I love all ”week’s worth of outfit” articles. Anything that provides a capsule wardrobe fascinates me. Anything about packing for a week of travel. I always wonder what 7 pieces would I buy if I had no clothes.
Here’s one from Seventeen (Yes, I subscribe. And yes, I know, I’m not seventeen.)
Below are the ones I might try. I’ll keep you posted!
I have all the pieces for this one. The last one clicked into place when I scored a hot pink leopard print scarf at my swap party!
This one will take some creativity. I have the boots, tights, belt & plaid shirt. Just need a similar dress (which probably won’t be ruffled – curvy girls don’t need more bulk!) & an army jacket. I’ve been wanting an olive green parka lately anyway – maybe I could find one at Target.
Ways to style a handkerchief from the latest Bazaar:
Make it a bib necklace by adding oodles of shiny objects!
Wear a beaded fringe necklace over one to add more color, texture, pop!
My only history with handkerchiefs: When I was in 8th grade, Seventeen did a spread featuring them. Of course, to be super chic, I wore one to school wrapped around my thigh over my jeans. Yep, people thought I was nuts. You betcha.
I guess they are the next logical step since we’ve been into bib necklaces & scarves for so long.
One of my absolute favorite sites to draw outfit inspiration from is Frugal Fashionistas. They capture celebrity outfits & then suggest less expensive options to recreate the look. I find that many times I have very similar pieces in my closet already.
This outfit was inspired by/ripped off from their latest Kate Moss post in which she wore stripes with plaid. It looked very rocker chic on her. I do wish I had dark narrow jeans, but I made do with my lighter straight jeans…
Bass boots, Kikit jeans, Walmart tee, Diane von Furstenburg plaid (thrifted), Target jacket, bottle opener necklaces – can NOT remember where I got these LOL, thumb ring from Aldo
This outfit illustrates how you can mix up dressy & casual separates. Pull the sequins out during the day! Dress up the sweatshirt with pins! Balance it all with a tough cuff (DIY tutorial)! Mix it up!
I found Poe’s original collar while going through some old things lately. She was emaciated when we got her & has since double her weight so we had to buy her a new one.
Anyway, I wore it as a bracelet the other day! I think it’s really cute & honestly was much cheaper than a similar fashion bracelet would cost. Plus the leather is really nice & thick. Who knew?
And here’s my adorable baby girl trying to get in on the fashion shoot:
Here’s another unique take on a scarf. I draped it diagonally over my shoulder & tied it at the waist. Different, interesting. Enough to make your co-workers ask, “What are you wearing?”
Delman flats, Nine West jeans, Target top & scarf, thrifted necklace
The close-up. The pendant & purple of the scarf remind me or royalty LOL.
This is a pretty simple outfit that I used to highlight a pair of shoes I DIY’d. It’s been a long thought process to get to these as I’ll explain lower down in this post.
Initially I was inspired by the Dexter chair in the Metropolitan Homes Showtime Showhouse. It’s funny because I had the next issue of Metro Home & read a write-in where someone complained of “glamorizing violence” or whatever and referred to the chair. It piqued my sick interest so of course I tracked the chair down online. I received the earlier issue later on & this is their mini-article about the chair & the Showtime Showhouse. BTW, the “blood” is embroidered on white leather. Divine! So, liking the splash of red on the white, I started thinking about that but with shoes! I also cross-referenced this obviously macabre leaning with Louboutin’s red soles (obviously, how could I not?)
So, I got myself some shoes that I wouldn’t mind ruining. My first thought was to pick up paint at Joann’s fabric store since I’m there all the damn time. I bought the Liquitex acrylic color in Cadmium Red Deep Hue in a tube.
In the meantime I had found a puffy white heart necklace at Walmart (took me 3 tries to buy it – a story for a different day). When I first spotted it I thought immediately to dip IT in red. (By this time I had read a couple of the Twilight books & was loving Edward & that whole creepy vampire/blood thing so the heart was really more about that.) I dipped it first as the shoes wouldn’t fit in the small bowl I had. Here’s the heart necklace:
Then, I tried the paint I had on the first pair of shoes:
They’re, ahem, a little chunky due to the thickness of the paint. My dear, patient husband suggested I try the more liquid type wall paint. I took myself off to a jaunt to Lowe’s and picked up some liquid red:
And here they are. FINALLY. I’ve had this in my brain for so darn long it was getting a little uncomfortable.
I FINALLY dye-ed a couple sweaters that have been on my “makeover” pile.
Unfortunately, I don’t have before pictures so I’ll just have to describe: The hoodie is from Victoria’s Secret, was off-white & just got kind of dingy – my water does that. It’s impossible to keep whites white & most off-whites turn dingy grey after several washes. I had picked up the other sweater at TJMaxx for $1. It was white so I knew I’d have to modify it. There was also a tear at the neckline.
(Side note on how I feel about torn clothing: I’ve never been bothered by tears in clothes. I think they give them personality. Besides, I was in high school when grunge was big so I’m pretty comfortable with it. PLUS, after seeing the Elizabeth & James deconstructed tee being sold for $90 I feel that torn clothing is pretty much accepted. But I’ll have mine at a lower price point, thanks.)
I called my dad’s girlfriend & had her give me the basic steps to do it since the instructions on the dye boxes always overwhelm me. (Am I alone on this?) The two tops came out very similar in color which I had wondered about since one was white & one was more ivory. Another not unpleasant surprise, the zipper on the hoodie did NOT dye (cuz it’s synthetic?) so I ended up with a kind of modishness to the hoodie. with the effect of white piping down the front. One more thing – the neckline had actually unravelled more, which I’m digging.
Below are photos plus the super easy instructions I used. They’re not gospel but they got me to dive off the dye cliff & into some new, more wearable tops!
Simple instructions for dyeing clothes:
Set the washing machine to small load.
Let it fill, then pour in your dye. (I used two of the RIT dye boxes for 2 lightweight sweaters.)
Let it agitate for a bit while you wet your clothing in the sink or wherever.
Put the clothing in the washer, make sure it is all submerged. (Poke it with a stick!) And let it sit for 5 minutes.
Then run it through another cycle. You can dry in the dryer when it’s done.
Afterwards, be sure to clean your washer by running a cycle with bleach & detergent in it. AND, wipe up with bleach at the very end. I neglected to do this & have blue speckles everywhere now.
P.S. I’ve heard that adding salt at some point helps keep your colors true longer. I think that direction is on the box.
I saw a pair of D&G pumps in June’s issue of Bazaar with silk ribbon that wraps around the ankle & I thought, “Wow, that’s cute! Geez, I could do that with ribbons for like $4 though.” So I did.
All I did was buy a roll of fat black satin ribbon, cut it long enough (do 2 strips the same length so both feet match). Then I looped it under the foot & crossed it over the top of the foot, wrapped it around the ankle & tied. I think they’re super cute. Kind of a more chic-er version of the infamous Lara Flynn Boyle ballet look. You really could take it as far as she did & go all the way up the calf but I don’t necessarily recommend it.
They will also look different depending on the shoe you use. I used these slingbacks because they were handy, even though I had originally pictured them on plain heels. I would love to see some tone on tone takes on this. Also flats would be adorable done up this way.
So, let me know if you try it. I’m sure you’ll all come up with some stunning things!
