Friday, April 12, 2013

The Little WHITE Dress

We all know the magic of owning the perfect little black dress, which can be worn for many occasions. Redbook magazine editors recently issued the challenge for me to wear a little white dress for summer. They are considering using this image in a blogger segment for their July issue.


Those of you who know me well know that I would never even look at a white dress. White is not good with my hair color and skin tone. Dresses are not normally on my shopping list, even in the correct colors. I don't like to show my legs, and the top half of me is much larger than the bottom half. This makes my dress choices very limited because they look like a tent on me.

For this blogger feature, I decided to put aside my preconceptions and give the task my best effort. My shopping time is minimal, so I headed over to my favorite store, which I can actually see from my breakfast nook. (I live on a hill, and they are on another hill across the valley.) Stein Mart has a nice selection of dresses most of the time, and on this day, I found two white dresses for consideration. This pearl ivory sheath with an asymmetric layered peplum was my choice. 




You may also know that I always look for a great price. I will never suggest that you buy a $300 pair of jeans. (Honestly! How do these young twenty-something bloggers afford a $1,500 handbag?) That's another reason I love Stein Mart! I found this dress by Premise Dresses with a suggested retail price of $128 for only $39.99. 

Since the dress was so form-fitting, I tried it in size 10 instead of an 8, and it worked great.  It came with a belt in the same fabric, but I omitted that since I wanted to up the glam for this shoot.



 
I paired the dress with nude pumps by BCBGeneration and an ivory trimmed straw bag from T.J. Maxx. 




The silver jewelry includes crystal trimmed large hoops, a large face crystal trimmed watch, and a large-scale link bracelet. The watch and crystal ring are from Stein Mart, and the other items have been in my collection so long I don't remember where I got them. 



It's official! My image will be in the July issue Redbook!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Go Natural!

The shell buttons on this fuchsia linen jacket inspired my choice of accessories for date night.


Three-quarter length sleeves are the perfect choice for this time of year. This fuchsia linen-like fabric is also great for the cool evenings of early spring. The jacket style is rather casual with pleated details and shell buttons, making it a good choice to pair with jeans and the tan pants I am wearing here.

I often take my cues for accessories from the details of a bag or jacket. For example, the buttons on this jacket are made from shells, so I chose accessories made from natural elements. The back of the jacket features the same gathered details with buttons.




The bone and brass bangles have been in my collection for years. The necklace is one that I bought from the clearance rack at Belk a couple of years ago. It was damaged and was much more "in your face" bright silver. Since I own a jewelry supply company, that was no problem for me. I replaced the missing chain and added a regal element to the pendant, and antiqued the silver to tone it down a bit. The pendant also includes a mother of pearl shell.



The tank top is from Coldwater Creek, and it is a softer white, not bright white. The pants are tan side zip pants from Talbots last fall.   

The jacket is by Peck & Peck from Stein Mart. It was on the 30% off rack last week. The Etienne Aigner shoes are several years old.