Friday Chic: Spring

All of the rain and warmish weather is finally paying off with this past week being the first in a while to truely feel like spring. We’ve spent a lot time in our yard weeding, planting flowers, and finishing up a rain barrel project we started back in February (find me on Instagram at chicstripes for these adventures!). My husband has also taken to watering our flowers every night and I am loving the huge blooms that have sprung up everywhere in our back yard. This outfit is a reflection of the great weather and full blooms we’re having.  The “dress” is actually a skirt I found during my thrift crawl and when I realized it wasn’t as tight on my waist as first thought, I realized it could easily pull double duty as a dress and skirt.

Have you found items you can wear multiple ways? What do you style differently than it’s intended purpose?

Outfit details:

skirt worn as dress – Personal, thrifted / cardigan – Old Navy via Plato’s Closet / belt – thrifted / heels – Aldo / bag – Guess via eBay / earrings – Forever 21 / rings – Stella and Dot

Midweek Chic: On Repeat

Well hey there investment flats and bag…nice to see you again. These items have been on heavy rotation and for good reason. I will chose to spend what may be considered a good bit of money on certain items if their wearability, quality, and wardrobe fill-ability checks out. When I spotted each of these items, I knew that they would go with everything (wearability), are made from great materials and by quality designers/brands (quality: leather materials. brands: Coach, Lanvin), and allowed me to check off certain items on my wardrobe hole list (fill-ability, yes, totally made that up). And as you can see, I am loving wearing each of these, which is another, just as important factor when making purchases.

What qualifying factors do you make an item meet to warrant it’s purchase?

Outfit details:

tank – Forever 21 / jacket – H&M / skirt – Arden B. via thrift / earrings – Stella and Dot / cross body bag – Coach via Baggio / headbands – Goody from Target / flats – Lanvin from Baggio  / sunglasses – thrifted / rings: blue from my mom, silver Stella and Dot

Monday Chic: Wearing Investments

I’ve recently invested in (and bargained) some great pieces. If you’ve watched either of my recent videos (Goodwill here, Baggio here), then you know what I’m talking about. For those of you just tuning in, I’ll do a quick recap of my recently purchased 2nd hand favorite items, all featured in this post: green army jacket, Coach cross body leather bag, Lanvin peep toe flats. I’m all about creaving an investment worthy wardrobe and I happen to believe you can find investments at any price, it just all depends on where you shop!

 In case you are dying to know about these pieces, I paid $1 (YES!) for the green army jacket at Goodwill, $50 for the leather Coach bag at Baggio Consignment and $130 (ask for a discount and you may receive) for my Lanvin flats, also at Baggio (which retail for $600 by the way). I consider each of these investment pieces. Jacket: the ultimate casual layering piece that can transition from spring to fall seemlessly. Bag: hands free carry when you need it most, namely for events such as a festival, concert, wine tasting, running errands, or shopping. As a bonus, a small cross body bag only allows you to pack the necessities, keeping tired shoulders and arms at bay. Black peep toe flats: there are a lot of variables to consider when buying black shoes, mainly because it can be easy to spot lesser quailty in a solid colored item. But you need a pair of these in your wardrobe. The peep toe adds a bit of fun to a flat and will again take you from spring straight to fall. Everyone’s sense of style and budget is different, but following these loose guidelines will get you on your way to a quality wardrobe filled with pieces you will want to wear on repeat (and if you shop 2nd hand, you may save a pretty penny as well!.)

What do you consider to be investment items and why?

Outfit details:

top – United Colors of Benetton / jacket – no brand, Goodwill / jeans – H&M / bag – Coach via Baggio / flats – Lanvin via Baggio / earrings – Old

Video: Baggio Haul

So I valiantly tried to work on editing for this video. I wanted to take out where I tell you how much these shoes can hurt after a long day of walking (ha!), but couldn’t figure it out. I’ve been wearing both items a lot lately and they will be cropping up in my outfit posts, so I wanted to share all the great details. I’ll work on the research, but any recommendations for easy to use video editing software would be welcome! In the mean time, enjoy!

Outfit details:

top – United Colors of Benetton / jacket – thrifted / jeans- H&M / earrings – old

Video: Goodwill Thrift Haul

My first video in which I blink (a lot), have some awkward silences, and sit for waaay to long at the end. Oh, and I didn’t edit. Apparently that’s a thing when you post videos. At least you know it can only get better from here. Keep reading for some dressing room photos and info on the Thrit Crawl I mention at the end. Please let me know if you enjoyed and if you want to see more videos like this. And if you do, I promise I’ll work on all those vlogging things like lighting and editing.

Some photos of what I DID buy: green army jacket, button down Banana Republic top, sequined top.

And photos on what I didn’t buy: green jacket, sorely tempting, but the other is actually more classic. Old Navy sweat shirt, hard to tell, but it’s very short and I like longer work out clothing. Boys North Face jacket, very boxy, too short. Long sleeve Champion work out top (not mentioned in video because I forgot I tried it on!), didn’t get because fit oddly (gaping at sides, pointy shoulders). Elie Tahari blazer, punking it out in an oversized blazer AKA getting swallowed.

Thrift Crawl!

Like most of you all, I love thrifting and find it’s 10x better to do it with fellow thrifters! The Group Shop Events are simple: we have a set itinerary of a few different thrift or 2nd hand stores that are grouped relatively close together and are similar in the type of store they are (thrift, consignment, etc). We meet up at the first, shop, head to the next, and shop some more! As needed/wanted, I encourage carpooling as it’s not only eco-conscious, but you can get to know your fellow thrifters.

• Date: Saturday, May 11, 2013
• Time: 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
• Locations: City Trip – Fantastic Thrift, The Clothes Rack, Diversity Thrift
• Met Up Place: Fantastic Thrift, Richmond, VA @ 1:30 PM
• RSVP:  chicstripes@gmail.com

And the winner is…

Last week I shared about Panache, a local upscale bead store that not only has beads, but pearls, stones, silver and everything in between and can create custom designed pieces. I paired up with them to give one of my lovely RVA readers their own free jewelry class + all the supplies they need to create a necklace and bracelet.

I’m a little behind on announcing the winner, so please forgive me, but Katherine of Neon Blonde Runner, please check your email. Congrats and enjoy your new pieces that you get to make!

As you can read in the original post, this wasn’t a sponsored giveaway. Just a fun way to share about a local Richmond business and pass the goodies on to you!

Monday Chic: Oversized

Just when we thought it was spring, mother nature pulled a fast one on us with a week of gloomy, overcast, windy and rainy weather. But at least it’s given me an excuse to pull out this oversized white coat. When I first started reading blogs, I somehow stumbled onto Fashion Toast and then discovered Rumi had an eBay store where she sold her amazing thrifted finds (at a huge mark up, natch). But regardless, I fell in love with this large, white ESPRIT coat and mentioned wanting it to my mom. At the time the coat was somewhere in the $45 range so I wasn’t bidding on it. Several weeks later, I opened my birthday present from my mom, and there was this coat (she paid $90, yikes!). I was touched by the gesture, and haven’t used this as much as I should. But here it is, and now you know the secret to my heart: eBay auctions and large white jackets.

What’s the secret to your heart? A designer bag? The perfect necklace? Or do flowers (or fill in the blank: wine, veggies, exercise gear) do the trick?

Outfit details:

top – Old Navy via RVAFB clothing swap / jeans – Banana Republic / jacket – ESPRIT bought via Rumi Neely’s eBay site many years ago / boots – Atrex / bag – Dooney and Bourke via thrift / necklace – no brand via Baggo Consignment / sunglasses – thrifted.