Posts Tagged ‘luxe looks’

BIZZ Cropped Cargo Jacket from Kitsch Couture

Don’t you just love the feeling of finding a piece of clothing that seems like it should cost you much much more than it really does? It’s nice that over the years the cheap n chic and luxe for less movement has helped make looking fashionable more realistic for everyone. But even so, with all these discount fashion retailers out there, it’s still challenging to find the finds.

Lately, Kitsch Couture in downtown Saratoga, CA seems to be a consistent source of these deals. Don’t be disappointed in their website.. the owner told me they are not focusing on their online presence. The boutique itself has some great stuff and tends to be quite well stocked. They carry a wide array of contemporary women’s clothing. Gentle Fawn and Kensie Girl are a few of the luxe for less brands they carry. If you haven’t heard of those you should definately check them out. They offer chic, urban styles at decent prices. Plus if you search for these brands online you’ll find a ton of cute avant garde online boutiques.

Check out this cute cropped cargo style jacket from BIZZ that my friend Jenny got. The jacket was $68! It’s cute worn both buttoned up and loosely open. The material is fairly thin so it’s more suited for the cooler summer nights, but worn over a thicker sweater or turtleneck this could definitely get you through fall and some of winter. The funnel neck (when the jacket is fully buttoned up) is super cute. Jenny you better work this when you get back to New York!
 

 

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Cop Copine Fall Fashion Show Video – Boutique Harajuku in Santana Row

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…

Luxe Looks

Here’s my fashion roundup for the week. All of these looks inspire me and make me happy just looking at them!

Work-Friendly

Helmust Lang Hooded Jacket

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Milly Basket Weave Button Jacket

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Citizens of Humanity Peretti Twill Dress

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Girl’s Night Out

Lewis Cho Striped Boat Neck Dress

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YAYA AFLALO Skim Top

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Young Fabulous & Broke Sleeveless Back Draped Dress

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All links to items can be found on my Luxe Mix Kaboodle:
http://www.kaboodle.com/manolo_blues/luxe-mix-blog-links.html




 

 


Maxim’s 8th Annual Hot 100 Party – Red Carpet (May 16th 2007)

Lindsay Lohan

Pulling off the Rainbow Brite — and getting away with it!

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Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox

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This dress could flaunt her curves a little more.. but the color is juicy! I’d wear this out for a night of dinner and dancing.

Haylie and Hilary Duff

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Noureen Dewulf

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Rebecca Romjin

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Samantha Cole

Hot in a trashy sort of way

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Dave Annable

Smokin’…

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Chase Crawford

Smokier!

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1 Rachel Pally Dress — 4 Luxe Looks

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!

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Rachel Pally Dress — 4 Ways to Wear It

Luxe Looks: Two Ways to Wear It

I WANT this top from Paper-Doll.com by Lune Noir. Anyone can wear a regular old black tank but it takes patience and some shoppin skillz to find basic pieces like this black top with ruching AND stud details.

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Tank Girl Top by Lune Noir — $80.00

These leopard print wedges would make a stylish statement at the office… without massacring your feet. 

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Leopard Print Wedges from Rampage.com – on Sale for $29.99

Below are two ways I’d wear these pieces, one for the work day and one for a weekend day out and about. All the images below are clickable and you’ll be able to get to the sites that sell these items directly. All thanks to a DIZOPE new tool LL helped me find! www.polyvore.com

Luxe Mix Fashion Do’s and Dont’s – April 8th 2007

Luxe Do

Lindsay_lohan2_5 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

Lindsay_lohan7As 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.

Featured Luxe for Less Shop: Shop Suey Boutique

If you can get beyond the cliche name this luxe for less accessories online boutique has some serious bargains. Not that I endorse knock-offs but this site has ‘em, or should I say designer "inspired".

Go to ShopSueyBoutique.com

My luxe picks for the day:

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Gwen Sunglasses $14.00

US Mag has a deal on this pair. Spend $40 at shopsueyboutique and get this pair of shades FOR FREE. I like the unique gap between the lens and the curved angles of the frame. It makes the sunglasses sporty but ultra chic.

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Lily Belt $12.00

I like these hardware details. I’ve been searching for a belt like this to cinch all the baby doll loose fit tunics I’ve OD’d on.

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Bow Hat $20.00

Pauperish but cute.

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Stripe Tote $50.00

Something about this bag just makes me want to buy it.

Lux Dresses under $100.00

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Navy Wrap Dress

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Rachel One Shoulder Mini-Dress

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Grant Dress

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Dharma Tube Dress

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Akakoni Leaopard Dress

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Lycra Forest Dress

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Braided Yellow Halter Dress from Wet Seal

Fashion Look Book Index — All the Look Books I Could Find

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

Lookbook_girl 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/

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Who's the Luxe Mix?

I wouldn't qualify myself as anything official when it comes to fashion but I might officially qualify as a shopaholic. To keep from going broke I have learned to mix the luxe with the less, the cheap with the chic. I'm a technology junkie in addition to being hopelessly fashion obsessed so while I am a corporate UX designer by day, by night I am an obsessively compulsively working up visions of a splendid online fashion retail nirvana. Contact me if you want my input on how to transform your fashion house into a mass-tech-revolutionized business.