Category Archives: OUTFIT ALTERATIONS

I’m giving myself a personal fashion challenge to really explore all my closet has to offer by wearing pieces in new, different, unexpected ways.

Warby Parker Glasses Trial

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I have been wanting new glasses forevvvvver. The pair I have are okay. JUST okay. They’re not completely OUT of style, yet not exactly IN style. I’ve had them for…hm. Now that I think about it, I think I’ve had them for almost 10 YEARS! Can that be true? I seriously think I got them around 2003. Ugh, the shame. I take it back, they must be out of style because the shelf life of glasses cannot be 10 years.

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Those are the old ones. I bought a new pair about a year ago (with a Groupon), but after wearing them for awhile, they started hurting my nose. They’re just too heavy and hipster for me. Even wearing them for short amounts of time now, my nose starts hurting. I can’t live like that.

To find my new glasses I am trying out Warby Parker. It’s this super cool online eyeglass company that offers free home try-ons with free shipping and returns! You start by choosing five pairs of glasses. The best part is that you can filter by frame width (narrow, medium, or wide), which is nice because I need WIDE. No joke. WIDE. The sample frames with plastic lenses are shipped to you completely free, and you get to try them on and test them out in the comfort of your own home. You can show other people to get their opinion, and wear them for extended periods of time to make sure they’re comfortable. INGENIOUS.

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I ordered my glasses earlier this week and they came three days later. In nice packaging.

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It feels very Rent the Runway. For your face.

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Annnnnd here are my glasses! Tell me which ones you like best.

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From now on, all photos of me will be taken in the bathroom. A magical place with very good lighting.

OMG OMG! I almost forgot the best part! All glasses are $95 and that price INCLUDES the anti-reflective prescription lenses. If you wear glasses, you know this a great deal. The main reason I’ve been putting off buying new frames is because it never feels like the right time to shell out $300+. Also, Warby Parker donates one pair for every pair they sell. Very TOMS.

Which ones do you like best? I already know which pair I am heavily leaning towards, but I like a lot of these. Tell me your favorite in the comments! I will reveal my winning pair in my next post. I KNOW, the suspense is killing me too!

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Do the Collar Holler

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So hey, let’s glance straight over the fact I haven’t blogged much recently (I have a million posts already written in my head, WITH photos, so just you wait) and let’s just get straight into it. This month, I went to an event hosted by Chicago magazine and opted for a pencil skirt and sleeveless blouse look. Dressy yet business-y yet fun

I have two things to point out about this outfit that make it notable and worthy of your eyes. One, the skirt I’m wearing is the J.Crew No. 2 pencil skirt, bought on sale. Great skirt, highly recommend. If you’re patient, you can usually find certain colors on sale. Boom. Sale.

But this post isn’t about a pencil skirt: It’s all about the collar holler. Button it UP. ALL the way up. The whole collar trend is possibly one of my favorites because A, I just coined the term “collar holler” and you heard it here first; and B, it’s not a new trend at all, just a way to style the clothes you already have in a way that feels current. That’s what this blog is all about: altering the things you already have to make them more stylish and fun to wear.

Crap. I just googled collar holler and it’s already in the name of some kind of Canadian folk song. Man, nothing is original. You still heard it here first, because let’s not pretend any of you were jammin to the “White Collar Holler” before.

Some collar holler runway inspiration:

Givenchy, Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs
(Fall 2012 runways, taken from harpersbazaar.com)

To make it trendy (and sellable), stores are now carrying all kinds of fun detachable collars, which are awesome (and scream DIY if I ever saw it) but so not necessary to buy (unless you want to, and then let me borrow it). Really, you don’t need to buy anything to participate. That’s the beauty of the collar holler–it’s totally inclusive. Just button up a shirt you already own and it looks instantly mod.

Literally, step one: Button your shirt.

Step two: Add a necklace underneath. Again, there are all sorts of collar necklaces you can buy, but any short, chunky necklace will do. I’m SURE you already own at least one.

This is predicted to blow up even more in the fall, so get ready to button it UP and collar HOLLER Honey Boo Boo!

Sew Excited

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I started my first sewing class!

So Project Runway. Tchad LLC workroom.

