Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Doesn't this look sort of bland here in my tame little Polyvore? Perriwinkle blue cable-knit sweater from Target, grey corduroy skirt from Old Navy, my new favorite Champagne necklace. At least the pink pony hair heels add a bit of pop, so we'll give you that. But otherwise, nothing much.

Right????



Finally a close-up of my super-special-absolute-favorite necklace -



PINK!



I do love these Charles David "Fever" heels. Crazy color and material. Classic lines.



The Focal Point
But wait! I was just teasing you. There is something more to this outfit that mere Polyvore cannot capture.



Look at my awesome tights from Joy of Socks! The pattern is called Versailles (not really sure of the connection there) and they have like a million colors in them.



Ever since I got them I knew I wanted to wear them with these shoes. And don't they look smashing together? I think so. They actually look really good with my red jelly flats I wore in the car. But these have so many colors, I can't imagine what wouldn't look good with them.



It was kind of a rough day so I was glad I had happy tights on to keep my cheer level up.

Getting off on the wrong Foot

Oh, Manolo, how we love you.



As a purveyor of some of the finest footwear the world has ever seen, Manolo Blahnik reveals he is less than impressed with the recent vogue for clumpy shoe shapes and chunky heels.

"They don't even look like shoes," the designer says. "It's like talking in Chinese. I don't understand them at all. The past few years have been aesthetic hell for me. It's because designers have forgotten about the importance of the harmony of extremes."

And the modern media doesn't fare much better, in his opinion. "I'm totally confused," he admits in Style magazine. "I don't even know what taste is anymore. Frankly, I can't bear to buy magazines. I get so upset."

- Courtesy Vogue.com UK

Ensemble du Jour

I would just like to send out a big smooch to Daniela, my new fairly godmother! She sent me an adorable scarf and I had to immediately build my outfit around it!

The Outfit
It's really warm so I'm wearing my black jersey dress from Old Navy. Totally comfy! I paired it with my new two-tone green scarf and a Banana Republic bracelet.



I actually loved this bracelet so much I got one for a friend as a gift. It's resin but looks like malachite. Very easy to wear and the green has a lot of depth.



The Focal Point
Of course it's my lovely new scarf. The colors are a dark and a minty green. It's crinkly and the ends are capped with pleated rosettes and fuzzy green fur.



Fuzzy pom-poms... yeah!!!!



As soon as I saw it, I knew I had the perfect shoes to wear it with. These d'Orsay heels are Nicole Miller's Murray and they are in a medium green satin with very lush darker green ribbons which tie around your ankles. There is also a darker green strip of fabric down the toe. These shoes are sooo me it's not even funny.



You have to enlarge these pictures so you can really see the colors and fabrics. They are just di-vine!



Thank you again, so much Daniela! You are such a sweetie and totally made my day!

Luv,
Poochie

Highs and Lows

I never really wore espadrilles until just two years ago. But now I'm officially in love with the dizzying, potentially ankle-turning heights. Given they are such a seasonal shoe and not hugely versatile, I try to be frugal on my espadrille purchases. But that doesn't mean you can't get some cute ones!

I just got these multi-patterned pair from Target for $23.



And yes, I ventured back to Payless. But how cute are these green espadrilles? And only $23 also. Or $12 if you BOGO. Which I did because I also got...



... these. I wasn't planning on it. But they were there in the store and they have a really cool ochre color, plus the shape is pretty good in person. They were like $7 on sale, so what the heck, right?



I'm actually kind of digging these polka-dot heels from their Lela Rose line. They actually look almost JCrew/Banana Republic to me.



Or am I just completely deluding myself and just need to step away from the plastic?

Ce sont si adorables*

These are the cutest shoes I have seen in a long time. I know I have some Barbie shoes but these are all candy sweetness. This isn't even a shape I would typically go for but the pink and tan combo is one of my favorites and I just love the stitching, scalloping and cute back straps.



Darling Manolo Blahnik Suley sandals - $685 at Neiman Marcus

*These are so freakin' adorable

Store Focus: Design Archives

The other day I went to a great vintage store here in my area. I hadn't been there before and actually didn't even know it existed. My friend found it and we had a good time going there, sifting through all racks of clothes, trying stuff on and seeing all of the cool possibilities.

Design Archives is located in downtown Greensboro, right near the college campus, so you get a great mix of items and clients. They are a little high in terms of price, especially compared to eBay but they do have a lot of great things. They especially had a great selection of dresses, including some gorgeous 50's prom dresses covered in frothy tulle.

We were there for a while and at one time I had my arms filled with dresses, coats and robes. But I tried to be frugal and pick out only my most favorite of the pieces. I finally ended up with a vintage nightgown, a great red trench and this amazing sheer dress which I have big plans for.

Here is the nightgown. It's a rayon gown that goes to shin length. The lace is in pristine condition. I can't tell that it was ever used. Here's the front view.

And the back:

The bodice is covered with lace and there is lace edging along the arm and back v.

There is even a small lace edge along the bottom. It's so comfy, pretty and delicate.

My second item was this great red trench. It's a great lipstick red, fits perfectly and is in great condition.

What's hard to see here, but that you can see in the enlargements, is the stitching adding definition to the coat and a design element to the belt.

Like the cute pockets and the pretty buttons?



The cuffs are neat too. They kind of have a french cuff look to them which adds a nice finish to the sleeve. This is going to be my new suit topper. A black top and skirt, red heels and red trench.



Here is my favorite item. It needs a little explanation. It's a sheer dress with an elastic waist and a sash belt. I can't imagine how this would have been worn in the past. Maybe over a strapless dress? You have to pull it over your head to get it on as it is right now.



