milwaukchic

it's a rainy, chilly afternoon in wisconsin, and i couldn't help but make a post about some fabulous rain gear i wish i owned. i have a fabulous red polkadot umbrella from h&m that i got as a present for christmas and a pair of purple, gray and black plaid rain boots. sounds like the perfect rain gear, no? it is. i love the umbrella and am equally enamoured with the boots. if i could wear them.

my parents bought me the boots for christmas in new york and the saleswoman (or man) never removed the security tag. i have traipsed all over two malls in the area, with the receipt and boots, trying to find a store that will remove the ink tag. no stores around here use the same system as the store they bought it at. ack! i'm going to try again at another mall and hopefully i'll get the tag off before the rain goes very far. i want to test drive these oh-so beautiful boots!

here are some other bits and pieces of rain gear i am loving at the moment. i may be seeing some more rainy day fun in the future...

Kamik Nicole Printed Rain Boot

Western Chief Women's Daisies Rain Boot

Marc by Marc Jacobs Doodle Rub Boot

Galleria Seurat Le Grande Jette Auto Super-Mini Umbrella

Totes® rainbow dot manual umbrella

Totes Dots Purse Umbrella - Black

MICHAEL Michael Kors taxi yellow double breasted belted short rain coat

Urban Renewal Rain Coat Peplum Jacket

Cotton Trench Coat With Check Under Collar

ttyl.

so prom was great. :) and everyone looked nice too. (bonus on a fashion blogger end). but seeing that i was up til 4am (most likely later) and got up at 9, i'm *tired*. I slept through most of the afternoon once i got home from l.'s house though. that was nice. but i'm going to be going back to bed soon (haha).

while i like to think that i looked very sophisticated last night with my black dress and red lips, it's caused me to think more about next years prom! i won't be leaving anything to the last second. so i'm going to leave you with a couple ideas for dresses and such if you haven't had prom yet and are still deciding on a look. :)

see, i brought it back to fashion!

so, if you want the princess look (which i'm thinking is the way i'm going to go next year, here are some beautiful crinolines for your money)

Giorgio-Blue Print Prom Dresses

Dee Dee-Fuchsia Prom Dresses

Balian-Magenta Prom Dresses

or if you want to go more sleek:

Hailey Logan Galaxy-Long Purple Prom Dresses

Veronique-- Green Prom Dresses

Strapless Yellow Prom Dresses by Mori Lee

or maybe elegant?

Wendy-Navy Long Prom Dresses

Two-tone Prom Gowns by Atria

Dave and Johnny Grecian Draped Prom Dresses

Are you a girl with great legs? show them off with a short dress -- but remember, keep it formal!

One Shoulder Tulle Prom Dresses by Mori Lee

Jen-- Black Prom Dresses

Morgan Prom Dress, Embroidered Lace Overlay

hope one these inspires you!

ttyl.  

the day has arrived -- it's prom! (eek)

i got nine hours of lovely sleep last night and spent two hours laying in bed reading a book called emily ever after. it was pretty good -- not a new york times best seller, but definately a quick, fun read. i'd recommend it to you all. i happen to really identify with the main character.

anyways, onto the prom speak.

so yesterday, i gave you a heads up on the dress fiasco -- well, i'm happy to say i decided on the black one, remember?

this one:

i'm styling it so it's part-blair waldorf a la gossip girl, part-audrey hepburn a la breakfast at tiffany's and part-vintage broadway and hollywood glamour.

i'm wearing a simple pair of black sandals:

they look just like this except they're black. and the perfect size for my abnormally large feet. (i wear a size 10-11) and they come in a (perfectly fitting) size 10.

and i'm going to wear a beautiful strand of pearls, like this:

Majorica Pearl Strand

 except they're a strand of pearls that i've been gathering individual pearls since i my tenth birthday or so.

and i'll be carrying a beautiful vintage black clutch, that looks something like this:

Inge Christopher Theda Oversized Clutch in Black

lovely, huh?

i got a lovely flowered corsage and hair pin from my family -- yep, i'm dateless this time around but that isn't going to spoil my fun! in fact, i actually "asked" my friend l.

i'm going to do my hair into a french-twisty-bun thing with pearl-capped bobby pins and wear a little brown mascara and shadow with a bold red lip.

ooh la la!

so, chickadees, what's your favorite prom memory? what did you wear to prom? what are you wearing to prom? share with me!

ttyl.

so this year i'm a junior in high school (yay), which means junior-senior prom (eek).

i ordered a beautiful prom dress off of the macys website. it was pictured a cornflower blue, empirewaisted, halter and flowy -- aka would be very flattering on my curvy body. in fact, here's a picture of it:

pretty right? so i ordered it last week thursday because i had been (rather naively) waiting for prom dresses at either my local malls to go on sale (i waited too long). standard shipping and a 15% off coupon later had the dress ariving on tuesday. so, after work on tuesday, i got home, tore open (i mean, carefully unwrapped) my package and saw a dress that was bright. very bright. and very goregous.