Back in high school I took a couple sewing classes (Fashion I and Fashion II) which consisted of learning to sew boxer shorts (easy), a skirt (moderately easy) and a collared button-down shirt (SO FRUSTRATINGLY DIFFICULT). Don’t get me started on the sleeves. We also got to make an item of our choice, so after the shirt debacle I chose the simplest item of clothing ever known to man: the tube top. In college, I conned my mom into buying me a craptastic plastic sewing contraption so that I could make myself more tube tops, but that thing broke pretty much instantaneously. Which is too bad because I really could have used a tube top for every day of the week.

I’ve always wished I had kept up sewing and had a machine to use at home for simple things and to have as a creative outlet. And more than that, I’m really interested in learning how things are constructed and the mechanics behind the design. And…maybe I want to make more tube tops.

So I signed up for a class that’s pretty intense: three hours long, once a week for 10 weeks. It’s a small group class but everyone works on different projects at different levels and receives individual instruction from the teacher, so it’s really more like a private lesson.

I had my first class and…IT WAS AWESOME. The things I learned in high school are coming back to me (those little triangle markings, basting the darts) and the first three hours flew by.

Here’s what I’m making:

I picked out two patterns. I wanted to start off with something simple so that I didn’t completely frustrate and overwhelm myself. My first choice was to make a pencil skirt and my teacher specifically recommended this pattern. I also found this simple colorblock dress that I thought could be really fun with the right fabric color choices. I got to my first class and my instructor said I should make both!

Progress has begun. Perhaps you’ll see me modeling them soon!

DIY Anthropologie Colorblocked Shades

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Though I do enjoy the finer things in life, when it comes to sunglasses I think I enjoy the cheapo plastic pairs equally to the designer variety. Everyone could use a few dumb pairs of retro sunnies in an overly distracting color, right?

Right. Like these Colorblocked Shades from Anthropologie:

I love these. The pop of orange, the on-trend color blocking and the wayfarer shape are all winners. At $38, they’re pretty reasonable – but not as reasonable as DIY-ing them with the super-cheap pair I already had at home. As soon as I saw these Anthropolgie shades I thought of the pair I bought a few summers ago:

They’re…fine. I bought them because they were something like $5 and I liked the shape, which is very close to the Anthropologie shades to begin with.

Time for an upgrade! To start, I covered the frames with a paper towel (to protect the lenses) and wrapped it all up in foil, leaving just the earpieces exposed. A normal person might have used painters tape, but I was running low. This baked potato contraption actually worked out perfectly.

Plastic is a tricky thing to paint and I didn’t want my shades to start chipping and peeling, so I began by spraying them with a white primer. Next, I used gold spray paint on just the ends. The Anthropologie version is more of a nude color, but I was feeling metallic. Once that dried I brushed a thin coat of bright peachy-orange acrylic paint over the rest. Tip: THIN coats are key. I finished it off with a coat of clear varnish to (hopefully) prevent chipping.

The results:

Ready for summer!

How to Wear Metallic Zebra Print

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You read that right. I finally wore a skirt I’ve been trying to wear for two years and I owe it all to chambray. I think my next Fashion Show at Lunch post will have to feature this genius shirt in three ways. It’s just so comfy and easy and versatile. I think by now we can all add chambray shirts to our wardrobes with confidence that this isn’t just a trend, but a staple piece – it’s really the resurgence of a classic, the combination of a basic button down and all-American denim. I say it’s here to stay. Wranglers is like, “Yeah, no duh.”

I wore this on Friday night, first to an event at Ann Taylor with my friends Kari and Joan and then to the MCA for one of their First Friday events with Todd:

Chambray shirt: J.Crew, Skirt: BCBG Generation.

I bought this skirt during a sale about two years ago, and this is the FIRST time I’ve ever worn it. I’m not happy about that – I am not one to buy something and let it sit. But I mean, it’s a metallic, zebra-print skirt. Who am I? I remember thinking I would wear it for New Year’s Eve. But then I remembered that I hate New Year’s Eve. My goal is to spend it in the most casual, least invasive way possible – not on my couch, but as close to that as I can get. Like on a friend’s couch. So a metallic, zebra-print skirt is probably unnecessary.

Until we enter the chambray shirt. I gave it as a gift to myself during J.Crew’s site-wide Black Friday sale and have to recommend it because it’s so soft and comfy, but you can easily find your own less expensive version (Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters and Old Navy, for example). Chambray works so perfectly with metallics, sequins, bold colors and all the crazy stuff you want to wear but need to tone down in some way. Thank you, chambray.

