Black, White, Red and Tabby Yellow

I think you can't go wrong with stripes. When Catherine of Not Dressed Like Lamb decided to feature stripes this week, I knew I was in. This outfit was already in the works for a unit meeting of my retired teachers association. The timing was prefect.

Also, Sylvia of 40+ Style discussed how to wear white accessories and wanted to know our opinion on the matter. I think my look today makes my opinion clear. I grew up with white for the summer and never stopped appreciating its crisp look. I know some of the younger ladies have a hard time dealing with white (I did get some feedback on the 40+ community) but my attitude is if you like and feel comfortable in something, do it. If you don't, that's OK too.

I think you can see where the Tabby Yellow comes into play. We have quite a photo bomber!

My top is a 100 % cotton black and white stripped knit by Liz Claiborne. This top has been a staple in my spring/summer wardrobe for at least eight years. I have worn it with everything from blue jeans, black pants, white capris, and now bright red jeans.

These jeans are Skinnys Skinnys by Madewell and I found them on eBay. I bought my first pair from Madewell, but once I figured out my size, I was confident in purchasing a pair without trying them on. This intense red is a new color for me and I love it, at least in jeans.

Now to the white. My white wedge sandals are Clarks' Artesian (eBay). There's scallops, studs and an interesting configuration of the straps. They were a pair of shoes that I really didn't need but really needed. I already had white sandals, but nothing as neat as these. 

Next up for discussion is my Yves St. Laurent Downtown bag. This bag was a pretty big step for me. I had always wanted a better, or I guess you could say a luxury, bag. I went to Yoogi's Closet and started investigating different designers last fall. I picked an online consignment shop with a good reputation that backs up their items. Even used, these bags are not cheap and I just don't feel knowledgeable enough to spot a fake (as on eBay). I would rather save my money up a tad longer and take the safer route. Yoogi's Closet usually has a 15% sale at the end of the month on all of their "Sale" category items. That's where my bag was.

Why YSL and why white (the color is more of a winter white)?

Around 1966, I saw my first Yves St. Laurent sketch in the Sunday style section of the Kansas City Star. His lines were so simple but so beautiful. I immediately fell in love with fashion, YSL and, of course, wanted to be a fashion designer. As far as the white, I just wanted a white bag and felt it was right for me.

White does take extra care, but I know I am willing to take the time, and make sure my bag gets tender loving care. This bag makes me happy and I finally get to have something of my designing hero. Yves St. Laurent passed away June 1, 2008 and the company now has dropped the Yves and just goes by St. Laurent.

I added a modern necklace for this look.

More stripes with my bangle. I just thrifted this one about a couple of weeks ago. I also added a simple silver bangle (from my local drug store's gift shop) and a white ring that I picked up at Act II, a Kansas City consignment shop.

The Polish Story

What you see with this look is OPI's Lunch At the Delhi from their 2008 India collection, which I think is one of their more stellar efforts. I didn't even do my nails back then and certainly had never heard of OPI. I carefully scan eBay and Amazon for what I think are authentic OPI polishes and slowly add them. There is one from this collection that I will probably never have. Royal Raja Ruby is running about $45-50 dollars; a bit to rich for my blood. 

I think this wraps up this one-look post. Do you wear strips? And does anyone else accent their color palette with nail polish? And then there is the big question: Do you feel comfortable wearing white as an accessory, such as shoes or a bag? 

Next week will be more white, because I am going to blog about a summer fete where we had to wear white. It was so much fun! So until then, take care. 

This week, I am linking up with Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE,  Living On Cloud Nine's Style Perspectives HERE, High Altitude Style's Link-Up, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE, Shelbee's Edge of the Week Link Up HERE and Nancy's Fancy Friday HERE.


Just for fun, one of Yves St. Laurent's 1966 sketches.

Spring Has Finally Sprung and Its Time For Some Straw

Spring and Summer are finally here! They seem to have come upon us together in the Heartland, because it seems to me that the last two months have been pretty chilly. 

With that said, happy June and hello to this month's Hat Attack. This is my sixth month of doing Hat Attack and that is a small mile stone for me. Originally, I wanted to do Judith's Hat Attack soooo badly, so I started this style blogging and have had such a great time doing it. 

