Showing posts with label polyvore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polyvore. Show all posts

Monday, August 9, 2010

Work Outfit, and How Much I Love the Salvation Army




Isn't it amazing how dress can affect attitude? Today I dressed smartly and responsibly and as a result I feel like a super-competent intern, ready to impress the entire company while crossing tasks off my list like some kind of task-completing superintern. Amazing. The above is representative of my outfit, except that my necklace is 2 strands turquoise beads and 1 strand of tiny rhinestones, and it was only $10 from Urban Outfitter's; my bag is just a turquoise crossbody with a little fringe detail; my belt is a ruched black satin Calvin Klein with a shiny seatbelt-buckle closure; and my shoes are strappy black wedges, not peeptoe slingbacks. But hey, close enough.

The shirt is a black men's express shirt, size S, which fits great because it's stretchy. I got it at the Salvation Army for $1. Let me just give a shoutout to this salvation army. If you ever find yourself in Northern Massachusets, there are 3 places you must visit: Newburyport, Salisbury Beach, and this Salvation Army. It's in Haverill, which is a dump, but it's like the size of a small department store and filled with great finds. I got $70 worth of Calvin Klein, Geoffrey Beene, Oscar de la Renta, Van Heusen, and Jessica McClintock. I'll take pictures of them all later - most of them are wonderful button-ups, half for my boyfriend who is lacking in appropriate business attire (he wears button ups from Wal Mart and dress pants that are a size too big, although his suit jackets are pristine!) and the other half is for me, because I adore the menswear look. They are all in great shape and have beautiful fabrication. I'm so excited! All the shirts were $5 or under, some of them $1 because of the tag sales they have every day (each day, a different color tag on a garment magically turns all of those garments into $1 steals). Then I got 2 black purses that I could start a DIY project, a fringed handbag.

It's not turning out too well at the moment because after I cut up my cheap PVC Nine West purse, it turned out to have interfacing attached to EVERY piece. So I have to sew pieces together, which upsets my sewing machine ... and it's not very hangy, either. I may need to find some real leather, though I am reluctant to cut up my leather binder and leather messenger bag from the Salvation Army (guys, I went crazy. I only had an hour and a half in there, and I could've spent at least 5 hours more!)

My internship is almost over and I've learned so much. Post on that coming soon. In the meantime, I ask you: what outfit makes you feel capable of accomplishing any task? Because I want to copy it. XOXO

Monday, June 28, 2010

Trend Report: "Antique Romance"



One style that I've noticed trending this season is what I call "Antique Romance." The colors are nude, sand, cream, shell-pink, late afternoon sun, straw, peach, taupe, pearl. The hand is gauzy-soft, impossibly delicate, with practically unfinished, ruffled edges and lace detail. This is what romantic-era farmer's daughters wore around their moderately wealthy family estates: soft, flowing chemises; ruffled peasant tops and blouses; simple, frothy dresses.

Where can you find this look without breaking the bank? Here are a few places (excluding the items shown in my Polyvore trend board - click here to view them). You can find another awesome post about this trend at Cupcakes and Cashmere.

-Jewelry and Accessories-
Pink Rose Ring, $3.80
Pearlescent Cluster Ring , $3.80
Sheer Rosette Pearl Bobby Pins
Mesh Flower Pearl Necklace, $5.80
Rose Pearl Necklace, $8.80

-Tops-
Flowy Draped Top
White Tank with Ruffled Leaf Detail

-Dresses and Skirts-
Tiered Ruffled Skirt
Peach and White Ruffled Chiffon Cocktail Dress, $13.50
Pink Frilly Flirty A-Line Party Dress, $29.99
Peach Ruffle Neck Corsage Dress, $33.00

-Shoes-
Camel-Color Lace Open Toed Booties, $79.98

To complete the look, style your hair and makeup subtley: peachy eyeshadow, a nude pink lip, and whispy, whimsical hair. Try this look, from the Alexander Wang s/s 2010 show:

