I was out shopping last weekend and stumbled upon several fashion items that look like they were taken right off some of our favourite celebrities’ backs and placed on store racks!

Everyone loves a good copy of an awesome outfit, and even if it is not identical to the one featured in magazines or blogs, it’ll still have that “wow” factor if you wear them right.

Local and international fashion brands and boutiques all over Kuala Lumpur do not disappoint – many pieces are cleverly crafted so that they look exactly like their designer counterpart, but cost much less. Here are several look-alikes I discovered.

Short is fun

Jennifer Aniston donned one of these colour-block micro mini-dress at the premiere of her latest film, The Switch, last week. Though you can find loads of imitations of this mini-dress (but with hideous ruching at the back for “one-size-fits-all” purpose) in various boutiques all over the country, no-one copies this look better than Spanish fashion retailer Zara.Take a peek into any of their outlets and a few versions of this will jump right out at you.

Jennifer Aniston

Going abstract

Some may not go for the “I-spilt-paint-all-over-myself” look, but you’d be surprised at how many celebrities love it, and how many stores have stocked their shelves with this pattern.

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts wore an odd-looking Dries Van Noten print dress last week in Japan to promote her latest film Eat Pray Love, causing an uproar on fashion and celebrity sites (few loved it, others hated it).

Check out Warehouse for more styles like these. The British high street fashion house has several knee-length and maxi dresses in this style, while Forever 21 stock their stores with lots of tops and skirts in abstract designs.

Pretty pleats

Jessica Szohr wore this red-hot Notte by Marchesa number to the premiere of Piranha 3D in Hollywood last weekend.

The pleated fans are all the rage in boutiques in the Klang Valley, and although you may not find a dress exactly like this check out Mydressroom in Bangsar, KL, and August 8 at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Selangor, for some nice versions of this flirty-cum-girly piece.

Jessica Szohr

While we’re on the subject of pleats, you must check out the brand-spanking-new Dorothy Perkins outlet in the Bangsar Village 2 mall in KL, because right at the entrance is an almost-perfect version of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Halston Heritage purple dress that was featured in Sex And The City 2.

The pleated flapper dress is an almost identical copy, right down to the length and where the flap falls, except SJP’s is purple and slightly shimmery, while this one is green.

When one is not enough

I love True Blood’s petite star Anna Paquin’s style. She looks great in short dresses that show off her shapely legs, and has been photographed wearing many short outfits, including this two-toned electric blue-and-black cocktail dress by Proenza Schouler.
The two-tone dress can be found in hundreds of fashion blogshops, usually in many different colour combinations.

Anna Paquin

Check out blogshops like afittingroomboutique.blogspot.com and lushserendipity.blogspot.com for a good range of two-toned dresses. If you want a similar look but aren’t into one-piece items, browse mooieboutique.blogspot.com for ideas on how to pair your tops and skirts together so that they look like they’re one piece. Clever huh?

Denim leggings

With her miles-long legs, few people look better than Blake Lively in jeans, but you can look almost as good in form-fitting jeans, and jeggings (jeans + leggings).
Caron Boutique in Desa Sri Hartamas has a collection of premium US brands of jeans in their store like Postage and James Jeans (pssst…Blake, and Charlize Theron wear these too!)
Topshop hosts a good variety of jeggings as well, and soon, Levi’s will have something they call the Levi’s ‘Curve ID’ jeans collection, designed with a system that follows a woman’s shape (slight curve, demi curve, bold curve) not size.
However, if you can wait til their store opens in KL in November, Uniqlo has a swell collection of great quality jeans and denim leggings you can splurge on.