It's very floaty and ethereal. I love the portrait collar and, of course, the light blue-grey color.



A neat detail is that, at the shoulder, they added this poofy cap sleeve elemant to add some extra volume to the sleeves.



The cuffs, with two pearlescent blue button, come in tight to the wrist.



You can sort of see the elastic at the waist and then the big floppy sash bow. My big plan for this dress is to actually cut it down the middle and make it more into a wrap. I hope to have an event to wear this to. I'm thinking some strappy sandals and a silvery or black slip dress, which this tied as a wrap over it.



This is another reason I got this. Look at the tonal embroidery along the bottom quarter of the dress:



It looks very Art Deco-ish to me.



Given all of the sheer elements coming for Spring, I'd love to find more ways to work this into my wardrobe. It may be a bit much for my small office, though.

All in all, a successful vintage trip. I still want to branch out to the stores in other towns as well as some vintage stores. So, more hunting trips soon.

Pink Diamonds

I've seen more and more harlequin pattern since this post. And not surprisingly here is another great example from Miu Miu.


I'm not a huge fan of booties, but I just adrore these. And the fact that they heels are all bejeweled makes them even better.



Le Sigh!

Eeeewwww!!!

I was never a big fan of the jelly shoes, even back in the day. I tended to prefer wearing Keds, even at the beach, rather than a pair of plastic shoes. But I will admit that I did buy a pair of, what I think, are cute flats in red from Target. My theory is that they will be good to wear to and from the car, especially when the Spring rains come.

But this I cannot excuse -



Yeah, they're Givenchy. But they're still plastic gladiator sandals. Is there anything that you can think of that would look more hideous? They make me shudder.

And yeah, I bought a pair of plastic shoes. They were $8. These are, wait for it.... $165.

At Barney's. If you're interested.

Blech.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
So, inspite of trying to not buy more clothes I did get a new pencil skirt from Target. It's like a dressy lightweight denim and has a cute slit up the front. It's the same shape and length as my regular denim skirt but cleaner and nicer.

I paired it with an argyle v-neck sweater in purple and tan tones. The dark blue denim goes really well with the dark purples.



The Focal Point
I wanted to pull out the cool tones in the clothes and also wanted to wear my new Champagne necklace again. To tie it together I decided to wear my silver Miu Miu double-strap mary janes. They are not overly shiny, more like burnished silver, so they just gleam.



I don't know how I could get tired of this necklace!



Happy Friday!

Merry Merry Marc

YEAH!



I am so excited! I just saw these Marc Jacobs canvas mary janes available online and had to get them. They are a size six so I really hope that they won't be too terribly big.



These canvas mary janes were out a few years ago and I passed them by. I totally regretted it then and now they're back just for meeeee!

How could I have resisted a description like this:

Plot a return to your schoolgirl roots with Marc's brilliantly hued Mary Jane. The red-and-pink canvas, blue rubber sole and rounded toe add throwback details, while the chunky high heel and shapely ankle strap create a very chic, grown-up finish. Textured red canvas canvas with pink piping and blue rubber sole Ankle strap with square buckle.

What was I thinking?

I am crossing my fingers until they arrive. Please, please, please let them fit!

Swept away

Have you ever gotten swept away by something in a movie (or heck, anything really) and just had to have it, only to regret your choice later...



I've confessed my giddy choices and second guesses at Bubblegum Plastic.

The Mondrian Heel

Even though blatant creative theft bugs the heck out of me, it does push the designers to be more creative and to come up with unique designs and add new and diferent elements to their shoes.

And they're using these unique features in their marketing to help them stand out. I got an email today from Jimmy Choo introducing their new Mondrian Heel.



Isn't that a cool shape? I'm such a sucker for a cool heel or profile shape and this stands out for me. What is great is that they can get a lot of play out of mixing up colors in the heel and on the sole of the shoe. It's like hidden real estate. An extra canvas for the designers to embellish with more and more combinations.



I really like the look of the two-tone heel because it emphasizes the decent of the line. Sadly, I don't like the entire shoe as much. I think Idol's hot pink platform just went a step too far. If they had kept it black I probably would have been still on board with it.



But I think they did a tremendous job with the Owen heel. It's glossy and classy with a perfect shape and that great heel.



This I would buy in a minute. It's the epitome of a power shoe. And as it is a chunkier heel, it can provide the extra stability, although it does look pretty high!



I may just have to save my pennies for this one! Of couse I'm still waiting for my Valentino dream shoe to be created.

Request: Pink Sperry Topsiders

Coming out of this post, I've recieved a few requests for pink Sperry Topsiders. I've searched around and here is the best place I've found to get them.

A good price although the size selection isn't huge.

Hope this helps!

Self-Discovery and Six Words

Self-Discovery by aprilmes

I feel like 2008 is going to be a good year for learning more about what I want to do and who I want to be. It seems like there are a lot of insightful quotes out there, writers (online and off) who are really making me think and resources that help push my perceptions.

One resource I'm going to take advantage of next week is to meet with Danielle of Carrie & Danielle. She is going to do a Style Statement session with me. I'm really looking forward to it and will take you all through the entire process after our session next week.

Today I heard about a new initiative that has got me thinking. Smith Magazine has just put out a book which is a compilation of six word memoirs. What I love is how insightful and encompassing these few words can be.

Some for me that come to my mind are:

Hello, Silence, my old friend.

Self-exile melted with cold noses

What would your words be?


Thank you Very Short List - another great find!