I’m obsessed with my new diamond necklace. It’s so versatile! I can dress it up by wearing it to a dressy event alone or I can layer it with more casual pieces and wear it to work!
dress: Saks Fifth Avenue, cowl neck cashmere sweater BCBG, purse Chanel, shoes Alberta Feretti, jade colored chain necklace Express.
dress Shoshanna, ballet flats Forever 21, purse Chanel, red bead necklace vintage
dress Shoshanna, purple necklace thrifted, leopard tote Adrianna Vittatani, purple heels H&M
Every time I wear this blazer, I get compliments. And each time, I can’t help but think how $30 at H&M goes such a long way.
Forever 21 lacy tank, Express bracelets, necklace from Jasmine (boutique in MA), and I don’t remember the skirt, shoes / purse brands
Here’s another outfit with the same blazer, this time with a Zara black blouse, Victoria’s Secret pants & Rebecca Minkoff purse – I wore this to work.
Below is another work outfit. This time, I wore it with a polka Dot Lord & Taylor bow-tie blouse, a Bebe pencil skirt that has leather strips down the sides that you can’t see, Jcrew heels and bracelets and a pair of Chanel sunglasses.
Here is another fellow fashion blogger who wore it with glitter and lace and then again with military cargo pants. Isn’t she cute?
And here is yet another blogger wearing MY blazer 
boy, is it popular!
Sparkle. Glitter. Sequin.
I love it all. The girly girl in me cannot resist the shiny shiny. I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to what I call glitter fashion (which you can view here).
Here are two outfits incorporating a shiny sequin top for work.
Saks had sold a bunch of sequin sweaters like this. Alice & Olivia being one of the brands that sold one for about $200. I found this one at H&M for about $30 and was surprised at the value I got given it was sequined both front and back – they didn’t skimp! Here I paired it with my Bebe tuxedo blazer and a pair of black pants that I rolled up -they’re an oldie from H&M and the booties are from Aldo.
Here, I’m wearing the same pants with my Vince sweater that I purchased at off 5th, a free bracelet from the Forever 21 spring fashion presentation (can’t remember the brands for the other accessories and shoes) and yet another H&M sequin top for a fraction of the price.
How do you feel about sequins? And have you figured out how to incorporate them into your everyday work wear?
At the beginning of each fashion season, it starts to feel overwhelming at work. The meetings are endless, the event planning intense, and the press pitches constant. During the first few months of the season, I live, breathe and dream work. And I obsess about it just to stay on top of all the details. February and March for instance, are filled with 10 and sometimes 12 hour days. To keep me motivated and looking forward to another work day, sometimes I use fashion as a fun way to brighten my load.
The most memorable part of this outfit was the exciting moment when I discovered that my dollar store, colored tights perfectly matched this skirt that I had nearly forgotten about. The skirt was purchased at a NJ Korean boutique and I couldn’t wait to dust it off and wear it to work. The tights just gave it new life and energy.
I wore it with an H&M puff-sleeve blazer and tie-front blouse that I bought from Lord & Taylor during their post-Christmas sale. The hat is vintage. I think the last time I wore it was in the ’80s.
The shoes are patent leather Nine West and the tote bag is Juicy. I love that it has side pockets to conveniently carry my cell phone and blackberry.
How is work going for you these days? And does fashion ever give you that needed something to look forward to? For more on what to wear to work, click here. To see a quick view of my other style diary entires, view and follow me on Pinterest!
Isn’t this shoe closet amazing? It’s Christina Aguilera’s. Besides the fuschia, black white combo, what also caught my eye were the chandeliers and houndstooth. I’m loving houndstooth these days. Not knowing there was such a word to describe the pattern, my husband once described this print as the computerized digital print. Haha he is so NOT into fashion. Here’s my outfit which was inspired by the room above.
Here, I’m wearing a H&M dress with an exposed zipper in the back which you can’t see, a tuxedo blazer from Bebe’s clearance rack and heels by Zara. The purse was cheap so I think the whole outfit only costed about $150.
Now if only I could replicate these nails…
I get tons of compliments on this navy lace blouse by H&M. It was a classic cut, somewhat inspired by Kate Middleton’s dress shown here.
Here I wore the top over the summer with a Calvin Klein pencil skirt and studded red flats from Zara.
I wore the top to work again with a pair of khaki slacks (not pictured here) and again today with a navy pleated skirt and rasbery colored tights.
Can you believe my outfit only costed $120 dollars? The colored tights were $1 at the dollar store haah The Juicy purse was a present that I’d be willing to sell for the right price. Let me know if you want to make an offer!
I bought a mink fur purse at Marshall’s over the summer. Yes mink at Marshall’s. And yes, I purchased something as inappropriate as mink this past summer. I love fur! I find it adds a touch of glamour to anything. Besides, the soft brown mink was screaming to be petted. It all started with an innocent pet. Next thing you know, I have another purse to add to my collection.
The purse, designed by Paolo Masi is made in Italy and has the most beautiful construction and quality. I’ve never heard of the designer and can’t seem to find the designer’s website for the life of me but not being much of a brand whore (ok maybe I’m a little whore-ish when it comes to Chanel), I truly didn’t care.
This past week, now that the weather has finally cooled down, I let my little mink out of the closet. It reminded me and everyone else of my other “puppy purse” which you can see in my earlier blog post about work wear.
You can see from the accordian pleated wrinkles on my skirt that I wore this outfit to work where I sit at my desk 70%of the day. What’s hard to tell from the pictures are the 3-D sort of appliques that make the tweed skirt so unique. Here, I’ve paired the skirt (an amazing Daffy’s find), with my new BCBG top with detachable bow also worn here.
