All posts tagged Style

Everyday Velvet

Everyday Velvet sugared rush

My friend rolled her eyes and insisted I already owned something  just like it when I first tired on this amazing printed velvet top. I knew she was right, but sometimes you just gotta have what you love. Velvet is my addiction. The plush fabric makes me feel like a queen, regardless of type or situation.

In many aspects I’m a hoarder. Clothes I love will get hidden away in my closet for fear of wearing them out and damaging them. This velvet top fell into that section of my closet and has come out to play only a few times since I got it. In an effort to be better about using the clothes I already have, I forced myself to take out this amazing piece and style an outfit for work. I think this look would also work for a more traditional office environment with a classic black pencil skirt. If you’re interested in wearing velvet and other classy fabrics in everyday environments, check out my tips below.

Everyday Velvet sugared rush  OUTFIT TIP

How to wear classy fabrics everyday

  1. Just Do It! Why listen to naysayers, if you love it go for it. It’s the attitude that really sells an outfit, so don’t forget to feel smashing. I only had the grocery checkout guy at the end of my day comment on how very dressy I looked.
  2. Be conservative otherwise. Let the velvet or sequin or whatever piece speak for itself and keep the rest of your wardrobe toned down. For an everyday look, or in a more constrictive environment, avoid excessive jewelry, low cuts, and loud colors or prints when pairing it with a standout fabric.
  3. Stick to shades. If you’re worried about wearing a dressy fabric out just choose one color theme (probably the main one in your special fabric). I went with what i’ll call a “grey” theme. I have both ends of the shade spectrum in my black tights and white cardigan, and my grey-like shirt and skirt.
  4. Pay attention to the weather. Some special fabrics do not like to get wet, while others may show sweat super obviously. You’ll want to learn the limitations around your fabric and what your day will hold before deciding on a standout fabric. Being comfortable in your outfit is the most important part of getting a look to “work.”

 

How would you wear a velvet top to work? What’s for favorite standout fabric?

xxAmy

  1. Everyday Velvet sugared rushEveryday Velvet sugared rushEveryday Velvet sugared rush

Cardigan: Thrifted
Top: Forever 21
Skirt: Forever 21
Tights: Ralph Lauren/DSW (On an awesome sale!)
Shoes: Target

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by Amyzilla on May 7, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by Amyzilla on May 7, 2014

https://sugaredrush.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/everyday-velvet/

Dreams of a Dessert

Sugared Rush

This outfit is one of many that has been sitting in my laptop’s archive for far too long. It’s not one that I actually like much, the proportions are a bit off when I look at it now. Despite my bright colors, it was actually a quite cold day at the beginning of February. I decided that I was just over winter and took to my wardrobe for inspiration of the beautiful weather I wish I could be having. Sadly, my spelling couldn’t keep up, but I’m probably always dreaming about pastries, especially anything caramel or a brownie. These mint jeans went on my wishlist last spring when everyone else went gaga for the color, but I waited till fall sale time to actually pick up a pair. Now that spring is coming up again, I am quite excited by my frugalistic decision. As I type this with  my mint nails I am sitting in the sunshine of our front yard, in my hammock with 40s jazz filling the air and thinking about this outfit! I need to recreate it this week, but i’ll fix the proportions a bit.

Sugared Rush

OUTFIT TIP

Balance your proportions with your body type

I’m not sure how, but I only recently realized that I have quite large hips, compared to the rest of my body, placing me in the overused fruit category of pear. I messed up these proportions a bit this winter, so when I recreate the outfit I’m going to fix a few things.

  1. Cuff the jeans. Since they’re already high-waisted, my petite body kinda gets overtaken by mint when they go that low. I’m loving the cuffed trend currently, especially now that it’s warm enough to show some skin.
  2. Show some skin. At it’s hottest this weekend I’ll be able to wear just the tank top. Showing my shoulders and arms will help slim down my overall appearance. In this outfit, the boxy cardigan does not mix well with my overpowering mint hips. If I were to wear this again in the winter, I would wear a sweater that is much slimmer along the arms for the same effect.
  3. Change the Sweater Proportions. I’m not sure what direction I’ll take, but my two thoughts are shorter or longer. Where the sweater hits now draws attention to my larger hips. Instead I might wear a cropped canvas jacket to highlight the small of my waist. The other option would be a longer crochet sweater. This would slide over my hips and help lengthen my body. Other upsides to the longer crochet is it helps tone down the bright mint by letting the color peek through the crochet pattern, and it covers the mullet back of this high-low shirt.

Do you like recreating your outfits? What trends are you excited to repeat from last spring?

xxAmy

Sugared Rush

Sadly, these photo’s didn’t turn out as wonderfully as I was hoping for. Focusing still challenges me when I’m in front of and behind the camera. But cat shirt. All other arguments are invalid.

