Italian Style at Portland Art Museum

As I mentioned on the blog yesterday, I spent the weekend in Portland visiting a very old dear friend of mine.  While I was there, we went and saw the Portland Art Museum Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945 Exhibit.  This exhibit was amazing!

This coat was amazing!  I would kill for it! The pattern is incredibly intricate and woven together.  The picture on the right shows how they mapped out the design.  WOW!  Just WOW!  It is so amazing!

This gown is spectacular!  It's hard to tell from the picture but all the silver are beads and sequins that (I am sure) were applied by hand.  Exquisite!

I love this whole look!  I would wear this all the time.

I loved this dress.  It reminds me of lilacs, which are one of my favorite flowers.

Very sexy!

I love the details on this skirt.  It is gorgeous!

I LOVE this coat.  I want to live in it.

This dress is leather.  It is awesome!  I kind of want one but don't know where I would have any occasion to wear it.

Who wouldn't want to rock these shoes?

I believe the exhibit is in the last week now, so if you are in the Portland area, you should definitely go check it out.  It was worth the adventure!

One of My Fashion Icons/Major Jacket Envy

I was trying to come up with a list of who I believe are current style icons, and who I am currently most influenced by.  In past years, my list has included Angelina Jolie, Heidi Klum, etc.  The short list that I came up with for right now is: Kate Middleton, Blake Lively, and Victoria Beckham.  There are of course others that I love (Emma Watson and Kerry Washington (Olivia Pope) for example), but those are the 3 that I am most drawn to currently and the ones I see most in the media right now as well.

With the weather dipping as low as the 40's here right now, my thoughts have been turning to one of my very favorite wardrobe staples, jackets.  I don't know what it is about them but I love coats and jackets.  I have a closet in my house dedicated to just those.  I love a classic trench, a perfect peacoat, even athletic jackets, I love them all.  Don't believe me?  Check out my board.  So what does this have to do with my style icons mentioned above???

Kate Middleton has a wonderful collection of jackets!  I found in my creation of my Pinterest board dedicated to her and her classic style, that she has an incredibly enviable collection of coats and jackets.  What does one have to do to be the heir to a Duchess's wardrobe, specifically her outerwear???  If anyone knows, send me the application ;)

Here are a few of my favorites I've seen her in:

The pleated skirt on this is so feminine and beautiful.  Plus the color is great.  It's much more warm and young than the normal greys/blacks/and tans that we usually see (and still love - don't get me wrong).

Then there is this white beauty!  Again, very young, and playful, but still very much a classic.  I love the full skirt, and the double breasted bodice.  And the matching hat is totally icing on the cake.  And it's timeless... Can't you imagine Jackie-O in this?  I totally can.

And finally plaid!  I love a good plaid.  Also, again with the matching hat!  I love it all.

I am sure that when you are a Duchess, you get stylist to go along with the roll you play and whoever is helping to dress the Duchess of Cambridge is doing a fantastic job.  She looks polished at every event and outing that she attends.  She has developed a signature style and is always classy.  Her wardrobe is enviable and so is the job of whoever styles or shops for her (again, can I get another application for that???)

I could post so many more pictures of her lovely frocks, specifically in the cold weather, outerwear department but I won't make you scroll for 6 pages to do that.

But speaking of Kate Middleton and paper dolls (one of last weeks posts), there are of course paper dolls of this modern royal (as well as many historical ones as well).  That may be the best way to get her wardrobe in your home.... I may have some shopping to do: on Amazon.

If I could only own one jacket right now.... let's rephrase this into a more pleasant scenario.... If I could only buy one jacket this year.... much better... I think it would have to be this one below:

I have no idea the brand of jacket or where to find it.  I originally found it on my IBFF where it was pinned on another bloggers site: April W.  I think this jacket is stunning!  I love the structure at the shoulders.  I love the pleats.  I love the buckles on the wrist.  And of course I love the bow on the back.  I feel like this jacket would be a catch all.  You could wear it with jeans and a tee up all the way up to a gown for an event.  It is beautiful and versatile.  Since I don't know who created this or where to get it, in my future free time I may have to recreate this.  I would probably change the color.  Not sure to what.  Perhaps a charcoal or a nice tweed, but all of that will be decided at a later date.  I am definitely going to keep my eyes open for the perfect fabric for this.

If anyone knows more details on this particular coat, please share the info!  I would love to know where it comes from.

Sorry this post seems to be all over the place.  I apparently and suffering from some form of ADD today and can't stay on one subject.  I tried to tie everything together but it is a bit random.

Sales!!

I was hoping to post one of my creations in my 2nd post but life has been a bit hectic this past week, as it always is.  So, instead, I thought I'd share some sale information for sales I know that are going on at stores I love.

First, is Banana Republic (www.BananaRepublic.com), which I love dearly and probably half of my wardrobe is from (partially because I worked there for several years).  Today they are offering 30% off purchases of $150 or more online.  Just enter "BRTAKE30" at checkout.  If I were shopping with them today, I would be ordering the following:


I love this trench.  It's on clearance now for $145.99.  It is two things that I love; orange and a jacket.  I have an obsession with jackets.


I love a classic handbag.  I don't own many bags but I admire classic bags that will be appropriate for everyday life and stand the test of time.  This reminds me of Coach and one of their standby bags that are white leather with colored leather trim.  It seems like they have a version of that bag every year.  This one is canvas and runs at $198.


Boden (www.BodenUSA.com) is offering 15% off and free shipping & free returns.  I haven't ever ordered from Boden but I love their style.  They have simple designs but use fun fabric choices.  I am loving the following from them right now:

I think their Retro Pocket Dress is super cute.  It comes in different colors.  I'd probably go for the green and white print.  This one is $128.

The Selina Dress is classic and would be great to dress up or down depending on the occasion and accessories you use.  I, of course, am loving the rust color in this picture but it also comes in about a half a dozen colors.  This one is more spendy at $198.

This Notch Neck Shift dress is on clearance right now.  They actually have a pretty extensive clearance section at the moment making them much more affordable and there are a ton of cute things to choose from.  Especially with the 15% off of your purchase they have running right now.  I don't see it saying anywhere that the 15% is only good on full priced merchandise so I believe you can take it off of clearance as well but I'm not positive so don't take me to the bank on that one.

One of my favorite sites to shop from is Alloy (www.Alloy.com).  It's geared towards teenagers and it's hit and miss but I order pretty much all of my jeans from them.  I love Vigold brand and they cost around $30 through Alloy.  I have a hard time justifying spending $200 or more on designer jeans, even if I love how they look, because I've made jeans before and I know how inexpensive they are to make and how quick and easy they are to make.  So it's much easier for me mentally to order $30 jeans from them.  And now I have probably 15 pairs of jeans whereas if I were buying designer, I'd only have about 3 pairs at the same cost.  They are currently offering free shipping on orders of $75 or more.  You just have to type in "AGFW75" at checkout.  I have a shopping cart of things at the moment and with all of the below, my total is a whopping $71.78.  Not bad at all: