the matches

Allie, my amazing friend from high school, came down to visit for her birthday this weekend. Bizarrely, we were wearing very similar outfits on her first day here. Passers-by must have thought we were wearing some sort of uniform.


J. Crew tank, Banana Republic skirt, Rainbow sandals, UO sunglasses, Betsey Johnson bag

Hollister dress (worn as top), Banana Republic skirt, Rainbow sandals, knockoff Bottega Veneta bag, Louis Vuitton sunglasses

Keeping in the vein, we tried on matching Miss America pageant dresses.


They were only $3.99 each, so I bought the purple one. You know, just in case I am ever in the running towards becoming Miss America.

Miss you Allie! Can't wait to see you again!

merry unbirthday

I found a semi-private place with great lighting to take my photos right near my room.

The highlight of my outfit is definitely my early birthday present! All I can say is that my parents are the bestttt.



I had been lusting after the Hillier hobo bag for a few months, and my mom and dad surprised me with it before I left for school. Originally, I was carrying the larger size of the bag, but it was ridiculously huge and too floppy to be attractive. I wish I had some pictures of myself carrying the enormous thing, but Dad saved me the embarrassment. Luckily, I found the smaller size at Barney's down here and I was able to do the exchange.

Today's outfit was simple (again... I need more flair, I know) and mostly meant to deal with the summer that is still present in LA. I'm a total summer girl, but I'm really craving some layering.

UO tee, Hollister shorts, Moda Enrico flats (M by MJ knockoffs), M by MJ bag

I love that the bag can be worn so many ways. Here I wear the shorter strap on my shoulder and hooked in my elbow. I've also toted it around with the longer strap on my shoulder or across my body like a messenger bag. As I've said before, items that transform themselves are definitely the best.

flare-up

I'm sick. When I woke up Friday morning I felt like death. My throat was so sore that I woke up in the middle of the night from the pain. Since then it's gotten better, but I feel like I'm running on empty.

Yesterday, I went with my aunt and cousin to the yearly carnival fundraiser that's held at my old elementary school. It was weird to see little kids I once knew all grown up and some even in high school. It was a good place for people watching and eating Portuguese donuts. Yum.

I wanted to be comfortable and warm yesterday to fend my sickness off. I decided it would be a good day to try on my new flared jeans that I got in the city a little while back. I'm assuming skinny's still in, but I'm a little tired of the silhouette already. It's even sold at like, Gymboree. I have a feeling that the flared shape going to come back soon.

Alternative Apparel cardigan, Gap tank, Ruehl jeans, Stuart Weitzman sandals, Banana Republic bag

I've been feeling a little bohemian lately. I want to wear all my fluttery and flowing tops now. Once the chill comes, I'm living in my leather leggings!

take a bow

This is the interesting top I previously mentioned. I got it on sale at Martin & Osa, which is owned by American Eagle Outfitters, by the way. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I had never heard of the store before this past weekend, so I looked it up on Wikipedia out of curiosity. It's apparently targeted at 25 to 40-year-olds. Typical. My mom always tells me I like the frumpiest stuff.

Here are four outfits I tried with it:




à la Sailor Moon - I tied the neck piece into a bow and layered my basic black tank dress over it. I think I look like an anime schoolgirl, but I sort of enjoy this cutesy look. AA dress.

à la Steven Tyler - Leaving the neck piece in a simple loose knot reminds me of the Aerosmith singer's penchant for skinny scarves. It's a little more rock chic, but it's missing heavy accessories. Ruehl jeans.

à la flight attendant - This doesn't really need an explanation. I tried it untied too, but it just said "off duty flight attendant." Vintage skirt.

à la Katie Holmes - I really love how Katie wears her boyfriend jeans. This is my favorite look of the four. Gap 1969 men's jeans.

Even so, I don't think this top is worth keeping. No matter how I style it, it seems to still retain a schoolgirl / secretary / stewardess vibe. It's going back this weekend.

slick

Even though I haven't found that much good use of my AA eelskin leggings yet, I'm clearly falling for the leather pants/leggings trend. I love them so much that I decided to scoop up yet another pair of latex legwear!

Behold, (as the salesgirl called them) the "leather legging". Here's how I'm going to justify this purchase; $42 at American Apparel, $18.50 at Wet Seal.

Abercrombie & Fitch tank, Wet Seal leggings

They don't fit amazingly. My eelskins are slightly higher-waisted and aren't prone to sliding down. These ones, unfortunately, contribute to front butt syndrome:

They're still pretty legit to wear under long sweaters and tunics this fall.

For those of you who can't bear to have sub-par leggings, I encourage you to take advantage of American Apparel's current sale! College students (maybe high schoolers too?) get 15% off purchases through September 2nd. And we all know this stuff like, never goes on sale.

naughty secretary

In sixth grade, I was a goth for Halloween. I wore a burgundy wig and Hot Topic-esque Nine West boots. The icing on the cake was a pair of pleather pants from Gap Kids.

I'm revisiting the pleather (sans vampiric makeup) with this mini skirt from H&M. For the record, I would never wear a tight white polo with the skirt out of the fitting room... It just gives off a kinky secretary vibe that I do not want to be associated with. I think it goes without saying that I won't be donning my glasses with it either.



The material isn't the best, but I liked the cut and I'm interested in mixing textures of black. It'll do.

P.S. I wear color sometimes! The blog will look less like a White House/Black Market catalog soon!