KATE LANPHEAR

Sometimes you need a little of a different "Kate" in your wardrobe. This is Kate Lanphear...the queen of edge/grunge/and all things rocker/chic. She's also otherwise known as the Style Director of Elle Magazine. I thought of her constantly the other day as I was staring at the perfect black leather jacket on a hanger at Forever 21. Seriously, the fit and look were amazing (even the price was perfect at $30!). But I couldn't get myself to take the plunge because of my stupid self-imposed budgeting (all monies...even $30 are to be saved for the extensive home renovation that is almost done in my life. I've come to realize that even a measly $30 can buy pipe, trim or paint). Yet I keep telling myself that the fight is not over. We left town the day after I saw it so it's probably gone by now (perfect things don't stay long). The verdict is still out though. I will let it go when I see it gone.

So here's the thing, just like when we see things from the runway that inspire us, obviously other dressers inspire us and our looks. The second to last look (although the skirt's a bit short) totally inspired this look a while back. Although we wouldn't wear EVERYTHING she's got on, we definitely take away a lot of ideas. In the end, even though I didn't buy the jacket, I did buy a leather studded cuff (bracelet). I've always wanted something to achieve a harder look on my arm and now I actually have one (obviously not as dangerous as her's looks, but still fun).

BLUE MOOD - Valentino Couture Fall 2012

Seriously ...we know you keep hearing us say it, but VALENTINO! We are so inspired by this. We're going to start pulling out all of the navy we have...and we have the PERFECT dress to show you. It's funny how these things inspire us so much. Couture week is known for some pretty dressy/hollywood/celebrity/REALLY expensive looks. But what we like to do is take the mood, the cuts, the types of fabrics and bring them down to our every day level. We have a look already in our heads inspired by the Giambattista Valli post and now one for this one. We'll let you know when you're seeing our versions! Until then, happy viewing!

MUSTARD DRESS - Eshakti.com

Oh my goodness you guys, we are absolutely in LOVE with this company. Eshakti is simply genius. Remember how we told you we were getting ready to promote a company in this post (inspired by the Jil Sander mustard dress)? Well here it is. They contacted us a while back about possibly featuring one of their dresses, and reluctantly we went to the site to check it out. It's been a while since we were pleasantly surprised to find an awesome idea and company take off. So here's the thing... you can take any dress on the site (this is the one we picked) and even if it's sleeveless, short, or lower cut in the picture, you can modify it with multiple types of sleeves, lengths, necklines etc. So pretty much you can modify ANY dress on the site to fit your needs. The greatest part about it, is that there are quite a few cute dresses to choose from. It definitely got us pumped to order ours. We must admit we were a tiny bit skeptical how it would turn out (since the dress was definitely cute on its own), but when it arrived we now think our dress (with sleeves) is maybe even cuter than the one pictured! Let's just say that we whole-heartedly stand behind this company. What a great concept.

One great thing is that this dress can be dressed up or down. We decided to dress it down here.  Remember what we were saying about dressing down looks in the Valentino Resort post? Well here's an example of this. You can achieve it by pairing with flats, fedoras and casual bags.

P.S. We have been wanting a mustard dress for a LONG time. We almost bought this one from Zara last year, then decided on one from Ebay that we lost in bidding. Eventually we kinda gave up...until now! And of course we're so excited to pair this with jackets and sweaters come fall like this.

NEED TO FIND...

OK first off, thank you EVERYONE for the comments on the post below. We're incredibly sorry to put "Anonymous" on the spot, and I hope you know that we weren't offended by the comment at all. We really were just wondering if more people felt the same since it changed the 'look' and 'feel' of the blog when we increased our posts. We enjoy hearing all of your feedback and actually would love it more often! It definitely helps us shape the blog. So here's some of our thoughts on what was said: we would LOVE to give you more street style posts, but seeing as though we are musicians first and foremost, it's just physically impossible to give you nicer pictures every day of what we're wearing. We could snap crazy phone pics of ourselves, but that seems weird to us. Maybe things will change in the future and we'll be able to give you more street style (even from others on the street), but with both of us on separate coasts, we're just glad we can continue as we are. So when we can, we will give you more. Oh and don't think any of your comments are for naught. We definitely hear you!

   Lastly, this top! The first image is from Zina at Fashion Vibe and although we haven't been crazy about the patterned pants taking off lately, we are crazy about the peplum top! The second is from Blair at Atlantic-Pacific. And you know what's awesome, evidently it's from H&M! WE MUST FIND IT! We're both on some self-imposed budgeting right now so we're trying to figure out how to get around this at the moment...hmmm. But we can't help thinking how great this top will look with these pants to create this type of look. Wish us luck! 

   Oh, and thanks again!

DO WE POST TOO MUCH?

OK guys we need your input majorly. We read this comment the other day below the Giambattista Valli post and wondered if the vast majority felt the same...

"Hi, I just wanted to say that I enjoy your blog so much more when you show real, every day fashion, like you used to do a lot more when the blog first started. The dresses above have absolutely no relevance whatsoever for the every day woman who is looking for day to day inspiration. You have shown so many fashion/Hollywood awards shows in the last few months that I'm beginning to wonder what the purpose of the blog is. I'm afraid it is no longer meeting my interests or needs. I just thought I'd throw this out there and request you to go back to your origins. Both of you ladies are so beautiful and stylish, and I just love it when you put your own outfits together. Thank you for your consideration."

So here's the thing. Our outfit posts have not changed. We have done 2 posts a week since the beginning of the blog. What has changed, as I'm sure you've all noticed, is that we update the blog daily now. We still have our 2 looks, but have "filled it out" on the other days with modest red carpet, runway and other highlights we see along the way.  These are things we have always kept up with behind the scenes, but we thought you guys would enjoy viewing some of what's behind our style and get more comprehensive coverage of the modest style world along the way. If it's too much we can surely back off and do what we were doing before.  We are totally fine to do that (it's actually much, MUCH easier). But before we do anything we NEED your thoughts. So please comment!

IT'S A RED 4TH!

 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE! In more ways than one it has been a red 4th. It's hot, half the country's on fire, and politics are heated. So why not celebrate the holiday with some red? And isn't it nice to have Desirae on here again? She's wearing an absolutely lovely ruffled dress she bought from H&M a couple of seasons ago with a pair of Steve Madden shoes we seem to share a lot (that's what sisters are for, right?). The belt is seriously amazing from Forever 21 (quite the steal compared with this one from Neiman's). Actually, now that we think of it, now is a good time to talk about bow belts. Just take one look here, here and here and you'll see what we're getting at. The bow belt was seen all over EVERYTHING to do with Burberry Prorsum for fall. So you know what we're thinking of doing if we can't find a good one? This. And you know how we'll pair it? Right at the top of skirts and belting our coats like so (probably not in such a  bright color, but maybe in a great brown). We can't wait!

(CAUTION: this fashion accessory could go very badly, very fast. Don't forget to keep it classy by staying in classy colors and sizes!)