little black sheath

I hardly ever go shopping.  And when I do I feel like whatever I buy has to be very versatile and a great price.  

A couple weeks ago I went shopping with a couple friends.  Being that we live in a small city, we drove an hour and a half to another city to shop for the evening.  We spent a significant amount of time in Forever 21. I came in thinking I was not going to buy anything.  I told myself that I was there to help my friend shop.  That was until I saw this little black sheath dress. 

Forever 21  -  $24.70 

(belt not included)

This model must be tall, because on my 5'3" frame, it hits me at the knee.  And because Forever 21 caters to the 21 and younger crowd, and not 30-something mother who has carried and birthed three children, I had to go up 2 full sizes to get it to zip up.

This is what I call versatile!  I wore a zebra striped skinny belt and red patent leather heels and I can't wait to try more things with it.  And it's great just the way it is too!  Perfect for church, parties, whatever.  

And what a great price!  $24.70!  I found a similar dress at Shabby Apple for $98.  Now, I am not trying to compare quality, but for someone who is very budget conscience, this will do very nicely!

Shabby Apple  -  $98

2011 Grammys...left me...umm...speachless

The Grammys bring in an interesting crowd.  Those musicians are all so "interesting" and "unique" because they are "artists".  Anyway, I couldn't find a single modest dress that was worth posting, so I decided to pick what I like to call: "Ummm....excuse me, but did you forget to look in the mirror before your left." 

(All these photos come from INSTYLE magazine, which has quite useful fashion info.)

Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine

 Nicki Minaj

Ciara

Rihanna

Seriously people....you actually wore these in public??  Sadly this was not all of them.  I could do a dozen posts on the crazies in Hollywood.

not 21

There are a few modest fashion bloggers that I like to follow.  They are more adventurous than I am.  They mix prints and patterns, and funky pieces together that I would never think of.  Of course it looks great.  But the kicker is that they are all twenty-something.  Which in and of itself is fine, except, it makes me feel old.

Elaine at Clothed Much is always encouraging us to "break rules" when it comes to fashion.  I have several rules that I just can't seem to overcome, and I think they are aging me.

I have trouble with....

• mixing patterns
• wearing brown and black together
• trying new trends (it took me forever to get a pair of skinny jeans)
• Wearing HIGH heels.  The highest ones I have are a lamo 3 inches.  (And I usually reserve those for church were I sit most of the time and come home immediately and put on my slippers)  

Don't you think I need these 4-1/2 " hotties from Jessica Simpson?  You can buy them HERE from Zappos.  I sooo need a pair.

• I have curly hair.  Ok. so this is not actually a rule or even clothes for that matter, but the problem is curly hair isn't exactly "in".  I'm not talking about barrel roll curls like Taylor Swift, I'm talking about kinky, curly, looks like I just had an 8o's perm sort of hair.  How many stylish people do you see around with that kind of hair?  A few, maybe, but not many.  And PLEASE don't write and tell me how you think my hair is beautiful and you wish you had it, because you don't.  Occasionally someone will stop me and tell me they love my hair, but they are never cute,young and stylish.  It's always when I'm shopping at Walmart and they are either old or look like they stepped out of the trailer park. (Not that there's anything wrong with trailers, I grew up in one myself...but you know what I mean.)  And I don't want to straighten it every day because it takes too long.  End of story.

• And I desperately need a makeup artist to come teach me some new tricks.  I have been doing my makeup the same for way too long.