In this Issue No. 14 - Summer dress inspiration

 It's summertime and the living's easy.

 

At least this is what I will trick myself into believing, if only due to the fact that it's warm enough now that I can prance around in pretty dresses and girly skirts, acting like I have nary a care in the world.

My ode to summer is less a poem and more of a visual display of the dresses and skirts that I have seen (and bemoaned that I didn't have the money to buy) in pages of magazines past, that I still adore to this day.  Ahem, and to start:

1.  Seriously the prettiest dress ever. If it were still available, I'd snatch it up in a hot minute.

 (Lucky, June 2010)

2. Pink Plenty! By Tracy Reese dress, top right. I love the illustrated flowers and the flare of the dirndl skirt. Perfect to wear to a wedding.

 Allure, February 2008

3. That skirt can be worn with anything. Dress it up, pair it down. At the office, out for drinks. Tomayto, Tomahto.

 Lucky, date unknown

4. I love how relaxed, yet put-together the model looks. This photo shows that there is no reason why comfort and languid ease must be encapsulated only by the constantly perpetuated vision of t-shirts and sweatpants.

5. I love the duality of this dress; it can act both as a beach cover-up or a dress to wear out on the town - provided that dress has killer accessories to liven it up (see: headband, earrings).

 Lucky, June 2010

6. Again, with the full skirt. Love 'em. They make your legs look soooo loooong.

 Glamour, date unknown

7. It's no big secret that I'm attracted to bright colors like bugs are to a light, so this tangerine, coral and fuchsia combination makes me giddy every time I look at this picture. The excess displayed here - in colors, jewelry, volume of hair, pose - I love it all.

 Elle, date unknown

8. I remember when this Gucci outfit made the rounds in almost every magazine and on several celebrities, such was its appeal, and I willingly jumped on the bandwagon. It has an equal mix of high culture meets low-brow, as can be seen where the pairing of expensive fabrics and masterful tailoring meet gratuitous decollete on display.

 Cosmopolitan, April 2011

 

9. Much like the Gucci dress from above, when this skirt hit the scene, you couldn't throw a rock without hitting someone that was wearing it, or see an editorial without it being featured. Tilda Swinton wore the pale yellow version to the Golden Globes and Kate Bosworth wore the light green runway version to an event. I love the rich orange hue, as seen featured below.

 Glamour, March 2011

10. I hadn't heard of the brand Saloni before read the credits for this fun, brightly patterned dress, but I soon became a fan after I noticed that all of the brand's designs are as eye-catching as this one.

 Vogue, June 2011

11. I'm probably beating a dead horse at this point, but having just discovered my affinity for yellow, I became obsessed with finding a skirt that looks like this. Don't worry, I've already created seven or eight outfits in my mind that incorporate this skirt.

 Marie Claire, November 2010

12. Another take on the Gucci dress featured in No. 8. I love that the voluminous curls and hoops lend a certain vivaciousness to the bold colors of the dress. It wouldn't do to have a meek personality while trying to rock such a style. You can't let your clothes wear you; it has to be a partnership. *Side note: Those shoes. Those. Shoes.

13. I'm talking about the white babydoll dress on right. You know the rule that states, "Show legs or chest, but not both at the same time,"? Playing on that idea, since the bodice is so austere, I'd match this dress with some serious heels, be they wedges, stilettos, platforms, booties.

 

Nylon, January 2012

14. It's obvious at this point in the list that I like the tiny-waisted, flared skirts. The cap sleeves and v-neck combo is what drew me to this look, though, as it's a combination that's very flattering and yet I don't see it on many pieces. I love the barest trace of the ikat print near the waist.

Real Simple, September 2010

15. Though I wouldn't bust this gorgeous dress out for a summer party, this outfit makes me immediately envision myself to be in 18th century France, sipping tea, eating pastries and playing croquet (Did the French play croquet or sip tea in the 18th century? I might have to read up and change my daydream accordingly).

Vogue, 2006 (Total guesstimate)

In this Issue No. 5 - Blue eyeliner

No. 5 - This beauty feature from Lucky magazine made me attempt blue eyeliner and shadow in an effort to bring out my green eyes. I had assumed, until I glimpsed this blurb, that blue hues were simply not the color family that I should be dabbling in if I wanted to accentuate my green eyes. Keep in mind that the eyes of the model in this spread are almost preternaturally blue, but I still felt compelled to pair blue against green in the hopes that the resulting look would be as radiant as the model's own*. 

*Yes, I realize that the cards were stacked against me in my whole attempt at the resulting look mimicking the magazine spread. Yes, the model is gorgeous. Yes, a professional photographer with a nifty camera and photoshop was essential in capturing the image. Yes, a makeup artist expertly applied the makeup.
But, I've got light-colored eyes, a Canon Powershot and a stable drawing hand, so I'll take those odds, thank you very much.

 

So I Sephora'd it up and browsed around in search of the perfect blue liner. I went a little cray cray with swatching various liners on my hand that looked like they'd be promising (read: that looked like they would, with a bit of effort on my part, transform my eyes into Barbie-esque peepers)

The final decision as to which liner I would choose left me feeling a bit like Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, but I ultimately settled on Tarina Tarantino's Cute Robot. Tarina Tarantino's eyeliners, I suspect, are vastly underrated and thus under-utilized by the average Sephora makeup shopper. This is probably due to the relative newness of the brand's offerings when compared with other, more established brands such as Urban Decay and Make Up For Ever, which each offer multiple liner formulas in a ton of shades. Tarantino's liners proved to be creamy and color-saturated while also providing wonderful staying power. Should I be looking for another shade in the near future, I'll first take a detour toward the Tarantino gondola to browse the selection.

 

In this Issue No. 4 - Neutral blazer + Cornflower blue shirt

No. 4: Like most wardrobe pieces that snag spots in publications' annual "Top 10 Items You Should Have in Your Closet" lists, the blazer is a multifunctional piece of apparel. It can be dressed up or down, paired with dresses, skirts, pants, or shorts, worn in the summer and the winter, it's complementary to any body type, can match various styles; the list of its diplomatic qualities goes on. Simply put, it can work well in many situations.

I, however, have harbored a secret fear for the longest time in which I believed that no matter what other pieces of apparel or accessories that I paired my blazer(s) with, I would look too corporate business-y. I yearned for the duality of a look that could be relaxed, yet structured. Every so often I would glance at the tan linen blazer hanging in my closet and feel a twinge of guilt at not having worn it very much while its fellow closet-dwelling brethren got to see the light of day every so often.

Then I spotted two editorial pages that inspired me to pair said linen jacket with a light blue button-down shirt, thus removing me from my blazer rut.

This look, courtesy of Lucky magazine, has a very subtle layering of the neutral blazer with the blue shirt. The shirt's hem and cuffs are barely peeking out from under the dusky rose sweater, but the easy mesh of the two colors made all the difference to me.

I saw this InStyle feature on how to wear a single piece of clothing in several different ways, and again the color duo served as a flash of inspiration.

And as for me,

The shirt first started out as a lightweight denim chambray number, but was quickly replaced by a heavier-hewn Joe Fresh oxford, my first - but certainly not last - purchase from the brand.

And so I created my own non-cubicle-inspired masterpiece with rose-colored corduroy pants and nude flats, thereby easing my conscience of inanimate object, blazer-issued guilt.