With the warm weather, it was time to bring out my straw. Today's look is centered around mixing straw textures of different color. The snafu with today's shots is that you can't see my feet! I've made up for it below with one of my still life shots. 

There is a problem with great days like we are having. My in-house photographer (a.k.a as Michael the hubby) would rather be in his garden than anywhere else. I decided to be a nice wife and bring the camera and I to him. So we have this beautiful green backdrop in front of the Wisteria, but after downloading the photos, I realized that his taller garden grass and shoes don't mix well. 

This look started when I had just found this "new to me" apostrophe jacket on my Friday night "thrift hunt". I am not sure what I had planned for this post, but when I saw this jacket, everything went out the window.

The material is a 98% Cotton / 2 % Spandex and has a free flowing window pane type of design with off-white, black and grey. Gee, this goes with about 90% of my wardrobe. The jacket is a smock design with darts in the front, back and bottom of the bracelet length sleeves. And bracelet length sleeves are one of my favorites, because, as the name implies, you can show off your bracelets!

A back view, to show the slits I put in the back of my capris. Read below for more about that.

And now to the other choices I made for this look. I was drawn to this particular straw Fedora, because a Fedora always has a masculine flair about it, yet the large straw bow just sort of thumbs its nose at that notion. I picked it up at my favorite KC hat store Exclusively For You.  

The four textured sandals from Liz Claiborne picks up on the textures where the hat leaves off. With jute, suede cloth, straw and vegan leather, they manage to tie it all together with the the neutral tones. I wear them a lot. 

The bag is one of my Eric Javits eBay purchases. This is one of his smaller Squishee bags. Again, a straw texture. I love Javits bags for the summer. This one is such a "ladies who lunch bag".  

The jewelry is silver. There was a time when I was really a purist and would not mix gold with silver. Those days are over. I wear whatever with whatever, whenever -- as long as I feel that they can play nicely together.  

Now you can see the shoes

Now on to my capris, which I made. I used Vogue 2948, which is  discontinued,  unfortunately. I like this pattern because it has princess seaming, and for us who have no fannies, princess seam pants are great for getting a good fit. This point brings up something else. The reason I have always sewn is that my body is a very hard fit. Besides making original looks from scratch, it's nice to have skills to alter something off the rack (which is about 95% of the time when it comes to dresses).

The fabric is 100% Linen and I got it online from Vogue Fabrics out of Chicago. As I alluded to in the back view photo, I did change the pattern a tad. The pattern does not show a Capri style, so I just made them shorter and for some reason, I decided I needed slits up the back. A whim of the moment, I suppose. 

I made a top for my pants using another Vogue Options pattern (also princess seaming), and I found this photo from last summer to show you both pieces together. Wow, my hair was so blond. I started going natural back in February and think I have more of a mixed blond/silver tone now.

At a Claire McCaskill book signing through KC's Rainy Day Books

A scan of my pattern. I really want some pants like the sketch. Oh, I need so much more time!

I found one other princess seamed pants if someone was interested in trying to make a pair. I would first search eBay and ETSY for the original pattern because it is out there. These by Burda look a little more time consuming than my pattern. But, wow, they are stylish. It's a PDF so there would be a lot of taping together after you downloaded it.

Did I mention I made these pants twice? I made the longer version (as the pattern) in a 100% Linen black/white plaid that I purchased at a beloved but "oh, no more" fabric store Cy Rudnicks that was located in Kansas City. I need to do a styling with my longer version this Fall because I wear them all the time. 

And Then There Is the Polish............

I have to show you Zoya's Aster from their 2016 Spring Petals collection. This is another winner. It's Periwinkle (one of my favorite polish tones) with flecks of fuchsia. You can't get more Spring than that! 

I will say goodbye for now. This was suppose to be a short post, but, by the time I talk about styling, sewing and my beloved Zoya, perhaps short posts just aren't in my future. Well, I hope you enjoyed it.

Take care until we meet again. I will be back around the same time next week. I usually publish on Sunday afternoons.

This week, I am linking up with Judith of Style Crone's Hat Attack HERE, Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Shopping My Closet's Style Me Wednesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine's Style Perspectives HERE, Sydney's Fashion Hunter's Fresh Fashion Forum HERE,   High Altitude Style's Link-Up HERE, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE and Style Diary By Osy's Friday Link Up Party HERE.