Sometimes all it takes to look extraordinary is a simple outfit with the right amount of accessories. When accessorizing, think of trends that represent your style. I chose fringe for this outfit. To feel comfortable in your outfit, pick brands or type of clothes that have never let you down. My go to tanks and Zara jeans.
I think some other bloggers can relate to this, but the other day someone asked me if I wanted to be a model. I asked, why? “I saw your instagram account and you have a lot of fashion/style posts of yourself…”Oh yes. Yes I do have those posts on instagram. Like most girls, I love putting together my outfits, spending time doing my make-up and doing my hair..occasionally. Oh and I failed to mention I post other stuff too. C’mon! BUT.. that doesn’t mean I’m looking to be a model. Should I be flattered? I wasn’t. I think I’ve blasted it enough online that my career is in Marketing. Has anyone said that to you before? I thought it was pretty clear that instagram is a platform for all kinds of photography. End of rant.
Back to talking about this outfit, if you haven’t heard of Tanked yet, then you need to check them out! I love simple and soft tanks. They have many cool designs to choose from as well. Supporting unique non mainstream brands makes me happy. You can find them online or you can stay tuned to my next blog post to find out where they have shops!
Speaking of supporting unique brands, BRAVE is another one of my faves. It’s a Canadian brand that I have loved for years. I’ve seen their products on people or in magazines and without being told or reading, I just always know it’s BRAVE. I’m wearing a leather bracelet by them for this ootd. Their products are quality products. I’ve had this bracelet for years and it still looks and feels brand new.
Purse: H&M // Leather Bracelet: BRAVE leather // Tank top: Tanked // Jeans: Zara //
Sunnies: Forever21 // Lip: Giorgio Armani
You could wear the most simplest outfit anywhere and add pizzazz with anything metallic. It can be in your shoes, accessories or a top. I’m not too keen on metallic pants though :”/ For a friends birthday dinner I wore minimal accessories and went super chunky with my clothes. Loose and flowy for a warm windy evening.
What I Wore: A Metallic Statment
I love boyfriend jeans, jackets and here I am wearing a boyfriend blazer! My favourite thing about this blazer is the high slit down the sides. Makes for a perfect peekaboo to a printed top or dress.
For a casual summer day out, I chose to wear something comfortable yet stylish. Comfort doesn’t always mean sweatpants and flip flops. And trust me, there’s nothing wrong with that combo, it’s my outfit every morning to the mailbox. Ha!
This summers go to outfit for casual everyday has been Maxi & Jean
Let me set the scene for you. It’s a beautiful sunny, windy day. 30 degrees with some points of scattered clouds. A walk around my mama’s neighborhood is to the starbucks down the street, lake views and semi clean sand between your toes at a micro man made beach.
Let me explain what’s going on with my hair here. It’s summer time and if I’m out under the sun for hours then I need to have it off my shoulders and out of my face. It’s all a part of the whole comfort thing. A simple pompadour front, achieved with a few bobby pins always does the trick. The rest of my hair usually goes up in a bun, ponytail, or as seen here in a low bun at the nape of my neck.
I bought this topshop clutch purse a long while back and it’s one my favourites. Big enough to keep my essentials like keys, phone, lip balm and a small coin purse/wallet. Also, small enough to not feel it on me at all and works as a perfect splash of colour for any outfit.
The maxi dress never gets old or out of fashion. At least it hasn’t for years now. So recycling your maxi dresses from previous years is totally do-able. Yes, that is exactly what I did here. This dress is from Guess and I don’t even know when.
The light jean material shirt over a maxi is perfect for going in and out of freezing cold air conditioned places. Also I’m not a fan of tube dress maxis so this covering the top allows me to wear them with comfort. Do you pair your maxi dresses with a top? A cardigan or perhaps a blazer? Tweet at me and let me know 😉
I must say..(totally off topic) but Lays chips has done an amazing job by naming their chips, ruffles. I’m talking about ruffles in your clothes but for some reason when I say or think ruffles, the chips come to mind. (I don’t even eat chips anymore!). I apologize in advance if by the end of this post you’re craving chips.
I love this high and low ruffled top. To be honest, I can’t figure out where I got it from because the tag was driving me crazy, so I cut it off. Oops!The rips in these Zara jeans are poifect! Only because they’re just surface layer rips, not ripped to show skin. Which is great if it’s a bit chilly out. I don’t like being cold.
I feel as if I take this bcbg tote bag everywhere! It was one of my favourite buys on a trip to California. I love the colour and since matching/pairing your shoes with your purse is trending, this did the trick! Which by the way you need to check out this glamour post and their suggestions of soulmate purse and shoe pairings> here – loooveee it!
These wooden animal print bangles were gifted to me by a special friend of mine who went to Africa. They were bought from a market in Uganda. So you might or might have not noticed that I love purchasing items from my travels and then styling them into my everyday wardrobe. It’s like a constant reminder throughout the day of a memory or experience.
