Lace

Tags

feminine, gold accents, gold zipper, J.Crew, Jessica Simpson shoes, Lace, Paige jeans, Zara

One of the major trends this year is lace. It’s everywhere. However, we all know lace can be difficult to wear. Often times is can look too bridal, and other times it can look a bit too young or too conservative.

However, I also think there’s something extremely sexy about lace, which is why its perfect pairing of conservative and sexy draws me to it. Not wanting to jump on the bandwagon and buy the first lace top I found, I’ve held out for a while; but, I recently purchased my first lace item and I’m very excited about the places it can go.

Top: Zara, dark grey lace with gold zipper in back

Under top: Black Velvet-brand cotton, 3/4 sleeves with scoop in the back

Necklace: J.Crew ‘Majesty’ necklace, black

Jeans: Paige

Shoes: Jessica Simpson black patent leather heels

First of all, I love the juxtaposition of conservative from the front and sexy from the back. And we all know I’m all for gold accents, so I die for the gold zipper detail in the back. The top comes without anything underneath it, so I wore a plain black top underneath it and by pure luck it happened to match the neckline in the front and back perfectly. And, since I had the black peeking out underneath the dark grey, I chose to wear my black J.Crew ‘Majesty’ necklace.

Also, even though I claim to only wear gold, I do own two silver pieces of jewelry (three if you count the David Yurman ring that has silver and gold). One piece is a J.Crew sparkly necklace that is sure to crop up in an outfit soon (it’s perfect for the holidays). Second is a silver Tiffany cuff, which I wore with this outfit because I think grey is the only color with which silver looks decent. Of course, I wore it next to my vintage gold bangle.

I excited to wear this top in the future. I want to try to wear it with only a black bra or bandeau underneath, but I need to find a way to keep everything else in that outfit uber conservative.

Do you have any suggestions on how to wear the top differently?

Soft Prints

Tags

ballerina bun, feminine, green, impressionism, J.Crew, pointed-toe flats, simple, soft, watercolor, Zara

After rediscovering my J.Crew watercolor printed skirt, I was inspired by the soft colors and impressionistic look. Even though I’ve been on a huge black, navy and brown kick inspired by Fall recently, I decided to go for another softer look.

Top: J.Crew silk watercolor (from Factory store). Jeans: J.Crew ankle-length toothpick. Sweater: J.Crew beige wool v-neck cardigan. Shoes: Zara green suede pointed-toe flats. Ring: David Yurman black onyx.

I opted for very simple jewelry–pearl studs, simple diamond necklace on a gold chain and everyday gold bracelets–and my hair in a high ballerina bun to compliment the simple, feminine look of the outfit. I think heavy or chunky necklace would have offset the softness in the print on the top. Even if it matched, it would have looked off.

I chose to wear my green Zara flats (which I adore–pointed-toe flats always look so sophisticated) because I thought the outfit was a little bland. Even though I chose simple jewelry on purpose, it still felt incomplete. Although there is no green in the top to directly match the flats, the shade of green is in the same color family as the shades of purple and yellow, so the two pieces compliment each other and match in the same outfit. The flats added the perfect pop of color to the outfit and made it look complete.

How do you create soft, simple, feminine looks?

Forgotten Gems

Tags

Fall, feminine, green, impressionism, J.Crew, Oscar Wilde, printed skirt

Like most of you, I’m sure, there are certain items in my wardrobe that I gravitate towards and certain items that slowly get pushed farther back into the closet. Yesterday while rifling through my skirts I found one of those lonely, forgotten pieces and, to my excitement, it was a perfectly adorable J.Crew silk “watercolor” skirt. Since purchasing this skirt over a year ago I’ve only worn it twice, so finding it yesterday was like finding a brand new skirt! WIN.

I don’t know how this skirt became a forgotten gem because I absolutely adore the print. I’m a huge fan of impressionist art (I could spend DAYS in le Musée d’Orsay), so I love the emerald greens and deep purples blended with lighter shades of green, off-white and light pink. It reminds me of a quaint English garden from an Oscar Wilde play. (Hence why I had to wear the pearl necklace even though I’ve been over-wearing it recently.)

I paired the skirt with my green cotton Ella Moss three-quarters sleeve top, J.Crew pearl and gold chain necklace, David Yurman black onyx ring, my everyday gold bangle and gold links bracelet (passed down from my grandmothers), black leather with gold Tory Burch flats, and a high ballerina bun.

Last year I remember pairing this skirt with a black top, but I was surprised at how well the green on green combo worked. I have a whole slew of J.Crew printed skirts and I generally wear them with solid black or white tops to make the skirt the center of the outfit. However, I think the green top, as opposed to black or white, complements the skirt in a way that makes this pairing more of an outfit,in that the entire ensemble looks more complete than it would with a simple black or white top. If I had worn black tights, a black top would have completed the look, but thanks to these glorious warm New England Fall days, I was able to go bare-legged and experiment with other colors.