Jessicas are so hot

I love this outfit from InStyle.com. I subscribe to Instyle's Look of the Day emails, so every day I get to burn 5 minutes looking at what celebrities are wearing. Like this one of Jessica Stroup. What a great ensemble!

Other notable Jessica's: Jessica Rabbit, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel... am I forgetting anyone?

Oh yes, me! Jessica! :)

Anyway, I think what I love most about this outfit is not only its simplicity, its versatility (I can see this over jeans, leggings, unbelted with flared jeans for a more hippy-ish look, etc.), and the fact that I love belted dresses, but also the COLOR! I'm still waiting on my Bali colored Love Quotes scarf (which is a similar blue to this), but once I get it I hope to use this blue as a pop of color to any outfit based in the blacks, greys and whites.

This blue reallly goes well against a canvas of greyscale.

I went shoe shopping yesterday...

I was at lunch with coworkers yesterday and there was a DSW right outside of the restaurant. Of course the ladies wanted to take just a peek, and I'm saving up for some Louboutins (one day), so I figured I could look but not buy.

I was so wrong.

I browsed with them, and then I said my goodbyes and left the store, proud of myself for holding back. But as I got into my car and drove to the driveway, I began to feel tiny pangs of longing for the few shoes I picked up and put back down.

I ended up back at the DSW to my coworkers' surprise and amusement, and I left the store with three shoeboxes and about $250 poorer.

I didn't just want to buy another pair of pumps, so I was drawn to the shape of these cutout bootie-pumps. They look so fall! And very fashion-forward. I was unsure about how my legs would look in these, but they ended up looking fine and the loose fit at the top is actually very flattering. These are Steve Madden Luxe and went for about $80.






These are the shoes I mentioned in my last post. Let me just say, these make you look very tall! I don't know if it's the hit at the angle or the cross straps, but Guess did right on this one! And my favorite thing about these shoes is the black heel contrast with the purple color. I had a choice between patent black or purple, but I already have black cutout heels and this purple color was just so pretty. These ran me about $70 I think.




So these are the ones none of my coworkers liked, but probably because they are definitely different. :) These are Dolce Vita Adam thong booties. They're originally about $130, but on sale for $99, but double on sale for $60. They were apparently seen on Rhianna but personally I think how she wore them is pretty ugly.


I like to style this shoe to the likes of Free People which I adore! I used to see this shoe the way I would wear it ALL over shopbop when it was still Spring/Summer, but I can't find it anywhere anymore. The adjectives I would use to describe that style is edgy, pretty, and somewhat hippie. This is how Free People styles a similar shoe:

The concern I had with this is: will they make my legs look stumpy? My answer to this was folding down the top a little bit. See the difference in height? By folding down the top, the shoe hits my leg nearer to where my ankle is rather than the fatter part of my calf. For taller girls, this isn't a problem. But I'm 5'1! I'm proportional, but sometimes I need to watch these bootie styles to make sure that they don't make me look like a little shrimp. :)











I would wear these sandals with leggings just like in the picture above, and in my post that lists all the stuff I got from Ambiance, I'll be showing pictures of the tank dress that go PERFECTLY with this shoe and leggings. To top it off with an accessory, I would also add my Love Quotes scarf in Love/Peace because it matches perfectly with this shoe.

The most I've ever spent on a pair of shoes I think is about $300-something. They were a pair of Miu Miu's from a Barney's Warehouse sale in New York City. One of my favorite places to shop for shoes is actually NOT DSW, but Nordstrom Rack.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up spending more at some point, but seeing how happy I am with these sub-$100 purchases, I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

My outfit tonight for going out in SF!

Here is one other outfit I put together featuring some purchases from my so-far-favorite store Ambiance in SF! I'm wearing this tonight to go see my friend DJ in the city, so I'm excited!

It features

• a tube dress with a silhouette that looks almost structured, with the pockets, but it's not really "structured" - the pockets are actually fake! The fit is form-fitting but there is an extra layer that make it look like there's pockets. I love this shape!
  
  (Also, my opinion on animal-print: I love it. It's definitely not for everyone, and it DEFINITELY has gotten a bad reputation because when people do it wrong, they REALLY do it wrong (ie. too much, too much!!) But I think animal print is such a bold and LIBERATING statement feature if done right. And it's going to be so in for fall, so don't be surprised if you see animal prints spotting outfits left and right :)
  
• brand new Guess shoes that are part of my shoe purchase YESTERDAY (my savings plan isn't really working) that I will have a separate blog post about
• the scarf is by Love Quotes and I got them from Singer22.com buy 2 get 1 free. They cost about $85 each which is a LOT for scarves :( but I am in love with them. I returned two of my three because I didn't like the colors (I got jeep and graylange). I exchanged them for "bali" and "cocoshell." I'll be writing a separate post on these scarves as soon as I get them in on how to style them
• leggings - I'm not sure if I'm going to wear them or not. They look hot either way, but I feel like this outfit can be summer-night-in-SF with them off, and more fall-ish with them on
  
• and of course, the crop faux-leather jacket I got from Ambiance. Perfect for chilly SF night weather and preparing for the fall season :)

Faux Fall: My Two (non)Leather Jackets!

I don't know what the two leather jackets I bought at Ambiance in SF are made of, and I don't care. They look amazing!

One person who would especially appreciate this post is my girlfriend, who is not only vegetarian, but doesn't purchase any accessory or piece of clothing made from an animal.

