Summer is Officially Over

Well it came and went just like that. I kept waiting for some kind of Indian Summer, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Time to pack up the swimsuits (that hardly went to the beach this summer) and bring on the faux fur, booties, and perfectly tailored jackets. Bring it on Fall - I'm ready for you!

xox,

Bre

Love Love Luca Luca

Not a lot of words necessary here, I think the clothes speak for themselves. Luca Luca Spring 2011 = GORGEOUS. I would wear anything from that top row any day of the week.

xox,

Bre

Hello Gorgeous!

Meet what could possibly be one of my favorite love affairs this Fall...It's not totally done yet (a work in process on the sewing machine as we speak) but I'm oooo-ing and awww-ing over the fabric so I thought I'd share. Just a sneak peek (was too excited to wait for the final product), but results to come later. :)

xox,

Bre

Fashion Week Favs Part 2: Jenny Packham

Jenny Packham was the ultimate in fresh Spring metallics. A constant theme in the show was dashes of silver and shimmer laid on top of nude fabrics (keeping the look sophisticated and light instead of bedazzled and heavy). Kind of hard not to fall in love with these floor-length gowns don't you think? Oh, and don't even get me started on the jumpsuit, like I said yesterday I've got a serious craving for one now. Do you think 5'3" is too short to be able to pull one off?

Happy Friday ladies!

xox,

Bre

photos courtesy of Imaxtree

Fashion Week Favs Part 1: Cynthia Steffe & Rebecca Taylor

*from the Cynthia Steffe Spring 2011 collection*

I know it will take me a few separate posts to show some of my favorites from the Spring 2011 New York Fashion Week, but here goes my first round to Rebecca Taylor and Cynthia Steffe (from Day 3 or 4). Rebecca Taylor just has a talent for dressing women in the most feminine and beautiful way (see below for the proof: the gorgeous floral prints, that green belted dress, and I adore that flowing red dress because somehow it reminds me of my momma). I've always adored her collections and only own two pieces from her, but they are classics that will never leave my closet (you've seen one of them HERE).

*Rebecca Taylor Spring 2011*

*Rebecca Taylor Spring 2011*

Oh! And did I mention Rebecca Taylor opened her show with that amazing floral jumpsuit? God help me but these jumpsuits are really really growing on me and I'm starting to crave the ability to wear these in my day-to-day life (as a CPA, rest assured I could NEVER show up to work in this *sigh* but I can still dream).

I really enjoyed Cynthia Steffe's collection this year as well for the beautiful fabrics and feminine feel, but I also enjoyed her use of color. A lot of the Spring shows I looked through had very mild palettes, and it was a joy to see her use such strong color (I loved Marc Jacobs for the same reason).

*Cynthia Steffe Spring 2011*

*Cynthia Steffe Spring 2011*

xox,

Bre

photos courtesy of Imaxtree

confessions from the dressing room...

Ok. So not the best picture ever but I totally stalked this dress and was too excited about it! I snapped this pic from my blackberry to send to my good buddy Tracy who helped me hunt this thing down.

The backstory: Have you ever had a moment where you saw a dress in a store and you suddenly knew that dress is oh so you and you HAD to have it? That's how the stalking of this dress started. I saw it in the store front at H&M on themannequinand immediately walked inside looking for the dress. They were all of out my size on the rack so I asked a sales associate about it. Apparently this dress is part of the very hard to get H&M Trend line (if you haven't heard of it, the Trend line is H&M's higher quality, higher priced, but also more amazing line). Most H&M Trend items are hard to get ahold of and they don't even sell them at a lot of the H&M stores. The sales associate told me that out of all the H&M's in So. Cal this dress was only being sold at my local store (South Coast Plaza), Beverly Hills, and Glendale. He called around and they happened to be out of my size at all of those locations. In a moment of desparation I looked at the tag from the dress on the mannequinn: SIZE 2!

Yes! It's my size!...but not so fast, they told me they aren't allowed to take anything off the mannequinns until H&M has told them they can change the front windows (something about a very strict policy on what needs to be displayed in the store front). I was basically told: Sorry you're out of options right now, but that they would be changing the displays soon so check back again later. So I came back to the store later in the week to see if they had switched out the front display, hoping this dress would have been placed back on the regular racks...nope, not yet.

