25 Days of Style: a Fashion Blog series -- Day 5

     Happy Sunday everyone! It's Day 5 of our 25 days of Style and I'm starting to feel like those guys who grew out their beards for Novem-beard. Not that I've grown a beard myself (yikes) but because of how tedious and time consuming it is to document your daily wardrobe choices for all the blogosphere to appreciate. BUT! I'm still here and still committed. 20 more days until our deadline, 10 days until Fashion Blog's 1 year anniversary, and 16 until my imminent 25th birthday (don't remind me..) 


     When I was growing up, Sunday only meant one thing which is mass (going to church.) But as we all get older, we form other traditions. In college, Sunday meant brunch at one of my favorite places downtown. Whatever your Sunday ritual might be, you still definitely want to look your best and not look like Saturday night's mess (okay Dr. Seuss, enough with the rhyming.) 


     Something about this day of rest that always makes me want to reach for my lady-like dresses, and this creme lace number is of my favorites. I mean lace, need I say more? The temperature today is still a little cool, so I'm tackling that weather challenge with sweater tights! Have you experienced the magic of sweater tights? If not, you're missing out. It offers the basic purpose of tights but with the added benefit and feel of a sweater. It's super warm and comfortable and goes perfectly with dresses, especially during the winter season. And! They come in a vast array of colors compared to basic black opaque tights. I usually gravitate towards black for nighttime affairs, so today, I wore navy blue sweater tights paired with brown booties. This look can also work with knee length leather boots, but I like to vary my shoe options from day to day. 


     The addition of this green-blue leaf bib necklace and coral cropped blazer adds the right amount of color to an otherwise neutral color palette. What's great about the proportion of this blazer is that it doesn't take away too much from the lace dress. Any other lengths would've swallowed the dress completely and I wanted to make the lace dress the statement piece of this ensemble. But to keep really warm, I can also throw on a long coat that hits mid-thigh to assure maximum coverage. Keep warm and have a great lazy Sunday! 


p.s. The colors (of the beret and the blazer) looks like something off a Dior perfume commercial, yes? lol Think of the one directed by Sophia Coppola. Now I have Brigitte Bardot song stuck in my head, Moi Je Joue.


Love, KB

lace dress by Free People 

cropped blazer by H&M

sweater tights by Urban Outfitters 

brown booties by Steve Madden 

leaf bib necklace by Charming Charlie
purple beret  

25 Days of Style: a Fashion Blog series -- Day 4

     
     Day 4 and the cold winter weather is back (with a high of 55 degrees!)  Saturday is one of my favorite days of the week -- aside from the fact that it's the weekend and I have the weekends off -- because this is the day that I usually get a lot of my shopping done, which is exactly what's on the agenda today! So when the temperature drops the first pieces that comes to mind are flannel in plaid, heavy knit, and leather boots! 


     And speaking of plaid, nothing irks me more than hearing others using erroneous names for a print and fabric. Yes, there's a distinction between print (or pattern) and fabric. For instance, flannel is a type of fabric which is made from a soft cotton or wool. And in terms of print, there's also a great distinction between plaid, gingham, and buffalo checks (oh yes, you heard that right -- there's a difference.) Here's a little visual:
(1) plaid - Different colored yarns in a crossbarred pattern. 
(2) gingham - Think Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz or a picnic table cloth. The squares are usually two colors: white and some other color. 
(3) buffalo checks - Like gingham, but with larger checks or squares and usually consists of more than two colors.

1. plaid                                                                       2. gingham 

