swift

if i had a dollar for every time lately someone has told me i look like taylor swift, i could probably buy the ralph lauren collection dress that she wore to the people's choice awards last night. i am freaking out a little bit over how stunning she looked. that dress is unbelievable. i'm generally a pretty modest dresser, but i think she played this one perfectly. she looks sexy and classy.

i don't really see my resemblance to tay swift, but i have been asked to appear as her at the cabarrus chamber's annual meeting next friday. given that i don't have to sing and get a free lunch out of the deal, i am pretty happy about it. perhaps taylor would lend me this dress for my appearance? or is it too much for a day event?

images: 1.-2.stylefrizz

if i was a rich girl

you guys. can we please talk about this coat? oh my goodness. and that's all i have to say.

images via jcrew

here comes the bride(smaid)

tonight i did some serious searching for a dress for next week's impending nuptials. i haven't blogged much lately (sad), so in case you don't interact with me on a regular basis and haven't heard me talking incessantly about next week's wedding-of-the-decade, let me brief you. aaron is my brother. he is cool and stylish and has a swank job at one of charlotte's best architecture firms. he is marrying gracie, a girl he met while in college. she is beautiful, sweet, so smart and creative, and has the best manners of anyone i know. i get a thank you note for something almost every time i see her. and they're always the really pretty, fancy kind. the ones you get at paper source and want to frame. a + g are getting married in wilmington and it's going to be a big fancypants affair with lots of events.

first, let me say how MUCH i love gracie for choosing this dress for her bridesmaids:

isn't it gorgeous? (although the model is terrifying me.) it's lilly pulitzer (go figure) and the stripes are actually little golden threads woven into the fabric. it's one of those dresses i would see in the store and wish i had a reason to buy. now i have a reason and it's going to be mine forever after. i can't wait to wear it. seriously. i LOVE it.

i'd like to say i'm just completely amped about next weekend (because i am), but there's been a little sadness too. i would be lying if i said watching aaron and gracie walk through this process together hasn't made me jealous about the fact that i'm not getting married anytime soon. and insecure. no one wants to be the groom's-single-older-sister. ew. so naturally i've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to have some fab frocks for all of the festivities. combine that with the fact that i'm ridiculously cheap, and i've been having a time finding anything i like. i hit nearly every store at southpark mall tonight. first, a few thoughts:

1. what is with all the one-shoulder dresses? they were cool last year and aside from an occasional re-wear, i'm seriously over them.
2. never in my life have i found so many beautiful white/ivory lacy dresses. why does that happen the one time that it's inappropriate to wear such a dress?

3. why did this supremely perfect dress (alice + olivia) have to cost so much? if it had been up to me, i would have bought it and been done.
4. why do dresses cost so much and still fit so badly? i'm a size 6-8 here, people. pretty standard. most of what i put on was horribly unflattering and just fit poorly.

i had all but given up when i stopped in ann taylor on my way out of the mall. um. when did ann taylor become awesome? i think i might have found a new favorite store. i liked nearly everything in the place. color, neutrals, work wear, weekend wear. everything. i went a little crazy and tried on much more than dresses. look at all those goodies! that blazer was the best thing ever and if anyone wants to buy it for me, i'll take a size 6.

i ended up surprising myself by falling in love with the bright pink deconstructed sheath dress. (even before i realized it was 50% off). let me say that these images above from the site do no do it justice. it is gorgeous and modern and so flattering. and totally unfussy. it has that oh-i-just-threw-this-on-and-look-fabulous air. after wearing it around the dressing room for a while soliciting compliments from anyone who wanted to give them, i walked out of the store with a fantastic rehearsal dinner dress. 

in a perfect world, i would style it up like this. given that i own nothing even remotely similar to these items, the likelihood that i'm going to pull it together in less than a week is probably not great. i may have to get creative with what i've got. the good news is the sock bun is always cool and won't require any planning or effort.

in other wedding weekend fashion news, i plan on picking this little number up on monday at ivy & leo by my office. that is, if no one has bought it yet. i've been stalking it for a couple of weeks now and the verdict is in. i need it.


much more wedding goodness to come. for real.