Sugared RushSugared Rush

Jacket: Thrifted/F21
Cardigan: Thrifted
Cat Top: F21
Mint High-Waisted Jeans: DailyLook
Purse: Thrifted
Shoes: Thrifted

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by Amyzilla on May 5, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by Amyzilla on May 5, 2014

https://sugaredrush.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/dreams-of-a-dessert/

Market Morning & Tips for Shopping At Loft

I could probably sleep through an explosion of fireworks in my backyard if I felt like it. Which makes weekend mornings like this one quite rare for me. We got up bright and early, or more around 10 am, and sleepily wandered down to the Farmers Market. In a compromise to waking up before noon I just rolled out and went. No time spent fussing about my looks.

Sugared Rush

For off-the-cuff stylish looks, I have always dreamt of the perfect basic striped shirt. Pintrest has completely convinced me that they are possibly the most offhandedly stylish piece in a wardrobe. So I was pretty psyched to finally acquire one. This isn’t the basic stripe piece I had in my head, but I could not believe how awesome the lace shoulder add-ons were. I had a brilliant day browsing the sale racks at LOFT a few weeks ago and this was not the only steal I fell in love with. The stripes caught my eye, but the weight of the shirt material is what prompted me to try it on. I am quite over the paperthin pieces that seem to be all I can find in most clothing retailers.

The past few months I have window shopped the LOFT weekly emails, but this was my first foray into the store. I was worried about being able to find clothes that would easily fit my small frame. I have had a decent amount of bad luck previously with labels who’s main client base is middle-aged. Walking-in I completely loved their fresh and lightly colored spring collection. The feel is certainly along the lines I’ve been feeling for spring. I tried on a lot of clothes (which I always recommend, you won’t know how great it is until you try it on!) Below are some tips I picked up:

Sugared RushSugared Rush

Tips for Shopping at LOFT:

  1. Pay attention to their sale patterns
    • I chose to go shopping when they were having a 50% on everything promotion. Since I’ve been signed up for their emails, I knew that 40% on everything was a common promotion, so this week was outside the norm. The great part was that the 40% still applied to sale merch. This meant I got a really great deal overall.
  2. Shop Petite
    • If you’re 5′ 4″ and shorter, OR taller but with a short torso or legs you should be checking out the petite section. Sorry to those who don’t have this option! I found that the petite sale selection was nearly untouched and that’s where I snagged this striped top. The great thing is if you really need the shorter proportions, they have nearly all of their items available in petite online. Online returns to the store are really easy, so get thee to the webz!
  3. Try a classic bottom & top piece for fit
    • I’m a firm believer in ignoring size labels. Lately, every fashion house will fit you differently and you need to be aware of those nuances. Thankfully I found LOFT to have uniform sizing in all the styles I tried on. I recommend the first two pieces you grab for are a classic top and a classic bottom in two or three sizes. Choose whatever your go-to piece for each body part is; I picked an adorable white pencil skirt and a lightly embellished t-shirt. You’ll never see them on this blog because I didn’t buy them,  this fitting should be quick and easy so don’t worry about hunting for pieces you like.
  4. Think twice about the sale section
    • I noticed that a number of “sale” items had only been discounted 10%. Always check yourself that you’re purchasing something because you truly love it, and not just because it’s on sale. That “sale” can often be used as a gimmick, and 10% is one of the worst tricks I’ve seen. As a marketer and bargainess, I am both amazed and appalled by their audacity.
  5. Talk with the sales people
    • I prefer to be in my own bubble when shopping so I did not do this tip when I visited. After talking to friends about my awesome experience at LOFT I got the resounding reply that they are always alerted to great deals by the sales girls. They’ll also have the best idea about how a piece of clothing will fit, but I recommend asking about a piece before you try it on. You’ll get a more honest idea or some helpful styling suggestions.

Sugared Rush  Sugared Rush

I carried my camera around the little market for most of the morning, but was pretty psyched to convince M to take it and snap a few pictures for me. I just got a 35 mm f/2.0 lens that doesn’t autofocus with my body, so it’s no easy tech for a non-photog to pick up. I think he did pretty good for his first time. I know I won’t want to give up the camera reigns for this blog, but I’m hoping that eventually my photography love will rub off on him a bit. Overtime at least. And probably by force.

Sugared Rush

Top: Loft

Pants: H&M [Also Worn Here]

Shoes: Steve Madden/DSW

Tote: Le Motto by SheSheBonBon

 

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by Amyzilla on April 28, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by Amyzilla on April 28, 2014

https://sugaredrush.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/market-morning-tips-for-shopping-at-loft/

How To Wear Jeans and a T-Shirt

Tshirt and Jeans I got the idea for this post from this weeks IFB Style Challenge: Back to Basics. While I was thinking up an outfit I realized that I don’t really own a pair of basic jeans anymore. I love this! Jeans were one of my style ruts back in high school. I had a couple pairs that all looked the same and it rarely made a difference which one in the morning. I still remember my first printed pair of jeans. They were a medium wash, wide flare from Areopostale that had the cutest thin white vertical pinstripes. I wore those jeans to death! Now that my pants drawer has 7 different colors in it I feel like I could wear jeans all the time without worrying about feeling boring. But if that’s not you, I’ve got 3 simple tips below for looking quite stylish in your basics.CardiganTshirtJeans

Tip 1: BE COMFORTABLE

For me, jeans and a t-shirt are the epitome of a lazy day outfit, or a busy day outfit, or a casual day outfit. Basically anytime I don’t want to put a lot of effort into an outfit. While this is also usually my number one tip for getting dressed any day, it’s especially important when you don’t want to be thinking about your outfit as the day goes on. These jeans are actually jeggings from American Eagle. That mostly just means they are super soft and feel extremely comfortable all day long.

