Summer Look: Nauticals

There was a period in my life when I was just honestly not into anything nautical. My grandmother, however, always loved the navy and white combination and had loads of purses and shoes with this theme. I'm ashamed that I didn't know better than to treasure these things. Now I look at these nauticals with new eyes. I actually love them! I'm sure everyone is building plans of what to do for the summer even if it's a short 3 day trip somewhere sunny, hot and fun. I always hit my favorite Florida beach for a long weekend in the Summer and one has to pack accordingly.

The good thing is that nauticals are very easy to find this season and all you really need is one piece to pump up an outfit. A little Nautical goes a LONG way.

The Nauticals by isabellecs featuring Forever21 

How to wear them? How about when by the pool or at the beach? 

Nautical - Poolside Cutie by isabellecs featuring Monsoon shoes

Or perhaps you're lucky enough to be invited to a sea-side party or a yacht party! (I LOVE THOSE!) 

Nautical Babe by isabellecs featuring Tano bags

Or perhaps you're heading out for a lovely 3-day cruise somewhere in the Caribbean? Getting ON the boat still requires you to look fabulous. Note on white pants; these should be used SPARINGLY. I dont want any of you to wear them all through the year all over the place just because I said so. I will not be blamed for such atrocities. ;)

Cruising Nautical Babe by isabellecs featuring Cheap Monday jeans

Perfectly Blue

I adore Liv Tyler, she's stunningly gorgeous and super classy. When I saw her in this I about died of happiness. SO much gorgeous blue!

So easy to replicate, you can use it for work, a date, dinner with friends etc. 

Liv Tyler's Blue by isabellecs featuring Pretty Polly tights

I have navy tights but now I feel like I need some royal blue ones!

Movie Inspiration: Julie & Julia

I had wanted to see this film for a while but I finally had time this weekend to watch it and I have to say I absolutely LOVED it. Made me want to cook all day long. Plus the outfits used in this film were timeless and elegant and you all know what a sucker I am for 1960's fashion. Pearls in the kitchen? Hells yes! Above all the lovelies it made me want to go out and start an apron collection. I actually cook a lot, and I love to eat even more. I have to post more pictures of food. Maybe the next post will be food-porn.

I thought about recreating Meryl Streep's outfits but then I realized I need to modernize them a bit so I opted for Amy Adam's character looks which were also classic yet updated and modern.

My favorite look was the one she wore in the final day of cooking; the white eyelet dress with the colored belt:

Julie & Julia - part 1 by isabellecs featuring Sam Edelman shoes

But I also loved this look with it's old-school feel to it:

Julie7 Julia - set 2 by isabellecs featuring Old Navy

A lover of cooking? Would you cook with pearls in the kitchen? How about just loving the overall girly-feel of this movie?

The Ballerina Effect

There's something magical about ballerinas, isn't there? They're graceful, a dance work of art. I just adore the entire look. They're as girly as you can get. I used to be a ballerina for 3 whole years from age 5-8. I had my tutu, my pink tights, my fabulous bodysuit. I think my mother enrolling me as a child for ballet has given me a lifetime of flexibility because I can still stretch better than other people even if I fall off my exercise routine.

 Pieces for inspiration:

Black skirt, TopShop $65, Cream Skirt, Calypso $49, Gray Skirt, Arden B $48, Charcoal Skirt, Forever 21 $14.80, Blacklace Bodysuit, Forever 21 $15.80, Navy blue bodysuit, Splendid $65, Ivory Dress, 3.1 Phillip Lim $475, Gray Flat, Tory Burch $225, Black flats, Steve Madden $70, Pink flats, Brooks Brothers $45, Cream Flats, Nine West $59, Ring, Betsey Johnson $46, Black Dress, ModCloth $52.99

How to wear it everyday:

 Top, TopShop $28, Skirt, WetSeal $19.50, Flats, Maloles $130, Purse, Calvin Klein $148, Necklace, Old Navy $14.50, Bracelet, TopShop $30, Polish, Sally Hansen 'Spark' $6.50

What do you think? Do you like the ballerina look? Would you wear it?

