A Year In Fashion

It’s been an insane couple of weeks (when is it not?). Brady and I are in NY (check my instastories to see what we’re up to), the girls are holding down the office, it’s the last real week of summer here in the states, which is always crazy because so many people are out of office all over the country, and my birthday is right around the corner. Which isn’t really adding to the physical work load, but it’s happening. So this week we’ve pulled together some “blog in review” posts, rounding up some of my favorite content from the past year. For new readers it’ll be a fun way to check out some of our favorite posts that you may not have seen yet, and for our loyal readers it’ll be a little revisit (or maybe you’re busy enjoying the end of summer like 80% of the people I know). Either way, we’ll be back with new content next week! But for now, let’s take a look back at my favorite fashion posts from this year.

I’ve always thought that fashion and interior design are in the same wheel house. Now I’m not saying that I could just up and start being a clothing stylist, but the clothes I wear on a day to day basis are a pretty good reflection of my style in areas like color, structure, and comfort. Back in my Design Star days I was wearing a lot more vintage, a lot more color, and a lot more pattern. And that’s kind of how I was designing too. These days I’m still mixing in the vintage, but I’ve refined my color palette a bit, and have started prioritizing comfort and quality over high heels and fast fashion. And as my career’s grown I’ve been fortunate to be able to spend a little more on some amazing independent and conscious brands that I’m happy I can support. But that doesn’t mean I won’t rock a pair of $25 sloggers from Amazon when I’m out in the backyard, or shimmy into a pair of amazing Target jeans (they’ve really been upping their fashion game in the past two years).

Because of my job I tend to spend a decent amount of time in front of my mirror, my entire closet spread out on the bed and floor, figuring out how to dress myself for an event, being on camera, or a photo session (pre, during, and post pregnancy too) – which means I try on a LOT of clothing every year, both high-end and super affordable. When I find pieces I love I want to share them with you guys, just like when I discover a new paint color I start using in every room or a styling trick I’m obsessed with. So this year we’ve been trying to do a little more fashion content than we have in the past, and so far a lot of you seem into it. Here are some of my favorite fashion posts from the past year (and hopefully a lot of the links are still up and working, just in case you do fall in love with anything).

Affordable Fashion Essentials – This post came together when I was shopping for some closet staples to get me through LA’s mild seasonal shifts, and adapting to a new house. That meant adding a rain coat and boots to my closet, and a few workhorse pieces that could handle warm and chilly evenings in the new backyard.

What I Wore April 2017 – For a while I was trying to do monthly “What I Wore” posts, which didn’t last too long (mostly because forcing myself to pose for fashion-y photos when I’m not a model made me feel weird, so I would keep pushing off shooting them). But spring brought a bunch of really good new pieces with it, so I forced myself in front of the camera to share ’em.

18 Things I’ve Bought, Almost Bought, or Am Going to Buy – You know those days when you have 1 billion tabs open, and 10-20 things in each cart on each tab, and then you get so overwhelmed that you just close all the tabs without buying anything? That’s kind of where this post came from – a bunch of pieces that I’d recently bought, wanted to buy, or almost bought.

Quick Casual Fashion – Another one of those “What I Wore” posts, this one from February. A lot of good pieces that I’m still mixing into my wardrobe today (and will be even more as it starts getting colder).

Transitioning Your Fashion for the Seasons – This post was part of a bigger collaboration I did with ThredUP (an online thrift store), all about my personal style. In this post I took three different pieces and styled them for both fall and spring, to show that pieces can transition from warm to cool weather (heatwaves and blizzards excluded).

Fourth of July 2017 – Finding the perfect outfit for a holiday can be a fun, exciting, stressful, time consuming, and a terrifying process. Luckily I have two toddlers, so anything I wear will be dirty and stained within 60 seconds regardless, so there’s really no pressure. But looking pulled together for those 60 seconds can feel nice. When it came time to get dressed for our 4th of July BBQ I pulled together a quick-round up of pieces that would fit the red, white, and blue theme but also work in the rest of a summer wardrobe too. Obviously there’s no reason to buy a whole new outfit for every holiday or event, but if the piece can keep working beyond the event then it’s totally justifiable, right?

Ruffle Tops – I have, and probably always will, love a boxy peplum. Last August I had reached a new height in ruffled-bottom top ownership, and everyone was noticing. Instead of letting them make me feel weird I created this round-up to let people know what they were missing out on.

What I Wore November 2016 – Ahh, fall in Los Angeles . . . chilly 70 degree days and freezing 50 degree nights. Guys, it can still get up to 90 degrees in December here. NINTY! It doesn’t really get cold until January, and then it kinda only lasts through February. But we’re used to it, so we still blast the heater in the mornings when it’s 60. Also, I was prepping to go shoot in some chillier locations when I put this post together (hence the peacoat and sweaters).

Summer 2017 Essentials – What we DO get here in LA are hot summers. Really, really hot, dry summers. And when you’ve got kids that means a lot of summer days at the park, in the backyard, and at water related locations (the beach, pools, lakes, etc.). This round-up was all about summer fashion, and included some pretty life-changing bathing suit revelations.

There you go folks, some of my favorite fashion content from the past year. If it’s not your jam, never fear, we’ve got some awesome design content planned. But if you’re into it, stay tuned because we’re gonna keep putting it out and let us know in the comments the type of fashion posts you’d love to see.