I am definitely a lover of luxury fashion, but I don’t frown upon designer-inspired fashion. Let’s face it, not everyone has unlimited funds. Even those that do may not choose to spend a lot of their money on depreciating assets such as clothes, shoes and handbags. For those that want the look for less, I say more power to you!

In honor of all frugal fashionistas, I decided to go on a designer dupe hunt at my local sister stores, Marshalls and TJMaxx, just for fun. I wanted to see how many designer-inspired looks I could find just in these two stores. Let’s see what I found!!!

Handbags

Michael Kors bag priced at $149.99

Compare to Louis Vuitton’s Speedy 25 in Damier Azur Canvas $950

La Terre Fashion Handbag $16.99

Compare to Chloe Nile $1790

Aldo Fashion Handbag $12.99

Compare to Chloe Drew $1950

Plinio Vison Handbag $179.99

Compare to Valentino Garavani Rockstud Small Bag  $2295

Shoes

Report Black Mules with fur $16.00

Compare to Gucci Princetown Leather Slipper $995

Jessica Simpson denim pumps $34.99

Compare to Manolo Blahnik Hangisi Denim $965

Black Fashion Boots $39

Compare to Chloe Susanna Short Boot $1380

Notice that the dupes are not identical to the luxury items, but merely reminiscent. High-priced luxury items are expensive for a reason. They are usually made from quality materials, meticulously constructed and of course designed by the best artistic geniuses in the industry. It would not be fair for a lower-end designer to simply steal the design stitch-by-stitch, would it?

Then I saw these:

I saw the stripe and the bee and said to myself, “Wow, they really just stole Gucci’s symbols!”. I tried them on and was so impressed by the quality and the similarities. I then looked at the price $829.99. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s not a dupe! I just ran across a pair of authentic Gucci boots in TJMaxx! It’s true! As the sister store says, “You never pay full price for fabulous!”