Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
This was the outfit I was envisioning when I first bought this dress. I finally have all the pieces - a wide brown belt, a delicate yet substantial necklace and accessories and strappy brown sandals.



The Focal Point
I love the dress - its light and comfortable and the pattern is fun. Plus, it's a dress! And I'm happy I'm finding dresses I like.

But it's all about the accessories and the texture. I've gathered the pieces and they work well together. The bronze-y beaded necklace...



a chunky wood ring...



the wide leather belt and these faux-croc strappy sandals from Franco Sarto...











I wore these sandals when I was walking around New York, for blocks, and they were comfortable. That's pretty surprising for sandals, I think. They were a DSW buy and well worth their discounted price! Now I think I need a similar style in black, since these are getting so much wear this summer.

If you have any favorite shoes, let me know!

Ensemble du Jour

As I've been stressing over what clothes to pack for my trip to NY next week, I've been trying on some items I've had packed away for various reasons. But if clothes have hung around for more than a year it's because I really really like them.

The Outfit
It's still surprisingly cool here so when I decided to wear this skirt, I was able to pair it with a lightweight cashmere sweater in a slightly different shade of grey. For jewelry I wore my jade bangle and a jade circle pendant that my parents brought me from Chine when I was a freshman in high school. Both jade pieces are more white jade than the typical dark green.



For shoes I pulled a tone from the tulip design of the skirt and wore these delicate melon suede Guiseppe Zanotti heels that were a major bargain from a few years ago.



I love the shape of the heel and the color, of course, but I think the tassles were what sold me. I think tassled shoes are so cute.



They're a great tonal mix of suede and regular leather.



The Focal Point
Now typically I'm not sure having a giant flower right at your hips is the greatest idea (and this angle would seem to attest to that) but since it's a pencil skirt it actually isn't too bad. Plus, I love the giant flower skirts that Mizrahi did for Target. I also have the white skirt with the giant pink peony.



I don't think this will come with me to NY but it's pretty cute. I'm glad it's back in the rotation. Now I just need to find more tops to pair with it.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Another new top to wear today. I got this Mizrahi boatneck top on sale at Target. I like the color combo of the pink and orange. I wouldn't have paid full price for it but, marked down, it's not bad.

I paired it with my dressy denim pencil skirt and then to keep it clean I piled on some acrylic bangles and my vintage Trifari owl necklace.




The Focal Point
I know it may be a bit matchy-matchy but I have several pink heels and this gives me an excuse to wear them. These Charles David round-toe pumps are really cute in a Barbie-ish kind of way. The color is on the purple-y pink side but what also makes them different is the pony hair.



I have a ton of A-line skirts but I'm preferring to wear pencil skirts more and more. I just like the more streamlined silhouette better these days.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
I have to say, this cashmere dress from Gap maybe one of the best things I bought this fall. It's flattering and comfortable. Paired with black ribbed tights and my Nine West satin ankle booties, it's pretty much perfect.



This is a great chunky acrylic bracelet from eBay.



Guess what necklace I'm wearing???



The Focal Point
Well, I love the softness of the material but the length of the dress, the black tights and boots work to make me feel like my legs are all long and sexy. And you can't beat that, right?

Ensemble du Jour

Okay, I lied. I'm not wearing more new tights today. I was out all afternoon looking at photoshoot locations and then I cam home and worked most of the nights, so I was too tired to plan an outfit. I've been wanting to wear my neon bracelet from Etsy, so here was my five minute outfit for today.

The Outfit
Mizrahi polo dress with ruffle collar, the Etsy bracelet and my ShoeMissy shoes.



The dress....



I just love these shoes. They have a kind of 80's plastic-but-in-a-good-way feel about them. I thought they would go well with the neon pink bracelet.



The Focal Point
This is what inspired it all. It's that great neon orange pink that just vibrates! I love the mix of modern acrylic with the pearls. I probably say that every time I wear one of these bracelets, but I just do!



I love the more classic tan one too.



Okay, I stayed up much too late last night. I need to go to bed early or my eyes are going to become this color.

Back to the old Grindstone

The Outfit
Not only is this my first day to work after the holidays but it's really frickin' cold and windy out! So I'm pretty casual but at least I'm sort of warm.

I'm wearing my new JCrew Scottie dog sweater, Gap jeans, one of my acrylic and pearl bracelets from Etsy, pearl earrings and my tall black Nine West boots.



I love these bracelets so much I know have four of them!



The Focal Point
It's all about the love for my new sparkly Scottie. He's so cute!



The fact that I'm wearing mostly black may or may not have anything to do with having to go back to work.

