Style Diary

Style Diary: Bari Brinker necklace

Who knows better than you, what you want for Christmas?. That is why I am a huge proponent of wishlists, registries and even picking out your own gifts. Being such a fashionista and being so visual, I am a picky person when it comes to my own stuff. I have a very distinct style and know exactly what I want so I’m all for receiving gift cards, cash, shopping sprees or helping out with not so subtle hints. Take that with the fact that I’m not big on surprises and well you have a wifey who buys herself her own Christmas gifts for her hubby.

I had fun shopping for myself this past Christmas. And it was so easy given I work at Saks Fifth Avenue. During our Bari Brinker personal appearance and trunk show, I fell so much in love with a piece that I called my hubby and thanked him for getting me exactly what I wanted this year. (Yes i chose my own gift without consulting him first hehe)

It’s a one-of-a-kind piece and there is no other like it. Bari joined 3 brooches that he found while in Paris and attached them to this gorgeous genuine topaz surrounded by white sapphires. It’s so sparkly and such a statement piece. I couldn’t believe how beautifully they packaged it too. I almost thought they gave me the wrong package because the jewelry box was as large as a box you would receive for a sweater except this one when you opened it, was lined in grey silk!

Here I am with the designer at Saks.

Here’s a close-up of what I wore (mom’s vintage dress hemmed, H&M cardigan, BCBG shoes)

And here I am wearing the necklace for the first time at work.

In the above photo I’m wearing slacks from Tracy Reese, an Ann Taylor silk tank top with a cardigan from Express. I love the fur stole but can’t remember where I bought it and the purse is Hello Kitty that I’ve usedhere.

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Style Diary: Cynthia Steffe Cardigan

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I love my new Cynthia Steffe cardigan. It’s cozy, warm and perfect for the winter. It’s also the perfect throw on for the workplace because my office is so darn cold. I actually have a snuggie-like blanket stuffed into my cabinet for those days when the air conditioner is blasting in the office. But this Cynthia Steffe cardi is a much more fab option.

Here I am wearing it with my Forever 21 dress, Hello Kitty purse and necklace from Off 5th.

Today I wore the cardigan over my Saks Fifth Avenue women’s collection sheath dress with crystal necklace and Bruno Magli boots.

And before that I wore it with my Tibi dress, Ann Taylor coat and BCBG suede heels shown below.Lastly, you see it worn with a charcoal dress with the Gryphon coat that I’m selling (email me if you want it), bejeweled dress by Maggy London, flowered tights and Prada purse

Click here to see the rest of my style diary!

Style Diary: What to Wear To Work

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I am so disgusted. I’m watching ENews and I just saw this shocking clip of (topless) Scott Disick asking a topless Kris Humphries to shave his armpits. And then Kris obliges. EW EW EW.

Anyways, haha here is what I wore to work today.

This is my Sinclaire trench coat from Saks Fifth Avenue. I wore it out with a detachable fur stole also from Saks.

The back bow is what makes this trench coat so special.

studded headband

This is a navy halter dress by Rebecca Taylor that I bought at Bergdorf Goodman years ago. I love wearing it in the summer but also can easily transition it for the cooler months as shown in an earlier post here.

I winterized the dress by adding tights in a fun contrasting color. Can you believe I purchased them at the dollar store??

The shoes are BCBG and the green purse is vintage (stolen from my mom’s closet)

The blazer is Forever 21 ladies. My co-worker thought it was Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Style Diary: 1 Ann Taylor cardigan, 3ways

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To prevent getting bored of my clothes, I’m always challenging myself to never wear the same outfit twice. So similar to other posts on how to wear 1shirt, 3ways, 1dress, 3ways 1zara skirt, 3ways and most recently, 1 red skirt 5ways, here is 1 Ann Taylor cardigan 3 ways!

I love the contrast grey sparkle trim which to me, made the chocolate cardigan from Ann Taylor worth the buy. Here I wore it for work with a shiny dress by Averly that I bought at Lord & Taylor last year. I cinched it with an old Gucci belt and wore some edgy heels by Fergie to set the whole conservative look off.

This disco ball of a dress is by Calvin Klein – found for a steal at Marshall’s. the tights and bracelet are from Ann Taylor loft and the shoes are Miss Sixty – I love the exposed zipper detail in the back. The fur detachable coat that I wrote about here is by Tibi from Saks and the purse is Prada from Saks.

My 3rd and final outfit for work is the same Ann Taylor cardigan this time worn over the only Anna Sui item I own, a tweed dress bought at Target. I accessorized the look with my fur purse written about here a Kate Spade necklace that my husband surprised me with and my heels bought from Saks.

What’s your favorite outfit?

Style Diary: Fall Coats

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It seems every year, I end up buying a new coat. It’s not like I need another. It’s just that I’m terrible at resisting the new fashions. And coats are such easy purchases to rationalize. After all, I figure that they’re practical AND stylish. And being that it’s an outerwear piece, it practically ends up paying for itself within just the first season that I wear it. (I’m good, aren’t I?)

