My wife really digs the style of clothes that Anthropologie sells, and while we’ll shell out for admittedly overpriced stuff from places like Urban Outfitters, H&M, and even Banana Republic, I just can’t justify $200 for a cardigan and $150 for a pencil skirt.
What stores come closest to Anthropologie’s style and aesthetic sensibility, but aren’t at “boutique” prices?
You might try Sociologie (You’ll find our products are more than a novelty, but a personal discovery, specifically a discovery of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society), Theologie (For the believer. On the go. Not just fashion. But salvation.) or my personal favorite, Endocrinologie (Evoke tempered elegance with our hand-knit Scandanavian parathyroid cozy).
Goodwill
(Anthropologie (the atmosphere and the clothing) always reminds me of thrift stores. Just with the decimal point in the wrong place. But if it were not for the price tags, couldn’t tell the difference.)
My suggestion would have been H&M, but it looks like you’ve got that covered.
By the way, Urban Outfitters is actually Anthropologie’s “younger, hipper” chain of stores. So when you shop at UO, you’re not too far off from shopping at Anthropologie anyway.
Maybe Coldwater Creek? You might want to browse online and see what you think.
We’ve shopped at thrift store since before they were cool/robbed by buyers for “vintage” boutiques, and there’s a world of difference in aesthetic and quality between them and Anthropologie. While something like H&M will often emulate vintage styles, Anthropologie is really on a completely different tip.
And this is precisely what you’re paying for. Stores featuring lower prices will usually have lower-quality merch.
If you and the mrs. are very hardcore about this, you could keep an eye out for stuff on e-bay. The problem with that, of course, is that you can’t try anything on before you buy it.
There is J Jill but it might be less stylish and more Earth Motherish to you–but look and see just in case you glimpse something. The quality is pretty good and the prices fair.
Is Coldwater Creek really cheaper than Anthropologie?
For that matter, are vintage stores really all that cheap anymore? I don’t think vintage shopping is what it was back in my day (the 70’s). I read that some Goodwills have opened their own specialized vintage stores.
The best stuff I have ever found was at estate/garage sales.
I do shop at Anthropologie but tend to carefully inspect the zippers and buttons whenever I try something on–some of their pieces, while attractive, seem a bit thrown together. (Just my experience; YMMV.)