Tag: fashion inspiration

The Versatility of Two Piece Suits

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“Cause girls go crazy about a sharp dressed man!” Well I say, people also go crazy about a sharp dressed woman too. Especially if said woman is wearing a blazer and/or suit. I don’t know why, but lately I have been on a huge suit kick. Actually, I’ve been loving blazers and suits for a very long time, but I always felt like (as a plus sized woman) they never looked good on me. I thought that masculine pieces like blazers and suits were meant for women with a more androgynous frame, but boy way I wrong!

Honestly it all started with my mom going through her closet and giving me a pair of navy pinstripe pants with a matching vest. She didn’t want it anymore, and thought I might want to try it on. And there it hung in my closet for weeks until I remembered to try it on and I fell in love. I felt powerful and beautiful and I wanted to wear it immediately. So I wore it for my birthday, and thus began my newfound love for suits.

The next day I went shopping with my family, because I had birthday money that was burning a hole in my pocket. Miraculously, I found two very different but equally amazing suits and I ended up taking both of them home. Today, I am going to be showing you guys how versatile suits can be by creating a total of six outfits with my two new suits.

Of course the most obvious way to wear a suit is to wear the two pieces together. It’s a no-brainer, right? Although that may seem easy, I wanted to show two very different ways to wear a full on suit and two different ways to wear them as separates: dressy vs casual.

Wearing Them Together-

Dressing it up: The best way to make a statement in a two piece suit is to pick a color palette, and stick to it! This makes the look more cohesive and more impactful. Plus, you look like you actually know what you’re doing! A pair of statement earrings, shoes, and bag complete the look, and make it seem intentional, and makes you look confident.

Dressing it down: It may not seem like the most obvious choice, but a suit and sneakers are a match made in heaven. When I lived in New York you would see women walking around in their 9 to 5 wardrobe and tennis shoes, most likely to change into their nice shoes once they got where they were going. But for me, New York re-ignited my love for sneakers and comfortable shoes. Forget changing into heels, I love the juxtaposition of making a suit casual. Just throw on a graphic tee and some sneakers and you have yourself an outfit!

Wearing Them as Separates-

Dressing it down: When wearing wide legged pants, the best and most flattering thing to pair them with is a form fitting top. I ended up tying up this tank top to add a more relaxed and causal vibe and to also show a little bit more of my waist. I added some height with these espadrille wedges, because lets face it, these pants are too long to wear with flats. And again, I just love pairing blazers with chunky sneakers and a graphic tee, and when you add a pair of distressed denim shorts it becomes the perfect casual spring look!

Dressing it up: My tips for dressing up suit separates is basically the same for a full suit: stick to a color palette. I wore a blue and white gingham wrap top with these baby blue pants, and I think the colors work so well together. I completed the look with dainty and feminine accessories in none other than white to go with the shirt. In contrast to that, I decided to do something a little unexpected and change up a classic little black dress with this structured blue blazer. I think it completely changes up the look and adds a whole other element of color. And the hair clips add a nice touch.

Well there you have it! Those are my tips on how to make a two piece suit versatile for any wardrobe. Honestly, you can apply this to any matching set, or something that you think might be too much of a statement piece, to make it more applicable to your life and your style. I know that I am 100% on the suit train, and I don’t plan on getting off any time soon!

Love, Kendall

Beginners Guide To Mixing Prints

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Early this year I posted a question on my Instagram story about what kind of content you guys wanted to see on the blog, and one of the most popular responses I got was: “How do you mix prints? What are your tips? I don’t even know where to start!”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure where to start. To me, print mixing almost comes naturally to me. Like it’s something I’ve been doing for so long, that I just do it without a second thought. So after much contemplation, I have come up with a few tips to help you get a better understanding of how to mix prints in a fashionable way.

Color Palette – When picking the printed items you want to wear, the best place to start is by finding a similar color palette. For example, I used the navy in the tie dye tank top below to pull out the navy and overall jewel tones of the floral skirt. By pulling one similar color between the two prints you create a more cohesive outfit.

Utilize Accessories – If you don’t feel comfortable wearing a full outfit of print, you can easily start by wearing a printed top or bottom and then pairing it with a printed accessory. If you feel like a pro you can even use accessories to add a third print to your look, like I did with the gingham shoes below!

Break It Up – One way to create a more flattering look with a print on print outfit is to add a belt or jacket in a solid color to break up the overall appearance of the print. This adds contrast and also creates a more visually appealing look. You can also do this by making sure your prints are different in scale, so there is one large print and one smaller print.

