Romance: Tulle & Hammered Gold

This morning as I got dressed in our walk-in closet, I observed to my sister that I always laugh when I think of how adamant opinions on trivial things are so apt to change. In my life I have loudly held many opinions that have gone, if not quite the opposite in recent years, at least swung that way. I used to swear I would never marry a man even half a year younger than myself. Now in my twenties, age gaps are shockingly non-issues between friends who are in the same season of life. I used to swear that I would never wear leggings. I now wear leggings frequently, though I still refuse to wear them instead of pants. And then we come to the Tulle Skirt. I once vowed that they looked idiotic and that I would never wear them...and I'm here today to confess that not only have I wanted a tulle skirt for a year now, but that last week I bought one and convinced my friend to buy one for herself too. 

Today, I went all-neutrals except for my mint-colored purse which possesses just enough winter to make it cheeky January-wear. The day is freezing and windy and not exactly shoot-photos-while-wearing-a-floaty-tulle-skirt kind of day so Benjamin very sweetly obliged to take a couple quick shots. I am therefore not responsible for any odd-looking poses or faces. ;)

 In honor of the store where I invested in this skirt (invested is the right word...it was 'spensive, though not so pricey as every other tulle skirt I've seen) which was called BohoBlu, I did a criss-crossy French Braided thing with my hair that looks quite luscious and gives the impression of never-ending tresses.

I don't why my face looks so angelic here.

 The fun of neutrals is that you get to pair lots of textures and patterns and it will all coordinate nicely. A beige cardigan from New York & Co., a fashion tee from Kohl's, a rose-gold belt around the tulle skirt, and second-hand snake-skin shoes complete the look. Gold jewelry accents add a little pizzazz to keep the outfit from looking too old-baptist piano-player, right?

I love the fairy-shadows my tulle creates!

Though this is photo is poor in quality, you can see that I went with a makeup scheme that defies winter: a palette of peach, aqua, a raspberry lip. January blues? Nah. We've got tulle and hammered gold.

Do you have a tulle skirt? And if so, how do you style it? I'm looking forward to playing around with mine...might even look into buying a crinoline to give it extra "poof." I'm sure that I'll have lots more style combinations to share as the year wears on. That was the great fun of investing in this piece: it's quite transitional for every season.

Skirt: BohoBlu

Tee: Kohl's

Cardigan: New York & Co.

Belt: Lace Affair

Shoes: hand-me-down

Happy Wednesday!

Why it Works: Spring Flirt

I wonder if all of you are having quite as wonderful a morning as I am. I don't know why it's such a good day (except that it is) and we finally have spring-like temperatures and sunshine and I feel quite alive and spunky today. Picmonkey was being a ding-bat so I wasn't able to make up an actual collage. I just cropped down the photos I had (yay selfies already) Also, Sarah's minion poster is photo-bombing. I give you:

Spring Flirt

Pardon the glazed stare. I was concentrating.

Silly shot.

Don't you love how the darned camera focused on itself? So narcissistic.

Components:

Pale pink floral blouse

Medium wash jeans

Butterfly earrings

Pink/orange eye-do

Revlon matte lipstick in "Stormy Pink"

Bare feet with toenails painted Areo's "Tis the Season" (purplish pink)

Why it Works:

This was an outfit I threw together for going to my grandparents' for dinner last night and I liked it enough then that I wore it again today to show you. The floofiness of the blouse is playful, chic, and springy without being childish. I think the black floral pattern and the band around the bottom retrieves it from that fate. (Unlike those tulle skirts everyone is wearing) The pink makeup brings out the pale pink in the blouse and the jewelry (which is silver) sets off the coolness of the shade of lipstick. These sleeves are fabulous because they obscure the pudgiest parts of my arm while managing to look sweet and romantic. The jeans aren't anything spectacular except to say that I now fit in them (and will soon fit out of them) because of having been getting up each morning to exercise since the second week of January. Yay for shrinkage! The jeans also serve the purpose of adding a little structure to the outfit because if I went with (say) a skirt, this would soon look a little too fluffy for my figure's good. 

In Conclusion:

A comfortable, casual outfit with a touch of feminine charm that leaves on-lookers knowing they've just seen a person proud to be a woman and loving the spring weather. It's confident, sassy, and sweet all rolled into one. I rather love it, actually.

Why it Works: Cable Car

Time for another fashion-related post! I apologize again for the terrible photo-quality of these pictures. These are selfies. Again. But hey, if that is all a girl can manage and she can't figure out how to work her sister's camera so it will focus (true story) what can I say? Today's outfit I called Cable-Car. Probably because it combines a modern cable-knit sweater and jeans with some vintage glam. Yes, yes I know. I'm a goose. But a darling goose. You know you love me.

Why it works:

The sweater and jeans together would make a cute but slightly lumpy outfit. I have yet to buy a pair of skinny jeans but someday I would love to own one. All the same, well-fitting dark wash jeans are cute and flattering. Adding a pair of shiny black heels (yay for patent leather. I call them my beetle shoes) and the glitzy jewelry brings a touch of delicacy that the outfit alone would lack. Some people might say this outfit has a touch of affectation but hey: I specialize in bringing glamour to the everyday and if heels and crystal works, I swear by it. It's definitely a statement: when I commit to something that usually makes people think, "evening dress" and wear it with a chunky sweater, I'm essentially telling everyone who cares that you can work the glam 24-7, not just after 5.

I get the privilege, challenge, task, what-have-you of working with a curvaceous figure. Jeans and heels is a way to instantly lengthen the look of my legs and the sweater with the big cable down the front continues the line, making for a nice, smooth silhouette. It's a pretty sweater that begins pinkish orange at the bottom and by the time it reaches my throat, has become raspberry. The sweater already has this color scheme going on so I opted for the white touch of crystal/silver jewelry. I'm wearing chandelier earrings, a choker that just peeps out beneath the turtle neck of my sweater, and a silver wrap-around ring from Icing. You can't see terribly well, but I'm also wearing Essie nail polish in "Ballet Slipper". I picked up the raspberry theme in my lipstain which is something by Loreal that looks like a marker and bleeds if you don't wear something beneath it.

***

I hope to be able to do some shopping soon (having discovered I have little but campaign t-shirts and jeans), so I ought to have more outfit posts in the future, hopefully with some fresh items! Jenny from Adonis Ephemeral helped me choose an outfit for the Romania fundraising concert by Paid in Full and it was rather fun, knowing I had the Why It Works originator condoning my choices. Well, toodle-loo! Here's to adding glamour to the everyday!