The Four Seasons Cardi

It’s finally feeling like fall in LA! Here is my first official fall outfit post of the year. Also as you may have noticed, I finally have some quality photos on here, thanks to my good friend Ashley Fischer who is dabbling in some photography and looking to sharpen her skills (I’d say she did an amazing job!) all the while making my blog look a whole lot more legit. Check out her awesome blog here!

I got this amazing slouchy knit sweater at Shoot the Moon LA. Like you’ve heard me say many times before, you can check it out here, and all the other awesome clothes and jewelry. Use the discount code HAYLEY10 to get 10% off your purchase.

This is called the “Four Seasons Cardi”, and for good reason. It’s light weight and would look great worn over a summer dress or with a tank and shorts, but it’s very fall appropriate with jeans/leggings and boots. It’s become my new go-to sweater. I love the multi color threading in black and white as well. I’m seeing a lot of sweaters with this coloring lately and it just gives off a cozy yet trendy look without being sloppy. Best of all, it’s so comfortable!

I wore this sweater with a loose white-t, black liquid leggings and camel booties. I love mixing camel and black. I decided to wear a necklace to match the boots to really bring out the brown to offset the black and white. Since liquid leggings can easily give off an edgier look, which is ok, I did want this to be more of a cozy fall look. I think the brown and gold accents accomplish that goal.

I am looking forward to more fall fashion and sharing with you guys what I’m finding to be “in vogue” this season without breaking the bank!

Have a fun and safe Halloween and until next time…

T-shirt: Urban Outfitters

Sweater: Shoot the Moon LA

Leggings: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: J.Crew

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Bag: Vince Camuto

Photo Credit: Ashley Fischer

Celebrity Outfit Recreation- Miranda Kerr style

Came across this lovely photo of Miranda Kerr who I absolutely adore. I decided to recreate her look. I have a long black maxi dress and a jean jacket, and that’s really all there is to it. Which is why it’s great. I love the simplicity of it. For some of you this outfit may be more appropriate for Spring or Summer. So to those people…I hate to rub it in, but I wore this today on January 12th because… well…it’s 77 degrees in LA! Don’t hate. But keep this outfit in your back pocket for when Spring arrives.

It’s effortless style like this that models like Miranda Kerr are all about. I can only try to embody that vibe. You don’t have to be a Victoria’s Secret model to feel sexy and casual. A black maxi dress will absolutely do the trick for anyone. It’s slimming, flattering, elongates your body…etc. If you’re short, wear a maxi dress with wedges and it’ll help the feeling like you’re swimming in it.

Now on to my own personal touches. Accessories. My blush leather handbag from J.Crew. This was a splurge Christmas present for myself. As I’ve said before, I believe handbags are not something to skimp on. I love this bag as it can be a shoulder bag or a cross body. The leather is very strong and soft and the color is a new trend this season. It’s unique yet neutral.

Cat eye sunglasses from Ralph Lauren. These are so fun. The front part is purple and the sides are tortoise. I never thought I’d wear purple sunglasses, but I like how you can only tell in the sunlight, otherwise they look black.

Lastly, my every day gold and horn watch by Michael Kors.

Dress: Forever 21

Jean Jacket: Levi’s

Earrings: Target

Bag: J.Crew

Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren

Watch: Michael Kors

Look of the week- Brown, Black, Navy and… Seafoam Green!? It can be done people.

It’s almost Christmas and that means low 60’s in LA… BRR! Just kidding…I’m from Michigan. This is awesome.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t still rock winter fashion. It’s still pretty chilly at night and a sweater, peacoat and boots is completely reasonable to wear. Thank god for that because if it was too warm to wear fall/winter clothes here I would feel so unfulfilled fashion wise! Comfy sweaters and cute boots are what I  live for!

Last night I went to The Grove (awesome huge outdoor mall in LA) with my boyfriend to walk around and soak up the Christmas atmosphere there. It’s beautiful. Huge Christmas tree, Santa, lights everywhere… but I must admit, the moment we walked into Nordstrom was when I really felt all warm and fuzzy inside. ….What? I’m Jewish anyways!

