Posts from — January 2011

Hey there! I’m participating in a contest on Refinery29.com to be their next style blogger. Click here to vote for me! All you have to do is click the heart near my name. Thanks!

If you ask me, or Lauren, or Christina, there’s nothing more attractive on a fella than a great pair of jeans. It’s true. We had a conversation about it yesterday. The convo was about a specific pair of men’s denim, though.

That would be Levi’s 501s.

See? MAJOR swoon factor from the ladies. I mean, can you blame us?

Photo from levis.com. Original 501s.

If you ask me, every fella should own a pair of 501s…as you can tell, since it’s the title of the blog post. Here’s why:

1. They are good quality jeans.
2. They come in different washes for variety.
3. THEY DON’T HAVE HOLES IN THEM.
4. The style is narrow, but not too skinny.
5. Easy to dress up for a date or dress down for just hanging out.
6. Girls love them (obviously).

I know the jeans are a bit pricey, but Levi’s normally has some on sale. Also check out some local department stores to see if they have the 501 style.

If you can’t afford to get the 501s, use them as a guide for buying denim. A gal can tell a lot about a fellas based on his jeans!

Hey there! I’m participating in a contest on Refinery29.com to be their next style blogger. Click here to vote for me! All you have to do is click the heart near my name. Thanks!

Last night’s State of the Union not only provided the country with inspirational words, but the usual fashion inspiration. The men, including President Obama, spiced things up with vividly colored ties in the colors of wisteria, orange and a variety of patterns. Our First Lady of not only the United States, but of fashion as well, provided us with another stellar, drop dead gorgeous and appropriate outfit for the occasion.

Image from StyleListSays

Image by Jim Young / Reuters, Jim Watson / Getty Images [via Mrs-O.org]

Michelle Obama wore a beautiful silvery-white three-quarter sleeve sheath dress, designed by Rachel Roy, while listening to her husband speak to Congress and to the American people. Michelle stacked a few silver and clear bangles with a pair of dangley silver earrings to complete the look. She also wore a ribbon in remembrance of those injured and killed in the Tuscon shooting on January 8, 2011.

I think Michelle looks lovely and, quite honestly, radiant in the white dress. The white was a nice stand out against a sea of dark colored suits. Michelle is a classy lady with impeccable style and is someone who knows what looks good on her and sticks with it. I’m a little bit biased though because I think she always looks beautiful and appropriately dressed for any occasion, though.

We’ll see what Oscar de la Renta thinks of her designer choice this time.

Hey there! I’m participating in a contest on Refinery29.com to be their next style blogger. Click here to vote for me! All you have to do is click the heart near my name. Thanks!

Last week, I wrote a blog post asking you all to help me pick out for Loyola University Maryland‘s alumni Bull & Oyster Roast, which was on Saturday. After a bunch of votes, comments, IMs, messages, texts, and emails about what outfits I should wear, I finally decided on… (drum roll)

…the green Jessica McClintock dress with the black Nine West shoes!

This combination got slightly more votes than the blue Mise en Scene by Ruffian blue dress. To really decide what to wear, I went by how recently I wore each dress. I hadn’t worn the green dress in over a year, as opposed to wearing the blue dress in October, so I went with that one. I paired it with crystal chandelier earrings and a crystal cocktail ring, both of which I picked up on SUPER sale after Christmas. It was tough to decide on other colors that wouldn’t make me look too holiday-y, since the dress is a very bright (and shiny) shade of green, so I went with navy nail polish and eye make up.

For my hair, I was very inspired by Lea Michele’s hair at the Golden Globes so I tried that out. I don’t normally wear my hair up or pulled back, so this was really different for me! I loved it, so I’ll definitely be trying this hair style again soon.

Didn’t get a full length picture, so had to put up my favorite from the night!

Eye makeup. A little darker than I normally go.

Navy manicure. Thanks to Kelly and Lindsey for the suggestion!

I also kept up my new year’s resolution of wearing more bling in 2011 both nights. In addition to the crystal accessories on Saturday night, I broke out this sparkley Michael Kors tank on Friday night (paired with a blazer, of course…it’s cold outside!).

Thank you everyone for voting and your suggestions!! I couldn’t have picked an ensemble without you!

Yesterday, I saw that Refinery29.com and Covergirl are having a contest where they are looking for their next style blogger. This could be me.

Photo from refinery29.com

But I need your help!

I decided to enter the contest- I mean, why not?- and now it’s up to you. All you need to do is go to the contest page of Refinery29.com and click on the little heart near my name below this picture to give me a vote.

