Bold Graphic Prints

Hello, welcome to my blog and thanks for joining me!

Spring is flying by, and

I can hardly believe it is already nearing the middle of May!

Dressing in layers seems the way to go

this month so far, with the weather so in flux

 

 All of the pieces in today's outfit

 were shopped from my closet

I love bold graphics,

so I chose a high contrast navy blue and white 

 print cardigan. It is a very versatile one,

  soft and light and easy to layer

Plus the seashell print reminds me

 of summer fun and vacation time!

In this styling, the cardigan looks a bit like a jacket

 I am wearing it over a bright pink satin shirt, 

 with dark wash, straight leg, denim jeans

I find this outfit is a good transitional formula

 for times when it can be warm during the day

(Or not, it is quite cool and cloudy today,

and our forecast is threatening rain all week long)

🌧️ 🌂☁️☔️ 🌧️ 🌂☁️☔️

   A little dopamine color is definitely in order!

The pop of bright pink is a season-less favorite for me!

How about you, are you a fan of bright pink

or bold prints?

Carrying a classic quilted dove gray bag with chain strap 

  that converts to crossbody

 This bag deserves more attention than it gets-

must use it more often!

For jewelry I chose silver tone pieces

to coordinate with the hardware and chain strap on the bag

A chunky chain link necklace,

  raindrop shaped earrings, 

and a wide, dome cuff bracelet

Wearing my trusty favorite navy blue

 embossed sling backs to finish this classic outfit 

 I have this shoe in black suede, as well

 I am waiting for Franco Sarto to re-issue this style

 in some other colors

 Recently, I have seen it in white reptile for spring,

 but I'm talking about colors, sans white-

 I would snap them right up! 

They are  comfortable and perfect

 for so many of my outfits

that look best with a block heel

Here is another wear of this navy blue and white

 shell print cardigan

This outfit mix is from spring, two years ago, in 2023

In the continuation of sharing my big spring closet clear out, here is another item that I have decided to consign 

I have gotten quite a bit of wear

 from this bright aqua and black print skirt

 It is one that I have worn in all the different ways 

that I think it looks best 

Although I still love a good graphic print,

 this skirt looks a bit costume-y to me 

when I put it on, now.

 My style has changed a bit

 since I bought it over ten years ago!

I think it is time for it to go to a new owner,

maybe as part of a costume,

I can definitely see it used in cos-play

 

Here is a picture of me wearing it in 2019

The skirt worked for all seasons, except winter,

and this picture was during the summer

As for the rest of the outfit, this style of blouse, with  

flutter sleeves has had a resurgence in fashion

 over past few years,

and platform shoes are back

I believe it was around this time

 in 2019 that the belt bag came back

 as a fashion item, too

 It is still around, but mostly worn crossbody, now

As for the rest of the outfit, this style of blouse, 

with flutter sleeves has had a resurgence in fashion

 over past few years,

and platform shoes are back again

I believe it was around this time,

 in 2019 that the belt bag came back

 as a fashion item, too

 It is still around, but mostly worn crossbody, now

What goes around in fashion comes back around, again!

Hope you all have a great week!

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello, welcome, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

 

Today, in celebration of Mother's Day,

(my mom's birthday is May 5th, Cinco de Mayo!),

 I am wearing a dress that is a riot of flowers

If April showers truly brings May flowers, we are in for a treat

 My part of the country experienced

 a very wet and soggy April,

 so I can't wait for all those flowers to appear!

🌼🌹🌸💐🌺🌻🌷

We have had a modest showing of 

 tulips and daffodils so far,

  so I thought I would add to those in the garden

 by wearing all the blooms!

 The dress I chose for today's post

is a modified shirt waist in chiffon,

 with a pointed collar and covered buttons down the front

The dress is by Nanette Lepore

 Her designs are known for their pretty, feminine touches,

 and this dress does not disappoint!