photo credit: 1.brightyoungthoughts 2.lillypulitzer 3.nordstrom
 4. @cdcote on instagram 5/6.anntaylor 7.polyvore 8.designerbagsanddirtydiapers 

pink kisser

to be quite honest, when i started hearing talk of the onslaught of color this season, i got a little bit scared. i live in neutrals. nearly all of my closet is made up of olives, navies, blacks, browns and grays. i like to take risks by layering them together. unless you count the red on my fingernails and lips, i don't do color. (well, not since my elle woods phase my freshman year of college, anyway, which may have created my current fear of color. there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. my freshman dorm room is a key example.) the spring 2012 runways reminded me of skipper's spandexed teen-girl wardrobe back in the day. too much neon. something about it seemed so eighties. so third grade. so unsophisticated. but then, on my way home from a spring trends lecture at neiman marcus in february, i bought a hot pink and orange cropped top (not at neiman marcus, mind you). i wore it the next day, and i felt kind of awesome. then i got a mint green manicure. then i bought a neon yellow button down. slowly but surely, color started to find its way into my wardrobe. and i have to admit, while i still generally prefer to mix it with a tamer piece, i really like it. i don't feel young or unsophisticated. in fact, i feel fresh and feminine and cool.

all of this color has certainly inspired my make-up routine as well. i've always been stumped on how to make my beloved bold lipstick work for the spring and summer months. until about two weeks ago when i was suddenly wildly inspired by bold, pink lips. i bought a couple of cheap tubes last weekend just to try out the look, and i have to say, it's kind of fabulous. i generally gravitate toward more orange-toned hues, but the pink was actually surprisingly flattering on my fair skin. i totally love it.

so the moral of the story here? sometimes trends that are intimidating are actually really fun to ease into. lipstick is probably about the most non-committal way to ease into color, but, hey. i'm trying here, people.

1.kate spade image credit via emily 2.image credit 3.image credit

tomorrow's the day!

runway for the ballet has finally arrived - i couldn't be more excited!

someday i will blog again

but until february 11th, my life is consumed. quite frankly, i've never been more excited for something to end. nonetheless, the show should be super. come support dance theatre and all of our hard work please? see you then! (i'll likely be the haggard sweaty looking one among all the pretty people.)

sharp dressed man

i'm not much of a loyal glee-watcher anymore, but darren criss (aka blaine) can sing to me any day. i also really appreciate a man in a good suit and this gq feature from this past summer was passed along to me today by my friend mary. i am totally smitten and just had to share.

i would appreciate such a well-dressed date to my brother's wedding in may. heck, i'd appreciate a man this well-dressed every day.

view entire feature here

all things grand

 

last weekend i had the pleasure of attending lore emelio's fall runway show, all things grand, in charlotte. if you've been reading for a while now, you'll know this is my fourth show of lore's that i've been fortunate to attend, and lore's collections and following in the charlotte area are definitely growing quickly. i always look forward to her shows for several reasons. one, i often enjoy pretending i'm a cast member on gossip girl. two, there is generally free champagne (this time it was chardonnay, but who am i to complain?). three, they are attended by so many lovely and fashionable people from charlotte's society and art world. i am not one of those people, but it is really fun to see what everyone is wearing. you know how people watching in an airport is way fun? imagine yourself in the coolest and most stylish airport imaginable. and four, because lore's collections are creative and unique and have continued to progress over the past two years. it's fun to see her style developing and this particular show was certainly the most opulent, luxurious and grandiose that i've attended. my photography skills are seriously poor, but here are a few looks from the show...

pre-show festivities featured live art installations as guests entered. the car on the left is lore's grandmother's rolls royce, or so i was told. fancy. 

 

these dresses had the look of a very well-tailored grandpa cardigan, worn backwards. the back featured a deep-v with buttons and pockets. the turbans were also a big part of the show. i think they're kind of awesome.

look how shiny this guy's hair is. he doesn't need a metallic turban like the ladies above. see the guest in the turban behind him? she's jealous.

for some reason, this look reminds me of a more chic, modern version of clueless.

favorite dress of the evening #1. i think the fur did it for me. i also wish i looked this beautiful bald. i haven't been bald since i was a baby, and i don't even think it was cute then.

favorite dress of the evening #2. i really want to wear this to runway for the ballet in february. i also wish i had a cool mini-fro in which i could stick feathers and not look like i was dressing up for a thanksgiving play.

this picture thoroughly terrifies me because for some reason it reminds me of the creepy twins in the shining. i've never seen that movie, and i don't want to.

i'm going to go out on a limb here and say i will never look good in teal velvet, but she pulled it off.

lore is all about the low v-back and i love it.

oh wait, a teal velvet CAPE!? i take back what i said.

this dress reminds me of the rainbow fish after he shared his rainbow scales and was happy.

 

so, all in all, it was a really entertaining show! aren't you entertained? i'm pretty certain that now that i've compared lore's looks to a horror movie, a children's book and clueless, i will likely never be invited to another show, but i had a good run. two years, four shows. i'll take what i can get. that said, here are a few other photos from the evening:

attention women everywhere: just because it's designer doesn't mean it's tasteful, that you won't still look like a stripper when you wear it, or that it is worth more than $700. that is all.

 

one, i need a haircut. two, julia and i both look dazed and confused in this photo and three, i am in serious need of some bronzer. not a great photo, but the only one i have and i wanted to include at least one photo with julia, my fun plus-one for the evening. she was an awesome date and even shared a caramel brownie with me at dandelion after the show. and, she also has a puppy named kevin. this is completely unrelated to the show, i just think it's worth sharing.

and because lacey asked for it, here's what i wore for the evening. i can't say it was my best look, but i had to work with what was already in my closet, and i take this event as an opportunity to be a little more creative with my ensemble than i otherwise would be. you can't really tell in this photo, but i totally went for the blazer-with-nothing-underneath look, which actually looked much less slutty than i've always thought it would, probably because i was not blessed in the cleavage department.

hopefully despite the fact that i am in a strange, sarcastic mood this morning, i'll have the opportunity to attend more of lore's shows in the future as her brand continues to grow. if you're loving her work, head over to her website and check things out. i'm so thankful i have been able to follow lore's collections up until this point, and i can't wait to continue seeing her creative mind at work!

sleeping in on a saturday? pssshhhh....

a few weeks ago, a local church hosted its bi-annual church bazaar on an unseasonably sticky saturday morning. i would encourage you in this moment to take every image of a church bazaar that you can conjure up in your mind and multiply it by about 200. this particular sale is the largest of its type that i've seen. it is hosted both inside and outside the church and this year required not one, not two, but three police officers to help direct traffic. there was a silent auction for the really good items, an entire tent of activities for kids, a bake sale and a concession tent, an extremely large "check your purchased items here" area, a room so full of books for sale that i had to just walk away, and several decent vehicles on the auction block. i do not attend this church, but i am very curious to know what kind of fundraising profit they make. it is incredibly well organized (this coming from the most critical of organizational nazis) and chock full of good deals. here are my treasures...

almost as soon as we walked in, i spotted this cool like-new bird pillow with a removable cover and knew it needed to be on my couch for the fall. ordinarily i wouldn't buy pillows at a yard sale, but this one was in perfect condition and the cover was washable. then, about ten minutes later, my friend rebecca spotted the second pillow of the pair. i walked away with two for $2 and my fall living room looks super. (more on that in a post soon!)

mom and i each scored one of these great decorative urns (is that what you would call this?) for $3.

this little guy makes watering my (mostly dead) plants way happier. i love him. $1.

these brass deer ($2) stand about 10" and 6" high and have no place in my home at this point. but someday i will be inspired to make them look cooler than they do currently. they're rather tarnished, but have tons of great potential. should i modge podge them with old book pages or some pretty decorative paper? spray paint them a cool color? rub-n-buff them? help!

my recent obsession with chunky chains and bracelets was satisfied (at least for a while) when i found this silver necklace for $1.

in the fellowship hall, there were more clothes than the goodwill. i got this very-now cropped sweater for $2. and to think i had almost bought a nearly identical one at marshall's a few days before.

this skirt obviously needs a trip to the dry cleaner and a serious date with the steamer machine, but it is talbots and it is way cooler in person than it looks in this photos. it's kind of chiffon-y and will look good styled several different ways. i can't wait to wear it! $2.

and then, following my trip to the church bazaar, i refueled with a pumpkin spice latte and then hit up one other yard sale and the new (awesome) local thrift store grand opening where i scored these fantastic finds:

ann taylor loft 100% silk slouchy gray blouse. gray is my absolute favorite color lately and i love the pretty bead detail and raw silk edges. $2.

this talbots belt is stretchy, flattering, genuine leather and still had the $24 talbots tag attached. i much prefer to spend $1.99 on my belts.

and, finally, my favorite find of the day. i nearly knocked over a couple of other customers when i spotted this talbots pencil skirt (i'm sensing a theme here?) peeking out a few racks over. not only does it look completely and totally anthro and fit me absolutely perfectly, but it still had the $99 price tag attached. i paid $3.99 and i still can't believe how much i love it.

moral of this story? getting up at the crack of dawn on a saturday is completely, totally worth it.