remixing fashion and luxury for reality

Did some damage at Santana Row this weekend.. then decided to put on my own fashion show. Lucky you get front row seats HAHA!

PS. Post-shopping-splurge (generally about 48 hours after the thrill of the kill), both Snoopy and I had some post-shopping second thoughts. I may return at least 1 pair of the 2 pants that I bought, and 1 top. BTW, both these items didn’t make the cut to get featured in my video. The power of the subconscious…

My first "look" on ShopStyle.com…

Shopbop did my post for me tonight. Thanks guys. I must concur with your selections here. I’d pick a favorite but I’d wear them all!

Rachel Pally Dress — 4 Ways to Wear It

April 10 was the premiere for "Perfect Stranger". Halle Berry… gurl is lookin’ good. I’d like to age reversely too!

Halle Berry — Luxe

Berry Berry good. I am feelin’ the dress, with the shoes, with the backdrop. That takes some coordination. Check out how her heel insets match the red carpet and text behind her. The dress has a unique neckline, not just a standard whatever you call that neck but I love how the two straps connect into a Y. Y Strap?

Clea Lewis — Suxe

Clea, you look lost. Were you on your way to church or to a gathering of home dressmakers. Well I must hand it to you — you do match the red carpet too!

Christy Turlington — Luxe

This barely qualifies because I’d NEVER pick out that top for myself. But Christy has her Outfit Composition down. I love that she was a little daring with those ankle boots and black opaque tights. The thin black sash was a must in order to "tie" the look together. And her lacy somethin’ somethin’  peeking out from under her demure tunic is deceptively innocent. She also picked the perfect hairstyle to complement this frilly girly outfit — clean, straight, simple.

Julia Stiles — Suxe

Julia Hoolia! What were you thinking? You should have saved this for Easter. This dress is for women twice your age… or at least NOT the red carpet. I also am not feelin’ the Amish pumps to further frump this look out.

Adriana Lima — Suxe

This look is playboy bunny-esque and I’m hoping that’s not what Adriana was going for. If she was well good job gurl!

So overall… I am un-enthused about the style factor here at the Perfect Stranger Premiere other than the featured star Halle herself. Maybe that’s the cardinal unspoken rule. Do not look better than the star. I can live with that!

Luxe Do

Lindsay looks fashionable in an effortless way with this outfit. It seems as though she just carelessly tossed these pieces together and walked out the door. The truth is she probably had her stylist (someone like Rachel Zoe if she still works for her) pick out this ensemble for her. Putting a look together that looks effortlessly stylish actually takes a lot of effort.

What’s Working

Skinny jeans and flats work so well together. I say make the most out of these two trends and throw them together! Skinny jeans can be tricky as you may know so personally I’d only pair them with either flats like these or some super super hot stilettos.

The sleek hardware of the belt peeking out from under a rock star tee is the perfect mix of grunge with first class. I love the fact that a white moto jacket is thrown over the tee instead of the usual denim or black crop jacket.

The way she’s done her hair loose and flared is also the perfect complement to her look, along with her aviators. The usual Hollywood oversized shades would have definitely killed this rock and roll look.

Luxe Don’t

As you can see here we will all have our on and off days. Either Rachel just wasn’t available on this day or this is a new cutting edge trend I am not up to speed on.

What’s Not Working Here

When did pegging your jeans ever come back into style? I have some really unpleasant memories of partaking in this trend back in the 80′s. I always felt like I couldn’t get them pegged tight enough. I still to this day do not understand how this was ever perceived as stylish… or how I could have been so naive to believe I looked good like that!

I’m also not feeling this orange leather jacket… with that grandmotherly scarf dragging alongside of her. And what dear girl is up with those jeans?  They look like the most standard pair of Levi’s ever made. I expect so much more than Lindsay. Anyone could have picked these up from JC Penny’s or Sears. Overall a dirtier rinse denim can up the style factor… when in doubt err on the side of dirty over classic blue denim.

For those of you who are looking for ideas on what to wear, this post is for you!

What’s a Look Book?
"Look book" is the term used to reference a collection of images that are assembled to help illustrate "looks" or "outfits". It could be a clothing retailer or a fashion magazine, and in my case a blog!, who puts together a Look Book. The main objective is to help inspire the reader with complete looks from head to toe. It makes it easier for the viewer to picture the product when it is paired with other nicely coordinating pieces. Look Books are a fairly new trend but I believe they will become increasingly popular and important to the fashion retail industry.

I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to photoshop together looks for you in my Luxe Mix Look Book so here’s some sites to refer to whenever you want some insta-inspiration on outfit ensembles.

Note: I’ll keep adding to this as I find more. Please help us out by adding any you know of yourselves in the Comments section!

