Spring Checks

Despite the rain and cooler weather that we currently have here in Los Angeles, spring is definitely in the air! Last week, my husband and I started to take advantage of the nice weather here as well as the fact that restaurants are now open for outdoor dining by having a few dinners out. I must say that, as much as I love to cook at home, it was nice to sit down and enjoy a meal that was not made by me for a change! Plus, there is something very Parisian about sitting on the sidewalk while dining and people watching that I really enjoy. I wore this fun check skirt out to dinner last week at a French restaurant. I think the skirt is perfect for spring and also for a casual date night out.

 

During the spring months here, it still gets cool at night, so I paired my check skirt with a denim jacket. The denim jacket also allowed me to showcase some of my floral Loren Hope brooches. These brooches are part of Loren Hope's spring floral collection, which was just restocked on their website this week, so if you missed out on getting one last month, you just might be able to snag one! Last of all, I thought that the gorgeous spring green color found in the skirt would look fabulous with a pop of pink, so I added these pink suede shoes as the perfect spring accent to finish off the look!

Skirt: Target here

Jacket: Target similar denim jacket here

Tee: Target here

Shoes: J. Crew similar pink suede shoes here

Brooches: Loren Hope here

Clutch: Clare. V here

 

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New Coat for a New Year

I am not usually one to make resolutions but one resolution I should make for the New Year is to not buy any more coats! I have always loved coats, which made sense when I lived on the East Coast but since moving to Los Angeles, coats are something that I very seldomly wear. Sadly, this hasn't stopped me from acquiring quite a collection of coats! This year, for whatever reason, I purchased several coats, including, most recently, this gorgeous lilac coat from J. Crew. It was such a great deal, not to mention my favorite color, that I couldn't resist! You might recall that I also purchased this Boden coat and this Kate Spade coat in previous posts from a couple of months ago. In my defense, I think designers have really come out with some gorgeous coats this year, so it was difficult to resist temptation!

 

Because purple is my favorite color, nearly everything in my wardrobe goes with this coat. For one of my first outfits of the New Year, I paired my new coat with a striped cashmere sweater that I purchased at the end of the season last year at J. Crew and some yellow pants. I also pinned my new star Loren Hope star brooch to the coat because it turned out the be the perfect accent to give this winter outfit just a touch of sparkle! My hope is that the weather cools off a little for the next couple of months so that I can get more use out of all of my recent coat purchases, either that or, maybe, I should just move to a cooler climate!

 

Coat: J. Crew here

Sweater: J. Crew similar striped cashmere sweater here

Pants: Old Navy similar yellow pants here

Shoes: J. Crew similar silver pumps here

Bag: Chanel

Brooch: Loren Hope here

 

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Work Outfits on Pause

Like many of you, I will be staying home for the next few weeks or maybe more depending on what happens. My school announced, along with most of the schools in the Los Angeles area, that it would be closed due to the threat of the Coronavirus. It's a pretty confusing time, mostly because of lots of uncertainty, but my current mindset is to just enjoy my time staying home by doing things around the house, watching a lot of movies, reading, playing games, and relaxing because, at this point, there's really nothing you can do except to try to distance yourself as much as possible from other people. This means that I'm pretty much going to be in sweats and PJs throughout the day, which, despite my love of dressing up, I definitely don't mind! Therefore, for this post, I thought I would share two looks that I wore to work recently that I really loved.

One thing that I've been really into lately is color-blocking because it's just so easy and fun! This outfit with my pink pleated skirt and mint blazer is an example of my recent obsession with color-blocking for spring. What really tops it off, however, is my new Loren Hope dragonfly brooch! Loren Hope has become my new obsession lately! It started with acquiring one of her one-of-a-kind butterfly brooches a couple of months ago and now I don't know when it's going to stop because her pieces are just that good!

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The next outfit was inspired by someone that I follow on Instagram. One of the things I love about the blogging and Instagram community is that so many people share my love for J. Crew and have similar pieces in their wardrobe, so it's really easy to recreate a look! I recreated the look in the outfit below, which consists of a yellow cardigan and a pleated rainbow skirt. (While this rainbow skirt pops back up every once and a while on J. Crew's website, there's a similar one here at Boden that I also love!) Now that I think about it, pleated skirts just might be one of my other favorite trends for spring!

Who knows what the next few weeks or even few days will bring but I'm going to try to keep up with my blog and posting pictures on Instagram as much as I can. Although we have to physically distance ourselves from one another at this time, with social media, it's possible to reach out to people online, which is a way to feel connected despite the physical distance. It might be shallow but looking at everyone's happy, colorful pictures or even seeing what people are doing to pass the time, brings us all closer together, even though we are far apart!

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Copy Cat Coat

Believe it or not, I actually have this Daphne tweed topcoat from J. Crew in three colors! That's how much I adore it! The first two colors, green and yellow, were acquired last year. This year, I loved this pink color so much that I had to purchase it yet again. The fact that the coat was marked an extra 60% off also factored heavily into my decision to buy it yet again! Once it arrived, I couldn't wait to wear it, especially once I got some inspiration for how to style it. This particular outfit with the Burgundy sweater and pink pants was inspired by a mannequin that I spied last weekend at J. Crew. When I came into the store and saw my coat and this lovely color palette, I whipped out my phone to capture the look for future reference. As it turns out, it was pretty easy to recreate the outfit, as I already had most of the pieces or similar ones in my closet!

I did, however, add my own touch to the look. For example, the idea of adding the leopard loafers was all me! The other thing that the outfit on the mannequin lacked was this gorgeous butterfly brooch! My husband was skeptical that I would get much use out of this particular purchase, which he deemed overpriced, however, I would like to think that I have proven him wrong because I've already worn it several times since it arrived last week! It's truly the perfect accent to any look, be it pinned on a scarf or on the collar of a coat like this one. I also love the way the butterfly seems right at home among this wall of pretty, yellow flowers!

Above, you will see the inspiration for the look I created in this post! As I stated before, except for the coat, all of the other pieces I already had in my closet. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job recreating the look and I think I'm going to be on the lookout more often for inspiring mannequins!

Coat: J. Crew here
Sweater: similar cashmere sweater here
Pants: similar here
Shoes: here
Pin: Loren Hope similar here and here
Bag: Mansur Gavriel here

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Brocade and Butterflies

Last Friday, my husband and I went out for a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. I decided to wear my new brocade pencil skirt for the occasion. You might recall that I have a top in the same fabric as this skirt. In fact, I did a post about it last month here. As you can see, I loved the fabric so much that I decided to pick up the skirt as well! Since the skirt was on sale for an extra 60% off and because the fabric is so pretty and sumptuous, it was hard to resist.

Speaking of things that are hard to resist, I'm also wearing my new butterfly brooch from Loren Hope! This brooch just "flew" in from Rhode Island where all of Loren Hope's jewelry is made. One of the things that is so special about this particular piece is that it's a one of a kind item. Loren Hope releases about 20 or so unique, one of a kind butterfly brooches every so often and I was lucky enough to have scored one last weekend! So, this exquisite brocade outfit was perfect not just for a lovely dinner out with my husband but also as the perfect way to debut my new one of kind butterfly creation!

Skirt: J. Crew here
Sweater: H&M similar pink sweater here
Scarf: Target similar faux fur yellow stole here
Brooch: Loren Hope here
Shoes: Christian Louboutin
Bag: Clare V.  here

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