#OOTD: Happy Holidays

Since I've gained quite a bit of weight, the challenge now whenever buying clothing is choosing something that will transfer easily as I lose weight. So for my holiday dress this year, I decided on a top and skirt instead of a dress to give me more versatility.  The skirt actually had a top that completely matched but Forever XXI didn't have it in my size. I then opted for a basic black top. I'm actually more partial to this look instead. It's more me. 

 

 

Black Crop Top ($8USD, Forever XXI), Jacquard metallic pencil skirt ($12USD, Forever XXI), hematite 3 stud  pendant necklace ($4USD, Forever XXI), Adriana pumps ($49USD, Guess)

OOTD: Spa attire

Ecstatic that we are able to wear full black at work now. The uniforms before were heinous. Luckily, throughout my ten years in the professional world, I have accumulated tons of dresses- with black being the favored color. I picked up seven dresses from my storage unit and left them at work. I'll be all about that LBD life. Here's the first. 

OOTD: Shirtdress front

Shirtdress is from Ross. I purchased two of the for$11.00, top that.

Sandals- Coach.

OOTD: What I ended up wearing to the wedding

Dianne stepped in & came with me to the wedding because my sister went out of town.

Added this shot because I don't look like a heffer here.

 

I'm horrid & sweating by then but at least you can see the dress and the shoes in this shot.

Original post

This is what I ended up wearing to Monica's wedding. I never wear strapless dresses but the color was great and I was looking for something other than black. I didn't want to be That Girl wearing black at someone else's wedding and I have enough black dressses to last me a lifetime. I bought the shoes first that day. I saw them in Macy's while picking up Monica & Trevor's wedding gift & knew that they were THE shoes. The challenge after that was to find a non-black dress with a material I preferred (here meaning satin or silky) I searched Macy's &  two Ross stores (yes I shop heavily at Ross for formal dresses- they usually have a unique collection.) At the last store, two hours before I had to be ready, I found this dress on the second fitting and it fit. I bought it and here is the finished product.

Rant: The reason why dresses are a great investment.

I've really been getting into dresses and the femme look. Dresses are like a one stop shop- put them on and leave sort of thing. You don't have to worry about a belt, what type of underwear you're wearing.

Tip: If you've gained weight and are between sizes, dresses are your friend!

I'm trying to get back to the size that the majority of my clothing are it and it sucks to put on a pair of jeans that give you a muffin top & try to feel sexy & beautiful. But dresses are a great way to change it up, show your feminine side and hide the extra pounds. Plus, your boobs will look great in a dress as opposed to a tank or tee and cleavage is a little more acceptable.

OOTD: Billabong 5$ dress

  

Dress.
I took a gamble on this dress as I did not fit it on when I was in the store. I saw in on my way to the cashier and grabbed it as an act of faith. I purchased it from PacSun. It was totally 5$! I figured it was something I could throw on to run errands & I liked the pattern on the skirt. Little did I know that this dress had a bubble skirt which was totally unexpected as I tried it on for the first time at home. I'm still thinking of if I should make some alterations to the skirt because the dress shifts when I bend over & it's a bit difficult to walk in it. I thought it could be a fun little project to put some elastic or something in it and give the skirt a few slices for leeway or just give it a split in the back. I'm gonna Google ideas and I'll update once I know what it is that I'm gonna do.

Shoes.
Reef. These sandals are literally the only ones that I have ever found that brings an instep. I love that because I have a lot of problems with my feet - so I can't wear closed-toe shoes if their solid- like leather. I got these at West Marine for like 5$. They usually retail at 20$.

OOTD:Hot Topic ruffle dress

I got this dress from Hot Topic. I was looking at it online & really wanted it because #1 it was on sale & #2 I've really been getting into dresses and the femme look. So I didn't even fit it on in the store when I saw that it was 50% off the clearance price. I figured however it fit, I would wear it because It's my two favorite colors & I was absolutely in love with the skirt portion of it (featured above).

I wore it with my Classified sandals & Target cardigan. 

It's also a racerback. For those of you not from a humid climate, racerbacks are gold when you're dealing with 85+ temperatures. Best way to feel semi naked. Plus the fact that I'm a 30F/FF, it's really nice to wear something that I feel sexy in but also gives me a chance to support it with a bra.

Chose to pair it with a cardigan (like I usually do) because cardigans are so classy to me. 

Plus they dress it up a little. You can take someone wearing a cardigan seriously.

OOTD: BCBG club dress

 

I wore this dress to my friend Monica's bachelorette party at the Hard Rock Casino. The one in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl where Anna Nicole Smith died. I think that's what it's most popular for anyway. 

It's a BCBG dress that my mom gave to me last minute when I went home to pick up my jewelry box.  I was like okay, I'll fit it on. It looked incredible so I wore it. 

These pictures are actually morning after pictures which is horrible but I figure that you guy have gotta see this dress & Idk when I'll wear it again.

It has a double v-neck & I swear this is a flamenco dress because it's all ruffly and the whole deal but I snapped a lot of necks in it so yayy.

Wore it with my Nine West shoes & jewelry from Express

OOTD: Shopping for a dress to wear to a wedding.

 

 

My friend Monica is getting married this Saturday & I'm so slacking with getting a dress but I did pick up this baby from ROSS. It was 50$ but soooo beautiful! Its a peacock blue color & tafetta & skin tight. It has this crazy collar that I thought was so high fashion. However, idk how I didn't see it in the store, but there's some deodorant on the zipper & the dress & I will not go with an awesome dress that is marred. So I'm still on the search. Wish me luck!

Update: I returned the dress & got another one so I'll upload pics of that soon.

OOTD: Royal Purple, old fashioned meets glam.

 

Dress. 

From Forever XXI. I wanted something that was a little old fashioned enough that I could wear to work, but modern enough to wear in Miami weather with sandals. The gold buttons brought something different to the table too and gave me something to deviate from my usual silver accessories. I actually got it from Plato's Closet. They have some good stuff there.

Shoes 

From Nine West. I wore these to my sister's wedding in Jamaica (thankfully, Perry was my date :) which I never expected & they have become a staple in my work wardrobe. I wear them once a week to the office & they go with pretty much everything. These shoes reintroduced gold into my wardrobe in a classy manner.

Sweater 

From Target. This was actually to replace my only cardigan that I couldn't find.

Rule of thumb: Everything that you try to replace surfaces shortly after you buy the replacement.

You can never have enough black cardigans though.