Pink Rock Candy-Fashion

All summer, I’ve successfully fulfilled my pledge to wear skirts/dresses. I could probably count the number of times I’ve worn pants on both hands, and I have a feeling my love for the swishy, breezy, girlie bottoms will continue throughout the fall. However, one of my favorite things about fall is the ability to layer clothes without feeling like a sweaty, over stuffed Michelin Man, but “how am I supposed to layer skirts without wearing leggings/anything with a leg hole,” I thought? Luckily, in our day and age, everything can be layered!

Sure, Miu Miu started the trend with their layered tutu-esque circus skirts, but the awesome merchandising director at Forever 21 did it cheaper. Every time I go into Forevs, a handful of mannequins are dressed in crazy combinations of layered skirts or a fluttery liberty print skirt under one of there basic dresses. Miu Miu’s layering was more of the voluminous skirt over a bodycon skirt. Since I’m still not quite sure of my feelings about bodycon, I’ve fallen for the look of layered voluminous skirts.

I tried the layered skirt look a couple weeks ago when I got my new oxfords, but yesterday, I went shopping and bought a few things to add to my fall wardrobe including two skirts for Forever 21. The ‘Dotted Circle Skirt’ is so cute and the colors are muted enough for fall, and could be matched perfectly with a great bright top. The ‘Academy Weave Skirt’ is a bit preppy, but can be dressed up or down for school. On their own each skirt has great qualities, but together, the skirt they create is simple with a touch of wow!

I sort of wish I could layer the gray skirt under the polka dot one, but it’s shorter than the polka dot skirt so it wouldn’t be seen. Oh well! At least I’ve readied my skirt-filled wardrobe for fall!

p.s. I it’s so hard to have a jumping picture when the camera is set on a timer. Secretista, queen of the jumping pictures, I bow down!

I find great pleasure in working. I know that sounds quite odd, but the fact of the matter is, I like to shop and with out money I can’t shop and without work I have no money, hence the reason I like work. Did that make sense? I have two quasi jobs, one is an office job and the other is being a hostess/whatever else needs to be done at a bistro by my house. For the most part, working in an office and a restaurant doesn’t leave much room for outfit creativity, but for both jobs I do try to bring my own personal touches into the standard semi-professional look.

The general rules I, and I assume most people, was taught about dressing professionally are:

1) Black is always a good choice.

2) Don’t wear crazy color nail polish (i.e. Black, Bright Orange, Electric Blue, anything fun).

3) Pantyhose…

4) Cover your shoulders “The office is always freezing anyway…”

There are more rules, but for the most part I don’t follow these four so why would I follow the others? Actually, I do follow the first, because black pretty much works with every situation. Sometimes I feel bad about wearing navy nail polish to my office job, but it happens anyway. I hate pantyhose, especially when they’re flesh tone, and I only make sure I’m wearing sleeves at my office job, though it isn’t always cold in the office.

The outfit at left is a classic example of something I’d wear to both jobs, with minor adjustments (fyi…sometimes I like to sing MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” before work and act like I could be as frivolous as the song says). Sure the skirt is black (actually black and brown), but the pattern is really fun and fits into my tribal-themed summer. Wearing it with a burnout tank top makes it a little more relaxed, and throwing on a sparkly headband and the bright yellow necklace my little brother made, keeps me feeling and looking young and fun.

Now for the adjustments. For my office job, I would wear a grandpa cardigan over it. It doesn’t really matter what color, since the skirt is black and the top is white, so anything would match. And, for my hostessing job, I’d have to change my cute gladiator heels to flats for practicallity’s sake. Standing in 5″ heels for 6-7 hours straight is a bitch!

Which office dress rules do you follow when you head to work and which ones do you like to kick to the curb?

p.s. I’ve been invited to join a few new sites including: Indies United (from Fashion Indie), Lookbook.nu, and Modpass so if you’re on any of them add me. I promise I’m going to figure out someything cool to do with them other than just having them sit and gather webdust!