Confidence is Key – When in doubt, wear it with confidence. I honestly think that you could rock a potato sack if you had enough confidence. And when you see someone who feels good in what they are wearing, you notice.

My Go To’s – Here are some of my go to combinations to help get you started: stripes and florals, stripes and leopard/animal print, tie dye and florals, polka dots and gingham, and plaid and stripes. Of course I also love to double up on prints, like stripes on stripes, gingham on gingham, plaid on plaid, and polka dots on polka dots!

I hope this helped you guys get a better idea of how to mix prints in your own wardrobe. I encourage you to take out all of your printed clothing items, lay them on your bed, and just start matching them up to create new outfits. You’ll be surprised to see what you can come up with!

Love, Kendall

Finding Your Personal Style Part 3: Go To Outfits

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Imagine this: you wake up and check the clock. It’s past time for you to get up, your alarm didn’t go off, and now you are going to be late to work/school/etc. What are you going to do? What are you going to wear? If you know your personal style, then hopefully you have some go to outfits in mind. And if you don’t, then it’s time to work on them.

For me, I always have several go to outfits in mind. Whether it’s a casual day, a work day, or a fancy event, I know exactly where to start with putting an outfit together.

One of my favorite go to outfits is a graphic tee or casual top with a midi/maxi skirt. I love the juxtaposition of a dressier item like a flow-y skirt with an everyday shirt like a slogan tee. I actually do this with just about every outfit I wear: chunky sneakers with cute little dresses, kitten heels with distressed boyfriend jeans, stuff like that. I feel like it adds an element of interest and you always look on trend.

Another stand by outfit is anything with wide leg pants. Not only do I feel like I’m wearing pajamas, but I look put together too. You can wear them casually with, you guessed it, graphic tees. Or you can dress them up with a button up or nicer shirt. I tend to create an outfit around one focus piece, typically a patterned or brightly colored piece. So if I am wearing patterned pants I’ll go for a simpler top and vice versa. This is one of the easiest ways to create outfits, by grounding them with one dynamic piece.

The simplest go to outfit I have is a dress. I prefer my dresses to have sleeves and be midi length so that they are easier to throw on and be comfortable without having to wear a strapless bra (you curvy girls get me). In a casual setting I love wearing dresses with sneakers or strappy sandals, and in fancier settings I almost always wear them with low heeled sandals. Dresses are great because they are basically an outfit in one piece. You can add things like shoes, purses, belts, and jackets but they are small additions to the overall look of the dress.

The most important thing to get from this post is that it is good to know how to build outfits around your personal style and keep them in mind when you have no idea what to wear. I hope you guys feel inspired to go through your closet and put outfits together around some of your favorite pieces. Let them be the star of the show, and always keep the “blue print” of your favorite outfits in mind so that you can recreate them whenever you need an outfit that you KNOW you love and look good in.

Love, Kendall

Finding Your Personal Style Part 2: Wardrobe Staples

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I want you to close your eyes and picture your wardrobe. What does it look like? What pieces immediately come to mind? Now imagine if something were to happen to your wardrobe, and you had to start all over. Where would you start? What pieces would you want to replace as soon as possible? Those are a good indication of your wardrobe staples.

Your wardrobe staples are the pieces you can’t live without, and they are a great indicator of your personal style! Below I am going to show you my wardrobe staples for the upcoming season as well as a few tips and tricks on finding your own wardrobe staples.

An important thing to consider when defining your personal style and wardrobe staples is your lifestyle. Things like climate and career will impact your style in various ways. For example, if you live in a warmer climate, your wardrobe staples may include denim shorts where as someone’s in a cooler climate may include a coat. If you work a 9 to 5 office job five days out of the week, your wardrobe will probably include more formal business wear than someone who works outdoors or someone who works at a hospital. Once you make up the guidelines for your wardrobe, your personal style will become much easier to define. However, it is important to note that our personal style doesn’t always line up with our lifestyle, and that’s okay! That’s what weekends and free time are for!

Here are some of my wardrobe staples:

Tops- If you know anything about me, then you probably know of my never ending love for a good graphic tee. Whether its from your favorite band or has a simple logo, is all black and white or super colorful, cropped or really oversized, any graphic tee is a good graphic tee in my book. They just go with everything. I also love dainty and feminine blouses, and striped button ups. One thing I don’t have enough of though is blouses and tops in simple solid colors, but they are definitely a staple.

