Pretty in Pleats

As evidenced in last week's outfit post here, I've taken a liking to the mid-length pleated skirts of the season. Here are couple more pleats that are hard to beat:

Pics: Lucy Laucht, Cupcakes and Cashmere, Mango Spring 2011 Collection, Atlantic Pacific, Late Afternoon x 2

xx,

Shanelé

Sunday Best

Shirt- Polo
Dress (worn as skirt) and bracelet - H&M
Oxfords, purse, Chief Illini ring - Forever 21
Headband worn as bracelet - Xmas gift
Nails - American Apparel 'Butter'
Watch - Burberry
Jacket - ExpressBelt - Zara

I wore this outfit to brunch with a friend in town on Sunday. I purchased this lace dress on clearance after Thanksgiving with the intention of 'losing five pounds' because it was a bit too snug up top. While I wait for those 5 lbs to magically fall off, I improvised by turning the dress around and wearing it as a skirt. This striped Polo shirt and my favorite oxfords offset the lace to complete this day look. I alternated between jacket on, jacket off throughout the day as Mr. Sunshine came and went.

xx,

Shanelé

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Weekend Update - 4/10/2011

A beautiful weekend consumed with doing a multitude of things, other than my taxes, including:

A walk down to the Brooklyn Bridge where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and stumbling across two American icons, Audrey Hepburn in a vintage 'My Fair Lady' poster and the new Andy Warhol monument, on the way back...

 ...A Barnes & Noble trip complete with an autographed copy of Tina Fey's new book, Bossypants, [which is hilarious -- highly recommend] and trashy mags, a stylish shopper on my weekly Zara trip and fun new nail polish in 'Poppy', 'Butter' {yum}, and 'Malibu Green' from American Apparel.

Hope you had a great weekend and an even better week.

xx,

Shanelé

Weekend at the cottage

I'm signing off for a weekend at my cottage Upstate...

In the words of David Spade in Tommy Boy: "Hi, I'm earth. Have we met?" Instead sipping tea and eat crumpets in a lovely little Victorian cottage like this one in Delhi, New York, I will be doing my taxes in my < 300 sq. ft. studio apartment...but it never hurts to dream. Have a great, (hopefully) tax-free weekend.

xx,

Shanelé

[baby boy] Blue & [it's a girl] Pink

Blouse - H&M
Pleated Skirt - Beacon's Closet
Jacket, earrings, bracelet - Forever 21
Shoes - Topshop
Belt - Gap
Clutch - Vintage
Lips - Mac 'Snob'
Nails - Essie Mademoiselle

As I mentioned earlier this week, I found a couple gems this weekend at Beacon's Closet, a vintage store in Brooklyn. This pink pleated skirt is one of them. I looked it over multiple times trying to figure out why it was only $11...luckily, not a thing wrong. SCORE. I ended up pairing it with this baby-boy blue blouse the next day to a friends baby shower and out to dinner that night. It was really great to be sans tights...unfortunately, that's no longer the case.

xx,

Shanelé

Downtown from Behind

I can't remember how I came across {downtown from behind} but I'm absolutely in love with these photos. I can almost feel summer just by looking at them. The majority are shot right around where I live as well. The last photo is less than a block from my place. I may or may not be on a first name basis with the guys that work at the Falafel/Shwarma joint and they may or may not give me free pita bread and extra hummus with each visit.

xx,

Shanelé

Army Green > Navy Stripes

Green vest - Anthropologie
Sunglasses, necklace, bag - H&M
Shirt, suede skirt, tights, bracelet - Forever 21
Booties - Zara

I wore this "outfit" on my Saturday stroll through the farmers market in Union Square, the flea market and Beacon's Closet in Brooklyn {stay tuned for an outfit post featuring one of my finds later this week} and then out that evening. I use the term "outfit" loosely because it was really just throwing together the few articles of clothing I had at my b/f's place that morning. This suede skirt has been sitting in his closet since I last wore it on Thanksgiving but My Style Pill's blog reminded me I had it. As comfortable as these trusty Zara booties are, after 6+ hours of walking my dogs were barkin'...but one of the best $50 ever spent nonetheless. I had this H&M jeweled bib-necklace in my bag so I threw it on to dress the look up later that night.

xx,

Shanelé

Weekend Update - 4/4/2011

A nice little weekend filled with food and farmers & flea market trips:  

{homemade cupcakes, crêpes & steaks}

{fragrant flowers, fresh fruit & merino sheep's wool at the farmers market}

 {pretty pillows, a fashion icon & vintage typewriters at Brooklyn Flea}

A beautiful weekend breezed by much to quickly as always. I took full advantage of the weather at the Farmers Market and Brooklyn Flea Saturday. The 'fashion icon' as referenced above is Project Runway Season 8 winner, Gretchen Jones -- a personal fave of mine. If you think this pic is creepy, you should have seen me stalking her booth-to-booth to take it. In my defense, I really do want to replicate her leopard headband so photo documentation was necessary. Hopefully someday I will grow out of such antics but I don't foresee that happening any time in the near future.

xx,

Shanelé

April Showers

Pretty good depiction of how I feel today. Thank you, mother nature, for keeping everyone honest. I can't wait to see your May flowers. TGIF.

xx,

Shanelé

{Pic via Rosie_Hardy on flickr}

Brilliantly Blonde

I was in the checkout line at Urban Outfitters the other night drooling over this girl's hair in front of me. After creepily staring, I luckily caught the blonde bandit before she got away and asked where she got her hair done in the city. Turns out her salon is right around the corner from my apartment and I scored an appointment this Saturday. Although her hair looked great, I'm cautiously optimistic, as always, given I've endured many a hair debacle throughout the years, including but not limited to: a second-grade bowl-cut, the college Keith Urban special and blue streaks in my most recent dye-job-gone-wrong in January.

Here are a couple of my favorite blonde highlights and styles. If all goes as planned, I'll walk out looking exactly like any one of these lovely ladies in terms of hair, body, clothing, career, etc. etc. 

{pic sources: unknown, This is Glamorous, a lovely escape, Cupcakes and Cashmere, Vanessa Jackman}

xx,

Shanelé

Pretty Pretty Princess

A co-worker sent me a link to New York Magazine's compilation of Kate Milddleton's looks throughout the years. Dressed up, down or all bundled up...she always looks darling [in a British accent]. I'm sure we'll all be tired of hearing about it when the time comes but I could not be more excited to see who/what she's wearing at her nuptials next month.

xx,

Shanelé

If I had it my way...

I would be wearing this today:

Photos from Vanessa Jackman

I've tried really hard but cannot find ONE thing wrong with Amanda Weiner's look after the Louis Vuitton show at Paris Fashion Week. I want it all.

xx,

Shanelé

Black & White Weekend

{vanessajackman.blogspot.com}

{my iPhone @ Club Monaco} 

{my iPhone @ Club Monaco}

Some black and white photos from a thankfully rather uneventful weekend. Hope you all had a good one and an even better week.

xx,

Shanelé