Happy Wednesday!
I am feeling quite chipper this am. I am the proud owner of a new laptop, which is bigger, brighter, bolder. It is the Bionic Woman of laptops in my estimation - very shiny and bright and with superhuman capabilities. Whether these extra capabilities impact the quality of these posts or my writing, well, I leave that to others to judge!
And for all of my comrades in the ethernet: Happy May Day! Workers of the World Unite! For the rest of us, Happy Spring! Find yourself a MayPole and have at it!
When I was young, we used to gather up whatever flowers we could find on May 1st and leave them in little baskets on the doors of houses and ring the doorbell and run away. How sweet was that?
Okay - a confession - I am loving pinterest. I am not good at polyvore yet - I may get there, but I don't buy enough to make it easy for me. But pinterest allows me to find and save images of outfits that I do like and has proven to be a source of great inspiration to me as I refine my style.
For instance, I recently pinned this image to my "Styles I Love" board:
as well as this image:
I am feeling quite chipper this am. I am the proud owner of a new laptop, which is bigger, brighter, bolder. It is the Bionic Woman of laptops in my estimation - very shiny and bright and with superhuman capabilities. Whether these extra capabilities impact the quality of these posts or my writing, well, I leave that to others to judge!
And for all of my comrades in the ethernet: Happy May Day! Workers of the World Unite! For the rest of us, Happy Spring! Find yourself a MayPole and have at it!
When I was young, we used to gather up whatever flowers we could find on May 1st and leave them in little baskets on the doors of houses and ring the doorbell and run away. How sweet was that?
Okay - a confession - I am loving pinterest. I am not good at polyvore yet - I may get there, but I don't buy enough to make it easy for me. But pinterest allows me to find and save images of outfits that I do like and has proven to be a source of great inspiration to me as I refine my style.
For instance, I recently pinned this image to my "Styles I Love" board:
as well as this image:
Put them together, and what do you have? Why you have me, this morning!
 |
| J crew white linen blouse, j crew ballet flats, joe fresh boyfriend jeans. |
The jeans are one size too large for an even slouchier fit. This was a comfy outfit and completely inspired by the looks above. When I went out this am, I paired it with my navy blazer/coat. Tres jolie!
What I have discovered is that pinterest is helping me narrow down the styles that I love and is giving me inspiration as to how to recreate them at home. I can look through a whole page of photos and only want to pin one or two at max. You start to recognize your style. When I recreate the outfit, I feel great as it is the look I want to project.
My favourite pinterest looks right now:
and
 |
| Without the feathers part.... |
and because I will always love me some colour:
My outfit will be a slight variation of this - my pink linen blouse and my j crew Gauguin orange linen trousers from a couple of years ago.
So how about you - where are you getting your style inspiration these days - pinterest, polyvore, other bloggers, your own innate sense of style? Do tell!
And unlike Good Queen Beatrix, I do not plan to abdicate for awhile! Stay safe out there!
Stressful days ahead, so I am tuning in and out, but just wanted to chime in on the Pinterest thing. I'm not great at it, but I had to do a board for a contest, and you are absolutely right: it is so easy to hone in on your style by pinning away! My board was composed of tons of full skirts and dresses with defined waists, bold lips and vintage jewelry, all very 50s. My husband took one look at it and commented "That's totally your style!" BAM!
ReplyDeleteIt is funny - I realized that a LOT of the things i have in my closet are someone else's style. The things I pin are very different and streamlined (with the odd exception!) Of course we all have different styles even within our own wardrobes, but think a lot of it for me is related to turning 50 and leaving the corporate world.
DeleteI don't use Pinterest, tried it, but don't have time for more online stuff right now! It does sound like a great way to hone your style.
ReplyDeleteRuth - i hear you! there are too many "helpful" diversions at times.
DeleteI'd rather be reading blogs than anything else at the moment! I think my style ideas come mainly from my perigrinations among the world of blogs and my own wardrobe. I'm also arrogant enough to think I know my own style at the moment. It does change, though. It's really changed over the last 6 years!
