The Office Party
The Family Christmas Dinner
The Girls Night Out
The Stagette
The Christmas Party
You will never hear me claim to be a fashionista. Do I love clothes? Check! Do I try my best to look stylish? Check! Do I have the time to scour fashion mags and blogs to educate myself on what's hot this season? Negative.
Okay okay, I'll give myself a bit more credit than that- I'm well aware of the whole "neons are back" and "sequins are in" trends that have surfaced. I can put together an acceptable outfit and no fashion police will ever try to arrest me. But fashionista? Regrettably, no.
I've traded in my Vancouver dwellings and downtown hopping for a cute lil home in the burbs and trips to Home Depot with the hubby. This means that I'm removed from my previous habitat and since I spend more time in my office doing weddingy/eventy things, I am slightly oblivious to the world of fashion. Shopping for pretty wedding things, pretty things for my home, well I'm a pro! Pulling an outfit together while trying to not become horribly depressed with the fact that the freshman fifteen (or thirty) has lasted far beyond university is a challenge. A challenge I don't often take...until now.
Recently being invited to a big wedding industry party downtown has got my fashion-brain churning. What to wear? Where to get it? How to pull it together? South Surrey doesn't have a TON of options (yet), but it does have an H&M. Although nothing will ever surpass the experience of my first H&M visit in NYC, I must admit I do get a slight rush every time I walk in. All the pretty things, the designer-collaborated collections...and all for a very fair price. Well, the H&M shopping experience just got a LOT better.
I discovered the Fashion Studio while searching for outfits for previously mentioned party. When you live in the burbs, you don't have the opportunity of checking out hundreds of stores in person to find that perfect outfit. Instead of making my way from downtown to MetroTown to Coquitlam, I figured, let's just search catalogues online and see what the stores have before I go there. THANK YOU GOD for online catalogues. I love you.
BCBG has a great selection online (which will also be on my go-to list), as does H&M. But the Fashion Studio. Oh, the Fashion Studio. How I heart thee. Choose a similar looking model to yourself (don't you see the similarities? the 100 lb frame and 4 ft tall legs? Yup that's me...ok, maybe not, but we've got the blonde thing going on!). Then select from the easy-to-navigate categories and dress your model! They obviously don't have their entire stock online, but there are some great selections that should make shopping for your holiday party/ engagement party/ stagette THAT much easier.
The best part? Create a look you like, use it as inspiration, and you can go to any store to find similar pieces. Just because you're using H&M's wonderful online tool doesn't mean you need to get everything from their store. Mix and match with pieces you have, and find a similar H&M version on the Fashion Studio to see what it would look like all pulled together.
I came up with these creations, and hopefully I'm not breaking any fashion rules! Lucky for me, I've volunteered my uber fashionable friend and fashion editor Chloe as my personal stylist to double check any of my ensembles to make sure they're appropriate for the downtown crowd. Chloe, check your inbox! I need help!
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