Thursday Trend: Patterned Pants!

In man of my posts, I've encouraged you to mix and match different patterns, colors, and fabrics in your outfits. If you've not yet tried it out, hopefully today's trend will give you some great ideas to start having fun with your clothing!

Here are some runway examples of patterned pants that I love for summer. (Tip: This trend can definitely be carried over into fall. Swap out cropped bottoms for a full length pant!)

Photo from My Look Book

I'm mildly obsessed with the Lilya and This is Genevieve ensembles above. Those pants are to die for, and I'm loving the platform heeled sandals!

The whole point of this trend is to stretch the limits of your wardrobe and dress outside of the box. Try something new. Pair a bright top with a patterned pant. There's no better time than now while the weather is still warm to experiment with fashion! And.. this trend is fool-proof! You can't mess this up. It's all about personal style and your own unique sense of fashion!

Here's my interpretation of the trend: My patterned pants have a white rope-like knot pattern on them. I paired the bottoms with a bright purple top, and added the turquoise necklace as a pop of color. (I love accenting with bright jewelry!) My Steve Madden sandals are in a similar color family so I thought they worked well with this outfit.

What do you think??

Make it your own:

Pants: Talbots (from last summer)

Tank: American Eagle $10

Sweater: J.Crew Factory $19/9

Sandals: Steve Madden $39.99

Necklace: H&M on sale for under $10 (great deal!)

Sunny Skirt

I'd like to move to the beach. Maybe not permanently, but for a month or two.. or three... I draw a lot of inspiration from beachy style - easy, simple pieces put together that look effortlessly chic. One of my favorite online boutiques to skim for outfit ideas is Hallelu. It's a shore-side boutique located in North Carolina that has unique clothing and accessory selections that totally embody beach-chic style.

One look I wear often is a tank tucked into a skirt. It's a good casual look, but it can also be dressed up and work-appropriate. This particular outfit from Hallelu, below, is a color combo that just makes me happy. I love this yellow skirt! My favorite part is the star pocket detail - super creative. The minimal jewelry keeps the outfit simple, and the messy top bun is cute-without-trying. She's ready for a walk on the beach (take me with you??).

Photo credits: Thank you, Katie Blaha, for snapping these great pics for me!

Jewelry close up: Right Hand - Sapphire and Opal family heirloom ring; Gold cut-out ring from Banana Republic; Left Hand- Antique tree ring from a London thrift store 

For my outfit, I wore a yellow skirt from the J.Crew factory store. I love that my skirt has pockets.. sadly they're not star-shaped like the Hallelu skirt, but still a fun detail! Tucked into the skirt, I wore a gray tank from Target that has thin gold horizontal stripes. Like I've said in previous posts, Target is a great place to find inexpensive, basic tops & tanks, like this one.  For my shoes, I wore multi-color t-strap sandals from Steve Madden (you can see these sandals in the close-up photo above).

To match the Hallelu photo, I wore a bangle and a few simple rings.  I also pulled my hair up into a messy top bun. I actually learned how to recreate this hairstyle from Jill Gott-Gleason through her blog Good Life For Less. You can watch Jill's video tutorial on how to achieve the messy top bun hairstyle here.




Make it your own:
Skirt: J.Crew Factory (Similar)
Tank:Target $8
Sandals:  Steve Madden $39.99
Ring: Aldo (Similar) $8
Gold bangles: Forever 21 (Similar) $5.80