That’s it! Simple, right? The 5 bloggers with the most votes will be selected in February and a winner will be picked from there (after going through some blogger challenges, of course). If I win, not only do I get a guest blogger gig with Refinery29.com, but also a cash prize (money in da bankkkkk) and an all expenses trip to the city.

If you could please take a few minutes and help me out, I’ll love you forever. Fo realsies. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can vote more than once so if you can, please pass this along to your friends, post it on Facebook, retweet it on Twitter, etc. Anything you can do is more than appreciated!

I think I would be a great addition to the Refinery29.com team, but I can’t do this without your help. Thank you in advance, friends!!!

Back in September, I wrote a blog post about Kate Spade‘s Book of the Month clutches and said it doesn’t get much cuter than that.

I was wrong.

New this year are two bags, one is a clutch and one is a pouch, that rival the awesomeness of the Book of the Month clutches. They are called “The Journal,” and are inspired by and pay homage to the written word.

Now as a fashion blogger who works in communications, I find these absolutely fabulous. I am one of the rare people who loves nothing more than reading a newspaper in the morning, and I love how Kate Spade took specific sections of the newspaper and used that as the theme of this new collection. Both the pouch and the clutch are black and white and red all over, with the bright red popping through in the lining of each bag and the black and white on the outside, replicating a page of a newspaper.

Both the pouch and the clutch are available for pre-order and will ship at the end of the month. I think these pieces are absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait to see them in person!

All photos from katespade.com

the journal medium flat pouch

the journal newspaper clutch

Personally, I find the clutch a little more practical and think it can be used in more ways that the pouch, which kind of reminds me of a pencil case. Either way, Kate Spade really has done it again and continues to create cute and different pieces. I would love to sit in on a meeting with their creative team! I bet it’s absolutely fascinating.

So another awards show has come and gone, a.k.a. another red carpet has come and gone. Now the best part: fashion commentary.

Last night’s Golden Globes had it’s fair share of fashion do’s and fashion don’t's. I loved seeing some color on the red carpet for once but overall, I was left a bit uninspired. There was a lot of green, nude/beige colors, and lots of sparkles (which I love). Many of the ladies had their hair up, which I like, but I feel like many looked the same. I guess that’s what happens at these things, but I’m hoping the Oscars can provide us with some different looks, different colors, and some risk-taking.

Here are 10 of my stand out favorite looks of the night. To see all the looks from last night, click here for New York Magazine’s recap.

All photos from New York Magazine/Getty Images

Best Dressed

Elisabeth Moss in Donna Karan is one of my favorites. I love how this dark green pops with her skin tone and hair color and it fits beautifully. The big earrings are a good choice instead of a necklace.

Olivia Wilde in Marchesa. Stunning dress and I loved the shoes (which you can’t see here), but I would have done something different with her hair. Maybe just smooth it down a bit.

Claire Danes in Calvin Kline.

Anne Hathaway in Armani Privé. Gorgeous!

Amy Adams in Marchesa.

Megan Fox in Armani Privé.

Tina Fey in L’Wren Scott. Love the navy color on her!

Lea Michele in Oscar de la Renta. The color is beautiful and it fits so well.

Helen Mirren. Need I say more?

Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt. SWOON for Jon and Jennifer looks lovely.

Who do you think was best dressed last night?

My alma mater, Loyola University Maryland, is hosting a big, fancy, schmancy alumni event called the Bull & Oyster Roast. There will be dinner, drinks, dancing, live music, gambling, and lots of dressed up ladies and fellas.

Photo from loyola.edu

This is where I need your help.

I can’t decide on a dress and shoes to wear. For anyone who knows me personally, I have a great deal of trouble making any kind of decision, let alone ones that come to fashion and style.

In case these little tidbits help:

• I’ve worn everything at least once before, except one pair of shoes, so nothing really new to break in or show off.
• Loyola’s school colors are green and gray (or silver…).

Below are pictures of the dresses (3 in total) and shoes (6 in total). Please let me know which dress and shoe combo you like the best in the comments!

First, the dress options.

Mise en Scene by Ruffian

Jessica McClintock

Jessica McClintock

And now, the shoes.

Nina

Mossimo for Target

Nine West

BCBGeneration

Nine West

MICHAEL Michael Kors (never worn before)

Thank you in advance for your help in this decision. I will be sure to blog after the event on what outfit gets the most votes!

