January 5, 2011: Dance To The Music Of The Sun

I won't let these Wenesdays get me down! I am determined to fight the doldrums with so fun florals and bright colors. Hopefully that will trick me into a more positive state of mind; the glass is half full, the week is half over... Sounds good to me. We already know that I was (apparently) destined to be a dancer, so why not? How do you dance dress to put a smile on your face?

• Top: yellow scoopneck sweater, LOFT; floral print t-shirt, Vera Wang for Kohl's
• Bottom: black and white tweed pencil skirt, Isaac Mizrahi for Target via The Unique Thrift Store/birthday gift from Mom 
• Shoes & Accessories:  black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; black tights, Just My Size via CVS; gray swarovski crystal earrings, Pennyweights; purple tote bag, Coach 

Items from this outfit are previously seen here:

December 16, 2010: Too Much Knit

I had meeting after meeting yesterday so, comfort was key and with all this cold it naturally meant cocooning myself in chunky knit fabric! I might have gone too far though since toward the end of the day I was having trouble keeping my eyes open... Next time only half as much knit!

• Top: gray sweater dress, Kensie
• Shoes & Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohls; black ribbed tights, Assets by Sara Blakely via Target (similar and on sale here); silver bead earrings, Tiffany & Co.; purple tote bag, Coach

December 8, 2010: Life Is Short, Be Nice

As the temperatures continue to hover in the 30's and below I will be bringing out lots of new things to keep me warm but, still stylish. No, puffy snow gear for me... yet ever! One of the things that I love to wear when the weather is cold (and even when it isn't) is tweed. I have been saving this skirt for an appropriate occasion and I'm not really sure what I thought that was. I figured it would be some time in November but, that came and went and the skirt sat untouched in my closet. Today seemed like as good a time as any to bust it out, life's too short. Do you hold on the special pieces of clothing for the "right" occasion even though you may not have a specific one in mind? If so, does it generally pan out?

So, there's a funny story behind this beautiful statement necklace...I had gone to church with my mom a few weeks ago and there were some holiday shops set up after the service. We wandered down to take a peek and I was pleasantly surprised! They has lots of great handcrafted or thrify items and we met some really nice people. One of the tables that we perused had this fantastic A. V. Max necklace lying amidst other sparkly baubles and I was instantly drawn to the details in each of the little medallions. While discussing the piece the salesperson handed me her card and I immediately recognized her name from work even though I had never met her before! Being a recruiter and reading hundreds of resumes a week will do that to you but, I digress... I let her know that her name seemed familiar and after a brief exchange we determined that I was not going crazy and that she worked at one of my company's other facilities. Then she gave us a discount on the necklace... it's a small world so, be nice!

• Top: orange v-neck sweater, Banana Republic outlet with a tank top underneath for the modesty
• Bottom: brown and orange tweed pencil skirt, LOFT
• Shoes & Accessories: brown pumps, Candies via Kohl's; brown tights, Merona for Target; gold necklace, A.V. Max via holiday bazaar at church; pearl earrings, birthday gift from Mom via Macy's; blue Foley + Corrina City Clutch, gifted via Plaza Too

December 6, 2010: It's a Dress, It's a Shirt

One of the trends this fall/winter that I am absolutely in love with (surprisingly) is lace. I was specifically on the hunt for an ivory lace top like I have seen on so many other stylish bloggers but, as we all know I am trying to curb my spending. Since that wasn't really an option I was faking it with alternative lace items from my closet but, none of them were really filling that craving...

I did something new yesterday in an attempt to create a similar look and wore my black lace dress as a shirt. I think I might have implemented the perfect solution! But, I can't take all the credit... I was inpired by other like minded equally fashionable bloggers. Thanks! I probably would not have tried somehting so seemingly out of the box before "meeting" all of you.

• Top: black lace dress, H&M via Unique Thrift Shop/gift from Mom with a tank top underneath for the modesty
• Bottom: gray wool pencil skirt, Isaac Mizrahi for Target/hemmed by Mom
• Shoes & Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; purple tights, Duane Reade; black belt, New York & Company; silver bead earrings, Tiffany & Co.; gray Le-Dix/motorcycle bag, Balenciaga 

Items from this outfit are previously seen and remixed here, here, and here:

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November 30, 2010: Looks Like Iris

Today at work my boss told me that I looked like I was Iris... I'm not exactly sure what that meant but, I think it was a compliment? Either way I'll take it as such. It might have been in reference to the fact that this is one of the more office appropriate ensembles that I have worn in the past week or two.

