Fashion Friday 5/24/13
CommentWe had some technical difficulties with this past fashion Friday. I’ve been trying to work out how to take pictures of my actual outfits in a light that doesn’t make it look like an ebay sale post, and so far I’ve been pretty unlucky. So, while I don’t have a collage of my actual outfit for this past Fashion Friday, I put one together that I think is way better and way nicer than anything I have in my closet right now.
I’ll see if I can find some more wallet-friendly variants of the items in here, but I love the look. I’m always tempted to put white accessories with a pastel outfit like this, but I really like how the black looks in the shoes and the jewelry. Happy belated Fashion Friday!
The Message is Spreading!
CommentCourtesy of my best friend and constant source of fashion inspiration, let’s call her Liz, THIS ARTICLE was brought to my attention. Although I haven’t witnessed the particular California variety of slobbery that the author mentions, I’ve seen enough of the Midwestern antics to know that I wholeheartedly agree – we are becoming a nation of slobs. Casual Friday (shudder) is bleeding into casual every day which is morphing into people generally not giving a damn about how they present themselves to the world. It truly saddens me.
My gramma was one hell of a fashionista. She kept all her fancy dresses in garment bags in the closet to make sure they looked as new as the day she bought them. She kept her shoes… tons of shoes… in plastic containers to make sure they never got dusty or dull looking. She had compacts and clutches that she bought in the 1940′s that were in such good shape, I borrowed them for school dances in high school some 60 years later. She had hats that she made herself using a hat form my grandpa made her that I still have in the closet. And my personal absolute favorite habit of hers – she pinned a note on each of her outfits in the closet and listed the date and event for which she last wore it to make sure she didn’t wear the same stuff too many times in front of the same people. She was and always looked incredible.
My inspiration to be a confident, fashionable and put-together woman comes from my gramma. Gramma would never be caught leaving the house in sweatpants or without her hair done or without makeup on. She wouldn’t even be caught wearing the same outfit twice in front of the same people (unless it had been at least a year in between). Taking pride in yourself and your appearance is something that used to be commonplace. Let’s bring it back.
Two Things to Binge On: Booze and Shopping
CommentTaking advantage of the fact that drunk tipsy relaxed people tend to be looser with their cash as well, Urban Outfitters has apparently decided to open a bar/restaurant in its soon-to-be location in New York.
You can read about it here. Granted, they’re not the first store to think of this, but probably the lowest-end one so far? I thought only the likes of Burberry, Chanel, Prada did the booze/shop combo. And they definitely don’t have restaurants in there. And the booze is free. The only time I can remember eating in the same store I was shopping in was the last time I went to IKEA, and I don’t have fond memories.
Fashion Friday 5/17/13
CommentThis week’s Fashion Friday is devoted to…..
GREEN SHOES!
(c) 2013 Nine West
These are my favorite shoes of the moment by a mile. When I got them, my mom asked “What are you going to wear those with!?”, and my answer so far has been just about everything. My Fashion Friday outfit this week had these shoes paired with white capri pants and a black tank. Although I opted for the more conservative silver accessories, I think orange or red would have looked pretty good, too.
I generally like wearing bright shoes, especially this time of year, and this color goes really well with any other bright color, or is a fun accent for neutrals. Just be wary of mixing these with TOO many other bright colors so it doesn’t look like you’re a well-heeled clown or on your way to a rave.
Ponderings of the Day
CommentI was reading an article today about how a certain Valentino jumpsuit has been worn by many celebrities and psuedo-celebrities on the red carpet, and how fabulous it looked on all of them. I think the jumpsuit itself is pretty fantastic, since I’m a big fan of structured retro stylings:
(c) 2013, Saks.com
If you’ve got about $3,000.00 to burn, this is the jumpsuit for you. However, if you’re not quite as committed to the look and want to give it a try on the cheap…. on the super cheap…. there’s a strapless black wide-leg version you can try instead:
(c) 2013, Macy's
Yes, it’s bloused on top. Yes, it’s wide-leg. Yes, it’s missing the cute white accent and bow detail on the back. And yes, it’s not as dressy. It’s under $40.00 though, so dress it up your damn self.
Fashion Friday soon….
An Online Shopping Favorite
CommentWhenever I need a distraction, and also when I don’t, I spend some time perusing online stores for sales on all things fashionable. Trick is to find things that are priced well without being crap in the quality department. A site that took me way too long to discover is Bluefly.
They are located in New York and sell lots of quality designer clothes, etc. at discounted prices. I tend to do a bit of a binge on their site every 3-4 months, so I’ve got a good amount of Bluefly purchases in my closet. One of the items in my most recent splurge was this little number that I wore out to a friend’s bachelorette party last weekend:
(c) 2013 Bluefly, Inc.
I started checking them out and subscribed to their mailer back in 2008, and I haven’t looked back since. The negative is that they do tend to send out a healthy number of emails, but the positive is that almost always those emails are for another item/category that is on sale. I can’t remember the last time I got something that wasn't marked down from the originally discounted price.
Get looking for some future Fashion Friday outfits!
My Favorite App
CommentDue to my propensity to shop too much and my short memory, I often find myself forgetting what I already have in my closet… and how many of things. I’ve started using the Personal Closet app to catalog my wardrobe and accessories, and it has made things immeasurably easier to keep track of.
It lets you categorize your clothes, shoes, and accessories by name, color, and style and keeps a picture of each item in the database. It also has some cool features like letting you put together outfits using the images you have saved and “packing” a suitcase for a vacation. So far all the images I’ve used have been downloaded off the merchant’s website and have been great, so I can’t yet say how well self-taken snaps of the items will look. If there are any suggestions on how to take clear, well-lit pictures of apparel items, please feel free to share.
All in all, definitely an app worth checking out, especially for putting together Fashion Friday ensembles ahead of time.
Commence Fashion Friday 5/10/13
CommentThis blog post is dedicated to the beginning of the mission: convert all casual Friday zombies into Fashion Friday followers. We will plant the seed of Fashion Friday in the heads of the unbelievers and gradually nurture it with suggestions and inspirations and merciless shaming until it sprouts into an oak tree of well-dressedness with branches of good looking outfits and leaves with the…shoes and…. I lost the metaphor. Regardless, go through your closet, put in some effort and get ready for Fashion Friday.
Today’s Fashion Friday item is the sheath dress.
The particular version of the classic that I will be sporting today is the textured sheath dress from The Limited, shown here:
Textured Sheath Dress, (c) 2012, The Limited.
How are you dressing up your version?