Statement-Making

How's this for a well accessorized outfit? Or rather it was until I had to go to work and leave these two charming canines at home. I can't say I'd get a whole lot of work done if I could take them with me, cute as they are.

A few months ago something rare happened; I fell hard for a pair of designer sunglasses, and decided to take the risk and buy them, even though I do tend to be hard on my sunnies. I'd seen several other bloggers wearing the Prada 'Baroque' round style and thought they were fabulous, but round glasses don't really work for my face and I gave no thought to buying any until I saw the related cat eye style.

I don't typically put a whole lot of thought into the sunglasses I buy, but something that Peter said when Sal and I met up with him in New York has stuck with me. I was trying on sunglasses and found a pair that was... fine. They would have worked. But Peter looked at them and said something to the effect of, "They aren't really bold enough for your style." And that comment just about knocked me over, because it was so right on the money -- here I put all this effort into creating statement-making outfits, and the accessory that's right there on my face is typically ho-hum and boring.

When I saw this pair, I knew they were the kind of sunglassds that can turn even a jeans and t-shirt outfit into something statement-making. And yes I have to be extra vigilant with them, but they make me feel so glamorous that they're well worth the effort. Thanks to Peter's chance comment, I now feel like I have a pair of sunglasses that can stand up the the boldest of my outfits.

Dress: eShakti
Cardigan: American Eagle Outfitters
Leggings: Black Market Baby
Boots: All Black
Sunglasses: Prada

Light of Day

This dress hasn't seen the light of day in awhile. It's a bit difficult to style because it's really more of a tunic length, so usually when I wear it I layer a skirt underneath. These ponte knit pants are a great alternative, not to mention they're superbly comfy. I'm getting a lot of use out of them lately because they're as easy to style as jeans but have a somewhat dressier look. This was a great day-to-evening outfit; for evening I simply swapped out the denim jacket for my cropped black leather one.


Dress: All Saints
Jacket: Tulle
Belt: Red Dress Shoppe
Necklace: Wendy Brandes
Pants: Club Monaco
Boots: All Black

Burgundy and Blue

Burgundy and blue has become one of my favorite color combos this year; for other ways I've combined these shades, check out this post, and this one.

In other news, Spencer is quickly picking up habits from his big sister Georgie. This is his first foray into posing for pictures with me. Here you can see that he started out sitting like a little gentleman...

...before he quickly got bored and started being a goofball.

I love how it looks like he's making a gagging face. Clearly the dog has no appreciation for a good pair of shoes.

Dress: Red Dress Shoppe
Cardigan: American Eagle Outfitters
Shoes: John Fluevog
Bracelet: a gift from Mom

The Final Countdown

You can tell I was feeling more than a little cheeky when I took the photos for this outfit. The reason? I was listening to a whole playlist of 80's music, and when I was shooting this one it was "The Final Countdown." I'm not exactly sure why a hair-band rock anthem made me want to strike such saucy poses; perhaps it was because I was remembering the time I drunkenly karaoke'd that song in Tokyo at the insistence of my friends. For the record, my vocal range is nowhere near high enough to sing that song; nevertheless I belted it out and even jumped up on the table to sing it while pumping the air with one raised fist. I blame jetlag.

Ahem. Let me tell you about the outfit, shall I? This top is really tricky to work with because the color is exceptionally bright, and I have absolutely nothing else in my closet that is even close to this shade. I wanted to avoid pairing it with black because I feared it would make the green look garish, so I went with a navy backdrop instead. The green actually has quite a bit of blue in it, so the combination makes sense. Since I didn't want to bring in an entirely different third color, I mixed up the outfit a little by blending different shades of blue.

The sweater clip is one I made ages and ages ago, but until now I hadn't found a use for it. With this outfit it was an absolute necessity; the flower detail on the top prevents the cardigan from being buttoned, but I really needed the cardigan to stay closed so as to hide the incredible tackiness of my bra straps hanging out. Have I mentioned that I abhor strapless bras? The reason is that I don't have a whole lot to hold them up, so I find myself having to hike them up several times a day; as a result I often seek out creative ways to wear regular bras even with strapless or halter-style tops.

By the way, if you'd like to make a cardigan clip of your own, this excellent post from Kasmira will show you how it's done.

Cardigan: H&M
Top: Red Dress Shoppe
Skirt: Moon Collection
Shoes: Paolo