We all have our own unique sense of style and mine may not be admired by everyone, and that's perfectly valid. I also do not consider myself a style expert by any means, but I think I can accessorize fairly well and offer this breakdown of my outfit for those whose sense of style is similar to mine:
Last night I must have hit a home run in the dressing myself department because I was complimented all evening on my dress, my accessories and even my hair. It's always nice to hear that you look good, but especially when it is a bit unexpected. I do get asked a lot where I've gotten certain accessories and dresses, even by total strangers, but last night I even had people touching the fabric of the dress, so I was tickled pink (and yellow and plum). The dress, a yellow cocktail number, is at least five years old so I wasn't expecting the enthusiastic reception it received. I bought it to wear to the wedding of two friends, when I was the sole attendant to the bride and she said to wear whatever I wanted as long as it was yellow or pink. Because the color is very bright and memorable I don't wear it that often, and I guess it was long enough that everyone forgot! I also usually wear it with black or green accessories, but this time I styled it with the color plum. Since most people I know can not afford to buy a new dress for every occasion repeating an outfit is nothing to be ashamed of (even the Royals do it), yet women still always worry what people will think, especially if they are photographed. This is why accessories are so important. They not only elevate an outfit, they can transform it. Think Kate Middleton and how she'll wear the same dress on multiple occassions, even years later, with different shoes, bags and hats. Kudos to her for her "commoner" common sense in the fashion department, btw.
I had a cocktail party to attend for Memorial Sloan Kettering and I know from past experience that the annual event is a who's who of stylish NYers, so I dug in my closet and pulled out a colorful ensemble. As I usually do, I mixed up high end with more moderately priced pieces to create an outfit. Except for the belt, nothing is new this season. The shoes are new, but not this current season since I bought them discount. I'm going to spill my shopping "secrets" and say where everything came from, too, because I'm not one of those women who is threatened by sharing information with other women. I want to see other women looking pretty, getting a good deal, and feeling fabulous. Life is too short to be a closet bitch.
Some of my accessories last night
The purse is from Eric Javits. I won it (and a matching hat) at a charity event raffle. The booties are Gucci (they caused me to trip, and almost fall on Madison Ave but I forgive them), purchased at TJ Maxx. The belt is a recent Halloween gift from my mom (yes, I'm still her little girl and I'm okay with that when accessories are involved). It has her favorite equestrian theme and is from Talbots. The necklace is from Siman Tu and pulled the entire outfit together because it had all the other colors I was wearing. That's important for looking pulled together versus like a clown college graduate.
The dress, purse and necklace
As you can see the necklace is big and chunky. With such a brightly colored yellow dress, the darker plum color was a great contrast that kept it from being too bright. With this colorful an outfit I chose the neutral booties (first photo) because I didn't want my shoes to detract from the rest of the outfit. I had enough going on closer to my face and upper body with the necklace, purse and belt. The rest of my jewelry was plain gold.
