Jalisa

Versatile Pieces

Hi Gorgeous Ladies!

For this week's W3 post, I chose to wear a houndstooth printed blouse and red booties that may look quite familiar to you. I wore both pieces to a fashion event back in September and they were both featured in my previous video on styling houndstooth 

I personally love pieces that are versatile and can be worn in various ways and to various occassions and these pieces do just that. I wanted to showcase both looks, one from the event in September and the other for today, so you can get an idea of how you could style these pieces in two different ways. 

The look on the left is an outfit that can be worn to an event, as I did, or a date/girl's night out. The look on the right is more appropriate for a semi-casual setting, such as the office. Plus, the look on the left is more for late summer, early fall, whereas the look on the right is more suitable for the fall/winter seasons. 

I hope that this post encouraged you to work with pieces that you have in your closet in styling them in various ways in different settings, so that you can save those shekels and not have to spend double in purchasing a seperate work wardrobe! 

OUTFIT DETAILS:

BLOUSE: Marshall's

SKIRT: Express

TIGHTS: DKNY Outlet

BOOTIES: Nine West's Pendanto in Hot Cher (Outlet)

SUNGLASSES: Salvatore Ferragamo Outlet 

Minty Fresh

 I'm back with a post! It felt so wierd not posting anything yesterday, but I really needed to take a day off, since I've been extremely busy with blogging, recording, and other things, of course, in my life. But anyway, today was so beautiful and sunny out, so I was super excited to finally be able to break out my minty studded tank top that I purchased a few months back from, of course you guessed it, Marshall's! Mint is such a refreshing color, but it unfortunately doesn't work well with everyone, easily, but I will address that in my next video to go up on Monday, on colors to wear and avoid, based upon your skin/hair color. 

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and that this look inspires you :)

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Blazer:Marshall's

Tank: Marshall's

Belt: Gucci

Jeans: Guess

Shoes: Guess

Clutch: Jessica Simpson (Marshall's)

Punked in Plaid

 Hello Darling Dolls!

For today's outfit I went with a look that I've never personally worn before, a punk rocker ensemble. What inspired the look was the skirt, which I recently purchased at Marshall's. I fell in love with it and immediately thought of this look in my head and it came together just as I invisioned it. Now of course other colors and looks can be worn and created with this skirt, I actually think a nice chunky yellow sweater would look super cute paired with it. I have a cropped yellow sweater which I may style with it in the future, since it's high-waisted and my stomach won't show (I don't like exposing my stomach). Going back to the original look, I added floral laced tights to add a softer element. The scarf has a fine black and white plaid print on it as well, so I felt it went together rather nicely and added some volume to my upper body. 

 Plaid skirts, jeans, or pants are perfect for all of you apple shapes, since it adds interest, color, and contrast to your lower portions, taking away ALL of the attention which would otherwise be placed only up top. With a pair of plaid trousers or jeans, a button-up shirt paired with a sweater on top would look super trendy and chic, so I would definitley suggest you create a pairing like that. I, however, wouldn't suggest a volumized bulky sweater, since it can acutally make you appear larger on top. Go for something slightly fitted, but not tight or constricting; you don't want the shirt underneath to appear through the center part of the sweater, making it look too tight! 

 If you are a pear shape, like myself, you can clearly wear a plaid botttom, as I did here, but certainly add something on top to add interest and volume, like I did with the scarf. This will prevent ALL of the attention to be placed on your lower body, but rather your upper and lower equally. As for you rectangular and hourglass shapes, you guys would look fab in a head-to-toe plaid suit with a pair of smoked loafers, since androgynous looks work well for your shapes because of your balanced figure. If you feel that would be a bit much, then you could of course mix and match your pieces to your liking.

OUTFIT DETAILS:

LEATHER JACKET: Michael Kors (Marshall's)

SCARF: c/o Joie

SKIRT: Sam Souci (Marshall's) I LOVE THEIR SKIRTS!

TIGHTS: DKNY (outlet store)

BOOTS: Nine West's Edytheo booties (outlet store)

A Christmas Work Look

 Happy Wednesday, Guys!

So I hope you all are having a wonderfful day thus far. I can imagine how busy each of you are, since the days are getting closer and closer to Christmas, which I still can't believe!

I put together a simple, yet festive, look for the Christmas season. I know many departments or offices host a "holiday" party, which I've attended my fair share of and they were always so much fun! If yours will be hosted at your job locatioin, this would be a great outfit idea for you to wear to work the day of the party. If you don't have a red blazer, you can still accomplish the look with a red cardigan or mix and match the color pieces. For example, if you have a pair of red pants and a gold toned blazer (cream, beige, or one with gold detailing) you can substitute the pieces.

 I hope this look inspires you and if you do have holiday parties at your office or job, please share below you experience. What is it like? When I was working at a psychiatric institute, each floor and department (lab) had their own "floor" parties. We all brought something, although we didn't have to. Some people brought traditional dishes, representing their culture and some were more American holiday traditional food. All I know was that it was so much fun removing the lab coat and sitting back and relaxing for a couple of hours, until there was a phone call of course!

THE DETAILS:

BLAZER: New York & Company

TROUSERS: New York & Company Avenue pant

SHOES: Nine West's Adalina shoes (Marshall's)

BELT: Michael Kors (Marshall's)

Jersey Dresses

 Hello all my hard working ladies!

So we're officially mid way through the work week. Although I know I can't really complain because it feels as though the week has been flying by and I hope the same is true for you! 

When it comes to jersey dresses, it can be a bit challenging to work with, since the material is very stretchy. Now that could of course be a good thing, since it can stretch over those curves, however, sometimes they can show traces of cellulite, so you want to be careful! To ensure the appearance of a smooth surface, try wearing undergarments, such as Spanx, to help hold things in nicely. Please understand that cellulite does not descriminate! It's not only found in thick and curvier women, it can also be present on thinner girls, too! I even have a few and so do many celebrities. Much of it has to do with hormones, which I highly suggest eating foods that are organic and not injected with antibiotics or other forms of hormones. When you're consuming meat that has been treated with hormones, they enter you upon eating, so take that into consideration. Perhaps one day I'll do a post on how to minimize cellulite, since I get a lot of quesions on my diet and excerise routine since I mentioned that I lost 20-25lbs 8 years ago and I had a whole lot back then, ew! 

 If you don't like wearing undergarments, such as Spanx, because you feel they're a bit too constricting, you can always wear tights. They're a fun way to enhance your outfit, while holding everything in place, but no one needs to know that, shh! 

OUTFIT DETAILS:

DRESS: New York & Company

BLAZER: Nordstrom Rack

TIGHTS: DKNY Outlet Store

SHOES: Nine West 

PURSE: Louis Vuitton Alma GM

NECKLACE: Express 

COAT: Vince Camuto's Faux Fur Collar Coat (Marshall's)

Working With Florals

 Today's post is all about florals! It's officially spring, even if the weather doesn't want to admit it and that means that we'll be seeing a lot of florals in our favorite stores! So, I wanted to provide you guys with some tips on styling floral pieces. Even though combining patterns and prints have been a trend for a while now, you have to be very careful when doing this because you don't want your look to clash and give off an "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying to be fashionable" type of vibe! With that said, I want to stress the importance of working with only one floral printed item and use that as the focal point of the look.

As you can see down below, I'm wearing a floral skirt with a variety of colors and I wanted to bring out some of them by wearing solids that were the same color, along with matching accessories. To bring out both the purplish and green colors, I chose to wear a white cami underneath the purple cardigan to allow the color to pop, as did the colors against the white base color of the skirt. I then brought out the green, the stem of the flowers, by wearing a pair of green heels. I loved the purple so much, I chose only accessories within that color scheme to bring more attention to it. If you prefer the yellow in the flowers, then you would wear a yellow cardigan or top and shoes. Whichever color you use the most is what will control the eyes to see more of in the skirt. If you were to wear a floral top, for example, you would choose one of the colors in your top to wear as a bottom, within that color scheme, if not identical. If you wanted to feature other colors that are in the top, you could do that as well, but perhaps with accessories, including shoes and/or a handbag. 

I hope you found this helpful and the info for where I purchased everything is located at the bottom of the post! 

What I'm Wearing:

New York & Company cardigan

New York & Company skirt (old)

Gucci Guccissima Soft Metallic shoe in the color Selva from DSW

Louis Vuitton Alma GM in Rouge Fauviste

Multifunctional Pieces

 Hello Gorgeous Ladies!

Now, I know some of you may be a bit confused as to why there's a W3 post up today, since it's not Wednesday. The reason is that I'll most likely be attending an event tomorrow, which I'll be covering here on the blog. I said most likely because if you've been following the news lately, you've already heard that there's yet another snow storm heading to New York late tonight and won't stop until tomorrow afternoon. That being said, I still don't know if the event will be postponed for another date. I don't remember ever having experienced so many snow storms in such a short period of time. Our last one was yesterday! Not to mention that I believe the one coming my way tomorrow is number four. 

Anyway, moving right along to the subject of this week's W3 post, mulitifuntional pieces. I can't stress the importance of purchasing pieces that you could create both casual and business-casual looks with. It's kind of getting a good bang for your buck, since you can wear it in various ways/settings. I like to show you all how I style one piece in various ways, since I've noticed you guys really like those kind of posts, and also because it gives you some ideas on creating looks for both the office and leisure, if you have similar pieces or would like to keep my suggestions in mind for your next shopping trip. 

 When I wore this look casually, I pretty much used the same color scheme, cobalt and pink. These two colors are complimentary colors, so they work and blend rather nicely, especially on you cool toned ladies. For the office look, I decided to pair the sweater, our multifunctional piece for this post, with a grey pencil skirt and grey opaque tights. To break up the darkness on the bottom, I chose to wear multicolor shoes that have a touch of pink and purple. 

