Personal Style, Vintage & Thrift finds, Work

Gold Rush

4 Comments 12 November 2009

gold fashionThrifted pants, shoes, and bracelets; Iceberg top; Gucci belt

Wearing my old lady pants procured on a thrifting adventure (the high-waisted carrot shape looks so friggin’ good to me right now) and sticking to the color palette:

Aren’t you proud?

You’ll like these, too:
Color Blocking
Thrift Gift 2
English Countryside

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Casual, Personal Style, Work

Best of: Personal Style

11 Comments 05 August 2009

You know how sometimes you’ll sit down to watch one of your favorite TV shows only to find out three minutes into it that it’s a rerun show? No, I don’t mean rerun as in beret-wearing What’s Happening? Rerun, I mean it turns out to be one of those “best of” recap shows that always seems to pop up during a writer’s strike/contract negotiations/general production laziness.

Well, think of this post as a “Best of The Style Sample” sans the corny theme song intro. Unless you want me to sing. Which you definitely don’t. Not even with Auto-Tune. Trust me.
Anyway, here are some of my favorites from the past nine(!) months:

4. Take Flight
5. Gilded
6. Suited up


7. Bright blaze
8. Don’t play in her garden and don’t smell her flower
9. You don’t have to watch Dynasty


10. Whitewashed
11. A lovely day
12. All the world’s a stage

Consider yourself recapped. (Which, thankfully, is not nearly as violent as it sounds)

You’ll like these, too:
Casual Style: Sweat Me
Work Style: Leather Love
Fashion Math

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Personal Style, Vintage & Thrift finds, Work

Style: Scout's Honor

11 Comments 05 June 2009

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I found this old Boy Scout shirt when I was digging through my closet and decided I really wanted to wear it with something sparkly and girly for contrast.

Of course, a grown woman wearing a Boy Scout shirt meant the comments from the peanut gallery were in full force:

“Are you going camping? Can you pitch my tent? Did you earn your badge in (insert blatant ignorance here)?”

Sigh.

I started to wonder why I bought that shirt at the thrift store in the first place.  Nostalgia for my old Brownie days? Nah, I hated selling cookies (though eating them is still a favorite pastime).

Inspired by Michael Jackson and his apparent love for elaborate patches? Perhaps.

Flashing back to 1989 and one of the best movies of that era? Definitely!

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Does anyone else remember Shelley Long and a pre-Rilo Kiley Jenny Lewis in Troop Beverly Hills? God, I loved that movie! Give me a Scout shirt and a few merit badges and I’m ready to throw on a Tina Turner wig and sing “It’s Cookie Time!

Do your childhood memories ever influence your fashion choices?

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Inspiration, Shopping, Tips and Advice, Work

Fashion Math

No Comments 13 May 2009

I’m not really a math person. As a left-brained creative type, reading, spelling, and language have always been my favorite subjects. However, due to my anal-retentive control freak tendencies and a maniacal need for organization, I do appreciate formulas–as long as they don’t involve numbers.

This translates to my wardrobe accordingly: I like coming up with easy-to-understand combinations–recipes, if you will–for putting clothes together. For instance, trousers + fitted tee + blazer, or this pencil skirt + print blouse + cardigan + boots combo. It makes it simple to get dressed, but still leaves room to have fun with accessories (woo-hoo!) for interest.

Fashion Math really comes in handy when I’m deciding what to wear to work in the morning, especially since mai brane duz not wurk rite before 9am. Today’s equation was inspired by BOY by Band of Outsiders, and is really easy to pull off:

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As with real equations, you can use different variables and get the same answer–in this case, the answer is looking good! Another plus (get it? Plus?) is that you probably already have most of these items in your closet, and if not, it’s easy to find inexpensive substitutes:

Fashion-math-grid-0509

Left column: Shirt, American Apparel; Blazer, Urban Outfitters; Chinos, J. Crew; Shoes, Net-a-Porter  Middle column: Shirt, Old Navy; Blazer, Pixie Market; Chinos, Bluefly; Heels, Steve Madden Right column: Shirt La Garconne; Blazer, asos; Chinos, Urban Outfitters; Heels, Zappos

How do you get dressed? Do you have a process or do you just throw caution to the wind every day?

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Personal Style, Vintage & Thrift finds, Work

Work Style: Floral Prints

No Comments 29 April 2009

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Screenprinted tee, Urban Outfitters; skirt, Warehouse; cardigan, The Limited; boots, Century 21; feather earrings, Anthropologie; belt, vintage.