Colors: Black & Blue and Wine & Gray

I'm so feeling these colors. Cheap items make a super cute outfit.

BLACK & BLUE

Skirt, ModCloth $49, T-Shirt, WetSeal $6.50, Necklace, Peacocks $14.80, Shoes, Aldo $40, Purse, Old Navy $24.50, Tights, HUE $6, Belted Vest, Forever 21 $22.80, Hair Clips, Charlotte Russe $3, Nail Polish, Ulta 'Blue for You' $7.50

GRAY & WINE

Dress, Forever 21 $24.80, Clutch, Bebe $19, Tights, Jonathan Aston $8.25, Scarf, TopShop $20, Shoes, WetSeal $15, Bracelet, Gap $14.50, Polish, Orly 'Rose Radiance' $7

The Convertible Outfit

I have been obsessing this entire past week over this gray tweed skirt I bought online and it took FOREVER. FOREVER to arrive. Upon arrival yesterday I am pretty sure I squealed loud enough to be the one responsible for the neighbor's chihuahuas bark attack. For that I am sorry. But I am most certainly NOT sorry for the first outfit this skirt will provide. It's such a classic A-line thing and it fits SO well that I am quite enamored with it (my ass looks like JLo's, tyvm, Puerto Rican Genes). It took so long to arrive that I had the look I wanted for it ready before the damn thing had reached Florida's borders.

We had these big wigs coming to work today, including out company's CEO and of course everyone is running around like mad with a stuffy suit on. I, for one, do not like suits. They make me look boxy and they are uncomfortable and restrain me from being my usual talkative social butterfly self. So I always turn to A-line skirts for these types of days at work. Mind you, I pulled the majority of this from my closet and was awaiting the skirt's arrival.

So here it goes:

Skirt, Spiegel $39, Blouse, Forever 21 $23, Shoes, RSVP $85, Necklace, White House Black Market $58, Handbag, Banana Republic $250, Navy Tights, Urban Outfitters $18, Watch, Fossil $95, Polish, OPI 'Conquistadorable' $8.50

And voila! I had bought the patterned navy tights some weeks ago, had the navy ruffled blouse, the large gray purse, navy pumps and I paired it with my chunky silver necklace and my watch and yes; I looked fantastic if I dare say so myself. I also added a black lace camisole to not show off the ladies. I smiled and shook the hand of the investors, had lunch with them and didn't even drop food on my blouse. I know it's a pretty bland outfit but this is what we do in corporate America. With stick to the basics. Yet compared to all the other female managers that sported the basic black suit (pant suit, mind you), black pumps (with chunky heels, ugh) and black sad bag I looked like the Anna Wintour of them.

The reason the purse was so big is because once they leave in... about fifteen minutes ;) I will be changing in my office for dinner with my cousin who lands from Puerto Rico. I have to entertain him for about 2 hours until his boyfriend arrives from Gainesville. So I will drop the skirt <3, the watch and the tights and grab my skinny gray jeans and silver cuff and I'm ready for Casual!Isabelle and I'm sure it'll be gay-approved.

Jeans, ArdenB $78, Bracelet, TopShop $30

today's outfit: the navy blazer

I'm so excited about my outfit today I have to post about it before I leave for work. I found this awesome navy blazer in a thrift shop this weekend (a GREAT place for blazers if you want to update your fall wardrobe) for about $3.50. You can't beat that so after a trip to the cleaners I can finally wear it with my skinny jeans, a plain white tee I got from Target for about $8 a pack and snazzed it up with great pumps, a purse and some jewelry. I think this is my favorite outfit this week <3 I also did my hair in a high ponytail to give it a playful twist. (the sorority girl in me was screaming to tie a little red bow on my hair but I held myself back you all would be proud)

