THE INTELLIGISTA FASHIONISTA: Who says you can't be fashionably cerebral?: Coffee Consuming in Style

Fashion Forward Rachel Bilson on a coffee run in LA

Nicole Richie pairs an Elizabeth & James dress with her cup of joe

Boho Chic is incomplete without a coffee in hand as the Olsens exemplify best

Vanessa Hudgens looking fresh faced and fashionable with her coffee

Because this is a blog dedicated to various facets of pop culture, it would be remiss not to include one of pop culture’s largest phenomenons: Starbucks Coffee. Not only does this coffee juggernaut pervade every street corner in the United States, they also find residence in more remote countries like South Korea, Bulgaria, Greece, Peru, and Argentina. However, unfortunately these sapid drinks come at a price and when one is consuming a drink a day, it can add up. Due to the ubiquity of Starbucks Coffee chains, it is inevitable that that by nightfall I will have consumed at least one of their beverages (and that is on a good day). My incessant cravings for Caramel Macchiatos on some days are equivalent to a pregnant woman’s cravings for pickles wrapped in cheese. In fact, Starbucks Coffee has actually become apart of women’s fashion ensembles. Rarely do I go a day without noticing a photograph captured by the paparazzi of one of Hollywood’s starlets sipping on coffee. Whether it is Vanessa Hudgens on her way to a recording studio with a Starbucks in hand or Miley Cyrus consuming a frappuccino on the set of her latest film, these coffees, while they may taste incredible and generate a caffeine buzz, are part of achieving a fashionable look.

As most girls are aware of, the Olsen twins have held a name among the fashionably revered for quite some time now. But it was their sojourn at New York University where their style was embedded into fashion history by being credited with creating “Boho Chic” style. The oversized sunglasses, jewelry, and overlapping layers of clothing made women everywhere drop what they were doing and purchase items to emulate this look. The Olsens have never been ones to model scantily clad attire; their Boho Chic look allows for women of all sizes to look hip and fashionable without feeling they need to show skin in unnecessary areas.

However, there is one essential constituent to this Boho Chic ensemble, the linchpin if you will: a cup of Starbucks coffee. Now, while a smart shopper looks for bargains at flea markets and sale racks, this same shopper must also learn to curtail their spending on expensive coffee, myself included. But how can you still look the part without a Starbucks in hand you ask? Well, on your myriad of excursions to Starbucks have you ever stopped and perused the shelf of coffee thermoses? They are full of color and look as if they were made to complement an outfit. My favorite new ones are the Ethos thermoses, which I have displayed below (Starbucks.com). Thus, smart shoppers everywhere, we can start making our own coffee at home and putting them in these hip thermoses before we leave the house. If you ask me, they not only look nicer/hipper/more fashionable with an outfit, but they also make you look fiscally and environmentally conscious. Now if you are not a coffee drinker but you are an avid consumer of water bottles, this is also a great way to thwart overspending. You can simply utilize brita or tap water to re-fill your thermos.

Now I am not saying to end your Starbucks spending completely—consuming 3 a week would still save you more than 7 a week. So how can you stop yourself from handing the cashier your credit card and inevitably spending all of your dollars on coffee? A solution would be to purchase a gift card. This is something I have done in recent years and it has greatly facilitated in curtailing my expenditures. So, at the beginning of the week or month you can decide exactly how much you want to put on the gift card and that way you can keep track of how much you are spending and it will not tempt you to exceed your allocated budget set on the card. You can even control your gift card online at Starbucks.com and add money and keep track of your balance all from your home computer.

This thermos is fresh and hip with its lime green lid

This Ethos thermos has fashionably and enviornmentally conscious shopper written all over it (You can purchase these at Starbucks.com or in Starbucks stores)

I love the way Ashley Olsen pairs a bandage skirt with her signature Fendi bag and an oversized tee-- but, how great would an Ethos thermos look with this instead?