DeleteI love the feathers part! yes I've noticed with Pinterest too, that it has helped hone my style, I haven't actually pinned many outfits but when I do they are always super casual, it's helped me to realise that as much as I admire it, I'm really not a heels and pencil skirt woman. I love your boyfriend jeans, I look horrendous in them, like a Victorian street urchin.
ReplyDeleteI love that you love the feathers! I do, too, in my fantasy life! well, I don't look as great in these jeans as in other types of jeans, but I do like them at times and they are really comfy! i have realized the same thing - I am craving comfort and more simple lines. When looking at my my boards, i could definitely see that most of my wardrobe was not what I was admiring!
DeleteTabs, I actually thought the very first pic - in the skinner jeans - could be you (in LA).
DeleteMe too!
Deletethat is funny - i thought that too and forgot to post that thought!
DeletePIN-UP Well WMM, I confess to avoiding Pintrest for the "time-sucker" factor. (When you spend all day at a computer with no office hustle around you, can be way too easy - in my case at least - to fritter with blogs, apps, widgets, fun stuff, and then end up burning the midnight oil.)
ReplyDeleteI do like to dump a few things I might have once torn from magazines etc. or saved in my Favorites there - gift ideas, future home stuff, holiday decor. Much easier to see than all the saved links.
Think it's great that you've found a functional source of inspiration and are shopping your closet with a fresh eye! Look forward to your strawberry orange combo...Happy hump day! (PS And yes, geek girl is as excited about a new 'puter as she might be about sandals, well almost.)
Ha! i am hearing you on sandals - wore some yesterday and was giddy! I have been eying the allie sandal in english saddle from j crew - don't have that colour and you know my adoration of sandals having seen my closet!
DeleteWMM, I have those sandals here in the Wisteria color, deciding whether they stay or go. I love the style and I think they'd be great in the English Saddle color (completely impractical in the Wisteria color but so pretty). I love an understated gladiator sandal.
DeleteCate - are they comfy? that colour is actually missing for me and I love the little gold down below!
DeleteThey seemed comfy, but I didn't want to walk around in them too much before I am sure about keeping them. This style of shoe almost always works on me, but if I recall correctly you and I have different sorts of feet. Mine are wide with high instep/arches. Maybe I will keep them, I have nothing else remotely like them. I wonder what I could wear them with, though? Boyfriend jeans, right? And cafe capris, if I had the right color (which I probably don't). Ideas?
DeleteI actually really loved the wisteria colour! Navy and white and yellow would be divine as would pink and purples. I am an enabler....
DeleteI don't use Pinterest, I started a board but I never go or pin. These days the Internet is a black hole where my time goes and I don't want to add another thing that may trigger browsing for hours (that's,why I have abandoned Polyvore too. BTW you don't have necessarly to buy anything to use polyvore).
ReplyDeleteI love your inspirational outfits and I love that you use,them to recreate outfits. I get my inpiration mostly by walking down Madison, there are a lot of stylish ladies around here. I also love the edits that some stores like Intermix, Shopbop etc. do.
Ema - wish i was there on Madison Avenue with you! i think i would prefer to get my style inspiration there, too! Not much inspiration around here so I take it wear I can get it!
DeleteI so miss getting style inspiration from the people around me! People here dress nicely, in the sense that they are not sloppy, but there is a serious lack of personal style here.
DeleteGood Morning Queen Wendy, certainly no abdication allowed for such a devastatingly attractive mother of two! Your white shirt and jeans is a favorite look of mine and is probably how I dress mostly in the summer (or a striped shirt and jeans). Congratulations on your new laptop, technology does change our lives, no? I am quite a dinosaur though, since I don't do Facebook, Pininterest or Polyvore. I tear off pages in magazines if I see something I like.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteI do the tear thing, too, but i don't buy as many magazines now, so try to use the net that way! I only use facebook because my son is one it and I do like to see what he is up to (not so much now but a couple of years ago - yes!) i rarely post anything there, but I know what all my childhood friends are doing!
