Thursday night was Fashion in the arts District which featured 4 designers in 4 different venues. The shows included Andrea Loest at Mallory Page Studio, Amanda DeLeon at Martine Chaisson Gallery, Matthew Arthur at AIA New Orleans, and Carvortress Swim at LeMieux Galleries. I was only able to make it to the Matthew Arthur show, which I was really excited about seeing since I loved his S/S ’12 line last season. I was volunteering back stage so I got to see all of the pieces up close and personal which was even better! Sadly, I found out my camera I had with me for the show this time is no longer working, so I was not able to retrieve any photos taken from that night. I do have some of my outfit though! The first, being featured on The Elizabeth Chronicles, and 2 others from Instagram. I have been having this dress for a while now, but have waited for a special event to wear it. When my mom showed it to me out of her closet I was amazed at how fabulous it was! I then see the tag that is still attached and it is a Betsey Johnson, that my mom lets me know she bought when she was about my age, and never wore. What a lucky girl I am!

P.S. I could not bear to take the tag off so i tucked that big ol’ thing in the sleeve, so it wrapped around my arm.

Green is my favorite color so you could imaging why I love St Patty’s Day for that reason alone. I love any shade, Kelly being my fav., but I have a new crush on chartreuse! So I thought what better way to wear it than paired with my green jeans, vintage belt & necklace and DIY stud bangles for St Patty’s Day. Green is a hard color to find in clothing, so whenever I see something I like, I don’t hesitate to make it mine.

*Note: This top looks more yellow in these photos.

Wednesday night I attended and volunteered at MASHUP – Where music meets fashion. This show featured 3 fashion lines, and 3 bands at the recently re-opened JOY Theater! I was not only blown away by the designs in this show, but by the music as well. Showing was Jolie & Elizabeth featuring Royal Teeth, blackout. by Ashlie Ming featuring Big History, and dope. featuring Baby Bee.

I wanted to wear something comfortable just incase I would be running around, so I went with this sheer, printed, midi tunic from The Revival Outpost. I had to add a little pizazz to this piece with a sequin bandeau top of course! A studded belt can never harm any outfit either, plus added some orange accessories to match my neon nails.

Tunic: The Revival Outpost // Sequin Bandeau: Rebecca Beeson via Hemline // Black Skirt: Nation via Mirabella // Studded Belt: Thrifted // Shoes: Madden Girl // Orange & Black Ring: House of Harlow via SNAP // Poison Rings: Vintage via my grandma

For my first day of NOLAFW I attended one of the workshops – Organizing Your Life Fashionably with Skye Truax from The Occasional Wife. She taught us how to organize our living space, particularly our closets! A key factor that she taught us was how to use your space wisely, especially since we do not all have walk in closets! Below are some pics I took during the workshop and what I wore (my new fav Wildfox tee).

Here are some tips we learned:

// Store off season items in under the bed storage containers, as well as handbags you do not use that often like your evening clutches.

// Using the same type of hanger will make a tremendous difference in the overall appearance of your closet and automatically make it look more organized – The flat felt hangers are best for saving space.

// Arrange your clothing items by style first, then color. i.e. First your sleeveless tops in rainbow color order (or whichever order you prefer), then short sleeve, long sleeve etc. Next dresses in that same pattern.

// For those tall slouchy boots that don’t stay up on their own – stick empty wine bottles in them to help stay up & retain their shape. Genius!

// Make your closet an extension of your living space (if you have the closet space that is) by adding a rug, seating, and artwork. Also, they are big fans of having trash cans in your closet for tags, and those plastic tag pieces that will end up all over your floor/dresser (guilty!)

// One tip that I shared with them, not relating to organization in any way but well worth it, is to rub your closet bars with a piece of wax paper if they are making that awful screeching sound when you move the hangers across them. They will slide smooth like butter afterward, and no more painful screech!

** My main problem is keeping up with the organization afterward, because one night of picking out the right outfit, and my room is a mess again! They advise setting aside about 20-30 minutes per week for upkeep & reorganization. (something I REALLY need to work on)

Hope yall learned some good organizing fashionably tips from my cliff notes of the workshop, I know I’m going to put all of those to use when I do my seasonal closet switch soon! (Yes, a little behind, I know)

Well, it was not as easy as I just made it sound! Extremely time consuming and tedious actually, but well worth it. Here are the steps in more detail:

• Start off with a nude or gold fitted strapless dress

• Go to Michael’s or any craft store and clear out their feather department!

• Tape down strips of tape (sticky side up) to large pieces or cardboard and spray (Rustoleum works the best)

• Let dry then peel off and store all together

• Start hot gluing at the bottom of the dress, overlapping and working your way up

• We were running low on feathers so I sprayed some tulle and tacked it in place to finish the bust

• For the shoulder epaulettes, I had some random bikini top linings in my drawer that we cut down to a smaller triangle shape and hot glued the more pointy style feathers to. To adhere them, use double stick tape (or I might recommend spirit gum)

• Our hair accessories are little decorative wire berry things I also had lying around that we painted gold and wrapped around our head and twisted to close

• For the eye makeup I used black eye liner & shadow, gold gel body paint, and gold leaf adhered by tapping on a small amount of eyelash glue over the makeup then placing on with a tweezers

This post is well overdue considering it is from January, but anyway, this is what I wore to my joint Birthday BBQ that my family threw for me and my sister. I love mixing styles and pieces that you might not normally think to put together like in this case the vintage army belt, and the strand of vintage rhinestones tied as a necklace.

It was beautiful weather so my dad grilled up all the fixings for some good ol’ quesadillas while my mom surprised us with this amazing Saints themed cake! Of course I had to include some pictures of the food for your enjoyment as well.

Dress: Xhilaration via Target / Blouse: XXI / Vest: H & M / Booties: American Eagle Outfitters / Belt & Rhinestone Necklace: Vintage c/o my mom / Gold & Pearl necklace: Thrifted / Ring: XXI / Assorted Bracelets: Hemline, Bella Bella, & Encore Symphony Resale Dress Shop.