Ripped tights: Thrifty, trendy or tacky?

The other day, I donned a pair of black tights and promptly saw a tiny run around the knee area. Immediately, the Tacky Devil and the Stylish Angel on my shoulders dispensed their wisdom.

Tacky Devil: Child, please. Don't worry about that minuscule hole. Your skirt is long enough to cover it. It'll only show when you sit down, and you don't have any important meetings today. Just put a dab of this fire engine nail polish on it to stop the run. Bellisima!

Stylish Angel: Distract from the hole by painting it red? Who raised you -- Janice Dickinson? Listen Steph. THROW THEM AWAY. We know you need to shave, but just suck it up and wear pants until you can get new tights. They're like $3 at CVS. Don't be a cheap skeeve.

TD: Cheap skeeve? Who died and made you Sarah Ferguson? I'm pretty sure I saw that chintzy halo you're sporting on the $4.99 rack at the liquidating Rave next to the Pawn-n-Gun Emporium.

SA: Oh really? You would know about Rave, wouldn't you? Don't let me hold you up. I don't want you to be late for your lunchtime shift on the pole.

TD: Oh, IT'S ON LIKE DONKEY KONG, B!

SA: BRING IT, HOMESLICE. I'll lasso you with your holey pantyhose and send you back to the left shoulder where you belong!

Those two. Always at it! I decided to embrace both their good points. I ditched the pair with the run and opted for a crazy-looking pair with a flower design that would delight anyone with a dormant tacky streak. But it turns out, I would have been right in style if I had just listened fully to Tacky Devil. Exhibit A:

This photo is straight from backstage at the Monique Lhuillier 2009 fall show at New York Fashion Week this month. Indeed, the princess dressmaker toughened up her fairy tale wares with some old-fashioned ripped panthyhose.

Similarly, celeb tartlets have been strutting around with airholes up and down their legs. Check out these pics of Miley Cyrus and 90210's Shenae Grimes.

I don't know. The miser in me likes the thought that my tights can live forever, but this look may be a little much to actually pull off.

Stylish Angel: That's right, Steph. I'm glad we had this talk. I'm proud of how far you've come.

Tacky Devil: Don't listen to her, rock star. She's a buzzkill. MILEY FOREVER!

~ Deal Diva Stephanie

Photo: AP

Make bank at Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy

Here's one to bookmark.

March 12-15, print this page and save 30 percent at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy. Plus, with every purchase, 5 percent goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Best part? You can use the coupon over and over again.

Cancer sucks. Shopping rules. End of story.

Buy a wedding dress, help a breast cancer patient

There is a really cool event coming to town next week that will allow women celebrating one of their happiest times to help women fighting one of their darkest.

It's called Brides against Breast Cancer, and it is based on a pretty simple, yet completely wonderful, idea. Here's how it works: Brides show up. They buy wedding gowns at deeply discounted prices. Then all that money goes to Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, which grants wishes for women with terminal breast cancer. Think of it as a grown-up Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The event, part of a 40-city tour, is set for March 5-7 at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel at 111 W. Fortune St., Tampa.

Mostly new gowns that typically retail for thousands of dollars will be sold for $99 to $799. Couture gowns will be priced at 25 to 75 percent below retail prices.

March 5 is VIP night from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $50. Brides can register at www.BridesAgainstBreastCancer.org. Call (727) 430-7251 or (727) 343-0800 for more info.

The public sale is free. (Register online at the same site.) Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on March 6 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 7. Purchases are tax deductible, and brides can donate their gowns back to the cause after their weddings for an additional tax benefit. Everyone wins.

~ Deal Diva Colleen

Dillard's sale: doesn't get much better than this!

Penny pinchers, listen up... Dillard's is taking an additional 40 percent off almost EVERYTHING that's already on permanent markdown.

The economy is scary. We're freaked out too. If you've been waiting for a really good sale to venture into the mall, this one is worth checking out.

Here are some highlights that I scouted on a recent "reporting mission" to the Dillard's at International Plaza. Remember, you'll get to take an ADDITIONAL 40 percent off each of these deals:

• 40 percent off select bags by Michael Kors. Clearance purses at 70 percent off.
• Men's casual and biz casual shirts -- huge selection at 70 percent off.
• Floral skirt by DKNY, $32.85, marked down from $109.50 originally. (And this is just the start of a wide selection of 70 percent off skirts, tops and dresses from designers like Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole, Antonio Melani, Calvin Klein)
• Crazy cheap shoes already marked 70 percent off. Get 'em while they're still there.

Warning: This is a get-stuff-out-of-here sale. The best deals are going to require some work to find. Racks have been picked over, so budget in some time to look. That's the cost of saving money.

~ Deal Diva Letitia

Save beaucoups at Stein Mart

Here's a quickie for you. Through Saturday, save up to 85 percent on permanently reduced merchandise at Stein Mart. The coupon gets you an extra 50 percent off Red Dot items, so make sure you print it!

~ Deal Diva Colleen

Itty Bitty Bra reppin' the flat girls of the world

This should please some folks out there in Boobland U.S.A., home of the world famous Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder Monument (and World's Largest Ball of Twine).

