 per pair. I have three cardigans purchased at WalMart four years ago. They are still in great shape. I have three pairs of Levis jeans that I paid $20 per pair at WalMart....they are just like any other jeans. But I guess these are the Levis manufactured with slave labor.....not like the Levis at other stores? I don't see anything wrong with buying kids clothes there since kids outgrow them so fast.

[wolfiegirl]

01:48 PM on 03/15/2011

I get better quality clothes on clearance racks of Macy's, Lord & Taylor, etc. Those are high quality, and can be passed from one son to the next, generally. And they are as cheap, or cheaper, than anything from WalMart.

Some clothing would be fine, I suppose, I've never gone through their racks. But a cheap pair of shoes would kill my feet!

As for quality shoes, I think the poster is talking about high quality basic neutral shoes. I have shoes I have owned for years, as well. They are perfectly fine, and only well worn on the inside.

[Indigo1941]

11:35 AM on 03/15/2011

Short answer: No!

[socalcde]

11:21 AM on 03/15/2011

Please don't separate the product from the circumstances of it's production, which is slavery.

[WestOfTheMoon]

11:26 AM on 03/15/2011

That's extreme and unfounded. Walmart gives unskilled (and from my experience shopping there, often developmentally challenged) workers an opportunity to earn an income. Your assertion is flagrantly cavalier.

[socalcde]

11:50 AM on 03/15/2011

Please watch:

"WALMART; The High Cost of Low Price"

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

11:59 AM on 03/15/2011

Walmart, with its marketing strategy over the years, has decimated whole communities in rural and suburban America.
The comments are not unfounded.

[Topps]

10:44 AM on 03/15/2011

Stop the madness,the quality of cloths in Walmart are cheap.The materials don't with stand normal wear.The shoes couldn't take a week on a school bus stop.I tried shopping in this store for my little nephews.Never again will I buy clothing there.Household supplies and etc okay.But by the time you deal with the people ,you may give up on that too,I did.

[noaxe397]

10:23 AM on 03/15/2011

Didn't they try this once before with their "Metro 7" line?   Trouble was no one bought the stuff because the average female Wal Mart shopper was a 5'2" size 14.

[Daisytoo]

10:46 AM on 03/15/2011

Get real. I can stomach real snobs a whole lot more easily than pretentious snobs - and you are pretentious.

From the article: "138 Million people shop at Wal-Mart every week.. "

[noaxe397]

12:16 PM on 03/15/2011

"Pretentious snob"
 
Someone who comments factually.  It was Wal Mart who related what I said.
 
You do know this nation has an obesity epidemic, right.  Maybe THAT is why 138 million shop there.

[onionboy]

01:34 PM on 03/15/2011

138 million people that are not going to fit into fashions designed around slimmer sizes.

How is it pretentious to point out that Walmart needs to market to its customer base?