It has been ridiculously long since I have posted! I have had all kinds of fun things happening and have just been a bit of a slacker on the blogging side. What are these things you may ask…well… a 6 month old, a new job, clients, starting a Portland Chapter of NSHMBA and 2 of my best friends had babies this month. And those are just the big things!! Anyway, I've been having a great time doing what I've been doing.

Out of the blue last Friday, I got a call from a reporter at the Bend Bulletin. She was doing a story on summer fashion and was looking for a stylist to interview for some tips. She found my website through Google and decided to give me a call (ahhh the power of the internet). Below is the story:

Keep cool, stay chic
How to look tailored for work without overheating
By Eleanor Pierce
/ The Bulletin

When the weather warms and the hopeful pack away every winter-weight work sweater and heavy wool trouser in sight, a problem sometimes appears: What's left behind after the winter purge looks worn and tired. Maybe it just doesn't fit anymore.
Perhaps it's time to add a few new pieces to the summer work wardrobe. With some forethought, the smart shopper can buy items that are both appropriate for the season and appropriate for the office.
Cheryl LeDoux, owner of The Difference, a Lake Oswego-based personal style consultant business that's been in operation for 26 years, said when adding to your work wardrobe, the key is to find a balance between personal style and professional standards.
“You could have a higher fashion-level person who's going to have to filter her look down a little bit,” she said.
Some trends, such as tight leggings and billowy tunics with sky-high platform heels, may not work in every workplace. But others, like the current penchant for big, graphic prints and bold colors, can easily be adapted to nearly any workplace wardrobe, from the teacher's closet to the banker's.
Aside from finding the right balance between personal preference and professional standards, LeDoux said to get the most out of the money you spend on your clothing, assess carefully what you already wear.
“You can (have) a closet full of clothes, and you still default down to the black pants, which you do three and four times a week,” she said.
Often, her female clients wear 20 percent of their clothes 80 percent of the time. Instead of fighting that tendency, she suggests they work with it. Figure out what the workhorses in your wardrobe are and buy additional pieces that work well with those.
She said walking into a store and falling prey to inappropriate trends or sales and later realizing they don't fit your existing wardrobe is akin to shopping for groceries when you're hungry.
“You buy a lot of fun food and candy, but you can't make dinner when you get home, because you didn't have a good plan,” LeDoux said.
That said, there are some fun fashion trends that, depending on your workplace, might be good additions to your summer work wear arsenal.
Brianna Showell, of Portland-based Reina Style Consulting, said convertible outfits can be great for the office.
“You can't wear a tank top by itself in the office,” she said, but you can if you top it off with a ¾-length-sleeved cardigan.
“Then when you go outside for lunch, you can take your sweater off,” she said.
Showell and LeDoux both said feminine touches are big this season. One way to implement the look without getting overly frilly is to add a fabric flower brooch — not a grandmotherly silk flower replica, but a stylized version of a flower — to an outfit.
“If you have a little blazer, you can put it on the lapel,” she said. Another option is to pin the brooch to a T-shirt worn on top of a skirt.
One issue that refuses to go away: The question of shorts.
If you take your job seriously, you probably already know whether it's OK to wear cut-off denim shorts at work. For most of us, the answer is no. But many women have found shorts can be acceptable in the workplace when done well.
“I would say for women, as long as it's the knee-length, tailored kind of tab-front shorts, and you wear them with nice sandals, you're OK,” Showell said.
But for men, she said shorts are probably best avoided in the office.
Misty Huber, chief creative officer with the shopping and fashion website Stylesalt.com<http://Stylesalt.com>, said in most office-type environments, “you can dress up summery items as long as you're not trying to get away with midriff and flip-flops.
“The trick is to mix something more casual with pieces that are more conservative.”
For instance, if you have a sleeveless top that's perfect for a warm evening about town, top if off with a structured blazer while you're in the office.

SO that's the story morning glory~

Lots of love,

Brianna

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.