80s is back with a vengeance! My lazy-chic shouldered blazer look :)

What was it about 80s and early 90s fashion that made us cringe so much? For me, it was the haircuts. Not that I really remember all that - I was but a toddler :) But still... shudder:



All I know is spandex no longer invokes jokes about Richard Simmons, exaggerated shoulders are no longer for the moms who had shoulder pads in their dresses and suits, and bleached and acid wash and ripped holes and plaid and Raybans are back! Are we seeing something this second go-round that we didn't see the first time, or are we just running out of original ideas?

In an article I read about how to dress for fashion week, the author made a very interesting point - just because you're wearing what's in now, doesn't mean you're being fashion forward.

5. Don’t slave the trends.

Just because something is in when fashion week rolls around doesn’t mean you should devote your entire look to it. Remember, once a trend ships to stores it has been wholesaleing for over 6 months and was designed several months before that. So maybe lace is huge right now, maybe you’ve seen it all over Barney’s Co-op and in the Bloomies catalogue and The View talked about it in their ‘hot trends for Fall’ feature but that doesn’t make it fresh to anyone in the industry. We’ve all been looking at it for the past year!

I’m not saying don’t wear it, I’m saying don’t wear too much of it, i.e. a lace dress with lace fingerless gloves and lace half socks under your open toe booties with a jacket covered in zippers on top (because zippers are everywhere too so you thought it would look totally trendy!). Like most things, a little bit goes a long way.

Just an interesting tidbit that I'd never thought about. Not that I've ever been to a fashion show period (though, duh, I want to go so bad! :), but I'm definitely more interested in how fashion-as-art translates to and inspires fashion-as-expression in the real world. Wear what makes you feel good!

The impetus for this post comes from something that happened to me last night. I was sorting out clothes to hand down to my sister when I came across a suit jacket that I never ever wore because it was slightly too big, and the shoulders had pads in them that I've been too lazy to cut out and alter to fit me. Besides, the suit jacket was $30 and I bought it over a year and a half ago for work.

But when I took it down from the hanger and was about to throw it in the pile, something compelled me to stop and put it on. At the time, I was wearing a pink backless LnA spaghetti strap top and leggings. I loved it! I loved the look! I added my Coach black heels and accessories (my Cobalt Love Quotes scarf or my fake pearl necklace), and tried both long and cropped leggings, and came up with this:




My shoulders in the second set of pictures, plus the leggings - so 80s! I could totally see myself going to a casual gathering or even out somewhere like a museum party. I could even see myself putting on a pair of RayBans!

To give this formal piece (a suit jacket no less!!) that casual vibe, wear it with a tee and a lazy-chic (i coined that term :) accessory underneath. The final touch? Cuff the sleeve!



I can't help it. Maybe I am a slave to trends sometimes.

Maybe I really need to get a real room lamp so everything doesn't come out so blurry!

Love Quotes Look Number... 3?

I've already used my Love Quotes scarves in other posts (SF Outfit, Grey dress), so I'm just going to post one look at a time when I come up with them.

This is the color I haven't yet posted - the Cocoshell Love Quotes scarf.

The tunic/dress is something I picked up at Ambiance San Francisco. I love it because of the texture that the beading creates on the front. So unique! I haven't yet decided what necklace I would pair this with, if any at all! Here is the look with the Love Quotes scarf and my Dolce Vita thong bootie sandals.





I wore this with leggings on a fairly chilly night in Santa Monica this past weekend on a date at the 3rd Street promenade with my boyfriend. I was so comfortable and it was such a perfect outfit for the weather. Don't the folds in the scarf look soo comfortable? Well they are! :)

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 :)