Blow dry hair upside down for extra body and volume - you can also use a volumizing mouse like root pump volumizing spray mouse from Big Sexy hair. Then sweep or flip all of your hair over to one side. Seperate the chunk closest to your face and create a cowlick with either a round brush and a blowdrier, or a curling iron (tousle afterwards for a more natural look if you iron). Leaving the cowlicked section hanging free (or if your hair is all one length, very loose), braid the rest of your hair loosely in front of your shoulder, starting just below your ear. Braid all the way to the end, stopping roughly an inch from the ends of your hair. Secure with an elastic. Starting with the hair just above the elastic, use your fingers to pinch a section of braid and pull it out slightly, loosening the braid. Continue pulling sections outward gently (Don't pull them all the way free from the braid) until your braid is the same thickness all the way from top to bottom (you will need to pull more at the bottom unless you have very thick hair!) Finally, pull some whispy pieces of hair from the unbraided side for a tousled, relaxed look. (Does this make sense? If not, I can make a video tutorial.)

Friday, July 17, 2009

The Best New Promotional Tool!


The other day, as I was browsing through my Google Webmaster Tools and searching through all the links pointing back to OmgLia.com, I stumbled across something .... amazing. It's a site called Polyvore and it's basically the coolest thing I've ever seen! From the site:



"Polyvore is a free, easy-to-use web-based application for mixing and matching images from anywhere on the web. It is also a vibrant community of creative and stylish people. Polyvore lets you create sets composed of individual images using an easy to use, drag and drop editor. After you have created a set, you can publish and share it with your friends and the Polyvore community."





Essentially, it's a group of creative people who are interested in fashion, creating style boards using images from all over the web- including OmgLia.com! Unbeknownst to me, users had added all of the pictures on my site with plain white backgrounds and begun using them in their fashion spreads. As an apparel merchandising/fashion design major, this site appeals to me in just about EVERY way possible. I'll be making my first spread soon.

Dark
Dark by raxa featuring Prada


Why I Find Polyvore to be an Excellent Promotional Tool:
1. When an item is added from your site, Polyvore provides a prominent link back to your site along with a price, tags, and a link to other items from your site.
2. Internal links to an item on a website are rated higher in SEO (search engine optimization) than homepage links - aka, as a result of these internal links, my site shows up higher in search engine results!
3. With just a click, your image is added to a database of thousands of members to be featured artistically in ways you never imagined! Not only is the creator of the spread perusing your items, but they are turning it into a beautiful work of art to be appreciated by thousands more!
4. Advertising potential! Using your items in visually appealing situations lends opportunities for ad copy and, with permission, even graphic design potential. For example: "Look how cute these earrings look with a lavender shirt and a pair of Mary Janes! *pic of outfit*" Once a customer can visualize your item fitting into her closet, she is already on her way to purchasing it!
5. The creators of the style board AND the owners of the items featured are both given excellent, easy-to-find, prominent credit.
This site is my FAVORITE new promotional tool!




Arguments Against Polyvore
Many on Etsy have brought up the point that Polyvore is encouraging "stealing" of images and items for an unintended purpose. For example, a photograph that is altered within a spread. My counter to that is this:
1. Your item is given a link back and is clearly named and credited to you both with a hover-over and a sidebar link. Also, I have found that commenting on a work and saying "thanks for using an item from *my site link*" is another great way to further promote credit for one's work. It is quite similiar to being featured in a blog with a link back - but much more artistic and creative!
2. Worried about your images being stolen? Sadly, images are practically free for the taking online. Most of us don't have copyright lawyers to defend our work. The solution: watermarks. Don't post an original photograph without a big stamped URL over top of it! That way no matter where your image ends up, your site is always credited - plus no one but a customer has the original image.
3. Etsy items and, as I understand it, Photobucket and Flickr items, are not allowed to be added to Polyvore. This prevents uncredited items and encourages direct links back to original content on the website of the work's creator.




Take a look at some of the gorgeous creations featuring OmgLia items! Can you find them? It's like a treasure hunt!








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