Tag Archives: Chloe + Isabel

Festive Fashions

December is filled with Holiday festivities, from your workplace Christmas party, to annual Holiday soirees hosted by friends. Some cities even have city-wide public celebrations such at TBOX [Twelve Bars of Xmas/Christmas] in Chicago and SantaCon in New York City, among a number of other locations. These holiday affairs present great opportunities to gather with friends, meet new people, and dress for the occasion! I think every detail counts when putting together your holiday attire. Check out my collection of festive holiday fashions, and feel free to share yours in the comments section!

LRD: Little Red Dress

First up, this red hot number from LuLu’s, Domestic Goddess Wine Red Shift Dress. Beyond the vibrant color, I love the sleeves and wide neckline, yet the length still makes this dress sexy. I have a dress just like this one that I picked up in a boutique in London. The sleeves on my dress are much simpler, but the overall feel is the same. For a holiday party I recommend throwing on a pair of black opaque tights, black heels or sleek boots, and gold jewelry.

Long sleeve wine red dress from LuLu's

Long sleeve wine red dress from LuLu’s

Statement Necklaces: Glitter in Gold this Season 

I’ve made the switch from silver to gold. I think gold jewelry looks great with some of the colors most commonly worn in winter: reds, greens, deep purples, black, and white. Though, I still think silver is the better match when wearing shades of blue. For dresses with high necklines, I think it’s fun to spice up the outfit with a bold statement necklace like these selections from Chloe + Isabel:

chloe-and-isabel-gold-leaf-statement-necklace

Leaf Statement Necklace

chloe-and-isabel-gold-coral-necklace

Coral Branch Collar Necklace

SantaCon, In Style

I’m so excited to take part in SantaCon NYC next Saturday, December 15. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, it is, as described by the event site, a day “where guys & girls of legal age [21+] dress up like Santa and go cavorting around town for no better reason [other] than that it’s huge fun.”

Count me in! However, if I’m going on a Santa-inspired bar crawl in the Big Apple, I’m doing it with a little more flare than in an oversized velvet Santa suit. I’m not the only one customizing my outfit however, as some of my friends and co-workers who attended last years SantaCon NYC dressed up as gingerbread men, elves, and a pack of reindeer. I am still following the Santa motif, but I will be rocking bright red legging corduroys from Gap, a long-sleeved grey and white striped shirt from H&M, black riding boots with gold detail from Steve Madden, white suspenders, and a festive plush santa hat!

gap-red-legging-cords

Gap 1969 Legging Cords in New Vermillion

Reggiee Black Riding Boots with Gold Detail

Reggiee Black Riding Boots with Gold Detail

Glittering in Gold from Head to Toe

I have an inkling we’re going to be seeing a lot of gold this New Year’s Eve. Almost every shop I’ve been to has sold out of their gold sequin apparel. I was lucky enough to snag a beautiful gold sequin pencil skirt from NY&Co a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, they have since sold out of that item in stores and online. But if you’re willing to do a bit of searching–and trust online ordering–you shouldn’t have trouble snagging a fun and fabulous gold sequin apparel item to ring in the New Year or wear to a holiday get-together.

gold-sequin-skirt-holidays

Screen shot 2012-12-08 at 11.21.19 PM

Nail Detail

I think nail art should be simple. Check out my nails in the photo below. I used a classic OPI red, Chick Flick Cherry, and Gettin’ Miss Piggy with It from the OPI Muppets collection.

OPI-nails-red-holiday-sparkle

The Fabulousness of Tacky + Unrefined

My favorite holiday parties of all are tacky sweater parties, so don’t forget to visit your local thrift shop [or your mom's closet, if your lucky] to score a fun sweater to rock out in this winter! A special thank you to my amazing mom, for letting me sport some of her gem sweaters, I DO BELIEVE!

I-Believe-Tacky-Sweater-reindeer hanukkah_sweater-tacky snowman-tacky-sweater

One last accessory I have to recommend are these knee high holiday socks from Target. They are great to casually wear over black leggings, or if you want to add a white, plush top to some black boots [for a Santa's boots look], these socks are the perfect fold-over! It doesn’t hurt that they’re an absolute steal for only $5. Also, keep in mind, this photo doesn’t do these socks justice-they’re much cuter in person.

red-holiday-strip-socks

Friday Finds: 20 April

Happy Friday, readers! Every Friday I will be posting my favorite finds of the week: fun and fascinating blog posts, photography, food recipes, fashion, art, technology, world//national//local news and anything else I find intriguing and worth sharing.

This week, with Earth Day coming up on Sunday, I’ve decided to feature web content featuring green products, ideas for upcycling, and amazing photography of our fabulous Mother Earth and its inhabitants! Enjoy.

Green Living//Green Products

In Milan, Italy soon inhabitants will be able to live in a forest in the sky. The towers, known as Bosco Verticale, are currently under construction. The photo below is the artist’s current vision for the 27-floor apartment buildings, which will also be home to 730 trees and 16,000 other shrubs and plants.

If you’re into ecofriendly fashion, check out these finds:

Chloe + Isabel created this bangle set, made from organic metals.

 

I found this bracelet on Etsy. According to the artist, “Each bangle is hand formed from 100% ecofriendly recycled sterling silver wire and then hand-hammered and tumbled for shine and strength.”

This watch, from WeWood, is made from 100% natural wood and is free from toxic chemicals. Bonus? How about the fact that for every time piece WeWood sells, they plant a tree! And don’t worry about where the wood for these fun watches comes from, according to their website [and philosophy statement] they are made from “mostly scrap-wood and uses state-of-the-art Miyota movements for the guts, resulting in a unique watch that’s handsome, earth-friendly, and splash-proof.” Fun!

The products from Chikumbuso have a special place in my heart, as I spent three and a half weeks in Zambia with the Institute for International Journalism, and was fortunate enough to meet some of the amazing women who make these products, and the children they benefit.

Above is a photo I took at Chikumbuso, featuring one of the widows knitting a bag together. Below is a photo from their website of the finished product. I highly endorse all of their products, ranging from stunning jewelry to the fun, fashionable [and ecofriendly] bags! And yes, I personally own one of these and I love it! :)

 

Great Ideas for Upcycling: The process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.

Love these two ideas for upcycling wine corks. The first, from Two Twenty One, uses corks as decór around candles, beautiful! The second, from greenUPGRADER, recommends carving designs on one end of the cork and using it as a stamp.

Another fun item to use in upcycling projects are buttons. Here is an idea from Etsy, using buttons as custom artwork:

 

Fabulous Photos of Our Mother Earth

I am a huge fan of National Geographic. All of the photos from NatGeo are nothing short of stunning. Below is a collection of some of personal favorites.

Tigers in India

 

A new species of purple crabs found in the Philippines.

 

West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone

 

A manatee swimming in a freshwater spring in Crystal River, Florida.

 

This red squirrel in Poland simply makes my heart melt! Dawh!