I’m back with another outfit post featuring a few of my favorite items of clothing. You’ve seen most of these pieces many times on the blog. I wear my faux fur jacket because it’s warm, lightweight and fun too. I often choose the little ruffly leopard print scarf because it always seems to fall just the right way around my neck. New to the blog are the jeans, shoes, and earrings, but each piece is quickly becoming a favorite too.
Tag Archives | Skinny Jeans
Rooftop parking
It was late. My husband wanted to catch the last of the light before it disappeared so we drove up and up and up to the very top of a parking lot. These places have an almost surreal feeling to them, especially when they’re empty. The view is spectacular but only the cars are there to enjoy it.
How to wear Red Jeans for the Holidays
For the last few years almost every fashion magazine I’ve read has promoted colored jeans. I love the look, but I’ve noticed it hasn’t been adopted by most women. Perhaps we’re just too enamored by the slimming qualities of dark denim or we’re unsure how to wear bright colors on the lower half of our bodies. Whatever the reason, if you’re thinking about trying the trend the time is now. Bright jewel tones look festive during the holidays and red is a classic winter color.
Here’s how I paired a red cardigan with red skinny jeans for two holiday parties.
I don’t normally wear jeans to parties as I prefer the glamour of evening dresses. However, gatherings at people’s homes can be chilly this time of year and I often freeze in a dress. The solution is to wear pants and a sweater. Boring? Not if the combination is dark red skinny jeans and a soft red cardigan. I paired this outfit with a black camisole and black spike heel pumps. For a bit of vintage sparkle I added my grandmother’s poinsettia pin and long red earrings. It’s casual and cozy but still glamorous enough for a holiday event. To stay warm on the way to the party I’ve thrown on my Mother-in-Law’s 1970′s black faux fur coat. Lip stick, compact and phone fit perfectly in my Mother’s vintage leopard clutch.
The jeans are made by my favorite denim brand: J Brand. I wore them in the post “British Red Skinny Jeans” and find them flattering, surprisingly comfortable and of course very sexy. The coat was featured in one of my favorite posts: “Film Noir”.
- Earrings – Anthropologie
- Pin – My grandmother’s
- Camisole – Target
- Cardigan – Sisters (Purchased at the Takapuna Pop Up Shop. To be featured here soon.)
- Faux Fur Coat – My Mother-in-Law’s, 1970′s Vintage
- Clutch – My Mother’s, late 1950′s
- Jeans – J Brand
- Pumps – Nine West
How are you wearing your red jeans?
British Red Skinny Jeans
“When in doubt wear red” – Bill Blass
Imagine my joy when my husband and I found these restored English telephone booths in a courtyard shopping mall the other weekend. Real pay phones abide within the red doors. Once they were commonplace but now finding a phone that takes quarters is a rarity.
I promise I didn’t wear the jeans for the decor – it was just serendipity.
- Jeans – J Brand
- Blouse – Splendid
- Purse – Michael Kors
- Sandals – Nine West
What do you think the red jean trend? Do you have a pair? If so, how do you wear them?
How to look great in jeans
Jeans – a curvy gal’s dilemma
A few years ago when the designer jeans trend was at it’s height, I went to Nordstroms with a few gift cards in the hopes of finding a cute skirt to add to my Spring wardrobe. As I rode up the escalator I was shocked to see myself surrounded by a sea of jeans. I am not exaggerating. The store was selling nothing but denim pants along with a few colorful tops to wear with them. There was not a dress nor a skirt to be found on the whole floor.
Even though I wasn’t all that excited about buying a pair of jeans I made the best of it and tried on about two dozen pairs. Unfortunately, within the dozens of styles and brands that they offered I could only find a few that fit and only one pair actually looked OK. I purchased the jeans, along with a printed top and a quilted vest, and left the store extremely depressed. It took years before I would venture back into Nordstroms again.
Jeans are an ongoing dilemma for me. It doesn’t matter how trendy they are, or how many there are in a store, the probability of finding a pair that even fit me is low and finding a pair that look great is nearly impossible. (The one exception is The Gap, as they do offer larger sizes.)
When I do find a pair that look good I don’t think – I just whip out the credit card. This is such a rare occurrence that it isn’t really a problem for my budget. The stars must have been aligned correctly the other day when I happened upon a great pair while shopping with a girlfriend. I had found a cute jacket and wondered how it would look over jeans, so I asked the salesperson to bring me a pair. Imagine my surprise when they looked like this:
Not only did they look cute, they were actually comfortable. I’ve spent much of my shopping life searching for jean nirvana. If I can do it so can you!