Ensemble du Jour

Just like most people, we are continuing the round of holiday parties and trying to mix going-to-work-wear with party-appropriate-wear since I have a party straight after work.

The Outfit
Since I'm working all day, I have to manage my shoe choices. I'm wearing a kimono-sleeve black cashmere top from Gap and my black Mizrahi pencil skirt. To look somewhat festive I've added a vintage rhinestone pin and 3 big stone Merona bangles. The shoes are my flats also from Target.



This bracelet has been much coveted around the office. Such a Target bargain - I wear three at once for maximum bling!



These are my flats for day - the big stones mimic the bracelet but are not too over the top for day.



The Focal Point
But the ultimate goal, and what I'm working this outfit around to best show them off, are my Louboutin Clichy heels in nude patent with Swarovski encrusted heels.



They are crazy gorgeous and so so high. Great for parties not great for all day at work!

Ensemble du Jour

So yesterday I had a bit of an outfit challenge. I had to go to a seminar out of town all day and then straight from there go to an office Holiday cocktail/dinner party. I needed to drive 2 hours each way, so I had to get up around 5 a.m. to get ready then drive to the seminar, sit around all day but look somewhat professional, drive back and look sort of festive for the party.

Not easy.

So, here is what I came up with:

The Outfit
The top was an Ann Taylor v-neck black top and I paired that with a Mossimo silky black skirt with a red border print. The bracelet was black acrylic with pearls and for shoes I wore my YSL Tribute sling backs.



I know that's a horrible view of the skirt. This is what it looks like, but instead of teal, it is a dark red. The skirt is very swishy and has a very expensive look that belies it's $25 price tag.



Here's some close-ups of the bracelet. I actually have this in 4 versions and wore the camel version with the teal skirt above a while back.



What I love the most is the mix of the edgier acrylic with very traditional pearls.



Etsy is the best!



The Focal Point
Everyone knows that killer shoes can elevate any outfit. I went with the YSL Tribute slingbacks because they are comfortable, graphic, and have a great shape. The white heel is really different and eye-catching.



I think these were one of the best shoe buys of the year.

Ensemble du Jour

So, yesterday's ensemble was kind of "safe" compared to today's - not that I'm pushing too many boundaries! Geez!

It's that darn Target! I really need to stop going in there but I had to! And of course, what would it hurt to look around for a few minutes, right? Well I wandered in to the sock department and there were more cute soooocccckkkksssss! Sparkly Silver and Gold! Whoo Hooo!

The Outfit
Sparkly silver top (more sparkly!), dusky purple skirt from VS, Silver sparkly socks (of course) and a dark grey cardigan from Target. To really amp up the sliver, I paired the sparkly socks with the burnished metallic silver Miu Miu double strap mary janes



Cardigan -



Oh yeah, and a stack of these bling-y bangles, also from Target -



The Focal Point
SIL-VER!!!!!! (in my best Yukon Cornelius voice) -





My legs lurv the sparkles!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
I had planned on wearing this outfit yesterday but I felt so crummy that I worked from home most of the day and when I did finally go in to work for a few hours, I just wore jeans and a sweater.

So today's outfit is my v-neck light weight sweater from the Gap, a black pencil Mizrahi skirt, black ribbed tights and my black satin shoe-boots from Nine West.




It was raining when I came in and I didn't want to ruin my shoes so I wore my black with white polka-dot wellies.


For accessories, I wore a chunky Lucite bangle and a necklace I made myself from a barrel shaped lava stone bead.



The Focal Point
No, it's not my cleavage (this is a down angle shot, I don't think I look that saucy, really), it's the necklace I made. The lava stone is about an inch long and has a really neat matte texture to it. I like it because it is different and subtle.



I feel very streamlined and city today. Plus, I'm finally getting to wear some of my new clothes for Fall. I love tights and the Gap top is great. It's very soft and has a longer length which makes it go well with skirts and jeans. I'm sure to get a lot of use out of them.

BTW - I hate this new Polyvore system! Sorry for the weird cropping. Ugh!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Today is still sort of warm (80's!) but drizzly, so it's too warm for new sweaters or sweater dresses and I don't want to wear any fancy shoes for fear of rain. What to wear? What to wear?

I actually didn't even want to wear a skirt today to I pulled out one of my few pairs of pants. They're actually cropped pants in a light mocha plaid from Target (of course). I paired them with a heathery brown sweater, my wood bangle and leopard ballet flats.

My "model" looks a bit weird here. I think I need to work on my Polyvore skills.




The Focal Point
I really want to be home in a blankie so I'm all about cozy and comfortable and texture.

Wood bangle -


Inexpensive fun flats -


So sleepy.....