Blazer, Topshop $120, Jeans, Hudson $119, T-Shit, Fruit of the Loom $8.50 (for a 5 pack!), Handbag, Banana Republic $230, Shoes, Jessica Simpson $69, Necklace, Nordstrom $27, Ring, Max & Chloe $38, Nail Polish, Zoya 'America' $7

Since I'm meeting the girls after work for Sushi, Sake & a movie this just makes the 8 hours at work breeze by before playtime really begins! Happy Friday, everyone!!

a little bit bad

So I've heard nothing but high critique of this outfit spotted on Taylor while filming GG and I have to say that I actually love it. Granted, the skirt is too short but that can easily be fixed. All too easily indeed. So I've re-worked it and I realized, this outfit is so easy to duplicate at home with the right pieces to make it suitable for a great rocker school girl look that a 20-something can rock. Literally. I actually believe I can do this outfit next week, it's that time of year to break out the leather jacket I use when listening to Joan Jett. I just dated myself, didn't I?

Skirt, Stella McCartney $98, Blouse, Armani Exchange $39, Leather Jacket, TopShop $250, Bag, Pink Studio $80, Necklace, Max & Chloe $25, Necklace, Liz Clairborne $29.99, Necklace, Otte $45, Cuff, Forever 21 $6.80, Bow Cuff, In God We Trust $34, Earrings, Forever 21 $3.80, Shoes, Arden B. $58, Stockings, Leggs $5, Polish, OPI 'Russian Navy Matte' $8.50, Lipstick, Nars 'Roman Holiday' $24

Voila! Decent Jenny-Humphrey! I'm actually a bit in love with it. Especially with the shoes & purse. I think this is def. a get in the next paycheck thing.

On other notes, I will be posting my swatches for Matte look over my current nail polish collection. I am not going to buy the matte polishes, I'm just using Essie's Matte About You over the ones I already have and sporting them.

The Serena

Who says I only enjoy Blair Waldorf's look? I saw Blake wearing this and I knew I had to copy it because I actually loved it. Using some things I had in my closet I recreated it - the one thing I did have to buy was the purse but I found a really great one in ebay for $15 so it completed my look. I searched online and found some smiliar ways of recreating it!

Sweater Dress, White House White Market $98, Shoes, Aldo $90, Purse, TopShop $50, Necklace, Asos $9, Ring, Forever21 $5.80, Bump It Hair $10, Polish 'Whisper', China Glaze $5,
Bobby Pins, Any Drugstore $4

What do we think? Something you would wear? Let me tell you that the Bump-Its work. My friend at work does it to her hair and it looks awesome! So this was my outfit today - I'm just excited that I can finally wear my blue shoes! I think I'm channeling blue lately, what do you think?

today's outfit: the fall maxidress

Today I was feeling rather bohemian. Well... as bohemian as a preppy girl who loves Mary-Janes can be. The trick to being a preppy-bohemian is all in the print of the dress and how you accessorize because this can turn into an ugly mess very quickly. And yes, I wore this to the office (I have a relaxed office, I wouldn't wear this if I still worked in the law firm). This is a way to still enjoy your Summer Maxi dress but warm it up a bit so it's appropriate for the cooler weather you're feeling.

Dress by Rachel Pally $154, Cardigan by Express $49.50, Sandals by Dolce Vita $107, Bag by Aldo $39.98, Necklace by Faith $29.50, Polish by OPI in Sizzling Saphire $8

I always wear a tubetop under this dress because I dont want to go around looking like Serena Van der Woodsen, so for the office I put under the dress something like this shapping cami. The thing is? This outfit can be made already with the stuff in your closet. Pair your maxi dress with a fitted cardigan, your gladiator sandals and accessorize with the rest. And if you're meeting the girls or the boyfriend after work for drinks, loose the cardigan and you're set! Have fun :)