holiday partieees

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. . . everywhere you go"
Since the holidays are coming up, I've decided to to talk about the topic of holiday party dresses. Now it really depends on what kind of party you're going to, but today I'm going to a "cocktail dresses only" party, which is a lot of work for a gal like me that would rather just be straight bumming it all day. But ya know, you gotta try sometimes....

Anyway, I think that whatever dress code you're going by, (and it's a good idea to know before hand what that will be--if you need a guide, try Lauren Conrad's book "Style" that's great all around, but has a nice short-and-sweet key for dress codes), the holiday's are a great time to experiment. It's where you can pull out all the tricks and look smexy under the mistletoe(:

So I'll go through a list of trends that work for every occasion, but to give you a good picture for each type of event, the trends will be paired up with different occasions.

• COCKTAIL PARTIES: For the holidays, I tend to go for the big and the bold. Can you say glitter, gold, metallic, reds, deep plums and ANIMAL PRINT PANTS OUTTA CONTROL. (: (: Okay maybe not the last one, but forrealls, guys, go hard or go home! Try something daring.

• This dress that Aria wears is a classy KNOCKOUT. Sorry for all the caps lock, but I get a little excited when it comes to parties. The color is just gorgeous, and draws attention, and you got some great hip-hugging action going on. With those black pumps, OH SNAP you be rocking, girl! ..... Okay I'm not saying that ever again.

• Also remember if you're emphasizing one area of your body, like say your legs, keep everywhere else pretty modest because we're not going for the hooker look here. Aria does this here with her straight across cut at the chest that kind of cancels out the short hemline. This trick does wonders for lengthening out your figure if you're petitite. You get that little sliver of skin without the I-just-woke-up-in-a-trash-can-beside-Ke$ha vibe. Let's keep in classy, ladies!!! 

• BUSINESS CASUAL: For me, this means no jeans, but you will want to check with others since the lines can kind of get blurred here. I would avoid pants in general, but skirts would be just right.With skirts, go for prints, something different from the norm. Prints work very well in accesories to balance a bold color, and are a must-have for more casual events because it's right on trend with what's coming out on the runways, but you can definately twist it to make it your own.

 

• If you're not so much into colors or being the center of attention, but you want to still look amazing, a baby step you could take is adding texture. Little black dresses of course never go out of style, but try something with a little lace or a ruffled one shoulder, which is just a touch out of the ordinary that you look dressed up while not looking "high mantinence". This works well for both cocktail dresses and business casual wear depending on how you it accessorize

 CASUAL: Sometimes all we want to do is go to a low-key dinner and just enjoy the company of friends and family. For these events, you can dress in your normal "dressy" clothes. Embellishments are key for this because it can transform a sloppy outfit into a very cute one. Embellishments include little trinkets such as beading and buttons that just add that touch of eye-catching dimension.

fashion obsessions

"I let it fall, my heart, and as it fell you rose to claim it. It was dark and I was over, until you kissed my lips and you saved me."
- "Set Fire to the Rain", Adele

Ah. This song is absolutely amazing. Adele's voice is breathtakingly beautiful as always, but in this song, it brims with so much emotion that I just want to snuggle up into the nook of my bed and cry. Dayummm that girl can sing. Please listen to this song. Especially when it's crashing thunder and pouring down rain. Try http://www.rainymood.com/ with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsBObg-1BQ. It will blow your mind. (:

Anyway. Today I was in the unfortunate event of walking outside in the whipping winds with my friend, and I, of course, chose this day to wear these paper thin jeans. God, I'm so freaking brilliant. And while sub-zero tempertures are not ideal for the flowy tank tops that I absolutely adore, they are perfect for layering.

But before I go into today's fashion obsessions, a little background on my style:
Usually my style is very, girly? I want to say, but with a little more refinement.

Lace is literally my favorite texture to add, especially if its cream colored, along with some floral print, or ruffled tops, preferably a baby pink color. That picture above is basically all the things I love about fashion, all in captured in one photo. And while I still adore these items, I've kind of moved on from this girliness to being intrigued with a more dark, sophisiticated look.

And lately, my inspiration has been Aria from the show Pretty Little Liars, and while I will not get into my feelings about that show, I will give props to this girl because her style is so fearless. Bohemian and flowy, while theatrical and bold, all rooted in a dark, mysterious undertone. Yes please.



I love her feather earrings, and personally, I think she boosted the feather earring trend singlehandedly, but I could completely wrong. The textures and mix of prints look like she just picked up random pieces scattered across her bedroom floor and threw it on. So jealous. Another TV icon who has this amazing talent, Serena Van Der Woodsen aka Blake Lively. Love love love that girl.


So along those, I just woke up from bed with my perfectly tousled beach waves, threw on some random, but incredibly chic and spot-light stealing pieces, and headed out the door with a skinny Starbucks Peppermint Mocha in hand (which I LOVE, btw), lines, they are like my fashion idols.

But back to winter and layering, these scarves are gorgeous, and they add so much texture, boldness and that extra pop of color to an otherwise simple outfit. Plus, they're so fluffy and thick that you're all bundled up for those freezing winter temps. The black (navy?) skinnies and charcol colored sweater go along with the dark-Aria-theme, so what's not to love?! Now doesn't that look so cozy on freeze-your-ass-off days?

AND SO IT BEGINS . . .

"There's something about the way, the streets look when it's just rained. There's a glow on the pavement."- "Fearless", Taylor Swift

So here I am, typing away on my little computer. Being anonymous is freaking awesome. At least for the 15.3 seconds that it's been since I started this blog.
Things on my mind today include:

1. Massive loads of homework I will probably procrastinate on until around 9pm
2. Health foods are my new obsession, especially LUNA bars. They are supposed to be like the female equivelent to CLIF bars and seriously they are the most delicious healthy snack bars you will ever try in your lifetime. EVER. That is assuming that "you" refers to someone other than myself which also assumes that there will be at least one person that views this blog. Oh boy. Dreaming big. But anyway. Back to LUNA bars. Please do yourself a favor and try them. Even if you are a boy. They will blow your mind. I think I need to dedicate an entire post about these little bites of heaven, but for now just take my word for it and get some in White Chocolate Macadamia.
3. My current fashion obsessions include leather boots and thick circle scarves. Like the kind that have some fringe on them and that will look freaking amazing with a sweater. YES. You know what, I just made an executive decision to make this blog partially fashion themed. Yay.
4. What else, what else? Well I'm kind of excited to execute this new plan I have to bring a sketchbook around with me. I know it sounds lame, but forrealls I think my teachers are tired of me turning in notes and homework assignment where all my papers are like doodle on everywhere. Does anyone else in the world do that? Like where the three hole punch is, I draw little flowers around that. God, I'm so lame, this is embarassing.
5. I've decided I like blogging. Ramblings are fun. (: