From Swans to Stripes

On Saturday night, I attended the Pacific Northwest Bloggers Holiday Party in Portland.  I was nervous and had no idea what to wear.  I ended up in this:

Franco Sarto "Leticia" - image via Nordstrom

Why?  Well, I figured nothing says “holiday” like swans (except, you know, maybe Santa, holly, elves or whatever) and nothing says “blogger” like a blazer with pushed up sleeves, so I wore a black blazer (Gap), with the sleeves pushed up, over my swan print dress (eShakti ).  I then remembered that bloggers also enjoy pattern mixing, so I added sheer polka dot tights (Spanx via Nordstrom) to the look and finished it up with Mary Jane pumps (Franco Sarto “Leticia” via Nordstrom).

And I think the look was well-received.  There were so many bloggers there that I didn’t actually even meet them all, but I believe my swans put those I did talk to at ease, because we chatted like old friends.  The lesson here?  Never under estimate the power of a swan dress, folks.

For today, I’ve gone from swans to stripes:

But, I kept the pattern mixing because I like to maintain my blogger street cred, even while at my day job.

Today’s mix comes from the striped ¾-sleeve tee (Target) and plaid scarf (DIY’d).  I also wore a red, button-front skirt (vintage, Goodwill) and gray, suede boots (Circa Joan & David via Piperlime).  I thought I’d give suede a shot as it wasn’t supposed to rain today; it started to rain as I took my pictures.  I love Oregon weather.

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Gracey