My antrepid readers will have noticed that Style Saturdays took a brief summer hiatus; I took a break for my brother’s wedding and some summer travel. In the meantime, I’ve heard from some formicid fashion fans that becoming a fashion-ant-sa is surprisingly expensive. Taking your lab look from drab to fab is probably always going to involve some measure of investment. Fashion – like most art – is beautiful but expensive. However, the truth is, you don’t need to break the bank to get a colony-couture look. Some of the myrmecological pieces featured thus far in the Style Saturdays series are genuinely unique, but it’s often pretty easy to get the rest of a look for less as long as you’re willing to improvise.

Take this gorgeous ensemble pairing Yves Saint Laurent with beautiful jewelry from Alolo:

Here’s how to get a similar look for less. (With a little more surfing the web, or a willingness to thrift — you could get a similar look for even less!) These tights are expensive, but also amazing, and paired with less expensive clothes and jewelry, formicid fashion can be fab and frugal!