the dress, in reality, is a bright cerulean ocean blue. which, when reading the print on the website, is what the description says. but, however, it is definately not what the picture depicts. still, it is a goregous color. and the color looked great on me.

however, the dress did not fit right. it fit mediocre in the chest and was very clingy for an empire waist, highlighting my tummy and hips (which, honestly, aren't what i want to highlight) and then fell about an inch and a half to two inches off the floor. (i'm five-foot ten-ish). so it wasn't the most flattering dress in the world. it is beautiful on the hanger and would looks great on the model, but i have to face the music: i am not a size four, five-foot seven-inches model. and, i'm okay with that.

anyway, this dress fiasco set my whole prom agenda through a loop.

i had previously purchased a silver clutch, fake diamond bracelet and silver sandals (all on sale/clearance at Sears) for under $20. I couldn't find the bracelet or clutch online, but i did find a pic of the shoes:

i'm sure there'll be many pictures of the clutch and bracelet in the future .... i couldn't bare to return them. however, i (disappointedly) exchanged the silver sandals with a black pair because the silver didn't go with the next dress i found.

last night, my mom and i went to david's bridal, macy's and boston store. macy's and boston store were no-gos, nothing was the *perfect* dress. however, i did find two at david's bridal that i really liked (and looked good on me). Here they are:

i found this one in a lovely green color. i am tall, so the part in the front hit me at about the knee and the back barely touched the ground when i was in barefeet.

this was the other one i found, it was the perfect length when i was in barefeet (it slightly dragged on the floor, so with a 1/3" flat, it would be perfect) and the style looked great on me.

the no-return policy scared me a bit so i took the night to think it over. both dresses would've been a major commitment. (the green one is $79.99 and the black one is $145.00)

but when i couldn't stop thinking about the black and creme one, and got overwhelming positive feedback on the picture i snapped from my friends m. and l., i decided to go with the second one (black with creme rosettes). i went back after school today and they (luckily) still had it in my size.

so with my black sandal, the dress looks fantastic! i'm going to carry a simple black clutch and put my hair up in this french twist/bun up do. with my (naturally) curly hair, it will only take about three minutes and four bobby pins to put up.

more on my (fantastic) prom look tomorrow (the day of the dance). i'm so excited!

ttyl.

from flipping open the front cover and seeing a "chance - chanel" ad to the last pages with a snapshot of kendall jenner, this issue of teen vogue was pretty awesome. i just wanted to take a minute to talk about some of my favorites (and the things that made it on to my "must buy" list. which will be probably purchased a couple of seasons from now when they dip within the realm of my budget. ;) however, there are some *very* budget friendly things that made it onto my list.

first things first, the marc by marc jacobs ad on the second page. swoon. oh, marc jacobs, how art i love thou.

the first thing that makes it on my "must buy" list is classy: exceptional advice for the extremely modern lady by derek blasberg. with a world full of, well - not classy women, style is slowly slipping away. derek's book seems interesting and i can't wait to pick it up at a local bookstore.

the photo shoot "desert storm" photographed by daniel jackson was particularly lovely. i loved the soft neon pieces, the deconstructed shirts and denim, and the piles upon piles of braided bracelets by rachel leigh.

now, the shopping spree pages were interesting and i found a few things that made it onto my "ooh--i love!" list but i feel like we've seen the same thing over and over the past couple seasons. don't get me wrong, i love neon, but you can only take *so* much. that being said, these pieces will certainly fill my neon craving.

a marc jacobs + maripol plastic spike necklace ($25)

a diane von furstenberg woven wire bracelet ($60)

a nicole by opi nail laquer ($8)

these field day photo spread photographed by raymond meier was another favorite of mine. afterall, the first page had a pair of shoes that i am in love with - they're open toed cowgirl botats with a chunky heel. (goregous)

aren't they beautiful? they're emma cook for topshop ($226). quite a bit out of my price range though...

more about this issue later!

ttyl.

hello from a rather chilly rainy day in wisconsin.

i've been reading fashion blogs for a while now and have always had the urge to start my own. maybe it's the warmth near my computer or the fact that i don't really feel like completing my homework, but i decided to take the plunge today and start blogging. so here i am.

i've always been sporadic in journalling. i would start of strong and then taper off about halfway through a 70 page spiral bound notebook. or fancy pants journal from barnes and noble. or pocketbook from walgreens. you get the picture. so i'm going to make blogging part of my everyday routine so i don't blogfade.

i heard that it has been proven that if you do something consecutively you can break a bad habit (or i guess form a new one). so here is a new habit - for the next 30 days and for a long time thereafter, i will be blogging every night, either after school when i'm not working or before bed when i am.

this post is like blog post i. you know, like in books when the introduction starts on page i and then the actual book starts on page 1?

well, i will shortly follow this post with my first real blog post. exciting, no?

ttyl.