In lieu of..

Willfully Elegant 19 Comments

emploi houndstooth dress, cobalt blazer, christian louboutin Decollete pumps with wolford tights.

emploi houndstooth dress, cobalt blazer, christian louboutin Decollete pumps with wolford tights.

emploi houndstooth dress, cobalt blazer, christian louboutin Decollete pumps with wolford tights.

Outfit: Dress – Emploi ; Jacket – WHBM (Sold out; Similar single button style here and military style here); Necklace – Gifted; Tights – Wolford; Shoes – Christian Louboutin.

emploi houndstooth dress, cobalt blazer, christian louboutin Decollete pumps with wolford tights.

 Unlike very many of the traditional announcements, I will just leave this out here,that there will be a new category under the “Blog” tab in the main menu that will be titled “Maternity“. It will chronicle my journey now through the next few months culminating around the end of summer. I hope to add worthwhile inspiration to it as I continue this journey. Having put it out there, I feel a rejuvenated interest in this blog again. The mind works in weird ways.

Now onto this outfit. Emploi dresses have attracted me for a very long time. A company started by a lady who loved dresses, a tad bit if not more than myself. I hold a soft corner for lady entrepreneurs. With owning two of their dresses, I can absolutely vouch for two things, it fits like a dress should, and the lengths are perfect for the office environment. Last time I wore a houndstooth dress, I had mentioned having ordered this one I am wearing today. Only somehow I evaded wearing it for this long. The only caveat for this dress is, the neck is a tad bit on the deeper side, so without a cami or blazer, you are in the danger zone of unprofessional cleavage display at work. I have always tried to wear dresses throughout the year as and when possible without being impractical and same goes for heels. When there are inches of snow/ ice or anything remotely not passable without slipping, I carry with me my snow boots. It is a must for us midwesterners and northerns to be proactive in the winter.

Do you sacrifice fashion for weather or do you blaze through it without a care? Stay warm and cheers.

Dots and Stripes

Willfully Elegant 11 Comments

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Outfit: Dress – c/o eShakti; Blouse – The Limited (Sold out; Similar in Grey and Navy Blue); Tights – Steve Madden; Boots – Aldo ( Similar here and here)

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Couple of weeks ago, eShakti contacted me about reviewing an item of my choice from their selection of many women’s clothing items. Being a dress girl, I of course gravitated towards their vast collection of dresses, that you can customize according to your choice. Let me tell you when I say I am picky, I am VERY picky on how my dress looks, fits and feels. It is a huge turn off for me, if the dress does not have symmetry or is for some reason does not fit as expected. So, being the skeptic I was, I ordered this dress with print and length customization so that I would be able to wear it to work as well. I would never wear maxi dress or skirt to work, so I had to get an item that would be versatile.

Roughly about a week or so later, this dress arrived, even faster than what they claim on their website. When I wore it, I was very pleasantly surprised with how thick and heavy the material was. Its cotton/spandex mix, machine washable and fit me like a glove. The dress is Made in India, which explains the good quality cotton. You can choose from custom sizes to sleeve length and dress/skirt length. So basically you are buying a dress that is custom made FOR you, without the added cost of taking it to a tailor or trying to tailor it yourself. There is nothing more annoying than buying an ill fitting dress that looks perfect online. And the prices are nominal as well since you would pay almost double for the same quality dress from a name brand and may be then on tailoring. They also offer a hassle free 30 day return policy when shipping to US, should you not be satisfied with your purchase.

Bottom line, I was and am still a skeptic when it comes to companies that ship from across the world but there are always exceptions. For now, I will say, if you haven’t already, make the most of their promotion of $40 off when you register OR use the coupon code ‘willfullyelegant‘-  exclusively created for you my dear readers and get 10% OFF when you shop at eShakti – valid till  03/17/2015. So far I love my dress and am thankful that eShakti reached out to me, I am also partially biased on things Made in India. :).

Have you ordered before from eShakti or companies like them? What has your experience been?Hope you had a great weekend! Cheers.

Feeling Pink

Willfully Elegant 8 Comments
Feeling Pink
Feeling Pink

Outfit: Dress – Tracy Reese (Sold out; Similar stripped styles I love  here and here) | Blouse – Banana Republic (Sold out; Similar here and here)  |  Shoes – Nine West

Feeling Pink

Feeling Pink

If this years New York Fashion Week is any sign of it, pink and all shades of it, will apparently be raging all over the fashion/blog world this fall. I do not want to think of fall, all i can think of is summer. Its not so hard to believe that though, given how it has been creeping into all the brands in the form of blush pink apparels. I was never a pink girl, but I have so many pink pieces in my closet now, its hard to believe I used to be a die hard blue girl a few years ago. I love that this dress is so super thick and stretchy at the same time that it keeps me warm without too many layers. I chose to pair the pinks with a lighter shade of brown as in the dress to not make the dress too bright.