Styling Sesh

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One of the coolest things to me is finding out when someone I haven’t met before (and therefore did not coerce into reading this) likes my blog! One of my sister’s co-workers (hi, Karli!) emailed Lauren to ask if I would give her styling advice. Karli is a new mom and I think just basically felt like she was in a style rut. Many women wear the same “safe” styles over and over again – they’re tired of it, but feel stuck because it’s hard to try something new. Some people just need a lil push!

Lauren set up a day for us all to go to Camden Boutique in Elmhurst, which is our favorite boutique that I’ve mentioned before. A few of Lauren’s other co-workers joined us so we had a big group: Karli, Laura, Val and Lauren D. I asked the girls to pick out things they liked but might normally not have chosen, and with lots of help from Dee (Camden’s owner and our very good friend!), we styled the girls in different looks to give everyone a better idea of how one piece could turn into multiple outfits.

With Karli, the thing I was most excited about was getting her into skinny jeans. She thought she couldn’t wear them! Most untrue statement ever. A nice pair of dark wash skinny jeans can be flattering on basically every body shape. Of course, what you wear with them makes all the difference. A long, belted, blousy top is super flattering, as Karli demonstrates:

Cute, right? Simple yet stylish. Next is Laura, who has an upcoming trip to Vegas planned. This dress is perfect for nightlife:

Laura looks great in this dress (if only I had the right shoes)! As you can see in the picture, the necklace comes attached but is actually removable. This, along with the fact that the dress is a soft, almost sweatshirt-like material, makes it extremely versatile. So many possibilities! This is what I live for. Look at some of the ways we found to wear it:

Now, Val. Val is one of those girls who looks good in everything she tries on. Fact. I love this denim shirt dress on her, which soft and comfy and can easily be accessorized in a million ways:

Tip: When a dress comes with its own belt, trying changing it out. Instant upgrade. I also love how the scarf in the second picture changes everything. I like the legging/boot combo in the second picture (wardrobe staple) but the one thing I’d change about the first look is to do bare legs so the leggings aren’t cutting at the calf. My sister also owns this dress and I will be asking and/or begging to borrow it from her.

Lastly we have Lauren D., who tried on this orange dress by Bella Dahl, the same designer as the dress above. I love a dress like this because it’s easy to throw on and can act as a blank canvas when you’re up for accessorizing a little more. In the second look, I unbuttoned a grey top and layered it over the dress with a leopard print belt.

Lauren D. also tried a pair of these great faded, salmon-colored jeans that I was obsessed with. I love colored denim and although it can be intimidating at first, it won’t seem that way when everyone is wearing them this spring. Colored denim for all!

I love this picture and everyone looks really great, but Lauren D. in the printed top with those colored jeans – so, SO good. It’s just a little more unexpected and takes the style up to the next level.

So that was a little taste of our shopping trip! I loved hanging out with all the girls and special thanks to my co-stylist Dee and Lauren for all your help (who you can’t see here because she took all the pictures, thanks Lauren!).

Most of what you see here can be bought online at CamdenBoutique.com. If you’re in the Chicago area, you must check out her store in downtown Elmhurst. Dee and I are hoping to work an event together soon, so be on the lookout for more on that!

Fashion Show at Lunch: Shift Dress 3 Ways

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In this latest addition of my Kelly Kapoor inspired Fashion Show at Lunch Series, I’ve styled this French Connection dress three different ways. I’ve had this dress for several years now and I still love it – I just needed to find new ways to style it so I didn’t get bored.

Even if you don’t have this exact dress, you probably have a similar shift-style dress or tunic in your close that could be worn in similar ways. Let’s begin, shall we?

1. As a Belted Dress

This is how I’ve worn this dress dozens of times. Everything about this outfit appeals to me – comfy dress, belted, leggings and boots. This is very me. In fact, if you know me, you’ve likely seen me in this.

2. As a Top

I know! Let me just say, it’s actually not my brilliant idea to shove a dress down my pants. I received this tip years ago from a fashionable friend and since then see it being done all over the place. This outfit is tried and true – I wore it to work one day and got not one, but two compliments on my “top.” Tucking opens up a whole new world of options, but not all dresses will work, of course – most won’t, actually. This one is perfect because it’s a thin material and on the short side. There isn’t much fabric to tuck in so there isn’t any bunching. Skirts can work instead of jeans, too.