3. buffalo checks

     Shopping days usually require one important thing -- comfort. Which means comfortable shoes (you're going to be walking around all day. duh), weather appropriate clothing (anticipate the weather outside and inside), and a hands free purse (for easy access flipping through the racks.) BUT keep in mind that just because we're going for comfort does NOT mean we have to sacrifice for style. So for today's ensemble, I went for a comfortable brown riding boots which will keep my feet warm and happy for all the walking that's to come. And in terms of clothing, I've layered a plaid shirt under a thick knit sweater, all of which are rolled up at the sleeves (it looks very relaxed and bit of a personal touch) I can opt for a basic pea coat for outwear (for the trip between the car and the mall or if it's an outdoor shopping establishment.) And I usually carry a cross body purse when I go shopping because I like my hands to be free from all the drama of carrying an over the shoulder bag which can be a lot of hassle. Oh! To keep my ears warm from the cold chilly wind, I usually go for some kind of headwear, whether it be a knit beanie, a beret (ooh la la) or a head wrap. Today, I've opted for this flower head wrap -- a little gem that I found at Saks 5th Avenue a couple of years ago.  Happy shopping! How do you like our temporary makeshift studio? Still working on the action shots. 

Love, KB

plaid shirt by BDG -- Urban Outfitters 

knit sweater by BDG -- Urban Outfitters 

jeans by BDG -- Urban Outfitters 

boots by Steve Madden 

purse by Marc by Marc Jacobs

flower head wrap by 5|48 -- Saks 5th Avenue 

25 Days of Style: a Fashion Blog series -- Day 3

     Day 3 and of course it's raining outside forcing us to make this an indoor shoot (and a few unwanted cameos thanks to mr. electric socket and mr. door stopper.) But 25 Days of Style must continue nonetheless! Today's style series is about color blocking! The fact that this trend is so easy to do is the main reason why it keeps recycling back into style. It takes great skill to mix pattern, but a moderate one to color block. Recently I've been seeing a lot of pink and red color blocking with the likes of Emma Stone in Giambattista Valli and Sarah Jessica Parker in Prabal Gurung. But the good news is that if you don't fancy that color combination, there's still a spectrum of colors to choose from -- think rainbow. 

     For today's look, my color blocking interpretation is completely mild -- a green jewel toned blouse, a blush hued blazer, and black skinny jeans or 'skinnies' for short. But if you wanted to take this color blocking look to an extreme, opt out for a blazer and/or jeans in something that's much brighter in color (perhaps something in cobalt blue?) What I love about this look, on top of being super comfortable which also garners it major bonus points, is the fact that it looks completely tailored and effortless. It looks like something I've just thrown together in the last few minutes on my way out the door. And it makes a great transitional work outfit especially for a Friday when you go out to have drinks afterwards. 

     If you do make this your transitional day to night-work to pleasure outift, you could wear ballet flats in the morning for comfort and carry a much larger handbag and pack the quilted Chanel with you. You can even accessorize with a statement necklace to change up the look at night. What's great about black skinnies is that it looks much dressier than a regular denim wash, but with the comfort of jeans. You'll find out that my black skinnies is one of the staple pieces that I always go back to time after time -- it's a definitely a must have in any woman's closet. It's versatile, very easy to wear, and machine washable! (one less thing you have to take to the dry-cleaners!)  And to elongate my unfortunate short legs (sad face), I wore my favorite black suede pumps (another wardrobe staple) with a 2-inch hidden platform, which makes them so comfortable to walk in.

     In terms of accessories, I went pretty basic with jewelry -- just my Tiffany & Co. necklace and earrings and silver Juicy Couture charm bracelet, but I definitely splurged on the head piece. If you caught a lot of the Spring '12 runway shows then you could not have missed the sea motif in a lot of the collections, like in Chanel for example. Karl Lagerfeld accessorized with a lot of pearls this season to go with his oceanic theme (he had Florence Welch sing from a clam for crying out loud) but then again the house of Chanel has always made pearls one of its classic and iconic pieces -- along with their boxy tweed jackets, quilted bags, and the camellia. So I thought a nice hair accessory adorned with pearls is a great way to wear that trend.  

p.s. I was going for Audrey Hepburn as Jo Stockton in Funny Face for Quality Magazine in these pictures. Did it work? Couldn't get the in-motion shots right so we had to scrap a lot of them. Am I a Quality woman? lol 

Love, KB

blouse by H&M

blazer by Heritage 1981 

black skinny jeans by BDG -- Urban Outfitters 

pumps by Steve Madden 

charm bracelet by Juicy Couture 

necklace & earrings by Tiffany & Co. 

handbag by Chanel 

Instagram close ups of the hair accessory & cat eye make up! 