DeleteP.S. where did you get that second picture with the jeans and ballet flats? I think I would like to buy those jeans.
ReplyDeleteMarie, I pinned it from Dani, who pinned it from the simply luxurious life blog, but there is no link to the jeans there sadly!
DeleteI find the same thing, Pinterest is excellent! I have no patience for anything, when I first started with it I thought I would never get into it, but it really does help to nail down a style: the eye likes what the eye likes!
ReplyDeleteLove your outfit!
I think you are right - you don't realize what your eye is drawn to till you start really looking! and I do limit my time there!
DeleteI use Pinterest much like GetFresh does. If I see something in a magazine or catalog (gift ideas, travel, recipes, clothes) I will find it on the web and pin it. Can't say I really peruse pinterest for ideas. My style ideas...I just throw sh*t on and see if I'm willing to venture outside with it. I just ordered a laptop for Emily for college. Yikes! Happy note - Tyler will be home from college Saturday. Yeah!
ReplyDeleteBB - your style idea technique has been passed on from generation to generation to great effect! Yay for Emily's new laptop and so happy for you that Tyler is coming home this weekend! Our son just advised us that he wants to take the year off to work. It is probably better than going uninspired, but still...
DeleteI like your outfit!
ReplyDeleteI get overwhelmed by pinterest. I know there's inspiration to be had in there, but sometimes it feels like same same same! I closed my account, but I do still like to go on to see what certain bloggers are pinning and get ideas from that.
Speaking of, if you are comfortable doing so, will you share a link to your account with us?
I put my own clippings in Evernote, and I also scan magazine pages into there too.
Like Ema, though, my favourite place to get ideas is from people on the street. There's something awfully "styled" about most of what floats around online!
I've been enjoying the blog Girls of a Certain Age (run by Kim France, the former editor of Lucky) as a source for interesting stores to browse.
HI Abby - try this and let me know if it doesn't work!
Deletehttp://pinterest.com/sydforry/
I will have to go look at that blog - it sounds fun!
It worked! Thanks :) Will browse.
Deleteoh great! you know i am not techno-savvy!
DeleteYou do have such an eye for color! You MUST come down to the Wm Paley collection show at Portland Museum of Art in conjunction with MOMA. I saw it last night and it opens Thursday--- Matisses, Picassos, Gaugin. The colors! Runs through the summer. Sure to inspire you.
ReplyDeleteOH i am going to have to come for sure! I am wearing the pink and orange get up this morning. Husband has not seen it - there may be words!!!
DeleteNew computer or not Wendy, you're blog has become my favourite! I look forward to it every morning and it always starts the day on an up-note. Thanks for taking the time to share your evolutions with the rest of us!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, don't know who you are, but I thank you very much indeed!
Deletei do not use pinterest at all - which i'm told makes me a dumbass b/c it is supposed to be so awesome. BUT, a friend did tell me about a blog called pinterest told me too. this gal has a great sense of humor, just started her blog and already has a huge following. i don't follow her but i do check in now and again b/c she is pretty cute and funny.
ReplyDeletei love the first outfit...duh. and you look fab, fab, fab as always!
Oh Janet - would you share the blog link with us? Am always looking for good ones!
DeleteI was thinking of you the other day - am doing really well leaning into vegetarianism (son is now vegan completely) and you have certainly helped inspire that!!!
well, I've settled down. No more sprees. One Missoni or M Missoni piece per year, one or two Ralph Lauren Blue Label pieces per year, vintage grabs when the stars align. Weaknesses: hats (because I can't manage purse, shopping, briefcase and umbrella). Shoes. JC, LRL or similar things on salesalesale to fill in blanks as needed. I'm surrounded by stores and malls and dressy ladies, so it's relatively easy to get a sense of what's in the air. Blogs for reviews and commentary. Accessories: I descend from women who accepted tributes to their wit and beauty (cough, cough) - "I don't buy jewelry, dollink, I accept it." and I inherited some, so I rarely buy jewelry either.
