April 29, 2011

Plum's the Word

Dress - Old Navy, Cardigan - Target, Wedges - mall store, Bracelet - ModCloth + F21, Purse - Street Vendor SoHo

Do you have certain basic go-to outfits that you turn to when inspiration is running a bit low? I mentioned here that my go-to outfit for the fall is a jeans-boots-scarf combination. I realized this week that my go-to outfit for spring is a simple dress and a cardigan. I realized this as I frantically got dressed to take my little puppy to her first dog park. I say frantically because the boyfriend was impatiently standing at the door as I rushed to get dressed. Apparently deciding to stand in front of the TV watching True Hollywood Story: Holly Madison (don't judge) instead of getting ready was not a smart move.



I love how pairing the right colors can eliminate the need for other bells and whistles in an outfit, and shades of pink and blue are one of my favorite color combinations (see here). By the way, I am LOVING this bag. Not only is it fashionable and classy, it is the perfect accessory for storing all the dog treats and dog toys my pup could have possibly needed. I know a plastic bag would probably have been more appropriate for storing dog stuff, but I'm a girl whose mother used an extra large Louis Vuitton Speedy as a diaper bag when I was a baby, so hey, who am I to fight genetics.




Heading to LA this weekend to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my favorite blogger Angry Asian Man, who also happens to be one of my favorite buds from college. Have a great weekend!

April 27, 2011

Lace'n Stripes

Shirt - F21, Skirt - Target, Shoes - F21, Ring - Santee Alley
I absolutely adore this lace skirt that I picked up from Target several months ago, but I have to admit that I have been struggling with how to style it. It's so pretty and girly that I can't help but pair it with my platform mary janes every time I wear it (see HERE), but as for what to wear on top, I keep migrating back to white, black and maybe gray. None of them seem very exciting, right? Then I remembered STRIPES. It's the new neutral! I love how it can usually sub in for a white top with ease, while giving the outfit a little dash of extra pizazz.



I wore this to a much-needed yummy lunch and coffee date with Miss K. We munched on gourmet smoked trout sandwiches (I know it's sounds gross, but it was YUMMY) and my new obsession:  green tea lattes from Starbucks! After lunch and coffee, we stopped in at one of my favorite vintage shops, and I scored three new, well, new to me, gorgeous dresses for a ridiculously low price. Can't wait to style them in the next few weeks!






What are your ideas for styling this skirt? I would love hear your thoughts, since I adore this skirt and would like to wear it as much as possible! It makes me feel feminine and frilly, which is so needed some days!

April 25, 2011

Easter Merri-mint

Dress - ModCloth, Bracelets - F21, Purse - Christian Dior, Shoes - Lucky c/o ModCloth
Easter has always been a big holiday in my family. When I was little, Easter Sunday always meant decorated eggs, gorgeous spring flowers, and of course, a brand new gorgeous dress and hat for church. This year, I spent Easter Sunday with the boyfriend's extended family, attending church, eating a yummy Easter dinner, playing dominoes for the first time, and participating in an "adult" Easter egg hunt where we searched for plastic colored eggs filled with cash and prizes (uh, what a BRILLIANT idea!). And of course, I continued the tradition of donning a new and fabulous Easter Sunday dress for church. Enter this gorgeous minty green dress from ModCloth!





This dress is the kind of dress that I like to call an "insta-outfit." It's so cute and pretty that it really requires very little additional styling, aside from shoes and a purse. You just throw on the dress and go. No muss, no fuss. To that end, I kept my jewelry gold and simple, and sported these brand new chunky T-strap heels (also from ModCloth). I love how retro the shoes look and am really digging how T-straps are going to be so popular this spring. The shoes are so...Frances Houseman from Dirty Dancing, don't you think? 


Thank you ModCloth for dressing me from head to toe for Easter Sunday. It was a perfect spring outfit for a perfect day. Hope you guys all had a great Easter as well!

April 22, 2011

The Wrong Trousers

Sweater - c/o boutique in SoHo, Tank - H&M, Jeans - Aeropstale, Shoes - F21, Watch - Vintage, Bracelet - ModCloth
If you get the reference from the title of my post, we should seriously be friends forever. Even if you don't get the reference, I would like to be friends...especially if you love this sweater as much as I do! I picked it up at a boutique in SoHo when I was in NYC, and I instantly fell in love with its neutral shade, as well as its delicateness. I also really dig the bat-wing sleeves, although my sister and I call this type of shirt a "flying squirrel shirt." You'd understand better if I was actually doing my flying squirrel pose below, but I couldn't get it quite right. Yeah, it's OK if you don't get us. We're used to it.




The reason why this post is called The Wrong Trousers (aside from my desire to make the reference) is because I am not happy with the pants I am wearing with this outfit. I wanted to wear this top and shoes with a medium-washed, slightly (if at all) distressed, slim-fitting, cropped/cuffed jeans. Unfortunately, I don't own those trousers, so I made do with a pair of pants I already had. I don't totally hate how it turned out, but I don't totally love it either. What do you guys think? I will definitely be on the hunt for a pair of cropped jeans like the ones I described this season. I can think of 10 different outfits I'd want to wear them with!




On another note, I totally adore this bracelet I got from ModCloth. It has the most darling and delicate cameos (which I love, see HERE) and it is so perfectly named the "Mr. Darcy Bracelet." I just had to have it, and I love wearing it. It makes me feel so Elizabeth-esque.

I'm so excited for the weekend! We're planning on taking a day trip somewhere (maybe to the coast?) to take advantage of the spring weather, and then we have Easter church and dinner with the boyfriend's family on Sunday. The dinner is great because we work up an appetite every year with an Easter egg hunt just for us "kids" in the backyard. The AWESOME part is that the eggs are filled with cash! It's the greatest tradition. Honestly.

