Outfit Post: Tuxedo Blazer and Maroon Dress

So clearly I have been neglecting my blogger duties as of late. I do have a somewhat good reason, which happens to arrive monthly without fail - nope its not what you're thinking, its because of a photo shoot for the Dec/Jan cover for SHE Canada (a magazine I work at as a Styling Coordinator < official title!). Yes, once a week every month, there is a photo-shoot to plan, clothes to pull, photographers to acquire, sets to confirm, hair and makeup to coax, and models to cast. Not only do I and my editor produce the shoots (which means getting all these elements in order), we also pull all the clothes which means physically visiting each designer's showroom (or, as is the case in Toronto, it often is a boutique, an apt or basement) and selecting which clothes you will most likely use in the shoot. Then the clothes get couriered or you do the couriering and of course after all is said and done, these clothes must be returned. Needless to say, it takes up most of my life for that week. I am convinced that 90% of a stylists job is lugging stuff from one place to another and a required skill for the job is the ability to balance an obscene amount of garment bags, shoe boxes, etc and open doors with your foot without suffering any major injuries. Really, if you look like a bag lady most of the time and you don't drop anything, you would probably make a great stylist.

Anyways, about the outfit; I would easily wear this to a nice dinner or a fall wedding, you'll see that I am again wearing the thrifted tuxedo blazer (I wore it before like this) but this time pairing it with a dress.

Outfit Breakdown:

Maroon Dress - M by Mendocino ($70ish)

Tuxedo blazer - Value Village ($12.99)

Booties - Le Chateau (A bday gift to myself almost 4 years ago)

Opaque tights - H&M 

Clutch - F21 

Necklace - F21 (love the jewellery there!)

Nosey neighbouring

When I run out of zoolander style poses, it turns into this.

Love Toronto

Hope you like it! I really tried my hardest at posing all cool but since my coolness is questionable, its tough to pull off...I'll try harder next time!

Photo Credits: Priya Crasto works her photography magic once again (If you need a photo-shoot of your own for engagements, blogging, headshots etc email: crasto.priya@gmail.com - she is great and will give you a starter rate, just tell her I referred you)

Thirfty to Trendy: On the GO!

From now on I will be regularly doing posts titled "Thrifty to Trendy" which basically means I'm wearing an outift where I've taken a thrifted item and rendered it "trendy" by mixing it with newer items. When I thrift, my goal is not to make it obvious that I'm wearing a thrifted piece (unlike some hipsters who basically will pick the most ragged looking piece of clothing and try to make it "homeless chic") Not my thing. So I hope to show you how you can take a piece of clothing from Value Village or Goodwill and make it look new and expensive! Doesn't mean you have to hide the fact that you thrift, (God knows I shout it from the roof tops) but you don't really want it to be an immediately discernible aspect of your outfit. Now, if it looks vintage, that's another story, whats the difference you ask? We'll save that for another blog post....

Here is my first outfit that I took from "Thrifty to Trendy"! Classic, simple and easy - some of my favourite style values :)

Me on the go! Just before leaving for work

Outfit breakdown;
Tuxedo Blazer - Value Village $12.99
Shirt - from my DIY project 
Jeans - Gap Skinnies ($80ish0
Shoes - Aldo loafers ($29 on sale)
Bag, pleather tote -  FCUK (I believe I got this for $30 on sale)

And there you go! Stay tuned for many more....and please tell me if I start regressing into "homeless chic" - these hipsters start rubbing off on you without you even realising..its quite cultish.