jeanofalltrades

January 11, 2015 · 9:10 pm

Another Lois Eastlund Dress

I can’t get enough of Lois Eastlund’s designs. Imagine the stroke of luck I had a year and a half ago when my mom and I met her at her pop-up shop in the Chelsea Market in NYC. I bought two of her dresses that day, ordered another online later that year, and bought another dress when I saw her at The Seed last summer.

That would be this color-blocked number:

I love these mod, cotton dresses, and I appreciate that they are made in the US. Supporting a vegan-designer is the icing on the vegan cake!

Dress: Lois Eastlund
Tights: Fred Meyer
Faux suede booties: Old Navy

I liked this dress because it has long sleeves (my others by her are sleeveless). It’s perfect for winter in Seattle.

If you like Lois’ designs, you might want to check out the new online fashion magazine she launched recently: La Fashionista Compassionista. It’s a fantastic look at the latest from the world of cruelty-free fashion and beauty. And it’s free–so get your subscription today!

I’m joining Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet and Fun Fashion Friday at Fashion Should be Fun. Check out what everyone else is wearing!

11 Comments

Filed under Ethical, Fashion

Tagged as dress, fashion, Lois Eastlund, style, tights, vegan

January 4, 2015 · 11:07 pm

Mini Dress for Winter

I wore this mini dress in the summer with bare legs and sandals. Well, the grass is green in Seattle but it’s much too cold for bare legs now. So I added tights and booties and swapped out the turquoise belt for a neutral gunmetal.

summer dress with tights

Dress: Purdy Girl
Tights: Roots Canada
Shoes: Old Navy
Belt: Marshall’s
Earrings: Gifted

The dress is a light color and fabric so I worried about the sweater tights and faux suede booties being too heavy, but because of the bits of black and navy in the pattern, it works.

It’s not in these pictures, but after I threw on a fabric moto jacket, the balance was even better.

I like getting lots of use out of the pieces I buy, and I’m glad this dress works for all seasons. Next time I wear it, I’ll play with color more. Maybe hot pink tights! Until then, I’ll have fun with things just the way they are.

3 Comments

Filed under Fashion, Hot and Cold

Tagged as boots, dress, fashion, thrifty fashion, tights, vegan

December 28, 2014 · 8:34 pm

Anniversary Date

It’s hard to believe that December 24th marked my 8th wedding anniversary to hubby.

It’s a busy week, with Christmas and New Year in the mix, but we made time to get downtown to ride the Seattle Great Wheel, a 175-foot-tall waterfront Ferris wheel.

hubby

The views it offers are spectacular.

After riding the wheel, we wandered around downtown, peeking in storefronts and watching last-minute shoppers trying to complete their lists.

It’s hard to find places to eat dinner on our anniversary, because a lot of restaurants close early on Christmas Eve. Luckily, hotels are often the exception. We ate in the Boka Restaurant in the Hotel 1000. They had a great chickpea burger, which surprisingly went well with champagne!

After dinner, we crossed the street to another hotel, the Alexis, and had a celebratory drink in their bar, called, oddly enough, The Bookstore.

I wouldn’t be a very responsible fashion blogger if I didn’t at least mention my outfit. Under my cozy pink scarf and warm, wool-free coat (by Vaute Couture), I had on this outfit.

Blazer: Bebe via Goodwill
Top: Swapped
Leggings: Fred Meyer’s
Pleather boots: Diba
Vegan purse: Stella McCartney
Necklace: Swapped

I hope you had a great Christmas. Happy New Year!

1 Comment

Filed under Ethical, Events, Fashion

Tagged as anniversary, blazer, boots, fashion, ferris wheel, marriage, Seattle, Seattle Great Wheel, stella mccartney, style, vegan

December 20, 2014 · 11:13 pm

Basketweave Shirt and Skinny Jeans

I get so many clothes at clothing exchanges, thrift stores, or clearance racks. But I paid full price for this shirt. It’s from Damselfly, a little shop in Seattle and was quite reasonable.

Top: Damselfly
Jeans: Betabrand
Jacket: Forever 21
Boots: DSW

I wore this hi-low top with skinny jeans. On it’s own, it’s a pretty pattern, with nice colors. I toughened it up with studded boots and a faux leather jacket. It was the perfect casual weekend outfit for a wine-tasting tour.

These studded boots are becoming part of my uniform. I wore them constantly in New York (with bare legs and dresses) and now I’m choosing them over other shoes with pants. I liked them so much, I went back to DSW and bought a backup pair! It’s not often I find comfortable, stylish vegan shoes for such a great price! When I need a replacement, DSW might not carry them anymore, but now I’m set!

I’ve gotten a lot of use out of this jacket too. It was from Forever 21–nothing groundbreaking–but it’s got a neat combination of faux leather sleeves and fabric bodice.

Do you have a go-to look?

3 Comments

Filed under Fashion

Tagged as boots, fashion, jacket, skinny jeans, style, thrifty fashion

December 12, 2014 · 8:57 pm

Plaid and Stars

On our recent visit to New York, my parents and I visited Beacon’s Closet, a trendy, second-hand shop with a few locations around town. My dad got a great Hawaiian shirt, my mom bought a velvet top, and she found me this Yves Saint Laurent star appliqué t-shirt.

Top: YSL via Beacon’s Closet
Pants: LEI
Pleather boots: Coconuts via swapped
Scarf: Fred Meyer

The stars on the t-shirt are tone-on-tone so it didn’t seem too busy to mix patterns. I took a chance by adding a scarf with elephant motif. The reason it’s not too overpowering is because the color palette is minimal. Sand, wine and black.

