Thrifty Thursday: Rackin' it

Editor's Public Service Announcement: Just in case you didn't see Twitter or Facebook earlier this week, we did (finally) pick winners for the bow-tie challenge. Thanks for the reminders, questions and general cleverness about our tardiness. It would appear the interns really dropped the ball on this one. (We gave them one job—one job...). In any event, the lucky two were:

• Drew Jones Art
• mah5160

Congrats to the winners, and to the rest of you: Be sure and enter next time. We think the interns have learned their lesson. If pulling outhouse duty doesn't teach them, I don't know what will.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming:

There are a few places you're sure to find things cheap. Wal-Mart. McDonald's. On the apparel side of things, you'll get anything you find in a dumpster for free, garage sales almost always guarantee low prices, and thrift stores are nice for weakening the blow to your finances. But then there are times you're itching for something new, something that hasn't been washed and loved on by somebody else, something with price tags still attached—but price tags with small numbers on them. Enter Nordstrom Rack.

You see, there is no Nordstrom Rack in Kansas City (yet), so I had not encountered one until our recent wedding field trip to St. Louis. I'm not much of a planner, and I'm even less of a packer, so when time came to put together a bag to take to the Lou, I threw some underwear and toiletries in my Wanderer and grabbed some hanging shirts out of my closet in an effort to use as little energy as possible. And then I set off, without too many wedding appropriate items in tow. "I'll buy some in St. Louis," I thought. As you may have guessed, I'm also a procrastinator, so at about seven in the evening on the eve of the wedding day, I set out to find some shoes and some neckwear. Nordstrom Rack would have a moderately priced selection of both, I was told.

Granted, Nordstrom stocks a lot of things that I consider unwearable, for whatever reason. But, at the same time, the Rack had a nice array of Clarks, Top-Siders, and Florsheims, all at about half off. The tie collection was just as appealing and twice as cheap. I walked away with a pair of black suede Clarks desert boots for $50 and a $15 Rooster polka dot bow tie. Two items that will get a lot of wear. Two items that I avoided paying full price for. I think this is called winning.

Bow tie (Nordstrom Rack, $15) by Rooster; cotton oxford (thrifted, $3) by Arrow, medium; slim cotton chinos (Urban Outfitters, sale $10) by Dockers, size 31; leather belt (stolen from my father—thanks, dad); suede desert boots (Nordstrom Rack, $50) by Clarks, size 10.

Photography by Jarred Donalson.

BOW TIE GIVEAWAY from AnnaRuna

We've been rocking bow ties lately to add some personality and character to our looks. (Hell, we've been doing that with accessories, bags, tie bars and other quirky pieces, too.) Something subtle or something with a statement—that's the key to finishing off an outfit. A bow tie is one such touch. Our Midwestern lady friend understands this and wants to help fellow gents (or ladies).

Shirting by Apolis Activism, cardigan by J.Crew and madras bow tie by AnnaRuna.

Her name is Anna, and she's going to be a senior at Mizzou this coming fall. She and Cam and I grew up cannon-balling at the Willow Farms swimming pool, eating copious amounts of salsa deckside at the Hastings house and shooting off fireworks in the suburbs in front of the Flemings curbside detonation zone each Fourth of July. She's talented, sweet, tall/Icelandic and Midwestern. (Did we mention beautiful? If not, beautiful.) She makes bow ties and neck ties. She's not an East Campus dweller (yet) but she's a frequent dance party fiend at the 516 boys' house.

So here's the situation: We want to give you one of Anna's bow ties from her Etsy shop: AnnaRuna. Here's how you can snag something fancy for your neck...

Simply:

1. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and/or Tumblr if haven't already. Don't forget to tell us which one(s) you chose.
2. Tell us who in your life needs a bow tie and why. If it's you, that's cool. If it's your brother, great. If you're a lady and want to rock some camo steeze with your chambray button down and floral skirt, that's cool too, Cary.

We'll pick randomly, (but really whichever one is the wittiest and makes us laugh the most). The giveaway will close on FRIDAY at 5 p.m. We'll announce the winner on Saturday via Twitter and a small blog post. Sounds simple, I know.

Pick one, any one. We'll send it to you.