The Poor Girl's Cardigan

All right, I'm going to put this out there: I shop at Old Navy. I know, right? THE POOR MAN'S GAP/BANANA REPUBLIC/WHATHAVEYOU. But give me a break, people, it's one of the few stores we have in my little colonial college town, and I can only bleed my bank accounts so much with the size guesswork involved with online shopping.

For years, I've been fending off eye rolls and gently mocking smiles--but, whatever. I'm over it, no bitterness. Sometimes Old Navy has some great shit, and when it goes on sale, it's wickedly cheap. And that's when me and my little Visa card step in.

Case and point: Women's Twin Cardigan Set... on CLEARANCE

I chose this in British Khaki for posting purposes and because it's a little bit more Spring-Friendly than, say, Rosemary Green. I've been waiting for these babies to go on sale forever, and now I get them half-off at the gloriously reduced price of $12.99. Just in time to pair them with a cute Spring skirt or skinny jeans or dress or blouse (oh, possibilities!)...

But the appeal of this cardigan goes beyond the actual price. Lately, Old Navy has sort of been stepping up their game in the quality department, especially with their sweaters and outerwear. It's kinda awesome for us college students who don't want to pay $50 dollars for a sweater at Gap because they refuse to make anything without cashmere. The cheap staples you find are still cheaply made (le sigh), but they're slowly starting to incorporate higher quality--and higher priced--items into their collections.

The thing that struck me most about this cardigan when I tried it on pre-sale, was how soft the inside lining was. The detail work on it allows you to dress it up or down--and I usually find that when you can get some sort of "structure" on a cardigan (in this case, the vertical lining) it tends to be slenderizing. Also, and maybe this is only freakishly-skinny-arms me, but I absolutely hate it when the wrists of my cardigans get stretched out just because I dared to defy the laws of common cotton and roll them up slightly. I'm going to guess that the raised ribs on this will help prevent this travesty.

You also have quite a few colors to choose from!

All in all, it's actually put together really well and will probably last you. That tends to be a lot of bang for your thirteen bucks. I think the only problem I had while trying it on was that I had to go up a size (likely because my freakishly-skinny-arms are also freakishly-long-arms and because I am a prude and don't like tight-fitting things).

Women's Twin Set Cardigans at Old Navy: $12.99