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One Colorful Spring!

Glamour Magazine asked the question: when it comes to NEON, how far do you go? 

At first, I was a little nervous about adding neon to my typical wardrobe of more subtle, standard colors. Yet, when I did I fell in love with the overall look. This spring the 80’s neon color collection is taking over the fashion world. Literally!!! I absolutely love the bright color trend, but I did not want to overdo it by making myself look like a colorful piñata.

For starters, just trying the neon look by adding hints of neon to your usual outfits seems to work best. It can be anything from a bold belt, a bright purse, a flashy scarf, or even jazzy jewelry. The fuchsia dress that I am wearing in the pictures below was just too plain by itself, so I added an energetic color to vamp it up.  My favorite way of trying the new neon trend with my outfit was a neon-blue belt paired with a small neon-blue clutch to add an extra bright touch without over doing it. 

I wore a pair of nude stilettos to emphasize my touch of neon without detracting from it. Adding that little splash of neon to your outfit is an easy way to take on the 2013 spring trend.  At the end of the day girls just wanna have fun!

 

Dress: Forever 21

Shoes: Guess

Clutch: Target

Necklace: Charming Charlie’s

Bracelet: Macy’s

Belt: Forever 21

Cover Girl: Cycle Style...

From an email I received from Horst A. Friedrichs back in May 2011 which lead to some amazing photo-shoots & meetings: fast forward to March 2018 and 'Cycle Style' the book has been published... with a rather familiar 'Lady' with a Pashley on the back cover... 

At the risk of sounding like a gushing mess, this is one of the best things to have happened to me! I was over the moon when Horst asked me to be a part of his project, but being the cover girl on the book has completely blown me away.

The book is beautiful, with its varied mix of London Cyclists across 192 pages. Horst has done such an amazing job on this and Prestel have produced a fantastic publication...

Some of my favourite cycling friends and style icons are in the book, including the lovely Fleur de Geurre with a red Pashley Britannia

... and it's also rather nice to say I'm in the same book as one of my favourite designers who embraces cycling with such passion... 

Mr Paul Smith! 

It has been a brilliant experience and of course, The Boy played a major part in all of this too. He came along to the Shoots, took photos for me to use on the blog and made a friend in Horst too, something which clearly didn't go unnoticed by the man himself... 

Seeing Ian being 'thanked' in the book was a rather special thing indeed.

With the official 'launch party' for Cycle Style coming up in a couple of weeks, it'll be fabulous to see Horst again, and meet-up with fellow cyclists in the book. Of course a blog post on that will follow, but in the meantime, get your hands on a copy of Cycle Style :) 

Monochrome: Fashion Faux Pas or Stylishly Splendid?

Monochrome does not have to be a scary word. Some people see this and shudder at the thought of a bland outfit, decked out in a single color. Au contraire, monochromatic outfits can be much sassier than you think. Monochromatic doesn't explicitly mean one color as in a single shade; instead, it means one color in ALL of its various shades.

Now, the trick is to piece together and outfit of a certain color with shades that complement one another. I went with a blue them, incorporating a royal, pure-blue top with a coral skirt. I topped it off with some elegant statement pieces for my jewelry selection. I went with more neutral, less invasive colors such as white or deeper blues so as not to overdo the look or detract from the outfit itself. The purse was one from a previous outfit, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to make its return. It is not easy to lay out what shades of a particular color family go well together. It is sort of a look that requires some trial-and-error in front of the mirror for a bit, but when you have it you will know!

Try contrasting darks with lights, and avoid any two shades that are too close on the color spectrum together. In the case of blues, don't try to mix baby-blue with coral... That is a BIG no-no... Instead, go with a navy or royal-blue, and then complement it with that lighter shade. the contrast makes each piece stand out on its own, while still tying the overall outfit together with the monochrome theme. Experiment and find you perfect combo, and never again be afraid to keep narrow down your look to a single color group!

30 and Below Bra Band Project!

Hi there readers! I've teamed up with the wonderful bloggers Boosaurus, By Baby's Rules, Braless in Brasil, and StackDD to help raise awareness for the existence of a large market for band sizes 30, 28, 26, or smaller. Braless in Brasil's recent study proves that likely more than HALF of all women (in all weight ranges) may need a 30-inch band or below. Yet 30 and 28 bands are still rare and difficult to find, and 26 bands hardly exist at all! To try to shake things up, we're going to compile a collage of photos proving that women wearing 30 bands and below are common and look just like many of the women we see in our everyday lives.

At the bottom of this post, you will find a submission form. You can submit straight from here! We will crop faces out of the photos that include them, so you do not need to worry about being recognized. You can also submit a photo that is already cropped or taken from the neck down. Feel free to wear clothing (preferably something that still shows your figure) or lingerie, just no nudity please. Note that the form asks for a "path address." This means you can send us a link if the photo you'd like to use is already hosted on a public forum, like your blog, a public flickr, tumblr, or a public Facebook album. If not, just include your email address and email us a photo! (We expect lots of people will take the email route.)

Here's the "official" blurb that we are all including on our blogs!

"Recently at the Curve Expos in both New York and Las Vegas, brands that cater to large-busted women suggested that 30 bands and under were either for juniors, or that there was no market for them.  However, that is simply not the case. There are many women out there who need 30 bands and under, and we are not all juniors.  While we come in all different shapes and sizes, we all have a small back size in common. 

To prove that we are not all juniors and that we exist as a market, we have decided to create the Bra Band Project where we are looking for photos of women who wear 30 bands or under. We will make a flickr album and eventually a collage with our photos to show that we are not just juniors, but women of all shapes and sizes that need small bands.

We'd love your help, so please submit your own photo and band size using the form below or email it to brabandproject@gmail.com.  Note we need both your bra size and your photo. We cannot include a submission without both of those. If you are a blogger who would like to help out with this project email us at brabandproject@gmail.com."