Shoes- I am a big fan of comfortable shoes and for me that means sneakers and tennis shoes. My must haves include chunky dad tennis shoes and platform sneakers. I find that these are just the most flattering styles and I am always gravitating towards them. Other favorite styles include pointed toe ankle boots and strappy sandals in a staple color like black, grey, or brown.

Bottoms- A pair of well fitting jeans is a must in any wardrobe, and I am anti-skinny jeans! For years I forced myself to wear them because they were trendy. But now I know that not only are they the most uncomfortable thing in the world, they are also not flattering on me. Now I am all about straight leg, wide leg, or boyfriend style jeans. Add to this list a pair of striped linen trousers, plaid dress trousers, denim shorts, and all the midi to maxi length skirts you can imagine. So find a trusted friend, throw every idea of what’s “trendy” out the window, and find the jeans/pants/skirts that speak to you and make you feel good!

Dresses- The same rule for skirts tends to apply to dresses for me as well. I just love midi and maxi dresses to much! I find that not only are they incredibly comfortable, but they are also very flattering on me. I gravitate towards florals and stripes, but I also love a good denim dress or a solid color.

Outerwear- I used to be the kind of person that thought there was no such thing as “casual blazers,” but I have been proven wrong and I love blazers now. In fact, I am definitely on the hunt for some more. Other staples in my wardrobe include denim jackets, both covered in patches and pins and plain, and a cargo jacket.

Accessories- The accessories that I live by are dainty gold necklaces, hoop and statement earrings, and gold rings. I also love hair clips and barrettes, straw hats and berets, beaded bags, straw bags, silk scarves, and just about anything with a vintage flair.

I know that not all of these staples are everyone’s taste, and I am by no means saying that if you don’t have all of these things you need to go buy them. These are just the things in my wardrobe that I could not live without. These are my wardrobe staples, and I feel like they are an accurate representation of my personal style.

I hope this post has made it easier for you to label your wardrobe staples and ultimately define your personal style. There’s only one post left in this series, and I think it’s the best one yet.

Love, Kendall

Finding Your Personal Style Part 1: Fashion Inspiration

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Probably the most asked question I get is “How did you find your personal style?” And honestly, that question is a tough one to answer. Finding my personal style has always been a process, and it’s something that is constantly evolving. But I also believe that finding your personal style is an integral part of fashion.

If you don’t know your personal style you are more likely to succumb to every trend you see, have a closet bursting full of clothes, and yet still proclaim “I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!”

So that is why I am starting Part 1 of a series here on the blog with steps to not only help determine your personal style, but to fine tune your wardrobe so that every day you look forward to getting dressed.

The first step to define your personal style is to find inspiration. This can be from magazines, bloggers, Youtube videos, street style, Instagram, Pinterest, or even Tumblr. By gathering images and people that inspire you, you can more easily discern patterns and things that are repeated in those images. For example, if you are constantly pinning images on Pinterest that have distressed jeans, flannel, leather jackets and Doc Martens you might be able to describe your style as grungy, edgy, or punk.

My favorite ways to get fashion inspiration are Pinterest, bloggers I follow on Instagram and YouTube, and of course magazines and online fashion media. While I find my style to generally be hard to categorize, I know that I am drawn to more feminine silhouettes, vintage inspired clothing, and classic prints. However, I also love juxtaposing masculine or edgy pieces with feminine or classy pieces. Therefore I have a hard time committing to just one word to describe my style. I know what I like, and I stick to it.

Maybe your personal style isn’t as obvious from the images that inspire you. Maybe, like me, you have multiple facets of your style. That’s totally fine! Definitions aren’t what’s important here. What’s important is knowing the things you are attracted to in your clothing items, and staying away from things that don’t fit into your style. If you are confident in your style, then you wont feel like you have to buy into every micro-trend the minute you walk into a Forever 21.

While I’ll never knock someone for trying something new, especially in fashion. Being aware and knowledgeable of your personal style will save you from a lot of the heartbreak and annoyance of finding something your bought forever ago in your closet with the tags still on it. Although this is not foolproof, even I mess up sometimes, it will cut down on the amount of wasted funds and wasted closet space. And who doesn’t want that?

So, what do you think? Have you found your personal style, or are you still just as lost as you were before? Hopefully this post has helped you get a start on narrowing in on your personal style. And if not, then you can look forward to the next installment in this series as further help. No matter what, always trust your gut and wear what makes you feel confident!

See you guys next time!

Love, Kendall