Have a great weekend and happy Easter everyone! XOXOX

April 21, 2011

Flower Power

Top - F21, Skirt - Anthropologie, Shoes - Santee Alley, Bangles - F21, Earrings - ModCloth
I bought this floral skirt at Anthropologie a couple of months ago on a dark and rainy day to remind myself that sunny days would return soon! I was so excited to finally break it out for date night. I love the navy piping and the print, not to mention the fact that it has pockets (I love pockets on skirts and dresses!). I wanted to pair it with an unexpected colored top but ended up cheating a little because I found teeny tiny flecks of purple in the print that I missed the first time around.




I must admit, I am loving all the floral that is popping up this spring. I am an unabashed girly girl, and a floral skirt or dress with some cute heels is my favorite uniform for spring. Plus, since florals have so many different colors, you can remix your items in so many different ways with different colored and style tops. It's like each floral skirt yields you four new outfits, and who can argue with what a bargain that is?

Speaking of remixing, what other colors would you remix this skirt with? I am thinking maybe pale yellow or maybe green, but I was having trouble seeing other options. I'd love to hear what you think!

April 19, 2011

Hey Hey Hey...Goodbye

Jacket - c/o Chantell on Melrose, Necklace - Target, Jeans - Just Usa, Boots - some boutique in Soho
I am so sorry for being a bad blogger lately! I was actually volunteering at a youth conference for the past few days, which basically made it impossible to be near a computer for more than a few minutes at a time. I also got a stress fracture on my foot on Saturday from running around in 5-inch heels for nearly 12 hours. Oh, the sacrifices we make for fashion!




This outfit came together becaue I really wanted to wear my over-the-knee boots one more time before boots season goes bye-bye. I am so THRILLED that the weather is warming up, but I am always a little sorry to store my winter goodies away, especially items like these boots, which I only got to wear once since I bought them. I guess it's a small price to pay for sunshine and bright colors!

Sorry for the short post, but I have to get back to ordering the boyfriend around since I have an injured foot. While I'm bummed that I can't sport heels or do much walking over the next few days, I am quite enjoying the fact that I don't have to do ANYTHING around the house. Well, I suppose that's not so different from how things usually are, but at least I don't have to feel guilty about it this week.


April 14, 2011

Shift Happens

Dress - ModCloth, Clutch - Vintage Louis Vuitton (gifted/stolen from Mom), Pumps - some mall store
I love the retro-looking shift dresses that seem to be popping up all over the place these days. Not all of them are flattering on the curvy girl, but some, like this one I snagged for 60% off at ModCloth last month, can look sleek and classy even if you're not tall and thin. I think the key is to find one that is pretty form-fitting in the chest area. If it's too loose in the chest area, it can just hang and make your body look shapeless. I also recommend pairing these dresses, which tend to run on the short side, with some sky high neutral pumps if you're a shorty like me, to elongate your legs. 


In addition to being a shift dress, I love how this ModCloth dress represents another of my favorite trends, which is pairing long sleeves with a short dress length. With its understated bronze chain detail and satiny fabric, this dress made me feel so classy and glamorous that I found myself ordering glasses of champagne all night instead of my normal cocktails. That's one of the things I love about fashion...the way it can transform how you feel!  

April 12, 2011

To the Max

Blazer - INC, Dress - c/o Marshall's, Necklace - homemade, Cuff - ?
Ah, the maxi dress. I have to admit that I tend to shy away from the maxi length dress because a) I am a shrimp and b) I am curvy. I am always afraid that a maxi-length dress will make me look short and stumpy or like I'm wearing the dreaded muu-muu style sported by grandmothers everywhere. But I'm so glad that I participated in today's Everybody Everywhere maxi-dress fashion challenge because I love how it turned out! This jersey dress is stretchy, OH so comfortable, and when worn with super high wedges, a fitted cropped blazer to give it some shape, and funky statement jewelry, it looks nothing like a muu-muu. Does it? DOES IT?! Sorry, moment of insecurity. I'm better now.




I actually bought this dress to wear in Hawaii last year, where I sported it with bejeweled flip flops and suntan lotion. But I tried wearing it with heels this time, and I love how my wedges end up hidden under my dress and give my legs some added length! I also love the way the coral color of my jewelry pops against the brown. Brown is such a great color because it looks good with so many other colors. It also looks especially cute with my pup (see below)!

I am so loving these monthly fashion challenges. Pop over to Everybody, Everwhere to see how other people have styled their maxi dresses today.



Maxi Skirt/Dress | Everybody, Everywear

April 11, 2011

High Time

Jeans - Old Navy (ages ago), Jacket - F21, Necklace - H&M
One of the trends for Spring that I've been sitting on the fence about is high-waisted jeans. High-waisted jeans are something that probably every curvy girl has feared like the Boogeyman ever since this unflattering photo of Jessica Simpson in high-waisted jeans made such a horrible splash for that poor girl. I love how these jeans look on tall lithe girls though...and I'd always wanted to try them, just to see. Well, apparently I needed to look no further than the back of my closet to fulfill my wish...because I found a pair of high waisted jeans that I bought like five years ago at Old Navy to wear on Fridays to work. And I found that as long as I didn't wear them with a giant leopard print belt and a tight black top, they were more flattering than I expected.


What do you think? I think wearing them with heels and tucking in my shirt made my legs look at least an inch or two longer (whoo hoo!), and I can't wait to pair them with a form-fitting top and no coat when the weather gets warmer to accentuate the leg length. Well, the illusion of leg length anyway. I know I broke every fashion rule out there by keeping a pair of jeans in my closet that I haven't touched in years, but the moral of this story is that sometimes it pays to be a packrat. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it anyway...
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