If you’re nervous, just throw a long cardigan over it. Don’t be scared, give tucking a try!

3. As a Skirt

This is the one way I hadn’t worn this dress yet – as a skirt. I chose a chunky sweater to layer over the top and added a belt for some shape. I LOVE this outfit. Love, love, love. It’s now my favorite – probably because it’s a new style for me, which makes me feel like I’m wearing a brand new outfit. Because duh, Barney Stinson’s oldest rule: New is always better.

What do you guys think? Which is your favorite? Would you give tucking a chance?

DIY Neon Jewelry

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Neon makes me happy. It’s just so fun and cheerful and brings back good nostalgia. I love how this trend (which was big on the Spring 2012 runways) is finding its way into fashion, home decor, beauty, everywhere. Just a small pop looks great, especially when combined with neutrals.

1. Sorakeem 2. A Pair & A Spare 3. Apartment Therapy

So in an attempt to lift the winter blues by burning my retinas with color, I attempted a little DIY project inspired by A Pair & A Spare. I’ve had these white earrings for more than a few years and I’ve only found the right occasion to wear them a handful of times. They’re just so white.

I also had this necklace that was screaming for color:

To start, I bought some spray paint while I was out in the burbs. Tip: Don’t buy spray paint at craft stores. They sell the same stuff for half the price at Menards and Home Depot, plus they have a way bigger selection.

Another tip: You really need to spray outdoors unless you want to feel like you’re dying a slow death.This is definitely a better summer project unless like me, you like sticking one arm outside to spray and then closing the door really fast.

For the earrings, I decided to spray the top half gold and the bottom half hot pink. I used painters tape to cover the bottom portion of the earrings as well as the hook part that goes in the ear. The gold paint went on perfectly in one coat. After it dried, I sprayed the bottom half in hot pink, which took a couple of layers.

For the necklace, I wanted to just do the bottom portion in neon yellow. Since these links were black, I had to start with primer, followed by multiple layers of yellow. Many, many layers of yellow. This project really tested my patience and I landed up working on it on and off all week.

The painters tape wasn’t very useful and I had to carefully go back and touch up the ends. I used this stuff called “Goof Off” which is like Goo Gone but way stronger because it also removes paint. Have it handy if you attempt a project like this. Or better yet, just spray the entire necklace and you won’t have to worry about it.

The final result:

 

I loved this project because I took something I probably wasn’t going to wear again and turned it into something I’m excited to put on.

Who wants to go cosmic bowling?

The Boot Investment

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“I like my money right where I can see it—hanging in my closet.” – Carrie Bradshaw

What kind of fashion blog would this be without a Sex and the City quote? We’ve all heard about “investment pieces” and the idea that classics are worth splurging on. My number one investment piece? Boots! This may be because I live in Chicago, where we can’t expose our skin from October to April, but leather boots are one of my most worn, most loved fashion accessories.

The key is to buy well-constructed boots made of good leather that ages well. My boots are now toddler age. I have three-year-old grey and black Fryes and four-year-old brown leather J.Crew boots. They’ve been holding up nicely until just this year, when they started looking rough. Real rough. The heels were totally worn out and the salt stains that used to wipe away easily wouldn’t go away. Since I plan to keep these kids around for many more years, I required some TLC from a man named Gus. I started taking my shoes to Gus New Quality Shoe Repair (click that link for my friend Karen’s review. She’s Yelp elite, you know) in Lincoln Park.

My beloved boots, before:


I clean and weather-proof my boots multiple times throughout the winter, but there is just no getting around the layer of salt that’s spread over the city come January. It absolutely destroys everything it touches.


I’m sorry, boots.

After: 


Discoloration removed.

New heels.

Scratches gone.

New soles.

They look practically brand new! Now if that’s not a great ROI, I don’t know what is. I did the calculations and it holds. Gus cleaned these guys up, fixed the discoloration, got the scratches out, weather-proofed them, put new heels on every pair and new soles on the brown and black ones (the grey will need them by next year, I’m sure).

I’m going back to Gus in March (that may be wishful thinking, probably April) to do a thorough cleanup on my boots again so that any trace of salt is removed and they’re ready to go come fall. In the mean time, I’ll religiously clean and water-proof spray them. By the way, saddle soap is cheap and great for cleaning and conditioning leather. You can really see a difference when you use it, plus it reminds me of my horseback riding days.


Ride on!