Cozy colors

Today I was talking to my mom on the phone and she was telling me how cold (-4 F!!!) and windy it was in Russia, that the sky looked like a big piece of steel over the head and how much she missed sunny colors of summer. So my original plan of writing about trendy printed jeans changed and considering that in majority of places winter is still running the weather I decided to make a post about pretty and fun but warm pants.

Guess? corduroy pants, Guess? shoes,

Miss Sixty faux leather jacket

One of my first purchases for colder seasons was pair of “Guess?”corduroy pants in “Vatican” color. And truthfully, any simple sweater or shirt looks great if worn with them. Their saturated pink is simply gorgeous and skinny fit also works wonderfully for cold weather, creating long and lean and stylish look (who isn’t tired yet of all that bulk of puffy coats, scarves and hats?!).

Another pair of pants that I was wearing a lot last few months is “7 For All Mankind” in teal velvet. Fabric is so cozy and soft that sometimes it seems that you are wearing sweats but not a pair of skinnies. They sure don’t look like sweats though! Check out that deep “rich” color and plush sheen of velvet - stunning! Again fit is really comfy too, and skinny leg gives you options of wearing them with both shoes and boots.

7 For All Mankind Velvet Skinny in Teal,
Guess? sweater, MICHAEL Michael Kors handbag

Those were just a couple of examples, but there are so many cool pants and jeans in different colors and fabrics out there, that no matter what climate you live in there is a perfect pair for you that will lift your mood up and make you shine. Who cares what temperature is outside? You always can create a little summer in your closet!

My First Denimology Review!

Hello Everybody! Today is a very important day for me: my first jeans review was posted on http://www.denimology.com/. It is about the Garden Party Print Skinny by 7 For All Mankind. You are welcome to check it out, hope you’ll enjoy it!

I am back!

Hi guys! Sorry that was keeping silence for such a long time (trust me, not because there was nothing to write about), but there was just too much stuff going that my husband Carey and I got caught in, I just didn’t have time  Carey’s new job, moving from Chicago to Los Angeles, learning how to drive (yes, I didn’t know how to do that!) and overall getting used to a new place really scattered our lives for a while. But now when we are all settled in I am ready to start my blog again and share with all of you our fashion experience!

Should we do a small style recap about last seasons?! Think we should. And not because of the nostalgic feelings towards last spring trends that went away for good, but because they are still alive and even more exaggerated than ever, and if you didn’t catch them then maybe now is the time.

Neons: here I am in August 2011 wearing my “GUESS by Marciano” lime green dress and honestly I am going to rock it out this summer too! Even more: I already have a list of other stuff that I want to get in neon colors. Yellow, green, pink, orange in acidic shades pretty much just exploded in fashion world, you simply can’t stay out of it!

Prints, a lot of prints (!): look at this dress by “Custo Barcelona”, isn’t it awesome?! Bright, vibrant, simply eye catching! And this is how you should feel everyday walking out of your apartment or house- awesome! Wearing big prints like this is an easy but very effective way to achieve it, and again it’s very much in trend!

And of course let’s not forget about animal and reptile patterns. Snake, leopard, cheetah and zebra did in actuality invade our closets and definitely are not leaving any time soon. From handbags and accessories they are jumping and crawling not just on blouses and sweaters but skirts and even pants.

Colored denim: red jeans were THE BOMB last summer!
Of course, how couldn’t they?! Great option for a fun casual look but an easy dress up for an evening. It’s impossible to blend in with an asphalt wearing them, you get noticed momentarily. Don’t forget to get them out of your closet this summer too, they are still “rad”



















Shirt denim dress: “7 For All Mankind”made a really cool one, got bunch of compliments wearing it. Simple and perfect piece for spring/summer and very much “hot”. Don’t hesitate to accessorize it in a fun way: bold shoes and jewelry will be a great addition to dress like that.

So these are just a few trends that were really ruling last seasons and are still ruling now. In next post think we should talk about how they transformed in today’s fashion and of course discover brand new style happenings.

Like a ship of the desert.

Don’t worry I didn’t watch Discovery channel too much and am not planning to talk about animals living in Sahara, but I am going to talk about one of the biggest trends of this season and loudest come backs - camel coat. I remember when I was a kid my mom had it, my dad had it, even my grandparents had it. Apparently it was an absolute must-have, solid symbol of status and style. And here we go – it comes again! Of course a little bit different. It got its modern twist that most certainly will differentiate you from the image of 90s. No shoulder pads and enormous lapels, more fitted shapes, more complicated cuts. Designers definitely went away from boxy “power” looks and insist on more luxurious and elegant forms. They also add visual interest using fur trim, embroidery and pleating. This decade women camel coat is very feminine, almost “girly”. More over nowadays camel coat transforms into short jackets, cute capes and all other forms of outerwear that you can only imagine.
And what’s even more exciting that you can bring this particular trend not only into your outerwear, but in any piece of your wardrobe. Cashmere cardigans, wool turtlenecks and sweater-dresses, pants and skirts in luxurious camel color are absolute must-haves of this season. Even shoes and bags changed their usual fall/winter black to warmer tan color. But make sure that your outfit is balanced, both in style and tone. One neutral piece is enough otherwise wearing “camel” all over, you can look like big bowl of porridge. If it’s a dress, pair it with bold accessories, edgy pattern (leopard, snake) boots and purse. Don’t afraid to add some color to spice up the look. My advice is also to try to mix different styles, walking away from usual classic perspective of the whole “camel” trend. For example, plain conservative sweater will look fantastic with denim pencil skirt and wide brown belt, bunch of golden bracelets and big earrings. Another opportunity to be more creative dressing in “camel” is to mix textures: silk blouse of jewel tones will bring visual interest to tan stretch riding pants not only because of the color, but also because of the contrast of shiny and matte finishes of the fabrics.

This trend really deserves all that love that it gets from fashionistas: it’s extremely versatile and comfortable. It is good for different occasions (office appropriate and perfect for casual), great for any age and so easy to put together. Plus it’s pretty much timeless, because years will pass before you’ll retire your “camel” attire.

Only sky is the limit!

Oh My God! How I love shoes! And how I love heels! Sometimes they are killing us, hurting so bad after several hours of walking and the only desire that we have is to throw them away along with our dying feet, but we still love these damn shoes! No wonder why – they make us taller, thinner and so much sexier! They spice up even very simple outfit and give us this great vibe of femininity that turns around tons of guys’ heads.
Maybe you remember when we were talking about “Fall List” – list of must-haves for this season – which included faux fur jacket (checked!), skinny cargo pants (checked!) and cheetah print shoes! And hallelujah – last item in the list is bought too! I know that I was so against peep-toe options, but of course I ended up exactly with such pair. Let me introduce you to my “Best Pair of Shoes” (how my husband calls them): “Betsey Johnson” leopard print pumps with mirror platform and heel (thanks to ideeli.com only $79 vs $200 regular price). Must admit they definitely require some practice in walking in them, but overall they are pretty comfortable, especially if using “Dr. Scholl’s” silicone inserts. And they are so hot! You will not believe but in a few hours I got at least 5-6 compliments from both men and women. The trick is to let them shine, to let them play a first role in your outfit otherwise they would lose their amazing effect. Try to pick settled colors and patterns for the rest of your ensemble, or at least separate bright top from them with pair of solid color pants or skirt. And of course leopard purse should be never seen together with them, we don’t need “animal overload”!
Another my great find is black “GUESS by Marciano” wedges with cool lace-up on the back. Who doesn’t need pair of nice black shoes? And these ones, being a little bit extreme and edgy, still have a great classic look. Plus wedge is very comfortable. Just give shoes like that couple of days to take a shape of your feet and pretty soon they’ll be as comfy as pair of slippers (maybe not that comfy, but definitely close!). Such shoes will work nicely with classic and even conservative dresses and suites for the day and at the same time will perfectly compliment any evening look.

Think that I’ll be never able to say “no” to high-heel shoes, moreover each time I pick them even higher. It’s almost like a scale: the more inches are in the heel the more pride and appeal you have wearing them. “High” means “hot”! So let’s never let “temperature“ go down!!!

Higher or lower?

High-waist pants were trying to squeeze into contemporary fashion already for several years, but can’t say that very successful. Though designers consistently insist to let them into our life and our closet must admit it’s a very risky move for the most of women population. Because high-waist pants are too tricky. Only few types of figures can easily handle them.
I remember, when two years ago denim company that I worked for produced its first high-waist jeans, all of us were so excited. They looked so cool: bold big buttons on the front, contrast stitching and nice washes, and seemed that they would shape you like a sculptor shaped his marble! But after first fittings all excitement was gone. On most of the girls they surprisingly were creating very boxy “teenager girl” look, they were hiding curves, but not defining the waist, they were completely ruining proportions of the body. The only lucky individuals that looked great in that jeans were stick-skinny ones that didn’t have a lot of curves at the first place and girls that had very strong hour-glass shape, simply because they could afford to lose some booty volume. And even they didn’t really stick to these pants because rise like this is the least comfortable. Maybe it’s a little bit crazy, but I personally have very hard time to wear high-waist pants – all my bottoms from the time when I was 9 had a middle or low rise, so no surprise that something so much higher almost suffocating me.
Another challenge that can be added to high-rise pants is their design and cut. Considering that such pants are very high-fashion, designers are not hesitated to make them even more high-fashion and in a lot of cases more difficult to wear. Weird cropped length, billions of pleats (that, btw, create huge amount of extra volume on hips), lose or even pleated waist line and bunch of other “creations” don’t make our shopping easier. But believe me even in all this “runway insanity” it’s very possible to find silhouette right for you.
So what should we do if we are not lucky ones with the body “naturally ready” for high-waist pants? Let’s trick everybody around and create one. Light-weight wide blouses (tucked-in!!!) will create a lot of volume on top that will make bottom slimmer, nice wide or skinny belt will accentuate your waist and create a great proportion, structured jacket will be perfect pair in this ensemble too creating hour-glass shape. Great pair of heels, nice bag and big jewelry will complete the whole look.

Yes, all people are different, all figures are different and not every single item in the store is going to work on, but a lot of things are in our own hands. Putting some thought into your look, some effort and time you can make even something very challenging and difficult to wear look fabulous on you! So give it a try, who knows maybe high-waist pants will be your favorite thing!

Be furry!

As we talked in earlier posts faux-fur jacket (below will call it FFJ) or vest is a “must have” this season, and if you still haven’t bought it, it is not going to be a problem. Pretty much every designer or brand offers their options of FFJ, assortment of colors, different textures and price range is extremely wide. The cheapest one I was able to find is on ideeli.com : $49 for really cute jacket in grey, brown or black (if you have tight budget, this would be your best bet). The high level of prices goes from $500 and way too far in a 4-digit numbers, so in my case I preferred to stay somewhere in the middle, which would be very comfortable for most of people. Love FFJ that “Express”, “Zara” and “Armani Exchange” offer: nice design, great quality and very affordable prices. My white long hair jacket that I got in “Zara” was $99.
But with all this variety and huge popularity of FFJ I have one concern – is everybody going to look the same? Who wants to be one in a million chickens from the same incubator??? Definitely not me! And not you! The only thing that we can do about is to customize our jacket a little bit. I am not talking about taking it to the tailor and changing thing completely (btw, that would be very challenging to do), but to add some unique twist, and here accessories will be our best friends. Big exaggerated broaches, belts, scarves may easily change focus of the whole outfit. Pick wide elastic or narrow with a lot of hardware belt to accentuate waist line (recommend contrast to your jacket colors), bulky with interesting textures and prints scarves and gloves to complete an ensemble. Wear pattern tights and bright shoes or boots, cool hats with embellishments and bunch of decorations. Such tricks will help to create stylish and unique look, without featuring one strong piece, like FFJ in our case, and even brown fur vest that you’ll see a lot on the streets this fall will look completely different on you. Don’t hesitate to experiment and try the craziest combinations, I guarantee you at least one of them will be fabulous!

Don’t be afraid to buy FFJ, don’t think it’s too much work to wear it, it’s fun, pretty and warm and you’ll definitely enjoy having it in your closet.