Have you bought something that reminds you of a memory or experience?
Top – Unknown
Necklace – Forever21
Tote Bag – BCBG
Jeans – Zara
Heels – Charles & Keith (Egypt)
1. Guess Gladiators – These sandals have gone with me to Mexico and everywhere in Italy this spring/summer! They go perfectly with almost all of my outfits.
2. Shoedazzle heels – I tend to skip months (a lot) with shoedazzle, but once in awhile I see something I really like and I’ve got to have it! These wedges are really comfortable surprisingly. Especially since they’re really high.
3. Onitsuka Tiger – This was my favourite shoe purchase made on our trip to Japan in Tokyo. Perfect for my ‘everyday errands’.
4. Shoedazzle Flats – I love the bedazzled front on these flats. Flats with fancy tips go awesome with maxi dresses, wide legged or palazzo pants!
5. Kate Spade Keds – Ah! I loveeeee these! These give me happy feet! They’re so comfortable and the pop of colour makes any day just so much more wonderful. I’ve had so many people compliment the cork material. You can find similar shoes here:
Wednesday evening was eventful! You may already know that, if you’re following me on snapchat (HumJK). I took the subway, which I hadn’t done in almost a year, that was nice. And I bumped into a friend, which obviously never happens when you’re driving. That was nice too. It was great hanging out with other bloggers and the Globe Style team. As bloggers we get so enthralled into our digital worlds we forget to make time for face time. No, I’m not talking about the iPhone app. I mean real, good ol face to face connecting.
We then went over to the theater for the YSL movie screening.
My thoughts on the movie, it’s definitely for an older audience to watch (too many drugs, vulgar scenes etc) but the clothes shown throughout the movie and the last collection was absolutely divine. The vibrant colours, turbans, belts, bangles… beautiful! I also learnt a few things I didn’t know about Yves Saint Laurent and some nifty tricks to use everyday. My favourite outfit? The model to the left of Yves below. (I’ve made a mental note to re-create that look, minus the turban).
Photo credit: http://innocenceterrible.com/
(Not sure why I look so angry in that last pic. RBF? :”/ )
Top – American Apparel
Shoes – Charles & Keith (Bought in Egypt)
Pants – Club Monaco
Purse – Forever21
Blazer – Forever21
Jewelry – Pandora/Persona Bracelets
Watch – Burberry
Glasses – Bought and made in Korea
One of Spring 2015’s basics as you could see on the runways, is unusual, out of this world animal prints!
Animal prints were big last year as well, so I bet a lot of you have some great animal print pieces already. Although you might notice last years pieces were different types of print. Spots and stripes, whereas now they have crabs and jellyfish prints (according to popsugar).
Image from Popsugar
I haven’t snagged anything like it yet but will be keeping an eye out for something that speaks to my style. One of my favourite animal print clothing, has to be the zebra coat from Zara. The double z in my wardrobe. It’s different and light to wear. Great for spring or early fall weather.
Just when everyone starts to think the weather is going to change, we’re hit with frigid temperatures and people start to get sick. I know, but it’s March and spring should be around the corner. You just never know with this topsy turvy weather. For the last bit of this winter I thought I’d squeeze in some of my favourite winter basics this season.
Some of you may be familiar with the hashtag #DarkTO. Which was trending on Twitter when we started to get power outages due to the extreme cold conditions in southern Ontario. We had a few days of sun and then got hit with this deep freeze spell. Hopefully the last for this winter, especially since that was only a few days ago.
Are you braving the cold and going about your usual schedule or have you decided to hibernate? What are some of your winter basics for staying warm?
Ear Flap Hats
I got my first ear flap hat years ago and swear by these hats for harsh winters. Anything with a multi-purpose gets bonus points from me. Keep your ears and your head warm with this style.
The North Face – Mackie Bomber Hat
Note: Big It Up, also known as Brimz on Queen St. or at The Eaton Center (Toronto) has a great selection of ear flap hats as well.
Oversized scarves
You can wear a scarf or you can wear an OVERSIZED scarf. Do you remember when this image of Lenny Kravitz went viral:
It’s Thursday and you know what that means (on Twitter and Instagram at least)… Throwback Thursday! I like being different and thinking outside of the box, especially for party themes. I was really excited when I found a few ladies online, who shared their Alice in Wonderland themed bridal showers. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so silly for choosing it as my theme. You still get a few people looking at you puzzled, like “whaaa? Alice in Wonderland? So, do you like, dress up as a rabbit?” Haha. That was the best response I got.
I compiled an album of images from my google search for ideas and inspiration. Here are some of them:
Tea cups, flowers & decor
Cake & Sweets Table Ideas
Dress inspiration
As soon as I knew my theme, I was on a look out for everything that could work for decor. It isn’t hard to pull off this theme, especially around spring time when you have faux flowers, rabbits and green everywhere! I was fortunate enough when one day I got off the street car, at the wrong stop and accidentally found a tea shop that had dedicated their entire window display to Alice in Wonderland. They had tea pots, topsy turvy decor, clocks and more.
