Madewell styles clothing in such a cool, effortless way. Their catalogs are inspirational – you don’t need to buy expensive garments to pull off the Madewell look. It’s all about mixing trends and being confident.
madewell spring ’13
Tag: style
catalog favorites
Winter hasn’t quite hit Charlottesville, but I’m already excited for spring fashion. I know fall is the season for fashion, but I’ve always preferred the bright, floral, bare-legged styles of spring over the drab, monotone glamour of fall. Fall is too serious for my taste.
I’ve been flipping through old Google catalogs for inspiration. Here are some of my favorite looks (including some fall looks that easily transition into spring):
Clockwise from top:
- Anthropologie, March 2012
- Clarks, Fall 2012
- Fossil, Fall 2012
- Madewell, Spring 2012
- J. Crew, February 2012
- Madewell, Spring 2012
live/wear + week in review
After car repairs ruined my last full day off, I needed to pick myself up and get motivated this week. Surprisingly, it worked. I listed several items on etsy, went to the bank, paid my city taxes, revised an article (more on that soon), completed a poem, did three loads of laundry, finished The Autobiography of Malcolm X (all 466 pages!), and kept the house (very relatively) clean. Additionally, I read some good articles online:
- A New Theory of PTSD and Veterans by Tony Dokoupil
- This is Christ’s body, broken for you by Rachel Held Evans
- Why I Never Play Hard to Get by Rachael Kay
and discovered a few blogs:
Thanks for reading. What did you accomplish/take pride in this week?
on wearing pants
I do not like pants. I’d much prefer to wear a skirt or dress every day. There are a few reasons why I turned my back on pants: 1. my hips (ahem, and behind) grew disproportionate to my waist during my growing-up years (but really, who’s to say what’s disproportionate?); 2. the search for proper fitting jeans is endless, mind-numbing, and degrading; 3. skinny jeans with too little stretch are rather constricting; 4. I lived in Florida, so I didn’t really need to wear pants.
But now I live in a clime where fall and winter are real events, not just markers of time. The weather has been mild for the most part, but I’m beginning to regret walking from my car to work in a dress and knee high socks. My thighs are numb by the time I arrive. I need to suck it up and wear some pants (that sounds like a sexist metaphor, but if it weren’t sexist, I’d say that I just created a pretty great double meaning in that sentence).
I forced myself to brainstorm outfits that aren’t atrocious to get myself excited about jeans-wearing.
- Sheer shirt layered over tee + pattern mixing
- Striped shirt + cardigan and moccasins
- Casual graphic tee + cozy accessories
- Tunic and flats + oversized sweater
Do you like jeans? How do you dress for cold weather?
dorothy perkins
Dorothy Perkins is a UK based brand and women’s retailer. I suspect, unfortunately, that they’re a bit like the Forever 21 of England, but maybe their products are of higher quality. Their clothing appeals to my aesthetic to a greater degree than most American, mid-range designs do. That mixed print dress in the center would look great at a holiday party.
Sorry to bring you another set and no meaningful content, but I woke up with a cold and spent most of the day sleeping or clicking mindlessly through internet content. Since Frankenstorm is headed our way within hours, the sun hasn’t shone all day; it turned out to be the perfect day to relax and recover.
We attended a “Vintage Cocktail” themed Halloween party last night and I dressed up as a flapper. I prided myself in the historical accuracy of the overall look; unfortunately, I only have a headshot of my get-up. I wore vintage costume jewelry, a thrifted drop-waist dress, and richly hued makeup to complete the look. Daniel, on the other hand, was a Roadside Prophet; he wore a board with boldly etched, condemning verses on it around his neck. I was a symbol of debauchery and he was the radical, moral response to it.
Leah Wise 