Doing Denim DIYs - Crop Step and Crop Fray

I've never been a big fan of pants in general or jeans specifically. I always found them uncomfortable and would wear denim skirts (still do) to get my denim fix.

That's kind of funny because I live in, essentially, the home of denim, where a 100 year old partnership still lives on to produce American denim and some of the best selvedge around.

But lately I've been embracing pants more - patterned especially - and finding I also really love the denim jean/heel contrast.  But while I like wearing it more, I absolutely am not into spending a lot for it.  Maybe it's my long-standing anathema or just the fact that I'm not tall and lanky, but I just can't bring myself to spend a lot, even if I like it.

Sure maybe there are some magical technologies built into the fabric weave or the structure of the cut, but I probably won't ever find out. My range generally runs from JCrew at the top end to mostly Old Navy.  Maybe I'll be won over some day by some vintage Japanese selvedge but I can't really ever picture me buying $1000+ jeans.

However, I was nearly won over to the $200 camp by a pair of Mother Denim Crop Step Fray Jeans, especially when paired so perfectly by Emma Roberts.

I really like this look. Lots of ankle. A classy heel. It's polished and casual and the lack of a full hem keeps it from looking too "done"

But then I thought, I can do that!  I mean, sure the main jeans need to be good too but I've been recently wearing a pair of straight legged jeans that I'd cropped and frayed myself, why not give this a shot too.

So, I took advantage of the Old Navy Labor Day sale to stock up on a bunch of jeans I needed - from a pair for wearing outside with the animals, to new grey and mid-wash blue skinnies, to the pair to give the crop step fray action.

And I'm happy with the results, especially for $20 (50% off sale!)

I'll have to get a better shot but I like how the cropped but still longer back really frames up the shoes in the front.

And at the end of the day, it really is all about showing off the shoes!

Pants and Pumps

For someone who claims to prefer skirts, I'm wearing a lot of pants lately.  My new uniform is fun pants and awesome shoes.

Red Old Navy pants and spiked Louboutin Pigalles…

Black diamond Old Navy pants and mint Kate Spade Karolina Bow pumps..

Jcrew olive military-inspired tuxedo-stripe pants plus old Jimmy Choo Thunder slingbacks…

Old Navy red print pants plus Manolo Blahnik red sequin heels...

Plaid pants and red Valentino Rockstud kitten heels…

I think I can make it through winter like this.

Sweetie Pies

I don't need any new sandals or wedges or pink shoes for summer but how sweet are these cuties from Old Navy???

I love the 1970s styling and pink and red combo.  I also love the knot details.  These are perfect for jeans and dress.  And for $28, I could get the black and white version too!

Simple Steps

When it comes to shoes for the skimming around in during the Summer or even for wearing around the house, I tend to favor ballet flats. I don't like flip flops and fuzzy slippers tend to pick up dust and kitty fur. Plus simple ballet flats can be worn inside and out so it's easy to run out to walk the dogs and, because they don't have any treads, it's easy to wipe them off before coming in.

I don't get too pricey with these either. I actually like the ones from Old Navy. They're really inexpensive, last a while and I don't have to worry about them getting ruined.

I like these rose gold ones.



And they're cute in violet as well.




Of course, if you're working the denim, you can add these.





They also come in silver, gold and chambray and are only $8 - $10 right now, but they are selling out fast! I may need to actually go to a store and see if they have any left in my size.

3 Second Fashion Show - Double Denim Edition

When Wendy B and The Coveted tell you that Double Denim is in, you better listen to them! So this post goes out to them.

Of course, I don't do single denim very often (I have a pair of jeans, this skirt and this jacket) so you won't see much of the double denim trend on me. However, today I was feeling casual yet chilly, so double denim was it.



The jacket was from the SJP Bitten line, the top's from Old Navy and the skirt is Gap. I decided to tuck the darn shirt in after I saw this picture. Gah!




For shoes, I was equally relaxed - little printed satin flats from Old Navy too.




I never say never to the fashion trends.

Conversation with Myself or How to Pick an Outfit

I wonder if I'm the only one who has these types of conversations with themselves.

I always vow to pre-plan my outfit the night before but invariably I don't. I really should because for a simple outfit like the one below, I have a crazy discussion with myself while I'm brushing my teeth 2 minutes before I'm supposed to leave the house.





It goes something like this:

"Damn, I'm tired"

"I'm feeling kind of grey today"

"Well, yeah, it is grey out... and rainy."

"Okay, let's use grey eyeshadow."

"Crap, what the heck am I going to wear today"

"Ooohh look! That silver ring from 12 years ago. Let's wear that on a necklace with the charm from a purse I don't have any more."

"I want to wear my pink ribbon suede Louboutins."

"In the rain? Are you crazy?"

"Yes. What can I wear that will go with the pink?"

"I can't believe I don't have more pink clothes! WTF?"

"It's too cold to wear the big poofy pink skirt."

"I do have this other pink thing.. a tee-shirt. But I actually have to go to work and not look like a slob."

"Okay, wear the shiny silver skirt with it. And and then jean jacket to tone it down and keep from freezing."

"Fine. No time to actually look at myself. Late!"

This all takes place in about a minute and a half. Luckily it is not out loud.

Ensemble du Jour

So I finally wore my new Christian Louboutin Ron Ron glitter pumps. I've been debating about keeping them but in the end my love of the blue glitter was too strong. They had to stay.

I ended up getting these shoes at Barney's when Neiman Marcus didn't feel it was necessary to call me back about getting me the peep-toe version. To heck with them, I like the pump version even better, so ha!

I actually don't wear a lot of navy but I did have the sequin-placket henly from JCrew. To add to the shine factor I wore the silvery Old Navy skirt. It was all about the metallic-y-ness today.



6-23-09 by Princess Poochie featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

But really it was all about the shoes. Blue glitter... sigh!

They have a cute round toe and a great shape. Plus they are more secure to wear than the peep-toes generally are.

I love that these are called, not blue or navy, but Marine.

I want to pair these with black too because they are, in a way, subtle but still noticeable.

I did have an outfit pic to add to this but then my hair looked so crazy I freaked out and was too chicken to add it. I need to learn Photoshop stat!

Raising Eyebrows?

Not sure if I'm getting predictable or if the people I'm around are becoming desinsitized to me but I wore some slightly "out there" outfits (comparatively, for NC) and no one batted an eye.

Is this a good thing or what? I'm not sure.

The outfit I wore with my glitter heels and TokyoMade Chapter ring what otherwise kind of basic:


5-7-09 by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

Then on Friday I wore a stripey jacket, my derby and saddle shoes (wish I could have worn my Viktor & Rolf paperclip eyelashes too).



5-8-09 by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

Today I went out for lunch (and vintage shopping... more on that later...) and wore a shiny silver skirt, sequin Chucks, my boater, a green top with my parasol and a vintage straw purse.


5-10-09 by Princess Poochie featuring Old Navy t shirts

Okay, so maybe these aren't too out there but they were fun.

I've tried to stick to a palette but I just can't do it. I love too many colors! And glitter! And sequins! And vintage! I know there are some things I don't wear and pieces and colors I wear more than others but I'm just trying to enjoy what I buy. Hopefully it will last and hopefully I won't get bored by it. That's becoming more of a goal for me. I'm sort of all over the place but that's okay.... Right?

Ensemble du Jour

This Spring weather has me crazy. On Tuesday it was gorgeous and a wore a girlie skirt and these peachy suede Guiseppe Zanotti heels.



Then yesterday (and today and into the weekend) it's crummy and rainy and cold. I wore black and grey and I'm wearing black and grey again today!

Yesterday I wore my new Wet Seal strappy booties in black. I'll have to wear the white ones soon because I luv them. So cool. I wore them with latex-y leggings from Twelve by Twelve, a black mini-skirt, cami and my delia's rugby stripe boyfriend cardigan.


3-25-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

I think this was a bit out there for the work folks but don't know why? I was all covered up... it was just the materials that "surprise" them I think.

Shiny!

Today is much less interesting. It's rainy and my feet are cold so I'm wearing my snuggly wellies. but I do have on cute Hansel from Basel knee-patch thigh-highs!

3-26-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

Maybe the sun will come out so I can wear some darn color!

Ensemble du Jour

I realized that I have been sadly lacking on talking about any thing I've been wearing lately. I can't believe I've let such an oversight happen!

Frankly, I've just been swamped with work and outside activities - beekeeping classes, town stuff, bringing work home, taking days off to lobby at the state capitol, planning for new members of the family and looking into all kinds of trips around the globe. Plus trying to plan out more meals and I have at least three books I'm in the middle of.

Frankly I'm spent.

So to be totally slack, here is sample of outfits I've worn over the past few weeks. Each links back to the Polyvore page with details. And I have a ton more photos on Flickr.


1-12-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-13-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-14-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-15-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-16-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-23-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-22-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com


1-26-09 - by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

Some of these are representative pieces, so let me know if there is an item you have a question about. As you can see this sort of gets me through January. Maybe I'll catch up more over the weekend.

By the way, I'm on Twitter all of the time. If you want to catch up with me there, I hope you send me a tweet!

Ensemble du Jour

Finally! Some color!

It has been raining for days so when it finally stopped on Thursday, I was able to wear outfits I had been planning in my head but couldn't wear. I refuse to wear really nice things when it's raining. I'm too worried they'll get ruined.

OCD? Yes, maybe.

On Thursday I had a few meetings, so I got to wear my new JCrew jacket. I adore this blue color. Its so vibrant. I paired it with a dark red cami, a khaki pencil skirt and my Pedro Garcia distressed satin heels.


1-8-09 by Princess Poochie

I just realized that my outfit above is like a reverse of this one... apparently I like the color combo.

On Friday I really wanted to wear my new pink satin skirt but haven't decided what other color to pair it with (red? coral? another pink? black is too easy. any ideas?). So even though my head was full of pink I went to the next item on my mental "want to wear" checklist - my new baby blue fishnets.

I'd been thinking how to wear these and ended up layering the color tone rather than contrasting. I so slack about working the contrast. I like to tie things together. Maybe too much.

The top was a simple black v-neck and the skirt was one of the cute Old Navy polka-dot ones I got on sale a while back. I added tons of blue including my Lou Lou Loves You bow, Louboutin Helmuts and a ShoeMissy rosette (pinned down by my waist).


1-9-09 by Princess Poochie

I'm not doing great on my resolution of planning my outfits in advance. I really need to figure out a better system than writing ideas in a notebook. Since I have stuff tucked away in multiple rooms I tend to forget all my options and wear my favorite stuff over and over. I need solutions! In the morning I'm just too rushed to remember and integrate.

Maybe a image library of everything that can be done like a flip book...or a phone app that I shake and it comes up with an outfit.

How do you all remember and plan your outfits, especially if you are in a rush? I'm open to ideas so send them my way!

A Flat Bargain

While I was sifting through the online sales (it's getting crazy cheap out there) I did wander into the "new arrivals" section.

Even at full price, Old Navy still has some great bargains, as usual. I found these cute faux-suede flat boots. They grey is pretty and you can see the details.



But I think I like the black ones better. They're kind of a mix of English riding boot and Western cowboy boot styles and I think they would look great with tucked in jeans and an oversized sweater.They look very snuggly to me.




At only $39.95, you can still get a bunch of the sale items too!