Index of Look Books:

Pink Mascara Look Book (Philip Lim, Diane Von Furstenberg, Ya Ya)
http://www.pinkmascara.com/lookbook.html

Shopbop Look Book
http://www.shopbop.com/lookbook/lookbook_main.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302047459&lookFolderID=2534374302047459

BCBG Look Book
http://www.bcbg.com/spring2007/home.php

Activeendevours Look Book
http://www.activeendeavors.com/lookbook/

Max Studio Look Book
http://www.maxstudio.com/website/lookbook/LookBook-1.htm

Anthropologie Look Book
http://www.anthropologie.com/jump.jsp?itemID=2219&itemType=CATEGORY&all=1

Club Monaco Look Book
http://www.clubmonaco.com/032007/lookbook.asp

Luxe Mix Look Book
http://www.luxemix.com/luxe_mix/luxe_looks/index.html

Karmaloop Look Book (Urban/Street Wear)
http://www.karmaloop.com/lookbook/index.asp

Free People Look Book (Urban/Bohemian)
http://www.freepeople.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.browse/categoryID/f4fc7ff0-570a-4600-9c16-2e1b8bc0b63c

RavinStyle Look Book
http://www.ravinstyle.com/shop/outfits.asp

Banana Republic Look Book
http://www.bananarepublic.com/browse/category.do?cid=12025&pageID=-1

Some Look Books for Men too!

Billionaire Boys Club (Hip Hop/Urban)
http://www.bbcicecream.com/lookbook/

I started using Kaboodle on Dec 5th 2005… and have not let up one bit. In case you didn’t notice I can fall in love with technology –especially technology that augments shopping! Kaboodle was one of those days that my boyfriend at the time lost a little piece of my heart. If you are not yet familiar with social bookmarking and have not used things like Del.icio.us or Furl, well this is going to blow you away. Kaboodle is actually a slight variation of social bookmarking and it’s classified as "shopmarking" since instead of bookmarking sites you can save or mark items out on the web that you are interested in buying. You can create lists for anything you want to refer to later. This is super convenient to save things you’re considering buying but are not ready to make the plunge.

  You’ll definitely want to install the plug-in to get this button for your browser. From there anytime you are on a page/item you want to save just hit that "add to kaboodle" button and in 2-clicks the item is tucked away into one of your kaboodle lists.

The list I save most the things I want is found here at "What a Girl Wants".

Some other kaboodles you may enjoy:

Index of Luxe Apparel Sites
Index of Luxe for Less Sites
Index of Luxe Shoe Sites
Index of Luxe Handbag Sites

I’m all about maximizing my clothes. I like to get the most out of every piece I buy. The problem is a lot of the time I end up buying stuff on a whim without thinking through what I’m going to do with this thing once I get home. I’ve been thinking about this fashion/shopping/coordination solution for a bit and here’s my first attempt at creating a true Luxe Mix — a mix of luxe items that create a mini-wardrobe for the next few weeks… ok hopefully month or so. These items range in price but that’s what makes a good mix. You’ve got to complement cheaper items with quality in order to not look like you stepped out of walmart — not that i’ve anything against discount clothing but I think if you care about fashion and style you might as well look classy and sophisticated regardless of how much or little $$ you spend. If people are intersted I’ll shoot for creating more Luxe Mixes with more affordable pieces in the future.

Enjoy!

(+ click to enlarge 3 images below, links provided below)

Shop these items:

A. Cardigan with Deep V Neck from Shopbop
B. Mercedes Dress from Shopbop
C. Tube Dress from Shopbop
D. Vince Jersey Short Sleeve V Neck Tee from Shopbop
E. Vince Pima Jersey Long Sleeve Tee from Shopbop
F. Khaki cropped cargo blazer from Bluefly
G. Denim Jacket with Fleece from Armani Exchange
H. Gentle Fawn – South Vest from BazaarAdriatic (luxe for less)
I. Gentle Fawn – Crafty Top from BazaarAdriatic (luxe for less)
J. Puff Sleeve Brown Hoodie from Shopplasticland (luxe for less)
K. Ya Ya Ravaged Maiden Bianca Denim Pant from Shopbop
L. Rock and Republic Jeans from Blaec
M. Nisa Navy Skirt from BazaaarAdriatic (luxe for less)
N. Fire Lisa Skinny Crop Jeans fron Nordstrom (luxe for less)
O. Obey McGraw Hat from 80′s Purple (luxe for less)

This warm cali weather is makin me crazy… crazy happy! All I want to do is sit around outside in cute sheer tops and short skirts, sippin iced espresso. I keep telling myself to brace myself for one more cold spell but it doesn’t seem to be coming.

Here’s a look for my date night, for a night like tonight. In case you haven’t noticed dresses are in big time. Gotta get some cute dresses, mini dresses, and longer flowy ones if you want to last this spring season. I chose this satiny pink dress from Forever 21. Under $25!! It’s prefect for a date night since it’s sexy enough to wear out to a club or bar and with a coverup I won’t get cold or be too exposed while en route to dinner or wherever. When wearing dainty pieces like this pink satin dress I like to contrast it with something less feminine and soft like this motocycle jacket from Max Studio. I paired all this with some cute gold bangles and dangly earrings, snakeskin pups (featured in Obsessed for Snakeskin Stilletos), and this foldover clutch — oversized clutches are also huge this season. I like the brushed almost earthy effect of this Jimmy Choo clutch since it dresses it down a bit.

(+click on image to enlarge)

Shop this Look:

Motorcycle Jacket
Paris Dress
Kenneth Jay Lane Gold Bangles
Dangle Heart Earrings
Jimmy Choo Metallic Fold Over Clutch
Jimmy Choo Snakeskin Pumps

Related Posts:

Greys and Blacks from Day to Evening
Fashionably Focused in the City
Basic Neutrals for a Basic Day at the Office