I know I sound like a broken record but I'm going to keep singing the praises of the long out of print book,  Cheap Chic.  It was my fashion bible when I was a teenager and it gave me a great foundational knowledge in the category of "style is where you find it."  I strayed from that theme for a while... mostly during my super shopper days... but then slowly found my way back.

A recent post in the NY Times, http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/where-the-clothes-are-as-eclectic-as-the-music/, made me think of Cheap Chic, once again. Fashion doesn't have to be expensive or the current "it" thing. Real style has always been, and will always remain, individual.

If you can manage to find a copy of Cheap Chic on eBay, grab it.