Most days I scold my mom for wearing matching pants suits, and she reciprocates by telling me I have on too many different colors, that black and brown doesn’t match, or that I should be wearing pantyhose to work— blah! Though we may have our differences when it comes to clothes, she has an awesome shoe collection, and more often than not, I find myself playing in her shoes like I did when I was little. Then there are those times when I think, wow, my mom is so jazzy— because that’s what I want to be when I’m 40-something, jazzy— and yesterday was one of those days.

After bulldozing through the pile of clothes that I call the floor of my closet, I found this adorable one-piece swimsuit that was my mom’s from a little more than 20 years ago. Aside from the fact that I had to stretch out the straps a bit because one-piece swimsuits don’t ever fit my long torso properly, I loved the suit and knew it would be really cute under something, but I didn’t quite know what. It actually looked fantastic under most of the bottoms I paired it with, but I settled on my hot pink skirt, because, why not… right?

When my mom saw me in her swimsuit, her initial reaction was “Where did you find that?” and then she said something along the lines of “You look like a little girl dressing up like a princess.” I personally don’t see it, and was slightly offended considering she told me a certain guy is afraid to date me because I was A) younger and B) “the princess of the family”— what does that even mean? In light of the princess comment, I decided Disney should model a princess after me and she can save the world one headband at a time!

Are you ever surprised how fashionable someone in your family is?

p.s. Lulus.com is giving all PRC readers a 15% discount on their purchases until July 15th, 2008. Just punch in the promo code, pink rock candy at checkout!

IIt seems to be a bit of a consensus among fashionistas, that we’re quite tired of the current spring trends. They’re like your ex-favorite song— the one that used to be amazing until your local radio station decided to play it every other song. Though I know, during these times of trend-exhaustion there’s always a upcoming season to obsess over, after watching Unzipped, the 1995 Isaac Mizrahi documentary, for the millionth time, I decided to take a little trip down Style.com’s memory lane. Though their archives don’t date back to 1995, I still managed to stumbled upon the skirt of my dreams!

Let me reintroduce you to Emanuel Ungaro’s Spring 2005 Ready-to-Wear collection. It consisted of large tiered skirts, billowy tops, and loads of prints. Though much of this collection was intended to inspire thoughts of the gorgeous Greek Islands, this particular look above reminded me of a pirate (not the trashy kind in the picture above). I thought I’d be able to get through this summer without falling for any swashbuckling trends, but as soon I saw the sash tied around her hips, I just needed to say “Arrr!”

After careful consideration and a bit of rationalization, I realized this look wasn’t completely pirate-y. There was no billowy shirt, no eye patch, and no parrot. The voluminous skirt and skin-tight shirt actually brought back memories of my ballerina days.

So I wondered, if I were to find a skirt similar to this, throw a leotard on, and tie a sash around my waist, would I be dressed as a ballerina in a pirate costume or a pirate disguised as a ballerina? After thinking about that for a couple days, I just decided I’d simply look like a gypsy which isn’t a pirate in the least (except in the case of Johnny Depp, who has played both a gypsy and a pirate). Perhaps this summer, I won’t be swabbing any decks after all!

Long live the past! Now, where can I find a skirt like this?

The constant rain this week made my first full week off from college a real downer, but today, it’s gorgeous and sunny outside and finally feels like its spring. I know it’s technically been spring for about a month, but the weather is completely spastic and doesn’t know if it wants to be 70 degrees and sunny or 45 degrees, windy, and pouring— I choose sunny. Today, being the fantasmicly gorgeous day it is, I decided to throw on one of my many skirts— apparently I’m rebelling against pants this spring and summer— and wander around my house taking pictures.

The skirt is actually my sister’s. She bought it from Target a couple years ago, and we, yes WE, break it out every year because it’s so cute, but after my first wear of the season our conversation goes something like this:

Blythe: “Hey, that’s my skirt!”

Chelsea: “Yeah, well, that’s my (insert item of clothing)! You know what? I swear to God I just ironed this dumb skirt, like, 10 minutes ago.”

Blythe: “Yeah, that’s what happens when you wear linen. Ironing is futile. Just go with it!”