Then we saw American Hustle and if this were a movie review blog I would go on and on about how amazing it was, but I’ll just say… see it!! SO good… and awesome fashion too 🙂

So, who says you can’t wear brown, black AND navy together? Not me! You totally can if you do it right. With this outfit I paired an oversized navy knit sweater with bright seafoam green jeans (lovely color combo) and THEN added accents of brown with my shoes and bag… or what I like to call “camel” more so than actual brown. I also wore a black peacoat over it and thought it all came together really well.

I particularly love these pants because I think the color can be appropriate all year round, winter summer spring or fall (in case you didn’t know all the seasons of the year?).

The last touch was the navy and gold statement necklace to lay over the navy sweater. It subtly pops (oxymoron yes, but it’s true). If you’re going to match the color of your necklace to your shirt make sure it has one other color in it even if it’s just silver or gold and that’s all you need to make it pop!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Sweater: Gap

Necklace: Francesca’s

Bag: J. Crew

Booties: Urban Outfitters

Jeans: Francesca’s

Coat: Anne Klein

Melie Bianco- new favorite handbag

Melie Bianco handbag– http://www.meliebianco.com/

I recently purchased this Melie Bianco handbag for a fraction of it’s worth at Burlington Coat Factory. Gotta love Burlington Coat Factory! The only problem is that the one I got didn’t have the lock and key hanging from it like you see in the picture. I imagine some antsy kid in the store waiting hours for their mom to choose a handbag decided to take them off and hide them in the hosiery section.

I guess that’s what you’re risking by shopping at Burlington Coat Factory and getting things for shockingly lower prices. I still absolutely love it though. I was in the market for a gray purse. I have handbags in beige, camel, black and tan already, gray was the only neutral I was missing! It matches with everything. I’m sure you will see it featured in many outfits to come.

The same bag is being sold right now on their website in some really great summer colors. This website has so many other amazing purses too and even at full price, they’re still quite reasonable, none exceeding $200 or so.

Anyways… I decided to write this hopeful letter to the websites customer service requesting the lock and key decor for the bag, only to get a letter back stating they cannot do this for me since I didn’t purchase it through them directly. Pff..after all my bribing, begging and flattery…I thought I may have had a chance. Oh well. It was worth a try (YOLO!) Still love their purses!

Stay in vogue!

Hayley

Letter I wrote to Melie Bianco… this is me attempting to be persuasive:

Hi there! 

So this is a shot in the dark, but here’s my story: 

I purchased a Melie Bianco bag at Burlington Coat Factory in Burbank, CA. I had never heard of the brand before, but I fell in love with the bag the moment I saw it (and of course the fact that it was $100 but I was getting it for $40 at Burlington). But I am so obsessed with it that I decided to research the brand and naturally came to your website. I plan to purchase several more bags from the website directly, at full retail price, because there are so many great ones that I probably won’t find at a place like Burlington Coat Factory, not to mention I want to fully support this wonderful brand. 

As I’m browsing your handbags online, I came across the bag that I purchased at Burlington Coat Factory. It is the Elizabeth ML1018 (except mine is in the “bone” color). I then noticed to my dismay that the one I have from Burlington had the adorable lock and key taken off of it! I feel this touch really adds to the character of the bag and now I’m so disappointed that mine doesn’t have it. What are the chances you guys would be able send me the lock and key in the bone color so I can add them to my bag? I would be willing to pay however much you think is fair for these essential accessories. 

I know this is probably such a strange request but I figure it’s absolutely worth a try! Thank you SO much for taking the time to hear me out and please let me know one way or the other as soon as you’re able to respond. If you were able to do this for me I would be thrilled and be even more in love with Melie Bianco than I already am! Also, either way, I’ll be sure to introduce you guys to all of my purse loving friends, because I don’t think enough people are aware of these amazing handbags!

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing back from a member of the Melie Bianco team. 

Future Melie Bianco handbag addict, 

Hayley Arkovitz