After a dry summer with dormant grass (I had to mow only the weeds), my grass finally turned green and started to grow. Now that it’s cooler, the grass isn’t growing, but it’s still green. Perfect! I’m waiting for the last of the leaves to fall off this tree so I can add a single, red Christmas ornament–an homage to the Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

I’m linking up with Miss Papelicos, Passion for Fashion, Favorite Fashion Friday, and Happiness at Midlife. See what all the others are wearing!

8 Comments

Filed under Fashion, Thrifty

Tagged as boots, fashion, plaid, scarf, style, thrifty fashion

December 9, 2014 · 10:27 am

Happy Birthday Jean!

My mom made me a wonderful birthday tribute: a blog post and slideshow of my 2014 outfits. How sweet!

fashion with compassion

jean-at-4 My daughter jeanofalltrades began her style blog in January 2011 and by the end of the year, I joined the club. When I started my blogging journey three years ago, I made a video for her birthday (and to celebrate her first year of blogging) of Jean’s outfits that she had posted on her blog. Since then, I make one every year using photos of the year from her blog.

Before Jean could dress herself, she was a little fashionista; she wanted to choose her clothes every morning and I let her, even though they didn’t always match (she never did liked matchy-matchy). She started the pattern mixing trend and has perfected it.

I bought us matching outfits (which my mom used to do with me) and I loved it. Jean didn’t seem to mind at the time, but now she only lets me dress like her as a…

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Filed under Fashion

December 1, 2014 · 9:11 pm

Lucite Heels and a Wrap Dress

When I say lucite heels, you might picture plastic soles from the ’70s, like these:

Or maybe your mind went to a clear heel of the exotic dancer variety, like these:

But I bet you didn’t think of a wearable shoe like the ones I recently bought:

I wore my faux-leather, clear-heeled sandals with a purple Hawaiian floral patterned wrap dress I bought in NYC this past summer.

Dress: BEBENOIR
Tank top: Swapped
Pleather shoes: Qupid
Vegan leather purse: Shiraleah

I think the look is elegant and appropriate for the fashion show I attended with Mr. Jean of all trades at Neiman Marcus. (Click to enlarge.) The show was fun, but it was full of wool, leather and even fur. Boo for that. One ray of hope is that Stella McCartney’s fabric purses adorned many of the models. The world is slowly changing.

Here are a few other transparent-heeled shoes I have my eye on (these are all by Cri de Coeur, one of my favorite ethical shoe brands):

Have you considered clear heels? If so, I know a shop where you can get a matching, vintage purse!

Oh, I’m joining Style Elixir for a link-up. See what everyone else is wearing!

4 Comments

Filed under Events, Fashion

Tagged as clear heels, dress, fashion, high heels, shoes, style, wrap dress

November 24, 2014 · 7:17 pm

Monochromatic Look with Paisley Pants

While I was wine tasting in Walla Walla this past summer, I popped into a neat clothing store in the center of the quaint city center and found these paisley jeans.

Top: Gifted
Jeans: Boutique in Walla Walla
Shoes: Beyond Skin

They’re a neat twist on white jeans black paisley is actually velvet. Paisley is a classic pattern, and black and white is a chic color combo so I didn’t think I could go wrong. Plus, they were on sale.

I paired my denim with a simple black top that my mom bought for me. I like that it’s a knit but it has shirttails like a woven, button-up shirt.

I thought adding a pop of color with my yellow and white Gunas bag would be fitting. Gunas is an all-vegan line of quality, stylish purses. I’ve lusted after a Gunas bag for a while now so when I saw their booth at The Seed in NYC this past summer, I bought one (in fact, you can see the purse in the background of one of my photos–I was holding the red bag, but I settled on the yellow and white one).

Are you a fan of purses, shoes, or both?

4 Comments

Filed under Ethical, Fashion

Tagged as denim, fashion, jeans, paisley, style, vegan

November 12, 2014 · 11:15 pm

Merlot Sweater and Cobalt Skirt

For two whole minutes last fall, I had long(ish) hair. It’s funny how I wait so long to grow my hair out and then immediately get bored with it. Well, here’s a rare look at the long-haired me. A little #TBT.

Sweater: Target
Skirt: Forever 21
Tights: Roots Canada
Shoes: Soda
Necklace: eBay

I wore my comfy merlot (burgundy/wine) sweater with a pencil skirt. This stretchy skirt is very versatile. It goes with everything from blazers to t-shirts. I dressed up the simple top with a long necklace with a wing and some bling.

It’s officially tights weather in Seattle so I thought a look back to last year’s tights season would be appropriate. The outfit was worn a while ago but it works now. In fact, I might just wear this tomorrow!

I’m joining Happiness at Midlife, The Penniless Socialite, Style Elixir, and Rachel the Hat for linkups today. See what everyone else is wearing!

13 Comments

Filed under Fashion, Thrifty

Tagged as fashion, skirt, style, sweater, thrifty fashion, tights, wedge heels

November 9, 2014 · 10:52 pm

Houndstooth Dress Two Ways

I love houndstooth. It’s such a classic pattern I doubt it will ever go out of style.

I thought I’d style my new dress a couple of different ways so see if I could make my dress look fresh. First, I wore bright blue shoes and a black cardigan.

Dress: H&M
Cardigan: Target
Faux Suede Shoes: Payless
Vegan Purse: Crystalyn Kae

Then, I tried the opposite: A blue cardi and black shoes, er, boots.

Cardigan: Target
Pleather and Neoprene Boots: DSW

The boots help take my dress into fall. Next up: Tights and a jacket. I think I could even wear a turtleneck under this dress and mix up the look even more.