Then I went back the following week and they still hadn't switched it out. I asked one of the sales associates about it again and she told me they could reserve the dress for me and I would be given a call once they took it off the mannequin (apparently this is a standard practice! they even had a specific binder at the register for this to reserve clothing on the mannequins, why hadn't the guy mentioned it to me before? Obviously I was in LOVE with this dress!). Anyway, long story short...too late....she looked in the book and somebody else had already reserved it, but she told me to call back the next day at 1pm and if the other person hadn't picked it up yet they would give it to me (wink, wink).

So I called the next day right at 1pm and they had it available! yes! With all this effort I was really hoping the dress would fit me right, I ran over to the store and here's the result! Sorry, such a long story but I really love this dress. It has the tiniest shoulder pad to give a little pouf on the sleeves, and it's perfectly tailored (I love the paneling on the sides), and I even like the zipper up the back.

This dress totally turned me into a stalker, but it was well worth it. I'm sure I will wear this with every chance I get. :)

Now please tell me I'm not totally crazy and you've seriously obsessed over something like this before too. Well ok, yeah I know I was a women obsessed...I couldn't even enjoy looking at any other dress until I knew I had this one. We all have our moments right?

xox,

Bre

Tucker for Target

Here's another round of a designer collaboration with Target, and so far I'm liking what I see. Gaby Basora's new Tucker for Target lookbook has a little safari-girl-meets-gorgeous-prints feel and I can only hope the construction is good enough to justify a few purchases here or there (we all know sometimes these designer collabs have great lookbooks and then we are disappointed by poor construction when we see the garments in the store).

I love the full-on grey jumpsuit as an editorial piece (don't think I could wear it in real life) and that adorable orange shirt dress screams SUMMER! The herringbone coat looks amazing too, but I think this collection looks mostly like great inexpensive pieces to pick up for resort wear...any great vacations coming up? Might want to stop on by and check it out in person - it will be at Target until October 17th. I'll keep my fingers crossed that these look great in person too. :)

xox,

Bre

pictures courtesy of Target

Bowler hats are the new fedoras

Ever since I saw the Zac Posen for Target line (as blogged about HERE) I've had quite a crush on darling little bowler hats. While I still adore fedoras (I have 2 of them at home and still wear them on weekends on a regular basis), I think mixing in my little red bowler hat is a nice and refreshing option. Plus this thing is a vintage beauty (from the 1940's) and everyone knows I'm such a sucker for vintage. :)

Hope you had a great weekend!

xox,

Bre

Current Obsession: Sparkle sparkle sparkle

I'm currently in love with hints of sparkle here and there to shake things up a bit for Fall. I especially love the way metallic nails offset the somber colors of Fall to give the perfect combo of sophisticated and fun. I've been sporting super metallic nails all week (see above, I'm wearing Milani Disco Lights) and I've been loving it, so I thought I'd share a couple quick tips on how to wear them:

1) If you're going to have crazy sparkly nails you should probably have a relatively monochromatic or simple outfit. This week I've been sporting all black, off-white, and camel colored ensembles with the Disco nails above. Let the nails be the star of the show here!

2) Keep the nails short. If you want to avoid being too over-the-top (and looking like you get paid by the hour on the street corner) then keep your nails trimmed nice and neat too. Super long nails can take this look from sophisticated fun to drag queen in an instant.

And Voila! There you have it. Some beautiful sparkle to add a bit of fab to the somber colors of Fall and Winter. Now of course I have a lot of pink in my complexion so I steer clear of the super golden metallics, but if that suits your skin tone better than rock that as often as possible. :)

xox,

Bre

Enter in the Food Porn

I've been MIA for awhile, but this weekend was well worth it. I spent most of my time stuffing my face with unbelievable homemade food and laying by the pool while drinking and swimming like a fish. I thought I'd spare you having to see a pic of me in a bikini and give you a glimpse of food porn instead. Among the many wonderful things we ate this holiday weekend (homemade meatsauce & meatballs, sliders, sumac coated bbq chicken, homemade ice cream, etc) here is the only thing I actually took a photo of: rustic pizza made with fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomato....simple but amazing. Did I mention we made the dough with the starter we've had in the fridge for over 1 year now? It's definitely nice and sour, and oh so delectable. My husband has become quite the fabulous bread maker with this yummy starter...I realize every time he makes bread, just how lucky I am to have a man that's great in the kitchen.

What did you do with your holiday weekend? Whatever it was, I hope you had a great time and aren't having too much trouble getting back to the grind.

xox,

Bre