Never will I buy another linen skirt! They’re usually the only pieces of clothing I take the time to iron, and by the end of the day I look like I just rolled out of bed. The t-shirt, on the other hand, is from Glamour Kills, and I happen to love it more than anything. It says “Stay Fresh!” at the bottom, making me smile every time I look down and decipher the upside down words.

While I was meandering around my abode, I found this little container of water behind a couple of bushes. About a week ago, there was a stray cat hanging around my house, except she didn’t really act like a stray. She came right up to me an let me pet her and she hung around our house all day— I called her Ginger. She was really emaciated and shaking so I went to the store to buy cat food and used that container I just found to give her water. I only was able to take care of her for a couple of hours because my parents wouldn’t let me keep it, but there was a lady who is helping to fix the “historic house” next door to me, and she offered to take the kitty home. A couple days later, the lady came by to tell us the cat was doing great, and she named her Molly, which isn’t as cool as Ginger, but that’s just my opinion.

Anyway, finding the container made me wish I had a pet, that I could walk in such nice weather. I guess I’ll have to add that to my list of things for the future, but for now, I’m going to concentrate on enjoying this warm spring day!

Behind the cut is a picture of the kitty I save. (more…)

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how I can reach as many people as possible. I’m a giant advocate of not excluding anyone in my attempt to take over the world…just kidding, but it truly is easy to forget that the words online are written by real people, and I really want to get to know all those people who read the words I write and that are taking the time to write their own thoughts down whether it’s in their own blog or in a sweet comment, or both. So, here are some Chelsea Rae to Lovely Readers connection projects I’ve been thinking of:

First, I want to know what websites do you guys use (i.e. Myspace, Facebook, Buzznet, Twitter, etc.)? It’s summer and I have a lot more time on my hands so I want to get to know you guys better. You can see what profiles I personally have on the About Chelsea Rae page and here is the link to the Pink Rock Candy Myspace.

I’m also going to be using my twitter (twitter.com/chelsearae) to update you guys on all the cool news that gets sent to my inbox, but I never really have the time to write a complete post about. I have a little twitter box in the far right sidebar on the main page, and on the PRC myspace page, they’ll start popping up all over the PRC pages soon enough, and if you have something you want to broadcast to the world, don’t be afraid to shoot me an email at pinkrockfashion@gmail.com, and I’ll Twitter it ASAP! I also think I’ll start putting them in the PRC myspace blog, but I’m not sure how long that’ll last.

My last announcement is about all the great comments I’ve been getting. Miss Elle from Broke and Beautiful recently added this thing called CommentLuv to all her comments, and I think its fantastic. It’s a great way for me to help you get the word out about your fabulous blogs while you are giving me you’re two cents. So make sure if you have a blog to put the correct web address in the box so I can spread the love!

Just to make this sort of fashion-y, peep this awesome skirt I bought at H&M. It’s super cute, but I wore it on one of the last days of school without realizing how shear it became in the sun and my bright underwear must have been a big hit with the guys on campus. I should have charged for that little peep show, but unfortunately, I was too mortified to be that clever at the time. Luckily my shirt was long enough to pull down over my backside so not much was showing, but I’m sure people still saw more than I intended. Note to self, buy a knee-length petticoat!

I’m completely obsessed with skirts for Spring, and though the skirts I’ve recently purchased aren’t quite the Prada skirts I was lusting over, they’re still totally cute. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much of a chance to wear them because the weather likes foiling my evil leggy-plans— but, last night my family took my grandmother, who’s in from Michigan, out to dinner, and I took that chance to throw on one of my new skirts.

The skirt is from Forever 21, apparently they listened to my rant about them needing to get cuter skirts, and was only $15.80, a good buy for a skirt I might only wear for4-ish months.

My family is really close with the chef and the wait staff, my parents go there at least once a week, and every time someone new joined the table to chat, they’d say, “Look at her cute outfit. Chelsea, stand up!”and after much feigned exasperation, I stood and posed knowing how much I loved the outfit (I swear the skirt wasn’t that wrinkly in the beginning of the night). Then, my little brother would proceed to sing “Barbie Girl’ from Aqua, but that’s a whole different story.

Are you guys as obsessed with skirts as I am, or is it just my Spring Fever that’s driving me nuts? What will be your Spring essential?

p.s. Should I keep putting up pictures of random outfits?

Why in God’s name is it so hard to find a cute skirt? Apparently, cheaply made pencil skirts and tween-friendly, fluttery denim minis are the skirt trends for spring and summer. Unfortunately, that’s not what I want to wear. The skirt I want actually cost $300 from Prada (pick any of the skirts in the ad and that’s the one I want), and looks fantastic on Sasha P. matched with a gray tank or just any casual tee. I however, don’t want to spend that much on a couple yards of fabric. All I want for the onset of warmer weather, is a delightful, multifarious, semi-long skirt, that doesn’t make me look like a tramp or a secretary or any combination of the two.

I suppose I could find a pattern and try to sew it, but I currently have no time and minimal sewing skill, so that’s out of the question. I could also head to Anthropologie because they usually have flirty but not slutty skirts— unfortunately, the skirts they have up now just don’t quite work.

What is a girl to do?

For now, I plan on sulking until I can find a reasonably priced skirt that is voluminous enough to make me smile. I also might start saving a bit of money so I can blow it all on the Prada skirt I want, who knows. Maybe I’ll just walk around in tutus like some of the brass-balled, rainbow-headed scene girls. Decisions. Decisions!

If any of you guys know a skirt that fits the bill, let me know!

The 4th of July is next Wednesday, and my parents have made a reservation at their favorite restaurant. They literally go to this place at least twice a week; everyone knows their names, and they have a specific waiter and table. Its actually really awkward going with them because I hate feeling all posh because to me my parents seem really fake when they go. Other than the initial awkward feeling I get, I actually really like the restaurant because its right on the Long Island Sound, the food is amazing, and the chef (whom my parents have made friends with) is extremely nice.

Overall, I’m quite excited for the Fourth. I love fireworks (loud noises and sparkles…such a winner) and I love getting dressed up. Since I’m so stoked about this, I’ve decided to make a dream outfit, and by dream I mean if I had an infinite supply of money or just $562.95 to blow. I wanted the outfit to be something I would actually wear, so I didn’t want to make it too glamourous. I also wanted the colors to be sort of festive, but I don’t want to look like an American Flag.

I started off by finding a super cute Lewis Cho Tent Dress. I figured a bright red dress would be too bold, and that’s why this dusty pink is perfect. The dress also comes in blue which would be great for a festive outfit too. Next I found an adorable pair of blue platform heels by Nine West. Again, I chose a soft color. Electric blue shoes can be so fun, but you have to be careful what you pair them with. I always have something in my hair, so I went with a taupe headband from Anthropologie. I like that the pleats are sort of askew to give it an effortless look. To finish it off I found the perfect 3-row braclet by Tarina Tarantino. The skulls bring in a little bit of edge, and the colors match perfectly. Hmmm, now I wonder if I were to wish for this outfit on a star-shape firework would I get it?

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Its blazing hot outside, I’m out of school and my pool is totally clean and just warm enough to swim in without getting frost bite or hypothermia, but what am I doing? I’m perusing through the many pages of ultra swank clothes on Lulu’s Fashion Lounge. If you haven’t heard of Lulu’s then you have been missing out, and thank goodness I’m here to inform you.

The first time I went on Lulu’s Fashion Lounge felt like the time I went to the Louvre in Paris. There was so much greatness I was overwhelmed. And, just like when I was at the Louvre I ended up looking at a few choice items then skedaddling because I knew it would take me forever to look at everything. There is that little phrase people like to use when rationalizing super expensive purchases, “quality over quantity”, but at Lulu’s you can get both quality and quantity. Most of their clothes are under $100 and are so cute I can’t even explain. They also get tons of new stuff in all the time. The only downside is they don’t usually restock the same items, so when something is sold out its sold out forever. That just means you should snap up that extra adorable dress you saw quickly because chances are others think the dress is just as awesome.

To check out my fave picks under $50 from Lulu’s Fashion Lounge just click on the price! Since we love you guys so much, we’ve arranged for you to get a 15% discount off your entire purchase until August 1st! All you have to do is type in pinkrockcandy at checkout.

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