Pink Rock Candy-Fashion

Click the prices to buy

Many times when people from the US think of taking inspiration from different countries, they think of London, Paris, and Japan. We completely skip over the countries closest to us like Canada and Mexico. Not me though, I am completely smitten with the colors and patterns used in not only Mexican but most Spanish fashion. The bright oranges, ceruleans, magentas, and reds are super fun for summer. Many times vintage finds will include beautiful embroidery and flowers. My fave part of the south of the border look is it is just a hop, skip, and a jump from the modern hippie look I have found myself sporting lately.Gucci took the graphic prints used in many Mexican designs and toned down the colors to make it much more modern and chic. Forever 21 and Anthropologie both take the graphic print on a cream background idea and make it their own. The slight floral print on the Forever 21 dress gives it an extra girlie touch. If you want to make a statement with bright colors, Wet Seal and Spanish Moss Vintage both have adorable brightly colored floral dresses. (Spanish Moss Vintage is an Ebay store so act quickly if you like the dress.) With this look have fun with the accessories. This may be a before you leave the house look in the mirror and PUT SOMETHING ELSE ON situation. Experiment, and go what works for you!

Recently I posted about a great, solely accessory driven webstore called Rimistyle. They have tons of cute sparkly jewelry and fun, absolutely adorable handbags. Today I’m posting about them because it is the first day of their Spring Sale. Everybody loves a good sale, and when there are items up to 50% off it’s even better. So after you do a little spring cleaning and get rid of all the extra cute accessories you bought because you just had to have them, but ended up only wearing them once, you can put those babies on Ebay and use that money to buy even cuter accessories from Rimistyle at sale prices.

It’s much too nice outside to be couped up inside on the computer. The flowers have started to bloom and the trees have begun to flower (odd how that works). But I have a mission this summer to post very often and to dress as girlie as possible. I’ve been doing pretty good lately too! Skirts and dresses are my perfect clothing choice this summer because I have a feeling it’s going to be terribly hot, so pants won’t be an option, and shorts creep me out! After I read the Fred Flare Blog, I decided I should flip through the webstore because I hadn’t in a while. Of course, I saw tons of cute stuff including adorable convertible button jumper. It’s purple and black, and there are three buttons so you can adjust the length. In a matter of seconds you can go from feeling breezy in a dress to sporting an awfully cute skirt. I can’t get enough of clothes that do double duty; you’re getting the most bang for your bucks! I’m pretty sure purple is starting to replace pink in my heart. It may even be part of my potential summer hair look…maybe.

Many times I find myself swooning over guys that are way older than I. My list of famous older guys is vast, but the oldest are most definitely Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and Hugh Laurie. As much as I would love to go on about Brad and Johnny, it’s Hugh that interests me today. To be honest, if Hugh Laurie passed me on the street I’m not sure I would think he was so attractive, but I think I am more smitten over his character Gregory House. I absolutely love how blunt and skeptical House is; he’s so crazy it’s just unbelievably hot. So, obviously I became a little excited when I saw a House t-shirt that says “Everybody Lies” across the chest. If you are an avid House viewer like me, you know that “Everybody Lies” is a very appropriate slogan; I think it may be House’s mantra. Though the shirt isn’t ultra chic and probably has a terribly boxy fit, it is for a good cause, and I always love when I can buy clothes and donate to charity. All the proceeds of the shirt go to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). In true House fashion, I’m going to wonder out loud if I can get a tax write-off for buying this tee.

On Monday, Blythe and I were in NYC, and since it was a nice day we decided to walk to save money and so we wouldn’t have to deal with those lovely subway smells. Well, we were walking to 50th from Grand Central Terminal, and we passed the new H&M store on 43rd and Fifth Ave. Honestly they are popping up all over the city. As much as I love H&M, I’m not sure it’s necessary to have one on every corner like Starbucks. I think they should concentrate on opening more H&Ms in the Midwest. The first H&M was opened last year in Mich. It was actually really sad because it opened about a week before I moved to CT, and then I had to wait another month for the H&M in the mall closest to me to open. My point is, New York will do fine without another thousand H&Ms, so let the rest of rural America bask in the radiance of those red letters. Trust me, an H&M would improve the Abercrombie driven style of the Midwest 10 fold.

PHOTO CREDIT: The Village Voice

In high school, there was this guy who I called my husband, and I’m 138.4% sure he was either Einstein or Jimi Hendrix reincarnated. He actually might have been both, if that’s possible. He’s pretty much the reason I have a strange fascination with dirty rocker boys. He was also one of the people who made me love love love Jimi Hendrix (my dad started the ball rolling). Now instead of swooning over Jimi’s drug induced genius guitar rifts, I’m channeling him in a super fashionable way. For me, Jimi was king of wearing scarves to accentuate his way cool 70s fro. I don’t have a fro (thankfully), but I do like to wear my hair au natural in all it’s crimpy glory. Lately I’ve been tying scarves, ribbon, and anything that will make a pretty bow around my head (on top of hair, not under) to create the perfect Woodstock-worthy look. I also throw a little flapper flare in the mix by tying the bow on the side of my head instead of at the nape of the neck.
The best part of this style is anyone can rock it no matter your hair type or legnth. If you don’t want to go so bowtastic, you can use a thin elastic headband (the ones you can buy almost anywhere that sells hair products) to create the same hippie effect like Jac Vanek. Now all I have to do is play the guitar left-handed while it’s on fire. Okay, maybe I should actually learn to play the guitar first.

I have to admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of wellies. Actually, I had a full on wellies strike the entire year. They reminded me too much of a pair of pink snow boots my mom and grandma viciously picked out for me one winter. I’m pretty sure I tried everything to destroy them but to no avail. This winter I pretty much stuck to whatever heels I thought were cute and when the snow finally came, I stayed indoors as much as possible. One of my many loves, Marc Jacobs, has come up with an adorable replacement for my puddle stomping foe. He has made jelly ballet flats; WHAT!
First of all, any shoes that qualify as jellies, almost make my life. Me and my super cool pink jellies had a great run in Disney World when I was little, but I digress. These ballet flats are rubber, but they look almost like patent leather. AND, there are tiny holes so you can splash in as many spring puddles as you want. I’m all too in love with Marc’s face-lift of the coolest shoe ever. This is why he is an all-time fave.

I’m oh-so tired of celeb bashing. Sure they make mistakes in life and fashion, but who doesn’t. This is coming from a self-proclaimed gossip queen. Two of the celebs that have been put down way too much are Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan. Maybe I sympathize with them because they are around my age, but it bothers me that people get angry with them for doing what the rest of the world does too. I have vowed to stop judging celebs by the crud that gets written about them in celeb gossip blogs and magazines, but I will judge them on what they wear. AND, aside from a few fashion oopsies from Lindz and the seemingly eternal wet hair look Ashlee tries to pull off, I like their style.

The funny thing is, people love to hate these two girls, and for that reason smart mags put them on their covers. The May issue of Harper’s Bazaar has a well-groomed Ashlee (for a change) on the cover. She’s wearing a great Oscar de la Renta dress and white Manolo Blahnik pumps. I’m still on the fence about the shoes, but I love the always fab little black dress. Lindsay is on the cover of the May issues of both Nylon and Allure. I like the slightly disheveled look she has on the cover of Nylon; it works for her. The cover is almost like a picture you would see on any normal girls MySpace. Her outfit reminds me of my fave, most comfortable outfit which pretty much consists of what ever jeans I have clean, a cute tee, and maybe a hoodie (depending on the weather). In the articles both girls discuss the glare of fame and all that good stuff, but that barely interests me. I want to know what eyeliner and what’s their fave pair of shoes, not who they’re dating.

For the longest time I have been biased toward buying clothes on Ebay. Even though you sometimes get the best deals, I felt like Ebay should be kept to the realm of bidding on the elusive Nintendo Wii or selling my brothers old trading cards. Lately, I have warmed up to Ebay. Perhaps it is because I have only recently been inclined to buy vintage items. It used to creep me out knowing someone else has worn the clothes I just bought. I know people have probably worn the clothes I buy in stores, but it just seems different. I also know you can get new “still in the plastic” clothes on Ebay, but for now I’m not looking for something new. I want something old and blue (okay blue is negotiable).
My new fave Ebay “store” is called Spanish Moss Vintage. The creator Zoe gets the majority of the clothes she actually puts in the store from vintage and thrift stores all over the US. Occasionally she’ll throw an Urban Outfitters item in, but she will always but the brand name (right now she has a cute yellow and white stripe Lux dress called the Carlie Dress up for auction). She also tells you around what decade the clothing item is from, so if you are looking for a specific era, shopping on Spanish Moss Vintage is cake. I also really like her clothing choices. Obviously, by the name you can tell that many of the pieces Zoe chooses have a certain Spanish flair. I

absolutely love dresses like the magenta and black embroidered peasant dress that Zoe lovingly named the Holly Dress because it makes me feel as if at any moment Antonio Banderas, circa Desperado, might whisk me off my feet (a girl can dream). I’m also an 80s baby, and Blythe and I officially decided yesterday the 80s was our ultimate fave decade. So dresses like the black and gold sequin mini called the Yeah Dress really make me happy. I also have a slight love affair with jumpers. It all started when…actually I can’t remember when, but I love them. The navy and white jumper called the Laura Dress is perfect, and IT’S BLUE (par-tay!).
I do have to warn you that when shopping on Ebay, you should remember they are auctions. That means someone may out bid you. You should also be careful as to who you are buying from, not everyone on Ebay are nice people like Zoe of SMV. As always with vintage, check measurements because sizes have changed over the years. For updates and previews of auctions add Spanish Moss Vintage as a friend on MySpace. If you still have qualms about bidding for stuff on Ebay, Zoe is looking for someone to make a way awesome sight for her to put all her stellar finds on. If you know anyone or you could do it leave her a message, and if you don’t then you’ll just have to wait. Click the dress name in the picture to buy.
Do you shop on Ebay, or are you skiddish like I was? I’d love to know what your fave Ebay stores are!

The first thing that comes to mind when I think hoodie dress is awesome. I love hoodies more than anything, and dresses are all too perfect for warmer weather (and cold weather when you’re inside with heaters). Unfortunately a lot of hoodie dresses have elastic in super awkward places to actually make it look like a dress. I personally don’t like that aspect of the hoodie dress, but I just found a super cute one on PatriciaField.com. It’s called the Napolean Hoodie by Rojas. It’s great because the elastic on the front is hidden and it only shows on the back. This gives you the hourglass shape that the other hoodie dresses go for, but this one doesn’t look cheap. I also like the military style buttons on the front. I’m pretty sure Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance has started a trend with the Marching band/military style jackets. I also love the puffed sleeves because it adds a little girlie flare to an otherwise masculine hoodie. The hoodie also comes in grey, but I think I like the navy the best.