Ready to head to Texas, fashion bloggers?

South by Southwest (SXSW), the music and interactive conference and festival held in March in Austin, TX, announced a new exhibition in honor of the 25th anniversary of the event. This exhibition is called Style X (but pronounced Style By).

Style X, which will take place on March 18-19, is a small expansion of the festival’s celebration of creativity. Style X’s purpose is to showcase emerging talent in the fashion industry. Since that is what SXSW does for music and film already, this seems like a natural progression to me.

The best part? The exhibition is open to the public! Joah Spearman, co-founder of Style X, along with Jon Pattillo, said that this is an attempt to differentiate Style X from other industry events, like New York Fashion Week. I think this is a great event for the fashion industry and for SXSW. I’m glad to see that the fashion industry is embracing different ways to reach new people, like using technology and social media, and make fashion more accessible. To me, fashion shouldn’t be restricted to those who can afford expensive clothing or accessories, it should be accessible to anyone who wants to experience it. I think SXSW is the perfect time and place for this event, and I think the attendants of SXSW (and others!) will receive it very well.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I started looking up flights to Austin after I read this. Who’s with me?

So I’m pretty late with my 2011 resolution post, but better late than never, right? At least my resolution isn’t to be on time with things…

Recently, I was thinking about my jewelry shopping habits and looking at my [quite extensive] collection and noticed that I wear a lot of earrings. Big, dangly, sparkley earrings. This year, I think I’ll switch up the bling and add it to my outfit in different ways.

Enter new bling.

This will be how I keep up my new year’s resolution of more bling, and I plan on adding to this collection as the year goes on. I got the Michael Kors watch and the blue bow ring by BCBGeneration for Christmas. To complement what I already had, I picked up the crystal ring (on sale) from Banana Republic after Christmas and found the gold Robert Rose ring on sale at Lord and Taylor. Each piece definitely adds some pop and sometime special to any outfit I wear, and someone comments on the watch and rings whenever I wear them. Except the Banana Republic ring, which I haven’t worn yet. (I’m saving that for an alumni event at my alma mater which I will blog about this week- I need outfit help!)

Check out that blinggggggg.

Another way to get the bling in every day is to wear it! I love anything with sparkles or sequins on it, but didn’t have much until recently. Now that I have a shirt or two or a dress with some shine, I need to be bold enough to wear it at more than just fancy events! And I started out the new year like that in this shift dress by Lauren Conrad. By far, my favorite sparkley item in my closet!

Photo from kohls.com

What’s your fashion resolution for 2011?

For my next assignment in Nike Women’s Make Yourself Campaign, I am to write about a secret or professional tip to stay healthy and fit in 2011.

For the last few days, I was thinking about my work out routine and how I eat (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve excluded). I go to the gym 3-5 times a week, run a few miles, lift a few weights, do a few crunches, and try to eat as healthily as I can. Sounds pretty standard for someone who makes an effort to stay in shape.

However, the glue that really holds my workout routine and diet together is something I just stumbled upon less than two years ago, buy can’t imagine my life without now. That little thing is yoga.

Photo from yogainair.com (with the Make Yourself Movement logo added by me)

I started practicing yoga after I graduated from college, when I was unemployed and bored with some high school friends (hi, Emily and Rachael!). I’d also be lying if I didn’t say that I’ve been influenced by one of my college girlfriends (hi, Katie!), who has been practicing since we were 17 and is now a certified yoga instructor. Regardless, I have found a regular schedule for practicing yoga and incorporating it into my day to day activities, and I couldn’t be happier.

The obvious benefits of yoga: with regular practice, it can help increase flexibility, strengthen muscles, improve your balance, and tone your core. Since I started practicing yoga, I’ve noticed a connection and improvement in my other workouts as well. But I find yoga to be so important in my life now not just for the physical benefits, but more for the harmonizing of my mind, body and spirit.

Whenever I’m having a particularly stressful day at the office or a problem in my personal life, there’s nothing more I want to do than go to a yoga class.

Yoga helps me destress. It’s helps me let go of my day and focus on me (and that’s a good thing!). When I step onto my mat for an hour once a week, I am too focused on maintaining my positions and poses and too focused on actually breathing to think of anything else. When I step off the mat, I am a stronger person than before and I can take that strength wherever I go, whether it be to work, to my home, or just for myself.

Namaste, my friends. I wish you nothing but health, happiness and peace in 2011. Hopefully practicing yoga can help get you there.

What are your tips for staying healthy and fit in 2011?