Metallic Tshirt and Jeans

Tip 2: DETAILS THAT SPARKLE

My shopping mantra lately has been “Beauty is in the Details.” When styling jeans and a t-shirt you want to make sure to add in a bit of intrigue to the outfit. Just because it’s basic doesn’t mean it has to be plain. Now this doesn’t mean glitter every time, or even ever. The details could be an interesting pattern, fabric, or even just how the piece is worn. The easiest solution i’ve seen just about everywhere is the half-tuck. For this outfit, I loved the beautiful jeweled design on the front of the t-shirt. This shirt is my most recent acquisition because I couldn’t say no to how comfy yet awesome I felt while wearing it. Even with the jeweled design, I bought it with the express purpose of being a casual, lazy day, top. (I also did the half tuck because the shirt is so long on my short torso.)

Tshirt Sweater Green Jeans

Tip 3: ACCESSORIZE WITH PURPOSE

I’ve always struggle with accessories so they usually take me a long time to figure out for each outfit. That is not something I want to deal with when I’m trying not to focus on what I’m wearing. For this day, my only thought was “It’s Cold” so I grabbed my favorite cardigan of the moment to keep myself warm while running errands. If you’re a person who always has to have some jewelry, just grab your favorite or go-to piece. Even if it’s not the perfect match for the outfit, you’ll feel comfortable and confident in it, and that’s all that’s necessary to rock any outfit.

On my shoes. As I said earlier, this was a practical outfit for getting things done, so at first glance my beautiful wedge booties (that I absolutely love) kinda violate two of my rules. If you can’t already tell, I’m a bit of a shoe addict and spent some time in college working at DSW. This caused my shoe collection to suddenly explode with a ton of amazing, but mostly impractical, heels.  I always feel bad about having all these shoes that rarely get worn, so I tend to take the more comfortable ones out on errand days. I mean, errands are mostly spend driving in-between places anyways. These booties are super comfy because the wedge and the enclosed boot both work to support my foot while its at the weird heel height angle. And I don’t know if you can tell, but they have stellar traction for when winter comes.

How do you wear jeans and a t-shirt? What would you consider your basic outfit?American Eagle Green Moto Jeggings

Cardigan: Thrifted/target
Top: JCP
Jeans: American Eagle (Also worn here)
Shoes: DSW
3 Comments
by Amyzilla on November 6, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Amyzilla on November 6, 2013

https://sugaredrush.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/how-to-wear-jeans-and-a-t-shirt/

Halloween: Everyday Angel

Angel in Everyday

Today was a lovely and wonderfully relaxing day. Halloween is one of my favorite holiday so I made sure to enjoy everything I could. I still had to go to work as usual, bright and early in the morning, but there is no way I was gonna miss dressing up. Every year I want to spend hours upon hours making super intricate and amazing costumes, but rarely do I have even the time to think up the intricate idea to then spend forever creating. This year I had a slightly more intricate goddess costume for our Halloween party but for work I wanted to still keep it appropriate. I just happen to have ended up collecting blazers and I thought that with this white one (not pictured) I could easily put together this costume.

I think it is so simple to create fun costumes out of just the regular clothes in your closet. Like with this one, I thought of a theme, angelic white, and quickly I could just pull out a collection of white clothes and see what worked. This idea could be done for so many other themes as well. In the simple colors I could imagine a devil, cat, hunter just off the top of my head. But you’re costume isn’t complete with out the unusual accessory. I made this halo out of some simple gold wire from Joanne’s and a little bit of fluffy white yarn. The wire was a size 20 so I didn’t even need any special tools to bend it into its shape, and it’s been perfect all day. As I write i’m still wearing it, though I’ve changed out of my angelic whites.

Halloween Timelapse 

As the sun started to go down I sat myself up on our front steps with a bowl of candy, a magazine, and my camera. I kept taking photos to keep my remote active, but didn’t manage to capture any wonderful pictures of the few trick-or-treater’s we got. I did snag this awesome one of the boyfriend, though he is much too tall to fit into my camera frame.

Floating Angel Angel in a midi skirtCandy Halloween and an Angel

[Cardigan: Plato’s] [Top: Thrifted] [Skirt: Estate Sale] [Tights: Target] [Pumps: Target]

What was your Halloween costume this year?

This post was submitted as part of IFB Project #119

xxAmy

Silver Pumps and Midi Skirt 

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by Amyzilla on November 1, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Amyzilla on November 1, 2013

https://sugaredrush.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/halloween-everyday-angel/

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