Viewing entries tagged
leather
As I mentioned in a recent post, I was interested in trying the dress over pants trend.
I don't know, maybe doing leggings is kindof cheating, but since they're leather, they're pretty substantial! I liked it. What do you think?
Photos by Celeste Boyer
As much as I usually post outfit pics that I feel good in, there are still those days when I feel hugely pregnant and when I try things that just don't work. For this particular night out, I really wanted to layer leather and faux fur. I thought my top layers might look good with a (non-maternity) H&M midi dress that I had picked up at Avalon Exchange with some store credit I got from selling clothes. They did not. So, I'm putting my vanity aside to show you why.
I was curious to see how the dress actually looked on me, so I took a few photos just to see. As you can tell, not great. The midi length is near impossible to pull off if you're not a supermodel, and the low, slouchy boot is not helping to elongate me at all. In general, black is great for hiding a bump, but in this case, I actually wanted more attention on the bump to distract from my hips. Don't laugh, this is actually one of the best aspects of being pregnant, people totally focus on your stomach and for once, it's ok! You can eat as much as you want and not have to worry about sucking it in, and any other flaws you might think you have fade into the background.
After I added my leather/fur layers (which I love!), the proportions were definitely off. If you think of your body as divided into three equal parts from top to bottom (Tim Gunn explains it here), you can see how the middle third of my body is much longer than either the top of bottom, which isn't pleasing to the eye. Also, the skirt of the dress reads as a straight-up-and-down rectangle, instead of tapering towards the knee, which would streamline the look. Again, if I'd worn higher heels, the proportion would have been slightly better, but still not great.
At this point, the light was gone, I had already put away my tripod, but I was still trying to make it work. I just started taking photos in my bedroom mirror - excuse the quality.
To try to address the proportion issue, I hiked that bad boy up to above my knees. Nope, still not feeling good.
Banana Republic leather jacket, thrifted Gap faux fur vest, Old Navy maternity tee, Paige jeans, Franco Sarto boots
In the end, I fell back on something in my comfort zone, skinny black jeans and a higher wedge heel. The proportions are right here: 1/3 is my top, 2/3 are from the waist on down. Pregnancy in particular is one of those times that you just want to feel content and confident with what you're wearing. Really, we all want to feel good in what we wear, and sometimes it takes a few do-overs (it happens to the best of us - see my last "don't" here). All you can do is learn from it (taking photos, even just on your iPhone, helps to see the issue) and move on! No beating ourselves up here.
Do you think about proportions when you're getting dressed? Have you had days where you needed do-overs? What did you learn?
My love for leopard shows no signs of abating. I have to consciously resist adding to my collection. This scarf is one of those faux fur loop through type deals that were really popular a couple of years ago and I love finding new ways to wear it.
When it's as cold as it's been here in St. Louis, I go ahead and make a scarf a permanent part of my outfit, not to be removed with my coat. This leather jacket was also worn all day. They kept me warm! I fashioned a cowl out of my scarf and pinned the ends so they'd stay in place. I often will also pin this scarf to a jacket as a makeshift faux fur collar.
I paired my scarf with a thrifted striped tee, very old leather jacket from Banana Republic, Franco Sarto suede booties, and Paige jeans, which are the one pair of non-maternity jeans I'm still able to wear! So exciting.
How are all of you dealing with the cold?
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Because we live in a day of lightening fast updates and immediate information, the Spring 2014 shows just wrapped up in New York, but we haven't even actually hit fall yet. To pull us back from the future, here are a few of my favorite Fall 2013 looks (which showed in February).
images via style.com
My favorite color, leopard, was big.
(all Burberry Prorsum except for center image-Wren)
images via style.com
Leather is everywhere.
(L to R: 3.1 Phillip Lim, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Zero+Maria Cornejo, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Helmut Lang)
Gold belts are sticking around.
(L to R: Balmain, Day Birger and Mikkelsen, Balmain, Burberry Prorsum)
images via style.com
Per usual, there were lots of jewel tones, but cobalt and navy blue are definitely taking precedence over other shades.
(L to R: 3.1 Phillip Lim, Zero+Maria Cornejo, Wren, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Wren)
images via style.com
Lovely patterns and textures.
(L to R: Alice+Olivia, Day Birger and Mikkelsen, Jill Stuart, Alice+Olivia, Wren)
images via style.com
My third wedding anniversary is just around the corner, and when we got married, my husband and I decided to stick to the "traditional" anniversary gifts (which is weird, since nothing else about our wedding was traditional). The first year is paper, the second is cotton, and the third is leather. We were pretty good about surprising each other for the first two, but decided for this one that we'd like each other's help picking out gifts. He'd like some new dress shoes, and I'd like a black leather bag - I actually don't own one.
I have a lot of requirements of such a bag. I'd like it to have shoulder straps but also a cross body strap. It has to have easy access outer pockets. I'd like it to have a little character, maybe some interesting hardware, but nothing that will go out of style any time soon. Big enough for a notebook. That's not too much to ask, right?
Here are a few options I'm considering (clockwise from top left, click image to link to sites): Vince Camuto Annette $298, Linea Pelle Dylan $475, Kelsi Dagger Sunham Satchel $173, and Botkier Shoulder Bag Valentina $295. Thoughts?
