Following Patterns

My previous post was about sticking with basic shapes and neutral color palette but I did mention that I love color and pattern. In fact, nothing makes me fall in love in an item of clothing faster than a beautiful print.

Oilily top, previously seen HERE

The problem with beautiful print is that, because it is visually stunning, it tends to get all the attention and sometimes more attention than a wearer. If the print is also whimsical it only exacerbates the issue.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to be remembered as a 'chicken lady'. Another issue is that striking prints are very 'memorable', so you cannot wear them too often. That's the reason I usually don't pack prints when I travel, especially when I want to pack light.

Our friend WMM has recently blogged about personal style and how she never has a problem choosing the way to decorates her house, but it is quite a different story when it comes to choosing her clothes. I can totally relate to Wendy.  I even blogged about decorating my house the way I dress (see it HERE). Sometimes, I want to buy something just to stare at it in my closet. But that's not very smart. Much better to buy a beautiful vase.

Instead of  'Bondage' dress

I guess having conversational pieces in the house is OK, because this is what they are meant for. But dressing should be more seamless imo. Even in the house, you don't want to crowd beautiful architectural details with too many objects, no matter how beautiful they are. But at least you have a bigger surface to work with, almost anything can look good with the right scale and proportions.

As an example, I love this fabric of my Living Room curtains, but I would not buy a dress in this print. A scarf would be beautiful. But I don't want people to stare at my butt to have a closer look at the baby chicks. Paisleys are another story, nobody cares to examine them closer.

My favorite trick to 'casualize' a printed dress and make it less memorable is to wear it as a skirt, with a sweater. This also extends the season for sleeveless dresses.

This print combination is more abstract, so something like this is is very doable in clothes.

 

Up until about 2010, I never thought that leopard can be so neutral and quiet but I have no qualms wearing this skirt. Or, maybe I am just the right age for The Leopard. I am thinking about Visconti here, what were you thinking ;)

What about black, white and gray in the house? Well, I usually gravitate towards warmer tones in decorating but here is (a fragment of) what is hanging over my mantel. It has a striking texture to it, that I could not capture in the the picture.

This painting sometimes spooks some visitors but never fear, I have some whimsical touches to lighten the mood.

Ori has come to my kitchen all the way from Israel, I love staring at him when I cook. Much better than staring at beautiful skirt in the closet, don;t you think?

And here is my nod toward my penchant for a little drama. Here is how I translated it into outfit.

No, I wasn't actually trying to create an outfit inspired by a poster. This would be something straight from Project Runway. I just happened to look at the pictures and saw a correlation. I suppose this just proves that I am drawn to similar colors whether picking an outfit or decorating, maybe more often than I thought. 

This outfit is a reverse of Terra Paisley one above. This is a 'skirt as a dress', while the other was a 'dress as a skirt', but it works about the same. Large expanses of pattern scare me a little, so I try to neutralize by wearing everything else in the same color, or at least in neutrals.

I thought at first that I might wear the burgundy Stuart Weitzman boots but after trying them on I opted for navy MacAlisters. The boots created a split focus in this outfit and were cutting off my legs with colorblock effect I did not care for.

Btw, do you see the white smudges in last two pictures? This is snow!!! It was pretty light in the morning but are in the middle of the blizzard here. Right now it feels very cozy to be inside and drink hot chocolate but I only hope we do not loose electricity....

Fade to black and white...

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That's all folks!

What do you think of a correlation between dressing and decorating?
Do you wear prints? 
Do you feel like you need to somehow neutralize them or are you a fearless soul?

Is it snowing were you are?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!! 

Ghosts of the Shopping Past

There was a time when J.Crew was just a store in the mall selling rather unattractive critter chinos, silly belts and overpriced polo shirts. I was shopping in different stores then. I wasn't buying anything online. My basics came from places like Banana Republic and Ann Taylor, but overall, I was wearing much bigger variety of brands. Somehow, it seems to me that I was a happier shopper then, rarely returning anything and choosing clothes based simply on how they looked on me and how much I wanted to spend.  I did not worry about borrowing from the boys and I did not obsess over sweaters coming from top secret mills and too short polyester dresses with exorbitant price tags.

Of course I made many shopping mistakes but since I was much more discriminating  and shopped much less, many of my clothes from that time period are my favorites. 

Everything in this outfit is at several years old and comes  from "inspired by your daughter" phase, aka Raising Little Fashionistas period. The top is made by Oilily, a brand mostly known for their children's line but they made wonderful clothes for women as well. They are pricey but their quality is impeccable and if you feel like splurging on something 'boho', their stuff is better made and more original than anything you could get at Anthropologie. 

The skirt is from Janeville, another store owned by children's brand, this time Gymboree. Their stores were only open for a few years (I think between 2003 and 2008), so I guess they were not a success story, but I quite liked them and bough a few things from them that are still my favorites.

My boots, to continue the theme of children's brands, are from Boden and I featured them previously here. Well, Boden did not really start out making kids clothes, but this is how I came to know them Before I bought anything Boden for myself, I bought a lot of Mini Boden for my younger daughter.
 

My bag is not that old, maybe 3 or 4 years and it is by (totally adult) Coach. I suppose there are not that many children's purse designers

I think I prefer this fuchsia bird to any French hens.

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That's all Folks!

What are the ghosts of your shopping past? Or have you been always been shopping at the same stores?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!