Flannel shirt + utility dress

Flannel + utility jackets are all over the place and I love the combo for a few reasons: It’s unexpected, warm, and enables me to get more wear out of my favorite comfy summer dress, which I did on a warm weekend in North Carolina. Then I looked at the pictures and started to doubt myself. Is this smock a Don’t? After all, it is shapeless, green, and has kangaroo pockets. Even worse, Am I a hipster?

 

So I took the quiz. Passed. Decided I just love it because it’s French, and has space for all my spare change. So it’s a Do. Even with flannel.

 

Myne flannel shirt, anonymous French overall dress, Joie boots, Donald J. Pliner bag, Kate Spade aviators

 

  

A cool, artsy home



Kira Neal has the coolest home ever – plus a great eye for design and art. She inspires me to use more color, and her place has made me want to start collecting modern and pop art to add to the walls of my apartment. I interviewed her for a Refinery29 article about buying a place and wish that we could have included a hundred pictures of all the style she packs into her 2 bedroom condo on U Street!

Here are some of the originals Kira sent over when we were first considering her apartment – guarantee these will make you want to redecorate tonight:

 

DIY Picture Wall

 

My collection of pictures and frames have followed me from my childhood bedroom to college dorms and every single one of my apartments. Whenever I move in to a new place, the first thing I do is start hanging frames on the walls – there’s something comforting about being surrounded by familiar images when you are in an unfamiliar place. I have no regard for symmetry and truly hate when everything matches, so my little collection of pictures and frames fit in just right no matter where I live. But I do put a little thought into the arrangement and thought I’d share some tips I’ve learned after making hundreds (no, really, hundreds) of holes in my walls:

 

1) Find frames anywhere and everywhere – the obvious Pottery Barn and Target work, but Goodwill and Homegoods are great sources, and I pick them up at flea markets, garage sales

2) Buy many different sizes – itty bitty and ginormous, it works best when there is variety

3) Pick a color theme – I stuck to neutral tones (black, white, gold, silver, cream, wood)

4)  Use your floor to test your layouts

5) Start with a bold focal piece – I chose a large stretched black and white canvas to be the center of my wall

6) Arrange medium and small frames around the focal piece, any which way that you please

7) To tie everything together and make it look cohesive, use a measuring tape to space everything evenly – I did 1.5″ spaces between my frames, top, bottom, and both sides
8) Start hanging – go with the centerpiece first, and use your spacing measurements as a guide



 



Last but not least, don’t be afraid to make holes in your walls! I rearrange my pictures all the time and there is no hole that a little spackle and a makeup brush of touchup paint can’t fix. FYI, I think my disrespect of drywall stems from my dad. He would wait YEARS to hang pictures, and left beautiful paintings, photographs, prints, and amazing frames leaning against the walls in his study collecting dust. Lesson learned – commitment phobia is not for drywall.

How to wear leather leggings

…like Olivia does! I love how she pairs them with simple separates and colorful shoes! My $5 eBay pleather leggings just arrived in the mail and I am excited to wear them with an oversize, slouchy sweater and pumps.

Sweater, $59, and leather-look leggings, $65, chicnova.com; Kelsi Dagger suede heels, $59;
 Orla Kiely gold leather bag, $380

 

Rose Boots

These boots are amazing for a lot of reasons, but particularly the emotional responses they elicit from strangers. Many love, many hate. I fell in love with these at first sight after spotting them at a street market in Mexico. Normally, I would have snapped them up instantly but that day I chose to walk away. Not because Wes told me they were the ugliest things he had ever seen, but because I didn’t want his family to judge me for dropping a few hundred dollars on black cowboy boots covered in red roses. 

Not that they would have. Long story short, Wes bought them for me for my birthday last year and I wear them everywhere! Surprisingly versatile, and they make otherwise ugly outfits cool.  For example, take this XXL J.Crew sweater and basic, boring black leggings – the boots make it cool!

Worn with a military parka for coolness…

 

And with a fur vest underneath for warmth! I love wearing all of these things together, but was recently forced to consider the impression this ensemble makes on others: I was wearing the exact outfit below while shopping at Claire’s (I know, I know – just trying to find some studded bracelets) and a sales associate followed me around with a basket and kept offering to hold the bracelets I was looking at, which were $6 apiece and I repeatedly told her I did not want a basket. She didn’t trust me with $12 worth of elastic n’ plastic skull bracelets, which leads me to conclude that I either look like a shoplifter, or crazy, or both.

Corral cowboy boots, Simply Vera Wang leggings, J.Crew XL sweater, Gap parka, Willi Smith fur vest

Black, white, and cream

Cold weather makes me want to wear neutrals – probably because it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning and even harder to think about what to wear. Take this morning for example: I opened my closet, pulled out an orange blazer, got stressed trying to think of what’s opposite of orange on the color wheel, and put on a full suit instead.  So, it’s probably for the best that I’ve been sticking to naturals and neutrals. Black, white, and cream has been my favorite mix.

On a related side note, this leather skirt was the best $20 I spent this fall and I love wearing it with big chunky sweaters. Worn with a Vince sweater, Nine West suede heels, and the same zebra print Madewell clutch that I’ve been carrying everywhere.

On another side note, the below photo is case in point of why you do not want to rent a garden level apartment found on Craigslist. And no, I am not talking about the burglar bars and electrical code violations.

Photos by Lauren Altmin

Pleather leggings

Photo via WIT

These used to be a Don’t in my book, and then I found this picture of pleather leggings done right and LOVED it! Paired with a simple shirt and utility jacket, they don’t look so slick and pleather-like.

Just ordered some on eBay that cost less than my coffee this AM which could be a bad sign but on the upside, I will avoid the buyer’s regret that certainly comes with investing in the one-season-only life of pleather leggings. But right now I can’t wait to wear them with oversize sweaters and booties or my men’s denim shirt and black pumps.

Gigee Marie

I love her clutches! Check out my interview with Angela Bright, the designer behind Gigee Marie – she gave me some great tips on starting my own business (including using a free ecommerce template – no idea those existed but now I am determined to use one and  save myself those eBay sellers fees).

D.C. was created for Election Night

Maybe its the mistakes that I made at George this time last year, but there is something magical about election night in D.C.! Click here to read my Refinery29 roundup of the best parties in the District.

Wanted: Calfskin rug

Photo via Apartment Therapy

Ever since I saw this small space stuffed with style, I’ve been picking pieces to emulate in my own tiny apartment. The mix of textures (sheepskin, hardwood, leather, calfskin) and metals (wood, chrome, aluminum) are inspiring – it’s eclectic, but still calm and pulled together. See the rest of this apartment here.

My point is that I’ve been on an obsessive hunt for a calfskin rug and think I just found one. So, the real question is whether I’ll have too many dead animals in 375 SF if I buy this from Overstock: