Happy Thursday, ladies.  The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is reaching its conclusion.  One thing that sometimes gets overlooked is that the sale provides a good opportunity to purchase fashion investment pieces at more reasonable prices than they might normally be.

What are "investment pieces exactly"?  They're items of good quality, usually at higher price points, that can last a lifetime.  And while investment pieces can be obvious designer brands, they don't necessarily have to be.

To my mind, we're talking fashion items like:

• handbags;
• jackets;
• boots;
• jewelry; and
• blazers.

For each of the above categories, I went through the sale and identified two investment pieces and provided inspiration on how to style them from items also taken from the sale.

And before we go further, the price points on the investment pieces I chose are higher than items I usually feature on the blog.  Let's just get that out of the way right now.

But I'll also say this.  Suppose that you invest in a piece that will last you, say, 10 years at a price point of say $500.  That's the equivalent of buying a $50 alternative every year.  Or a $100 alternative every 2 years.  And so on and so forth.

When buying investment pieces, I try to stick to a few basic principles:

• Choose neutral colors that will never go out of style; or pick one of your favorite colors that you'll never tire of.
• Pick a brand you're familiar with or make sure you do your research by talking to other owners; reading reviews; and/or trying the item on.
• Pick a size that fits and will, as far as you can, continue to fit in the future. Don't pick one that's too big or too small.

With all of that out of the way, let's get right down to the items.