I love this dress! I have been saving it for a day like today. You know cool but, not too cold... the dress is sleeveless after all. It actually came with a matching tweed jacket but, that was a little too much for me. I'm sure the jacket will make an appearance eventually but, I opted for this comfy black cardi instead.

• Top: blue tweed sheath dress, K Studio via Unique Thrift Store; black long cardigan, New York & Company
• Shoes & Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; purple tights, Duane Reade; silver bead earrings, Tiffany & Co.; silver bag, L.A.M.B via Loehmanns

 

Items from this outfit have been previously seen and remixed here:

November 18. 2010: Thursday Past

I am operating on a serious delay. Life happens (as we all know) but, it is my current mission to catch up and have everything back on track by Thanksgiving. Not too lofty (I hope) and considerably easier after I retrieve one of my cameras left at a friend's apartment over the weekend. I wish that one was small enough to fit in my pocket but, I digress... Thankfully, I am picking it up tonight.

I wore this outfit to regular work; no meetings, no job fairs, just hanging out in my cubicle and getting stuff done. I still look pretty put together though, right? I find that I am more productive when I fit the part of "put together young professional" even when I don't necessarily have to. Do you find a similar correlation between your level of dress and your productivity at work? If so, do you utilize the way you dress as a method of increasing your productivity?

• Tops: brown and cream argyle sweater, Merona for Target (same shirt different color here)
• Bottoms: gray wool pencil skirt, Isaac Mizrahi for Target/hemmed by Mom
• Shoes & Accessories: brown pumps, Candies via Kohl's (same shoes different color here); purple tights, Duane Reade; pearl earrings, gift from Mom; vintage Louis Vuitton speedy, eBay

Items from this outfit are previously seen here:

October 25, 2010: Unseasonably Warm

I was just getting on the boat for fall and today it is extremely warm... Make up your mind weather! I wanted to try out the tights and shorts thing that lots of people are rocking and so here it is higher temp or not. Now that I've done it I'm not sure that this is really working. I know generally the idea is not a bermuda short (per say) but, that's all I have to work with and that might be what seems off to me. Am I being too critical? Does this work or should I have styled it differently?

It also might be the fact that I am not feeling as comfortable in my clothes as I normally do. I have put on a few pounds (a few = 20+) between stress and not having time to eat properly over the past few months with this recent vacation as the cherry on top. Sufficed to say, I am feeling rather blah about how I'm feeling/looking and the way my clothes are fitting. I'll be honest, it's getting to the point where when I am looking at the pictures that I take (or that are taken of me) I am just looking for the one where I look the least bulge-y, it's not a good feeling. Am I the only one?

Not to get too personal but, I used to weigh alot more that I do now (almost 40 lbs. more that now) and I know now that keeping myself from gaining all that back has to be a daily conscious decision to eat the right things, go to the gym (which I haven't done in a while), and just generally be healthier. I also feel better when I am doing those things but either way, that hasn't been the case. Maybe saying it to all of you will push me to be more accoutable! No one is going to do this (being healthy thing) for me and if I want to keep on doing this (being a happy fun blogger thing) then I need to get that (first thing) straightened out. Besides, I can't really afford to buy any new (fat) clothes...

• Top: pink flutter trim blouse, LOFT/birthday gift from Mom; gray flyaway cardigan, New York & Company
• Bottom: black bermuda shorts, dear for Steve & Barry's
• Shoes & Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; silver bead earrings, Tiffany & Co.; black spy bag, Fendi

 

Items from this outfit are previously seen here:

Night Out: Fashion's Night Out

This past Friday was Fashion's Night Out, as I'm sure you know, and there were so many options for events to attend/places to shop! Did you attend any of the festivities? I opted to avoid the sheer insanity of the Manhattan events and instead attended Re/Dress NYC's Count My Curves Event in Brooklyn! If you didn't know, Re/Dress is is a premiere vintage & resale clothing boutique specializing in sizes 14+ (vintage: 10+). It’s also a buy/sell/trade establishment allowing women to sell clothing for cash or store credit, which is an environmental and recession friendly way to refresh a wardrobe.