Shopping for jeans – tips for curvy gals
- The number on the tag is a guideline, nothing more. For years I would cry when I had to pass on a 12 and go up to a 14. I now realize the number is really irrelevant. Sizes vary from brand to brand, sometimes even within the same line. (When I purchased the J-Brand jeans above, I tried on a few other styles in the same size, but the other options didn’t even make it over my hips.) European sizes are different from American sizes. If the number really upsets me I go home and cut it out. What’s important is how the garment looks on you!
- Try lots of different styles, colors and brands. I’d been thinking about a pair of skinny jeans for years when I finally decided to try on a pair at Target. I was pleasantly surprised at the results, but they were about the 10th pair I dragged with me to the fitting room. Often one cut will fit well and look good, but others won’t. The only way you’ll know is to try them on.
- Shop with a friend. Not only is shopping more fun with a girlfriend, they can also tell you how the pants look from behind. Thankfully not all stores offer those horrifying surround mirrors that show you every angle under glaring, harsh, dressing room lighting. It’s much nicer to have a friend’s opinion.
One of the reasons I rarely wear pants is because of the the back view. My girlfriend assured me this pair looked great, which gave me the confidence to buy them.
- Sit down, bend over, and walk around. If the jeans aren’t comfortable you won’t wear them. One of my biggest problems with jeans (pants in general actually) is they often are too tight in the crotch. If they are I won’t wear them – ever. It doesn’t matter how nice they look.
- Check the length. Less expensive jeans tend to have shorter inseams. They also tend to vary a bit in cut within the same style. Look at all the same jeans in your size and check to see if one is longer than the others. The skinny black jeans I found at Target last year were about 3/4″ longer than the others hanging with them.
- Dark Jeans are slimming. Yes, I know – yawn – but dark jeans are also versatile. You can wear them during the day or dress them up at night. As much as I would love, love, love a pair of white jeans, I’ve yet to find a pair that look as good as I want them to.
- If it doesn’t look good on you, don’t buy it. I know there are some people who feel we should wear a trend even if it isn’t flattering on our figures. I am not one of those people. My experience tells me that there are times when the current trends all look awful on me, but I know if I’m patient a new trend will come along that will look good. For instance, skinny jeans have been the thing for a while, but they are a challenge to a woman with my kind of figure. Now I hear that flared jeans are back “in”. Yea for me!
-You win some and you loose some. There have been times in my life when I’m itching for something new and nothing looks good. I have purchased things I don’t love just because it was so much work trying everything on, but I always wish I hadn’t in the end. Leave the store and try again another day.
Wearing your jeans – tips for curvy gals
- Wear your jeans with the right shoes. Heels make your legs look longer and long legs are sexy. Ballerina flats can be cute with skinny jeans. I’m on the fence about the Converse sneakers with skinny jeans look. It’s the uniform of the local teenagers. I find it looks really cute on the less curvy girls, and really unflattering on curvy girls.
- Let your shoes be the guide to the length of the jeans. The hallmark of designer jeans is their length. My new flared jeans had a 35 1/2″ inseam. That’s long, even on my 5’9″ frame. In my highest heels they still draped on the floor. Still, their long length is one of the reasons they looks so slimming. Since I plan on wearing them only with high heels and platforms I took off about two inches, just so they break on my toes and cover a bit of my heels. I won’t be able to wear them with flats but I have other jeans for that. (Warning, if you take your jeans to be hemmed, and you want to wear said jeans with high heels, wear your heels to the tailor, otherwise they might hem them too short.)
- Camouflage the dreaded muffin top! I have fat on my hips that spills over the tops of my jeans. Not pretty. That’s where a loose knit top like the one I’m wearing in these photos comes in so handy. Other options are woven shirts that skim the area rather than cling to it. As cute as my regular tight t-shirts look when I’m standing in the mirror, after about a minute of moving around they’ve scooched up and the results are really unappealing.
- Wear a belt. The materials used in today’s denim often includes lycra, a strechy fiber that allows our modern jeans to be tight and still move with our bodies. But it tends to strech out when we move. A belt will keep the pants from sagging in the back.
- Wear undergarments that don’t show through. Wear thong-style panties with your jeans to avoid pantyline.
And finally, my most important piece of advice for looking great while wearing jeans:
SMILE!
Flared Jeans - J-Brand “Martini”
Black knit top – Barneys Co-Op
What do you think of jeans? Love them? Hate them? Do you have any other tips for looking great in jeans?