The cold has not let its grip go, not one bit. It has been deceptively sunny and beautiful, but only when viewed from inside the comforts of a house/building or office room. Stay warm wherever you are.Cheers.

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Slouchy

Willfully Elegant 14 Comments
Slouchy

Slouchy

Slouchy

Outfit: Pants – Vince Camuto ; Top- WHBM ( Sold out; Similar in Red here and here); Blazer – The Limited ; Booties-  Nine West

Slouchy

With this outfit, I definitely ventured way out of my comfort zone. I would have never thought of wearing slouchy pleated pants in my wildest dreams, but here I am. These Vince Camuto pants were a steal find at TJmaxx. The elasticized waist and the crisp clean pleats makes it very easy to wear for a casual or formal event. I intend to make the most of it for both work and otherwise. I have to agree though that I would need to trim the hem a little bit to make it wearable without high heels.

I have been gravitating a lot towards green/yellow and corals lately. Its absolutely ironic how my mind has switched gears into spring mode, while nature continues to plow on with the brutality of winter.

Happy Friday and thanks to everybody who chimed in and shared a thought on my previous post. Its always a pleasure to read what other people think about a common trend ;).

Cheers and a happy weekend.

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Lucky or Not.

Willfully Elegant 12 Comments
Lucky

Lucky

Outfit: Jeans – The Limited ( Sold out, similar here and here); Blouse – The Limited (Sold out; Similar printed versions here and here); Sweater – Lucky Brand via TJMaxx ( Exact in Olive Green here and in Cream here);

Pumps – LK Bennett ( Sold out; Love this red bow style here and this laser cut here); Necklace – Leslie Danzis (Sold out).

Lucky

Some days are better than others. Today happens to be a not so better day. Having a consistent throbbing headache makes it that much harder to dress in the morning. But I still try and this is the outcome. On days where my head is in the sand and I am blinded by thoughts of sleep and my cozy comforter, I also tend to be tad bit morose and thus rely on my clothing to bring in the cheer. Colors cheer me up, if that is not evident already.

Coral reminds me of the ocean, spring and warmth. Given the brutal cold front we are currently sustaining, it was the least I could do to make myself get out of the house. I did switch into my snow boots when I stepped out because the inclement weather has a notorious reputation of randomly changing.

Because my head is so foggy, I thought I would use that as a pretext to talk about a few things I have noticed now that I am a “hobby” style blogger for over a year and that seemingly bothers me. Especially on instagram, if you were to follow enough number of now famous fashion/style/lifestyle bloggers for inspiration, you will soon start to see a pattern. Curated shots of their vanity/bathroom/kitchen with a Chanel/Celine/Valentino bag or a YSL opened lipstick or a box of Macaroons perched precariously in the photo, or you might spot one of the many Zara blanket scarves that I have only seen bloggers and IG bloggers wear, in real life I am yet to see a single person wear that exact same blanket scarf, or you might find them sporting the now every-blogger-must-own-one Stuart Weitzman over the knee suede boots ( I hear they are amazingly comfortable, not the price point that is at $785 for seasonal wear) or last but not the least, coats/jackets slung over the shoulders while not actually being worn in the dead of the winter or otherwise, you will find plenty of those in the soon to begin (Feb 12-19) street style version of NYFW.

Materialism apart, of which I am equally guilty, I don’t understand the need one feels to jump onto a trend bandwagon to feel a part of an accepted society?  I would personally never buy a suede boot because I know I cannot wear it in snow, it will be destroyed in no time plus the fact that the SW boots are more than OTK, they go up high enough for me to disqualify them for office wear. When my main purpose of stepping outside the house is to head to work, the OTK Stuart Weitzman boots will be an investment, I will not be making. The coat swung over the shoulder approach to seem cooler/nonchalant goes beyond my understanding. The coat has two arms, put your arms through them and you won’t look any less cooler. I understand for influencers the need to be noticed for streetstyle in gifted or otherwise designer wear is important, but I believe there is a very fine line between trying too hard and having genuine style. Anna Wintour I bet will never be caught with her coat slung over her shoulders in the streets. I guess I will be never be cool enough to understand the inane parts of fashion that require me to suffer through cold to be stylish.

This post is not meant to be controversial, it’s just a reflection of my thoughts as I have seen and soaked in fashion/style over the social media/digital media and is in no way to put down those that do follow trends religiously, I just beg to differ because then I am just one among the many.

Thoughts? Feel free to share any blunt/honest/any thoughts here, would love to hear your perspective.

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