The store wasn’t open at the time, so I went back later. If you’re in Toronto you MUST check out this store for any of your high tea events; Pippins Tea Company on Queen Street West.
One of the items that I was SO in love with at this store was their tea cup clock. Kind of looked like this (Note: It’s not the size of an average wall clock, approx. 25 inches length and width):
The price tag was a bit much to be used only for the bridal shower and at the time not knowing where I would put it didn’t justify the purchase. One day though, I may hunt this piece down for a room dedicated to where my ladies and I can have our afternoon tea or even look into making this my DIY project.
The ladies who own and/or work at Pippins Tea Company are incredible! As soon as I told them the theme of my bridal shower they were giving me lots of ideas, tips and helped me out with letting me rent a large hot water dispenser for the event and gave me Alice In Wonderland boxes for free! (The boxes were used to put the prizes inside for the games we played.)
I bought all of my tea supplies and decor from Pippins. Best find ever!
Pippins Tea Company: Key hole centerpiece
TIP: To give height to my centrepieces I added some books wrapped in colourful tissue paper. We did a poor job in wrapping them because we were last minute with this idea but it did the trick.
I got a styrofoam ball from Michaels and put these faux green grass pieces all around the top half and placed it on top of the pot.
TIP: If you can find a half ball, that would be so much better. The white part of the ball kept peeking through whenever a guest would brush their arm or hand against the top. A half would stay put and not move as much.
We left some of the loose tea we bought from Pippins Tea Company open and some already packed into tea bags for guests. Leaving it open allowed our guests to smell how amazing the tea was. It was hard picking only two flavours since they have SO many at their shop.
TIP: Label your teas. We forgot!
I used many different sets of tea cups for the event, just like the actual movie and story when all the characters in Alice in Wonderland are sitting around the tea table, notice how each one has a different cup/saucer?
I added a few other little Alice in Wonderland touches to the table decor. Clock, playing cards, rabbits and colourful food plates for the lunch that was served. If you choose to do this theme you could always just do high tea foods like sandwiches, croissants etc, however, I always like to do lunch as well. The lunch wasn’t part of the theme at all. I picked what the majority of my guests would love to eat, a fusion of Italian and Indian food.
I was bursting with excitement when my bridesmaids surprised me with an Alice in Wonderland themed cake, cookies, cupcakes and cake pops! What darlings to organize the very best themed sweets table I’ve ever set my eyes on. (Thank you loves!)
For the takeaways, I made these Alice in Wonderland themed gift bags THAT had AN EYE SHADOW, EYELINER SET WITH LIP GLOSS. THESE BAGS ARE REALLY EASY TO MAKE.
Takeaways
You need:
white gift bags black and Red construction paper hole puncher black ribbon red tissue paper
Directions:
Cut out hearts and clubs out of the black and red construction paper. Put aside. Punch holes into the hearts and clubs as seen in above picture and do the same for the white gift bags. Weave the black ribbon through the hearts/clubs (make sure the ribbon only shows behind the shapes) and then through the gift bag. Tie in back. Fill the bags with the tissue paper and gifts. Voila!
To bring this entire event to full circle I had to play the part by wearing a rabbit outfit wearing a blue dress like Alice does in her story. At first I looked everywhere for a blue dress and I found one but it wouldn’t come in time from Dubai for my bridal shower. So I got permission from the designer to have something like it made here in Toronto.
alice in wonderland dress
I found a seamstress on Queen Street who I read in an article had done many dresses for different stars who would come to Toronto for shows. Kingi from Peach Berserk took my design and created it beautifully. I was on a time constraint otherwise there were a few things I would’ve asked to have fixed but otherwise it was perfect!
Here we are in the New Year! Time for a 2014 Round-Up. It’s been a busy year and I can’t wait to start 2015 off with even more to do. Currently in nesting mode and getting ready to go from a family of two to three, setting goals and renovating our place are just some of the things on my to do list for January. Have you set any goals for the New Year?
Thank you for all of your love and support, that continues to motivate and inspire me!
I think some other bloggers can relate to this, but the other day someone asked me if I wanted to be a model. I asked, why? “I saw your instagram account and you have a lot of fashion/style posts of yourself…” Oh yes. Yes I do have those posts on instagram. Like most girls, I love putting together my outfits, spending time doing my make-up and doing my hair..occasionally. Oh and I failed to mention I post other stuff too. C’mon! BUT.. that doesn’t mean I’m looking to be a model. Should I be flattered? I wasn’t. I think I’ve blasted it enough online that my career is in Marketing. Has anyone said that to you before? I thought it was pretty clear that instagram is a platform for all kinds of photography. End of rant.
I think some other bloggers can relate to this, but the other day someone asked me if I wanted to be a model. I asked, 