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25 Days of Style: a Fashion Blog series -- Day 2

     So I'm pretty excited about today's style series because it incorporates one of my favorite fashion techniques -- layering! And what better way to introduce this segment than by working with some of my favorite elements florals, lace, & seersucker! What I love about today's look is that the color palette is so soft that I'm able to play around with different patterns and ranges of hues. 

     The base of the look started with this long sleeve floral shirt that I got from J. Crew a couple of years ago. I immediately fell in love with the print (it's floral, need I say more?) but the problem is that the shirt is a size too big. The shirt on its own is a tad dowdy and shapeless even after accessorizing. So to solve this dilemma, I've layered the floral shirt under a camel/nude crewneck sweater to give it a little bit of dimension. And to solve the difference in sleeve lengths, I folded the floral shirt to the elbow to meet the 3/4 length of the sweater -- I think this adds a personal touch and a much relaxed look. 

     But enough with these fashion technicalities, let's get to the good stuff. I, more than anyone else, love a good winter short, and what's more -- lace shorts??! The camel sweater pairs beautifully with the cream shorts and the contrast of textures that it creates is a match made in fashion closet. And of course, only in Florida can you get away with wearing shorts in January (total fail.) And if you learned anything from this month's current craving, I'm in love with bejeweled and embellished collars. I lovelovelove bib and ribbon necklaces so you can only imagine my excitement when I found this little gem (pun intended.) And as mentioned before, since the color palette of this look is so soft, I had the freedom to play around with other colors and patterns, so I thought my seersucker oxfords were perfect for the look. If the temperature outside was a lot cooler than the low 70s, I can easily opt for opaque tights, ballet flats, and a long winter coat. That's the fun part about fashion -- the endless possibilities of mixing and matching. 

p.s. Did you catch the unwanted cameo? lol 

Love, KB

floral long sleeve shirt by J. Crew

crewneck sweater by Sparkle & Fade -- Urban Outfitters 

lace shorts by Kimchi Blue -- Urban Outfitters 

bib necklace by Natasha 

oxfords by Steve Madden

handbag by Gucci 

wayfarers by Ray-Ban

pearl earrings

25 Days of Style: a Fashion Blog series -- Day 1

     So for the first installment of my 25 days of style, I thought I'd take it slow and easy and go very basic. I was really excited when I bought this Missoni for Target dress (sadly the only piece that I could get my hands on when the collection was released in the stores -- curse you eBay resellers) but for a some time I was quite stumped as to how I would style it. First off, the print of the dress is so beautiful, but very dominant/overpowering so it's very easy to over-style it -- please avoid looking like a circus tent complete with all the trinkets. So how do you go about styling a loud, printed dress?? By muting everything else down! You can do this by opting for neutrals -- think black, white, nude etc. So for this look I just went for black-black-black -- you can never go wrong with black! I paired the dress with black opaque tights, black wedge booties, black cape coat, and a black beret (with a bow!) Tres chic, yes? I'm 5'0" so by pairing black tights with black booties, I've created the illusion that my legs are milesssss long. Who doesn't want to look taller??! On the other hand (literally) instead of opting for a printed or basic black bag I decided to go with my metallic Marc by Marc Jacobs classic Q handbag for a little sparkle and subtle hint of color. Besides, I didn't want my purse to blend in my already dark and black base. So lesson learned -- let the loud printed dress speak for itself and become the statement piece of your ensemble -- so accessorize by styling everything else down. Easy right? 

p.s. Didn't have the time & woman power to do an outdoor shoot for today, but expect much clearer sets next time. Hope I didn't look too terrible on my first me,myself,&I blog session. *Sigh, not a big fan of narcism. I prefer to be on the other side of the lens. 

Love, KB

dress by Missoni for Target 

cape coat by Banana Republic 

wedge booties by Steve Madden

opaque tights by Express 

handbag by Marc by Marc Jacobs 

wayfarers by Ray-Ban

black beret 

iPhone 4 case by DVF - Dian Von Furstenberg

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