 You can't see all of the details very well in these photos,

 but the bodice has vertical rows of tiny pin tucks

 The floral print is a mix of colors that are flattering to many,

 in springtime pastel shades of peach, pink and orange

 The only thing I'm not crazy about

 on this dress are the sleeves

 They are elbow length and super full and puffy,

 with lots of gathers on the sleeve caps

Voluminous sleeves have been trending

for several seasons now, in all lengths;

short, elbow, three quarter and long

 It is hard to avoid them, but many

 are a little overwhelming on me

 

I do love the swishy full skirt, though...

and the bow tie sash at the waist

I'm carrying a favorite little bag,

 a pale pink heart shaped handle bag

For jewelry I chose organic shapes in gold tone

 A hinged wrap collar necklace, a curved open bracelet

 and looped earrings

 I like these three loop earrings so much,

 I have them in silver tone, too

Nude pointed toe tie kitten heels to finish the outfit

Continuing with my feature

 of items leaving my closet this season,

  is this colorful knit top 

It has quite a bit of pink and orange

in the print, like today's dress

 I ordered this top online from Macy's, and when it came,

 the fit was quite off

The "V" neckline is super low,

and the waist tapers very small 

   I would have returned it, but this was right in the middle

 of the time period that Macy's was changing their return policy from 90 days to 30 days, and I just missed the window!

 I have worn the top a few times,

 but have never really been happy with the fit

 

This picture is from summer 2022,

shortly after I purchased it

It was not a big purchase,

 but every time I saw it in my closet and passed over it,

 I got an unhappy feeling,

 so I've decided to move it on

  

 It is still a current and popular style,

 and I think someone will snap it right up

 from the consignment shop,

who will enjoy it, and it will be a better fit for

Here's blooming, now-

Tulips!
🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

Wishing a very Happy Mother's Day

 to all of the mothers and caregivers,

and hope everyone is enjoying spring

 and has a great week!

Red and White Striped Polo Dress

 

 Hello, welcome!

 And thank you for stopping by my blog today!

Knit polo dresses, like the one I am wearing,

never really go out of style,

 but they have enjoyed a resurgence

  in popularity in fashion over the past few years

The polo dress is a classic, timeless,

and supremely comfortable, casual dress

 just like the garment it was adopted from,

 the ubiquitous polo shirt 👕

If you didn't know,

the polo shirt was originally invented in 1926

 by tennis legend René Lacoste,

specifically to play the game in 🎾

It still retains a sporty and casual vibe,

but today, the polo shirt and polo dress

 are worn on and off the tennis court,

 for all types of sports and casual wear,

 as well as streetwear

Today, I chose a red and white striped, long sleeve

polo dress with a crisp white collar and split V neck 

Since the weather is still a bit cool outside,

 I layered a navy blue cardigan on top

Keeping it colorful and fun

with a Kelley green embossed handle bag

I chose minimal, simple gold tone jewelry

to complement this sporty outfit

A few more accessories in Kelly green- 

A textured belt and pleated headband

Wearing navy blue patent leather kitten heel

 sling backs to finish the look

The last time I wore this dress on the blog

 was for my Memorial Day post last year,

with lace tennis shoes,

(not made for the tennis court at all)!

Red, white and blue in 2024,

  red, white, blue and green today

For my continuing series on my closet clean out,

an item that is leaving my wardrobe this spring

is this navy blue linen midi skirt

 It has a giant batik paisley print, in black and white

I love a big full skirt, and I have worn this skirt

 quite a bit since I bought it

It is one of those items that has been a little bit

 difficult to place, seasonally

 I have worn it in the spring and fall mostly,

in all the ways I could imagine

 It is quite a substantial linen 

and seems too heavy and dark for summers in Maryland

 which is the season it was marketed for

Here is one time I wore it in the spring of 2021

I don't think it was a stellar buy; 

I found the first time I wore it on the blog in summer, 2019

shortly after I bought it, so not bad

I hope a new owner will enjoy this piece,

and can get creative with it,

whatever season they chose to wear it in

Spring garden-

lots of daffodils in

different varieties pop their heads up

at different times during April and May

Their yellow frilly faces are so delightful!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Spring Monochrome in Coral

Hello, welcome to my blog,

 and thanks for stopping by!

Today, I am giving monochrome dressing a whirl,

with items from my closet

 that I have not previously worn together 

 A monochrome look is timeless and always popular, 

 but this look is really trending, now

 I am seeing lots of separates being worn together

 in different tones of the same color,

 as well as pieces in the same color

 with lots of fun and interesting textural details

  When I think of monochrome dressing,

 British royalty comes to mind

  Princess Catherine frequently dresses all in one solid color,

 and always looks very chic and sophisticated

Her looks seem effortless,

 with a quality of simplicity, which is lovely

 I find it is not really effortless to create the look

with separates, but I am going to give it a try

How about you, are you a fan of monochrome dressing?