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I’m not usually a floral print type of girl–give me blacks and grays any day–but I guess the combination of rainy April weather and warm temperatures is making me feel more princess than witch.

Has the impending spring season had an impact on your style?

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Personal Style, Work

Style: Menswear Inspired

No Comments 22 April 2009

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Perhaps inspired by the Comme des Garcons/Like the Boys post from last week, I felt the urge to express my masculine side, which much like my feminine side involves scowling arrogantly, greedily stuffing junk food down my throat, and telling other people what to do.

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Trousers, J. Crew; oxford shirt, vest, and suspenders, thrifted; shoes, Charles David; Porkpie hat, Hats in the Belfry; Watch, Timex

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Inspiration, Shopping, Work

Style: Like the Boys

3 Comments 15 April 2009

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commeleft04091

Sometimes I want to be like the boys. No, not in the smelly-feet-raggedy-drawers-don’t-clean-up-after-yourself way. I mean in the important way: wardrobe wise, of course.

It’s not a new idea: women have been “borrowing” men’s clothing for years to great effect: Think of silver screen stars Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn draping themselves in men’s suiting, the iconic movie wardrobe of Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, and the laid-back glamour of Yves St. Laurent’s le smoking.

Even the boys themselves provide inspiration (’bout time): at the top of my mind are the smooth operators of the Rat Pack and Wall Street’s unabashedly power hungry Gordon Gekko.

A dash of menswear-inspired tailoring (because tailoring is crucial) looks professional, adds contrast to more feminine pieces, and can be especially fun to wear when assuming a character. 

Key pieces include oxford shirts, tailored trousers, and men’s accessories: 

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1. Boy’s shirt, Old Navy 2. Silk tie, Krimson by Kwame 3. Trousers, Victoria’s Secret 4. Boy’s blazer, Ralph Lauren  5. Raffia fedora, Hats in the Belfry

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Personal Style, Shopping, Work

Style: Blue Crush

No Comments 01 April 2009

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I’m usually more of a purple person (thanks, Prince), but for some reason bright blue seems really fresh to me right now. Maybe it’s because warmer weather is coming and blue reminds me of the sky and sea. Maybe it’s because blue contrasts so nicely with all the gray/black/taupe in my wardrobe (really, who needs six gray cardigans?). Maybe it’s because I’ve been craving some of that good ol’ blue Smurf ice cream from Kings Island.

Yeah, that’s it. It must be the ice cream.

No matter the source of inspiration, my wardrobe as of late has been affected:

bluecrush03091

bluebelt

Print blouse, Anthropologie; blue t-shirt, H&M; blue belt, vintage

I feel like I need more, though (what else is new?). A dress, some shoes, maybe a scarf…blueshop0309

1. American Apparel dress  2. L.A.M.B scarf, Shopbop  3. RicRac tank, Anthropologie  4. Heels, Steve Madden

Apparently, I’m deep into this blue crush. What are you really feeling right now?

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Personal Style, Vintage & Thrift finds, Work

Work Style: Take Flight

No Comments 30 March 2009

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This jumpsuit was yet another goodie I dug out of the trunk of my car. I want to sew some sparkly Michael Jackson-inspired patches on this sucker so badly. Just call me Maverick!

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Vintage jumpsuit and clutch, army surplus belt, Giuseppe Zanotti heels, Claire’s earrings.

*Posts will be a little light this week since I’ll be working on the magazine. Cross your fingers for me!

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Personal Style, Vintage & Thrift finds, Work

Work Style: Leather Love

No Comments 23 March 2009

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I found this teal leather dress on a whirlwind thrift store tour, and figured it was too bad-in-a-good-way to pass up.  For months, it sat in my trunk aka third closet, languishing in the heat and cold, only to see the light of day when bags of groceries needed a ride home.

Lately, I’ve been trying to wear more of the clothes I own, so out it came. But what to do with it? Teal leather isn’t exactly cut out for the office. Or is it?

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Add a conservative black blazer, dark hose, and black ankle boots, and it will work for work! Funnily enough, the belt didn’t come with the dress–it was bought on yet another thrifting adventure–but happens to match perfectly!

Of course, I appreciate versatility as well:

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Have you ever had to make slightly wacky pieces more conservative? What did you do?

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