This year, there were a couple coats that I found irresistible. The first one that I fell in love with is this Ann Taylor leopard coat. I liked the unique color scheme on the leopard print. It’s a softer, more subdued print, isn’t it? Plus I got a great deal during their friends and family 40% off sale. This is how I wore it at the Juicy Couture Spring 2012 Presentation .

Here you see me wearing it with skinny corduroy black jeans, Aldo booties, bling necklace a swingy tee which you can’t see, Chanel purse and the new coat. More on the Juicy couture presentation later.

This past week I also wore the coat to work with this Tibi dress from Saks.

The Cynthia Rowley fur-trimmed cardigan is from an amazing Marshall’s deal that I found for $35. The BCBG suede shoes were on sale for $60, the Tibi dress on sale for around $100 and the hello kitty purse a couple hundred.

My 2nd coat purchase is a sale coat from Saks also by Tibi. I fell in love with this because it was also something completely different from what I already owned and looked so modern and glam.

Guess what! The Tibi coat is convertible and can be turned into a fur vest for warmer days. Here, I’ve worn it with a necklace from Off 5th, Calvin Klein dress from Marshall’s, bracelet from Ann Taylor Loft, and suede fringed boots. It was a simple dress with no hanger appeal. I knew it had great styling potential though. My favorite part about the dress are its pockets – perfect for hiding a lip gloss or cell phone.

Is anyone else excited to layer and dress for the fall weather?

Style Diary: Inspired by Olivia Palermo’s Vest

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Ever see a celebrity photo and then get totally inspired fashion-wise? It happened to me the other day when I ran into this shot of Olivia Palermo. Olivia is probably my favorite style star. I think she achieves a great balance between being classy and edgy, trendy yet classic. I’m often inspired by her as you can see in my other style diary post which was inspired by an Olivia Palermo outfit.

Seeing Olivia in this black vest reminded me of the black Bebe vest that I had sitting in my closet. It was a piece that sort of dumbfounded me. I got in a styling rut with it and it has sat in the back of my closet yearning for attention. That is until now. I layered it over a feminine dress that hit the knee similar to what Olivia paired her vest with and wore it with a pair of fall booties.

My booties are from Aldo, the dress is from H&M and the chain necklace is Express – all pretty cheap finds proving that you don’t have to spend a lot to create a stylish outfit. Looking at this now, I wish I had a pair of black leather motorcycle gloves to go with the outfit.

Style Diary: 1 Red Skirt, 5 ways

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I took the skirt from a 2piece Calvin Klein suit and have been using it as a separate lately. Here’s the full suit.

I take weird pleasure in challenging myself to never wear the same look twice. Taking just the red skirt from the suit above I created these work-appropriate outfits. Which one do you like best?

Style Diary: Mink Fur Purse

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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.

Style Diary: 1 Shirt, 3 ways

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In this post, I’ll show you how I styled this black lace blouse from Zara - a purchase I had made over 5 years ago.

Today I wore the blouse with my new Zara tweed blazer. It hardly shows in the pictures but the blazer has a slight sheen to it since the thread is a bit metallic. Going for the Chanel-inspired look, I wore my chain necklace, leather skirt and Chanel chain purse. I ran our store’s trunk shows, partnership with a local gym, champagne reception and live DJ during a series of work events in this outfit.

I’m also thinking about wearing it next with my DKNY, exposed zipper dress shown here. Worn as an underpinning, I layered it with this sheath dress, while using the same necklace, shoes and purse for a completely different look.

Lastly, the bouse is worn under my bold striped blazer and pants from Bebe. The Rebecca Minkoff purse was free. Yes FREE!! My fabulous co-worker gave it to me – apparently it was a gift from the corporate summit he attended. Only in fashion do you walk away with gifts this amazing!

If you also like free, search my blog for “giveaway” and see all the contests that I’m currently running!

Style Diary: Bow Blouse

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The girly girl in me is loving this season’s bow trend. It’s everywhere from Gucci to Tory Burch to Diane Von Furstenburg, to Marc by Marc Jacobs to Ralph Lauren. So when I saw this white BCBG bow blouse at the retail store where I work during my double employee discount period, I just knew I had to have it.

Ok so I already have another white bow blouse sitting in my closet from Saks. But this one is half-sleeved..er so I reasoned. The best thing about the blouse is that the bow is detachable so it’s like you’re getting two shirts for the price of one!

I wore it with my cardigan sweater from Forever 21, my pleated navy skirt from H&M and my Hello Kitty purse which I adore. The navy heels are by Richard Tyler.

Here are some other inspirational pics that I found of other fashionistas wearing their favorite bow blouses.

This fashionista reminded me that you can convert any blouse into a bow blouse simply by adding a thin scarf. How do you like that?

I love the vibrant colors color-blocked together. This outfit reminded me a little of my bow blouse and shorts outfit shown here.

How sweet is this? There’s something so sweet and unexpected about this pretty pink and camel color pairing.

This classic cream/black pairing caught my interest immediately. It’s adorable, isn’t it?

If you’re a bow fan like I am, and can’t get enough, you’ll love my earlier post featuring Flattery who is the queen of dressing in bows! Her picture is shown below.

Don’t forget to leave a comment here and let me know your thoughts on this fashion trend!