I have chosen two shades of coral for this outfit

My scoop neck three-quarter sleeve blouse

 is a darker shade with a matte texture finish

 The skirt is a lighter shade of coral

 in a silky texture that has more of a sheen

I used different tones

 of the neutral color taupe for my accessories

to and a little contrast

Carrying a small embossed satchel bag

with horse bit detail

I chose some simple gold tone jewelry pieces

 for this streamline look

 A wide herringbone chain collar necklace,

 a twisted bangle bracelet and loop design hoop earrings

A few more accessories to embellish this simple outfit:

 a beaded coral, peach, fuchsia and wine hairband

 and dark taupe leather sash belt

Taupe patent leather slingback kitten heels

with buckled straps to finish the outfit

 

Another way to achieve a monochrome look

is with a one-and-done solid color dress

Is that cheating?

One more easy way to get this look

 is to go with all white or all black

Almost everyone already has a variety of pieces

 to mix and match in these two non-colors

worth experimenting with

 

 Here is an all white outfit from summer, 2021

I am looking forward to unpacking and starting to wear 

my summer whites- how about you?

 Or if you shy away from white,

black is very chic for spring and summer, too

Continuing with my spring purge,

here is another item

It fits right in with the monochrome them

of this post 

A grey on grey reptile print pleated peplum top

This top dates all the way back to 2016!

I have worn it off and on,

 as reptile prints and peplums have rotated

 to the forefront of the trend cycle

I take very good care of my clothes, 

 and this is one of the few items that just wore out

The black trim around the neck is faux leather,

 and it recently started peeling and disintegrating

I have gotten a good bit of wear from this top, though

 It turned out to be a valuable lesson

 about buying clothing items, bags, shoes

 and other accessories made of faux or vegan leather

I have several fashion bags,

from different price points that are

sadly suffering the same fate

Planned obsolescence, I guess 🙁

Here is a previous wear of the top from 2017,

well before it's trim started to crumbled 

Hope you all had a nice Easter,

and enjoy the week to come!

 

Easter Greetings

 Hello, welcome, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Happy Easter season

 to all of those who celebrate this holiday!

🐣 

Does anyone else vote for Easter falling later in the year 

when warmer weather prevails?

I guess it depends on where you live

A little Easter holiday reminiscence follows

 I wonder if anyone else

 shares a similar experience from their childhood

that they would like to share!

When I was a little girl,  

 I remember my grandmother taking me shopping each year,

 for my special Easter Sunday outfit

 Back then, all of the retailers

 put their Easter finery out around the same time,

a few weeks before the holiday

There was always so much anticipation for the day

when we road the bus downtown,

 and I got to pick out my fancy new Easter dress

What a special treat it was!

I wonder if this is possibly the sweet memory

 that fuels my love of dressing up today? 👗👒👛

 The new dress would also be worn

 throughout the spring and summer

 to any special event that came up,

especially coveted birthday party invitations

But alas, the same vexing problem

 occurred every year

 Easter Sunday came, and the weather

 was too cool for my chosen frilly frock

I wore my new dress most Easter Sundays 

covered up by a cardigan or coat   

Today, I am more wise to the weather

 and plan on the cardigan

 Even though I'm not wearing a frilly new dress

 purchased just for Easter,

 a sweater is still in order

This Easter, I am wearing a wrap dress

 in a psychedelic paisley and floral print,

in shades of aqua, blue and violet

All the blues are trending this spring,

although the dress is several years old

I layered the wildly printed dress

 under a nubby textured blue cardigan

 I chose this cardigan for the outfit, 

because it is sort of a throwback style,

 reminiscent of the ones worn way back when

 It is a classic take on the lady cardigan or lady jacket

currently popular once more today!

A stance my grandma might have taken 

while waiting for me to get all my buttons and bows in order

 so as not to be late for church-lol!

Carrying an embossed taupe small satchel handle bag,

 with gold tone horse bit detail

I chose three pieces of bright gold tone jewelry

 A necklace of rounded square reticulated links,

a bold hinged bracelet and loop design hoop earrings

Accessorizing this outfit up

 with a navy blue polkadot bow headband

 and navy blue belt

Taupe suede cross strap block heels

 to finish my Easter look 

A flashback to Easter time, 2020

Layered up back then, too

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago,

these beautiful cherry blossoms

are a pink carpet on the ground, now 

Some Easter holiday treats-

the bunny cupcakes are (almost) too cute to eat!

I will be back next week,  

with another outfit and another item

 purged from my wardrobe

Hope everyone is having a lovely

 Easter holiday season!