ReplyDeleteBut candidly, I'm past the age where I can be surprised by a white shirt or a tan raincoat. What surprises me are horrors that I wish to avoid - the infamous romper in adult sizes was one, the combo of sparkly "tweed" jacket, shorts, woolly tights and spike heels another. Kind of an Occam's Razor theory of fashion.
So - I never got the hang of Polyvore, just looked at it via links on OPB - and that's basically how I've visited Pinterest. I opened a Pinterest account, but more to protect my name than to create lists.
Of course I can always be tempted, my closet is a sad history of Failure to Withstand. The mistakes always look great, fit great, I just have no place to wear them. Sigh.
Fred I hear you - my closet (including the outfit I am wearing today!) is full of outfits I could wear if a) am suddenly invited to Jenna Lyon's for supper b) am suddenly invited to New York fashion week and c) am suddenly married to a man who takes me out to dinner 4 times a week in New York or Paris. Not so great for the life I live here....
DeleteI love that you are no longer surprised by a white shirt or a tan raincoat! WHat a great line!!!!
LOL, or the corollary announcement that what you really need this season is--a--perfect white T!!! Astounding news.
DeleteHa! you can set your watch by the "essentials"!
DeleteI love your outfit! You look fabulous as always. I love Pinterest. I love seeing all of my favorite outfit combinations in one space. So, I totally use it to catalog outfits/get dressed!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Rynetta - glad you do, too! I find it helps me go back and look at my own closet more imaginatively. I need to be more like Blue Booby and just play, I guess!
DeleteWendy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your finds. I don't have time to look at pinterest now, so your clips are a vicarious pleasure. A linen shirt and denim are always classic, especially on you skinny legged gals. I REALLY don't have time for polyvore, but I love others compilations- especially those created by Shop with M and Fabulous Florida Mommy. They do give me ideas. Enjoy your new computer. You must be proficient on it already if you could create a blog page. I always find that there is an adjustment phase.
Knityarns - I keep hitting wrong keys and having to retype things so you are right about the adjustment phase! I agree about Shop with M and Fabulous Florida Mommy's polyvore sets - they are divine!! the few I have tried do not look like that!
DeleteIt's twice now I've thought I replied to this post, but I must have gotten distracted and walked away. Let's try again! I love the first picture and the outfit you are wearing. Boyfriend jeans and a white linen button down feels like Me, and I love outfits that feel like me. I subscribe to the BlueBooby method of getting dressed, so when I haphazardly wear an outfit that feels like Me, I should take note of it and try to remember to wear it again.
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at your reply above about suddenly getting invited to Jenna Lyons' house or to Fashion Week etc, I guess it is good to be prepared? LOL
Hey Cate - it is good to be prepared, but probably unnecessary! on the other hand, I looked smashing taking the dog to get his spring hair cut!!
DeleteI'm in agreement. My closet is full of things for a life other than the one I lead and I stand with it open wide while scratching my head wondering why I have nothing to wear.. I don't Facebook and only look at Pinterest occasionally. I don't need anything else to occupy my time except blogs! I keep saying I don't need anything else in my closet, but I am determined to be a one woman force to get the world economy on better footing. So I must continue.
ReplyDeleteShopping Celle - we salute you! It is women like you that are bringing our economy back from the brink! :-)
DeleteI haven't been on Pinterest for ages. I think I overdid it during the planning phase of my friend's wedding. It was a bombardment from all sides.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the Netherlands in February people were quite excited for their new king. The new queen is apparently quite well-loved also. Glad to hear you are not going anywhere anytime soon.
xoxo Queen Maxima is really popular, both in Holland and her home country of Argentina (where she has her own tango). She speaks Dutch nearly as well as her husband along with polished English and some German. And she has taken to bicycling, the NED modus operandi and national past-time. (Although that may change now she is a full-fledged head of state?)
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ReplyDeleteWMM, just trying to comment things are starting to look very sleek and polished on your template - just like your white shirt and jeans. You go!
ReplyDelete