I thought of wearing an outfit in the morning that might transition well from day to evening but, because everything has been so hectic at work I figured a clean slate for the night was in order! There's no fun to be had when you are feeling grimy or reminded of the stresses of the day...

• Top: silver color block tank top, Simply Vera by Vera Wang via Kohl's; gray flyaway cardigan, New York and Company
• Bottom: black really skinny pants, GAP/gift from BF
• Shoes and Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; my abuela's vintage silver hoop earrings; silver sequins embellished clutch, French Connection UK

Here are some more pictures of the evening and the goody bag swag! Please excuse the crappy quality they were taken with my Droid:

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Re/Dress was offering 10% off your purchase when you filled out a card petitioning some select big name designers to start making clothing for the average woman so I couldn't help but, take advantage and pick something out... The clothing selection was immense but, I ended up with this adorable pair of teal flats originally from ALDO. It was the color that initally attracted me to them but, the comfort that made me pick them up! It's like walking on clouds... I found the same shoes in black for more than 3x what I paid so I'm feeling pretty good about that!

May 18, 2010

Blogging is so viral but, in a good way... Yesterday I was reading alltumbledown (a regular thing as you can see from my blog roll) and noticed that she is taking part in {have a cute day}'s floral week. Since I was thinking of wearing a floral print today anyway why not get involved in that as a tribute to spring? Hopefully this will coax the sun out of hiding and make the rain rain go away!

While this is a standard business casual day I have a fancy charity event to go to after work (with mom) so I have to seamlessly transition from day to evening with what I am wearing because I don't have time to go home and change. I think it's all in the shoes AKA I will bring flip flops to stick under my desk during the day since I would have been in whatever shoes for more than the standard 8 hours and these black pumps are comfy but, not that comfy. Also, the mini makeup bag just in case there are blemishes, dark circles, etc.

• Top: floral print t-shirt, Vera Wang for Kohl's a thank you gift from BF for successfully helping him create a business casual wardrobe
• Bottom: black pinstripe Calvin Klein suit skirt, via SYMS
• Shoes & Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; silver beaded necklace, Bitten via Steve & Barry's; Tiffany & Co's silver bead earrings; black Fendi spy bag

Items from this outfit are previously seen here:

May 10, 2010

Happy Monday! This week is officially Dress Your Best Week at academichic and I have decided to participate because so often, our focus when getting dressed in the morning is how to minimize or downplay aspects of our bodies that we’re just not crazy about. Does this skirt smooth my hips? Does this top hide my tummy? Do these pants make my thighs look slimmer? They wondered, as did I, what would happen if you inverted that thought process? What if, instead of dressing to mitigate your so-so, you dressed to highlight the parts of your body that you love most? What if, for a whole week, you committed to self-consciously dressing your best bits? See who else is dressing their best...

I am so excited to participate but, I have to confess coming up with five things that I like about myself was difficult. We live in a society where airbrushed and digitally altered people are the mainstream of beauty. For everyone I know (myself included), there are always parts of one's self that can be improved upon. The five part of myself that I picked (the last one was a suggestion by BF) were:

1. my legs/calves
2. my boobs
3. my cheekbones (although I don’t know how one dresses to accentuate that)
4. my hourglass shape
5. my soft skin

Today, I am dressing for my legs which doesn't necessarily mean short skirts or cut off shorts! I think one of the way to make them look their best is a modest (but sexy) pencil skirt which comes to the knee and some killer heels. Your legs look miles long! The pencil skirt is easy but, picking shoes is a little more difficult to choose because I still need to be comfortable at work. Hopefully, I am achieving the best look for my legs, what do you think?

• Top: black and white sweater shirt combo, August Silk via Mom's closet purge
• Bottom: gray pencil skirt, New York and Company
• Shoes & Accessories: black pumps, Candies via Kohl's; onxy and hematite necklace, via local jewelry store; onxy earrings, V'ta; purple Coach bag, via outlet

Items from this post can been previously seen here: