Blue Collar Red Lipstick

23
Jul
2014

Date Night

categories: Dress-up, Favourite things, style

Rachel Roy sari dress — Dress, RACHEL Rachel Roy (via consignment); shoes, Ivanka Trump; clutch, Rebecca Minkoff; earrings, J. Crew Factory

By now, y’all are probably really tired of hearing me proclaim my love for Rachel Roy dresses, so … I won’t do it. You’ve seen this dress before (here and here), and it is still as awesome as ever. Now, at least, you can see it in its full glory. I don’t think I’ve spent $18 on anything more glorious.

Please excuse the extreme squinting, it was a sunneeeeee day. Evening, actually. We gussied up the whole fam and headed off for a dinner date with some of our favouritest people, the kids’ godparents. Delicious Famoso’s pizzas were had by all … including the 10-month old with two toofs. Big fan of the thin crust, errr, crusts, apparently. Gastronomic proclivities run in the family.

22
Jul
2014

Nautical by Nurture

categories: style

LL Bean anchor skirt — Skirt, LL Bean (thrifted); shirt, Old Navy; sandals, Gap Factory; bag, MbMJ (via eBay)

I love the whole prep aesthetic, and especially anything nautical, but I always feel a bit of a fraud when I try to borrow it. My ancestors were not exactly the sailing type. I get nauseous on small watercraft. Still, I can’t help but love me a good anchor motif. This skirt was a foregone conclusion as soon as I clapped eyes on it at Value Village. Even though it’s a straight/A-line style, which I normally avoid.

It happens to be my first LL Bean piece, and colour me impressed. You can see that a lot of thought went into the details (the striped piping is a particularly nice touch), which makes the skirt seem more expensive than it (likely) was. Definitely more expensive than the $10 I spent on it.

I really didn’t want to go overboard with the nautical theme (the post title is more than enough), so I nixed pairing the skirt with anything stripey. Chambray goes with everything, and I tend to think of it as a “style neutral” – it complements any number of styles, without drawing extra attention to itself – so it seemed like a good bet. Red shoes because I never don’t love a good red shoe … plus, I don’t have a pair of white ones. (Note to self: why is that?) And there you have it.

21
Jul
2014

Red And … Wait for It … Blue

categories: style

AG stevie cropped red cords; red cords; Mel flower flats — Pants, AG (via consignment); top, Anthropologie (via consignment); necklace; RW&Co.; bag, Marc Jacobs (via consignment); shoes, Mel

I am a massive baby when I’m sick. The massive-est. I easily put my 3-year old* to shame. Happily for my family, I had an uncharacteristic sickness-free streak of nearly 6 months this year; unhappily (for us all), the cold that ended my lucky streak was a real mean SOB. Ugh. That’s all I can say about it. This is me, 4 days into it and completely over everything. A sleepless night watching over the (also sick) baby really helped my complexion … not at all. So, bring out the red pants. That will distract everyone. Genius!

You know what I just realized? Not wearing black – the safe default – when I’m feeling under the weather really helps me look less like death warmed over and more … everyday pasty. The more you know, etc.

* Yesterday was my son’s birthday. I’m still working on processing the fact I have a THREE year old. Three years that felt like an eternity, yet were gone in the blink of an eye. Like, whoa. We love you to bits, monkey.