I'll be adding more photos to this post, but I took a couple of outfits from my last post and added my non-leather leather jackets to them, paired them with shoes, and voila! Looks that are very me :)

The crop black jacket was only $65 at Ambiance, and I have to say I was again inspired by Shopbop's "pretty tough" lookbook. I'm in love with the blue jacket, $75, because not only is it an incredibly flattering fitted shape, but the color is SO unique! I was torn between getting this one or the grey one I saw, but this blue just popped!

How To Do Haute Looks for Less

Browsing Shopbop.com is probably one of my favorite things to do when I have absolutely nothing else to do, and it's not necessarily because I can afford everything that's on there.

I think marketing counts when it comes to online fashion stores, and Shopbop-- with their Lookbooks, their blog posts, and the way they stylishly present their clothes-- is a pleasure to navigate, even if the credit card stays resolutely in the wallet.

One of the best things about browsing Shopbop is getting style inspiration. A few of my favorite past lookbooks are the "ballet-inspired lookbook" (taking the graceful style of a ballerina and making it so chic and comfortable looking!), "pretty tough" (leather and pretty making the perfect pair :), and this season's summer lookbook.

"On Pointe" lookbook (had me wanting Elizabeth and James' Harlem pants for awhile!)

"Pretty Tough"

Shopbop's Summer 2009 lookbook

But even better than browsing (and coveting) these looks is using the power of inspiration to create the same look for substantially less money! Which I found myself doing eventually. I have a couple case studies to illustrate my point.

Let's take a look at these two styles:

This is the "Pretty Pearl Tee" by Alice and Olivia. I was in New York for the first time at a Nordstrom with my friend Wei and I saw this and wanted it pretty much immediately. I probably wouldn't style it the same way, but it really didn't matter how I would or could style it once I saw the price tag: $195.00.

No matter how rich I ever eventually get, I'm not sure if I'm willing to dish out that much money for such a simple concept - the classic elegance that pearls are automatically associated with contrasted with the simple casualness of the t-shirt.

Walking out of the store though, the idea of long strings of pearls stuck with me, evoking images of a young girl playfully experimenting with her mother's old castoffs in the attic in front of a full-length mirror.

The black dresses below are another couple of gems that I became drawn to the more times I found myself navigating to their links throughout the day. However, it wasn't so much the brands or even the craftsmanship I was impressed with-- it was the idea of mixing that casual tee or top with that funky skirt!

The prices on these two dresses are gawk-worthy as well. The one on the right is the hooded ruffle dress by Young Fabulous and Broke at $176.00. The one on the left is the Haute Hippie Tutu dress at a whopping $495.00! (It's on sale now for $247.50. I adore Haute Hippie's style, but really. Really?)

I was going through my wardrobe and I noticed that on some level, sub-consciously, these ideas were swirling around in my head when I was shopping. I found myself not only finding pieces that recreate these looks, but in a way, my versions were more.. me. Which made them better, more original, and most importantly, a heck of a lot less expensive. I also stopped coveting these things that I couldn't afford.

Starting from the pink tee with the ruffle skirt, there's a punk-y pretty influence

I bought the t-shirt at a Buffalo Exchange in Berkeley, CA for about $4.00 (I swear), and the CHIFFON ruffle skirt comes from www.jstyleshopper.com for about $20 (this will work for you if you are a size 2-4/xs-s). I LOVE the feel of this skirt - it seems solidly made.

A side note about www.jstyleshopper.com: No tax and free shipping if you spend over $100, but I find their clothes hit or miss and the quality of *most*, not all, but *most* of their stuff is lacking. I think they source from Asia. I had to return a bunch of things I ordered from their website. Also, warning: there is only one size for most of their things.

This skirt is an exception though - it's very solid.

Anyway, I personally like the idea of having the ruffles be a skirt as opposed to a dress because you can pair it with whatever you want! Instead of being stuck with the same top because it's attached. Also, I think just pairing it with a black top is boring! There, I said it. :)

If you really want to recreate the look from Shopbop, you can pair the ruffle skirt with a black tee or tank and voila-- you have yourself a $200-$400 look for less than $30. I've personally preferred to pair the skirt with a white tee with a simple design, or a loose tank top, or one of those vintage soft "broken in" feeling t-shirts. Such a great casual-but-different look!

As for Alice and Olivia's Pretty Pearl tee, what I did with that concept was find a "boyfriend tee" in that beige color (about $15 at Nordstrom Rack, by Trouve), and I bought two strings of pearls (fake) from Nordstrom Rack. I believe they were $14 each. I also made sure the pearls were of two different pearl sizes.

I like the bigger tee better than A&O's shorter tee because I can pair this with long ankle-length leggings and high heels. So much more the "playing with mom's clothes" look that I was going for as opposed to the slightly short length of the more expensive version!

I also found my new wardrobe staple: this beige tank dress (sorry for the foot haha)! I bought it at a boutique in SoHo, New York City, called Amersterdam (which I am in love with!) for I think $27. Pairing it with the pearls, or even knotting one of the strings of pearls (as shown), gives me a variation on this same look.

The great thing about this dress is shorter girls can wear it as a dress, or you can also pair it with leggings for a different look. The leggings do a great job transitioning this piece into fall. Also, belting this dress creates the very forgiving babydoll shape. But again, I'm digressing.

If you take anything away from this article it's this: I'm all for looking to the haute brands and expensive lines and drooling over the models that work those cameras and make it look sooo good - BUT! in my opinion, fashion is as individual a journey as religion is, and everyone is going to have their own ideas about the rules. Go ahead and splurge every now and then on something you love, but in my opinion, the concept of your look is worth much more than the pieces that make it happen.

Next up: Two leather jackets, stockings and a belt make me look forward to the fall...