The 2nd time I carried the mink purse, I wore it with this cream Anne Klein dress which I bought on sale at Lord & Taylor last year. I winterized the dress by adding some textured tights and brown accessories such as the Gucci belt, tweed vintage-inspired heels and jewels. That’s 3 necklaces, all layered into one look by the way! I totally got inspired watching Gossip Girl the other day. Though I’m more of a Blair Waldorf than I am Serena, much in the same way, I’m more Charlotte than any of the other SATC girls, I had a major fashion epiphany watching Serena. She wore 3 somewhat clashing necklaces, all different lengths, all at once! Literally, the next day, here I am layering my necklaces resulting in a myriad of in-store compliments and questions regarding my accessories.
Can you tell that I’m totally into the top knot hairdo these days? Here, I’m wearing Paolo Masi’s fur purse with my H&M polka dotted dress and chain-link cardigan. I can’t believe how hot polka dots are these days. They were all over the fall runways. I’m actually ready to giveaway this dress because I’ve styled it about 10 different ways and am getting a bit bored over it. So if you want it, you can have it for just $10 plus shipping. Just leave me a comment with an email to contact you at. It’s a size small.
I’m afraid that the warm weather that I love is quickly slipping away. So any warm weekend that I get during the early fall months, makes me want to wear something short and summery, just in case it’s my last hurrah. This past weekend was no exception. Sunday morning was bright and sunny and having just sold my bridal petticoat for more than I paid for it, I was in a terrific mood.
The tee shirt is from by Threads from Off 5th (I bought it for about $15 after my employee discount), the slim black cardigan is from H&M $19.99 and the skirt is a Daffy’s (discount retailer) purchase that I bought about 10 years ago also for about $20. Phew, it still fits! The flats with chain detail are BCBG ( I think I bought them at TJ Maxx a couple years ago) and the chain bracelet was an impulse buy at Ann Taylor Loft this past week. Sunglasses are Chanel from Saks.
My nails are extra fun this week. I discovered Pinterest.com thanks to a friend of mine and have been hooked ever since. It’s like an online photo album where you can collect images that you love from all over the web and organize the photos that you already have from your own computer. I recently started a manicure/pedicure collection of images that I’ve discovered while browsing pinterest that has inspired me to do something fun to my nails.Here’s the image that inspired me.
Ever have one of those “I can DO THIS!” motivational moments? Well this picture inspired mine because I actually came home from fashion week last season with a ton of glittery nail polish. Here is what I did to my nails Sunday night.
Diamonds are a girls’ best friend and that’s what my new at-home manicure reminds me of. How do you like this?
I went a little post-pinterest.com crazy and got so inspired that I didn’t stop at my hands. I went a little nuts on my feet too. This is the picture of patterned nails that inspired me.
And here are my toesies. silly me.. I smudged my big toe but strangely, the smudge left a faint heart mark.
Damnit, why are my feet wrinkly? Is it all the hours under the sun that I’ve logged, all the beach-walking in the Bahamas for my birthday, or the hours of foot massage that I’ve indulged in? Aging sucks.
If you want a new addiction or are simply curious about Pinterest, come follow me at http://pinterest.com/fabgabblog/
I can send you an invite if you just leave your email address here as a comment.
Inside the New York Fashion Week tents, my favorite booth was the Unicef area where you could play with props and take a silly photo with smilebooth.
I’ve seen these props on etsy and think they’re so cute!
I’m giving away the red vintage peplum dress shown here through the blog. Click here for more details!
This last outfit is H&M (except for the belt and purse). I bought the wool heart-printed shorts for $5bucks. Don’t you heart them? See the Chanel calfskin chain-link purse in the last two shots? I’m selling that so make me your best offer and leave your email for me to return your message!
For more on my favorite photo booths and photo opp areas click here.
In one of my earlier style diary posts, I wrote about how Olivia Palermo’s outfit inspired mine that day. 
And it all started with this H&M cheap and chic find from the sale rack for only $15. In the above picture, I’ve winterized the classically cut sheath with tights, booties, a hat, cardigan and belt. (For outfit details see earlier post).
As you know I try to never wear an outfit the same way twice. It’s my somewhat ineffective way to keep myself from getting bored of my clothes. How do you keep from getting bored of your fashions?
I constantly need to edit and update my wardrobe. Perhaps it is a side effect of working in retail. After all, there is constant temptation by the latest, newest and more fashionable items. You’re constantly in want of what’s new and suddenly the old clothes sitting in your perfectly fine closet at home just don’t seem good enough or enough period. But really, before I worked in retail, my personal obsession has always been fashion. I’ve always struggled with being satisfied with the overflowing closet already at home. It’s so easy to tire of what’s in your closet, isn’t it? Aren’t you always craving the next new thing? I never understood how people could stand to wear the same thing over and over, year after year. My husband wears out his clothes until he bores holes through them and even then, he’ll practically throw a fit if you try to convince him to stop wearing it. I. do. not. understand.
To keep my budget in check and to keep the inevitable boredom from setting in, the personal styling challenge helps keep things interesting! Here are a couple more ways that I’ve worn the same dress throughout the past year.
For work, I’ve paired the dress with my black blazer as well as my more summery white blazer (also from H&M). It’s pictured here.
I got these crazy white/black heels while on a trip to Shanghai, the black biker cuff was from Claire’s of all places, and the purse was a gift that I’ve since given away.
For the summer, I took the same dress and color palette as the first outfit except I switched out the winter accessories for bare legs, sexy stilettos, a BCBG suede belt and then ditched the cardigan.
I find this dress to be so versatile and am happy to report that I’m not quite done with it yet. I can do so much with the black and white graphic print. Add a pop of color with the accessories, purse, shoes or cardigan and you have a bolder overall look. Layer a shirt on top of the dress and convert it into what looks like a graphic skirt – in fact I think that will be my next fashion move. This $15 investment is going a long way!