It's the Itty Bitty Bra, designed especially for our small-chested friends. "Most bra manufacturers use a B cup as the basis for all of its smaller bra sizes, adjusting for others by increasing the width of the strap or widening the band," said IBB president Jane Hodgdon in a press release. "IBB has developed a patented cup design for smaller cup sizes."

I come from a long line of Chesty McChestersons, but I've always imagined small-chested girls might have some advantages - the ability to wear halter tops, the freedom to treadmill without duct tape and ace bandages, things like that. But I also imagine it's frusrating to bra shop when everything screams Pam Anderson in yo' face.

Has anyone tried this? They're in the $50 dollar range, which anyone who has bought a good bra knows is maddening but typical. Maybe to save money we should all start living buck naked in the rain forest. Still, I'm sure some enterprising nymph would start making banana leaf bras and charging eight mangos and leg. Sigh.

~ Deal Diva Stephanie

Photo: Couture polka dot bra, $55, ittybittybra.com.

Free food from First Watch

How's that for a tongue twister? First Watch, everyone's favorite breakfast-and-lunch-only spot, has a sweet deal for anyone who likes to brunch before shopping.

Enroll online in the restaurant's Sun eClub, then check your inbox for a link to a coupon good for one free entree. You'll have one-time access to the coupon, so be sure to print it before closing the screen. (Then, if you're like me, take advantage of the handy "remove yourself from our database" link at the bottom of the e-mail.)

The offer is good for dine-in only, and there's a max of one coupon allowed per table. So you and your posse either have to split the savings or sit at different tables and text-message each other about how good the free food is.

First Watch has six Tampa Bay locations. Find yours here.

~ Guest Deal Diva Dalia Colon

(Photo: Photos.com)

Suit up like Obama in Hart Schaffner Marx

My husband has a "problem" that most women would love to have. He's too tall and lanky to fit into the majority of off-the-rack suits sold at department stores and retailers.

A solution is on the horizon, thanks to Dillard's and President Obama's preferred suit maker, Chicago-based Hart Schaffner Marx. On March 11, from 2 to 9 p.m., the Dillard's store at International Plaza is hosting a "Made to Measure" event that will give men with atypical proportions (and normal-sized guys, too) the chance to get custom-made HSM garments that actually FIT them. Guys get to pick out the fabric, color and pattern (likely with help from their significant other) from more than 200 possibilities.

Pay 25 percent of the cost when you place the order, then get billed for the rest if you are pleased with the product that arrives three to four weeks later. I'm told the suits will run between $800 and $1,600, about the same as the nicer ensembles we saw on a recent trip to Dillard's and Nordstrom. Not cheap, but a quality investment.

~ Deal Diva Colleen

(Photo: AP. The Prez wore Hart Schaffner Marx on Inauguration Day, starting with a black suit and cashmere overcoat to take the oath of office, then changing into a custom-made tux for his looong night of dancing.)

He's BAACCK! Isaac Mizrahi makes over Liz Claiborne

It's the love connection you never expected to go beyond a first date: Isaac Mizrahi and Liz Claiborne.

The collaboration of Mizrahi, the designer who brought fashion to the Target masses (and gave us all the right to call it Tar-jay), and Liz Claiborne is hitting streets and stores this spring.

Mizrahi, who is no longer designing for Target, seems up to the challenge of taking Liz out of her middle-aged funk. Of course, the timing couldn't be worse -- in this economy, are women going to rush to Macy's and Dillard's to snap up Mizrahi the way we did at Target? Who knows?

But I think the bright colors and feminine cuts that Mizrahi brings to the Liz spring collection trumps his designs for Target, which let's face it, were just weird at times. (For a good laugh, check out Stephanie in her pre-Deal Diva days paying homage to Mizrahi at Target.)

In his new life, Mizrahi is more girly girl than edgy. Some of the spring collection's poofy skirts and wide-legged pants look oh-so-fab on slim models, but could be disastrous on real women. His love affair with color continues (thankfully toned down from the Target days). And he is embracing a soft shape -- from cascading ruffles to flattering pencil skirts -- that just feels happy.

And who better than Isaac Mirzahi to bring us a little much needed optimism these days? 

~ Deal Diva Letitia

(Photos: Mizrahi for Liz Claiborne, spring collection: gray dress, $149; floral sweater, $79 and floral skirt, $79; logo print shirt dress, $89.)

Glamastrator on E!: Where do we get ours?

It was like SportsCenter hit the red carpet. During the Oscars pre-show on E!, the fashion police were gunning with real ammo -- the Glamastrator.

In case anyone missed this beauty, think of the blue squiggly lines during football games, when NFL commentators obsess over first downs. Or CNN's annoying election night interactives.

Finally, fashionistas have their own version: the Glamastrator.

On Oscar night, E! put its Glamastrator to work highlighting the scales on Miley Cyrus' dress and picking apart the disaster called Heidi Klum. (Tho, I have to give E! demerits for complimenting truly hideous dresses, including Jessica Biel's tablecloth.)

But the Glamastrator just rocks, unconditionally. I want one. In fact, it should be made into a video game for Oscar watching parties and good old fashioned snarky fun.

How would I use it on Nicole Kidman's feathered frock? Let me count the ways...

~ Deal Diva Letitia

(Photo: Getty Images)