I belted the sweater because it's an oversized ribbed sweater and in this case, as mentioned in this week's video, all you pair shapes could wear a thinner waist belt, like the one I'm wearing. Adding the waistbelt re-establishes our waistline, as well as adds a focal point that ties in with the color scheme we chose, cobalt and pink. I also want to point out that the grey works well with the cobalt pairing, since grey has a blue undertone, which is why again, all you cool toned beauties would look great in it. However, I do suggest you work with pops of color, like the pink, to prevent from looking ashy (all you darker ladies). 

THE DETAILS:

SWEATER: Marshall's

PENCIL SKIRT: Express

TIGHTS: DKNY (outlet store)

SHOES: Nine West's Puravidao (outlet store)

NECKLACE: Charming Charlie

BRACELET: Caché

Something Floral

 Today was such a beautiful day, a true spring day! So, of course, I wanted to wear something floral and springy. As I mentioned a few W3 posts ago, when working with floral prints, you want to wear something solid on the opposite part of the body. In this case, I'm wearing floral jeans, so I chose to wear a solid black lace tank top with a solid blue blazer, paired with a solid black scarf with some gold detailing. Although some designers mix and match patterns on the runway, I've never been a fan of it, I feel that it's just way too busy for my liking. But at the same time, if I see a woman wearing a printed top and bottom and she looks hella confident wearing it, I think it would change my mind, for that particular woman. I just feel that confidence makes anything look good, wouldn't you agree?! So if you're one who likes to wear crazy colors and prints, by all means, forfeit my advice and go for it and work it ;) 

The Details:

Forever 21 blazer

Arden B. floral jeans

BCBGeneration shoes

Scarf from Marshall's

Tory Burch Amanda Tote

Chambray in the Office 

Good morning Loves!

Yesterday I posted a look using this chambray shirt and I mentioned how I was going to style another look, one for work, to show how you could wear such a casual shirt in a more business casual enviornment. Even though I paired it with a leather skirt here, you could definitely wear it with a pair of black, red, white, or even canary yellow trousers, and it would look fab! The reason I chose to pair the shirt with a leather skirt is because I felt the textures worked really well togehter, since the shirt is softer than the leather. When working with leather pieces, I like to blend softer and lighter pieces with them, to prevent the look from appearing stiff, stuffy, and just plain uncomfortable. What I also like about this look is that if you have more of an edgy style, this would be a great way to showcase that at work, while still being appropriate. 

 When it comes to choosing the best chambray shirt for you, there are so many different washes and patterns, you want to keep your shape in mind. For instance, if you are anapple shape, I'd suggest you go for a darker wash that doesn't have any fading, since white fading has the tendency to brighten and enlarge. However, you can go with a print like the one on my shirt, since it's a very small print that will not over enhance your upper body, or you could just go with a plain dark wash.

 For you pear shapes, I suggest going for something along the lines of what I'm wearing here. The reason is because not only does it have a pattern, but it also has some fading going on in the bust area, which is where us pear shape gals need it, since our busts could easily dissapear under a button-up, due to the extra fabric and it's natural folding. The same is true for you rectangular shapes. Both shapes don't necessarily have to wear a shirt that's printed, if it's a medium wash with a slight fade, it'll work. I also wanted to mention that when it comes to styling these types of shirts, button-ups in general, yourectangular shapes want to make sure that you're wearing a high waisted bottom, to bring attention to that waistline, which will also autmoatically enhance your bust line, preventing you form appearing frumpy and overwhelmed by fabric.

Finally, you hourglass shapes should select a medium wash. Dark washes will visually shrink your bust area, while light washes will enhance it too much, which is why I feel a medium wash would work best for you. You could of course play around with different patterns as well. 

THE DETAILS:

SHIRT: David Bitton Buffalo Jeans (Marshall's)

SKIRT: Thrifted

SHOES: Nine West

NECKLACE: New York & Company 

Plaid

 Are you all ready for the big day tomorrow?! Did you get the turkey yet or are you one of those who waits until the last minute? Don't feel bad, I used to be, too. Especially when I was taking seven science classes one semester for my undegraduate degree, yes, those days were nothing short than stressful! But anyway, I wanted to share this outfit idea with all of you, since it's centered around a popular trend this season, plaid. Plaid, like houndstooth, is a timeless classic piece, which means that you'll get so many uses out of your piece for years and years to come. I purchased this cropped blazer about two years ago at H&M. It had a matching bottom that they didn't have in my size, so I just purchased the blazer. A complete head-to-toe plaid look would look amazing on all you rectangular and hourglass shapes. As I mentioned in this week's video (watch HERE), these two shapes look great with looks that have a full on pattern theme going on. But for those of us who fall into the pear and apple shape categories, we can still sport the trendy classic, just in different ways to flatter our shapes. 

 The way I'm wearing the pattern here is ideal for the pear shape, since it's causing the focus to be placed on the upper body. To cause the eye to mainly focus on the statment blazer, I worked with a solid colored grey pencil skirt, which tied in with the color scheme of the blazer. Also, notice how the blazer is somewhat cropped? These types of blazers and jackets are great for the pear shape, since they stop above the fullest part of the hips, not adding any unwanted width and volume. If you are an apple shape, then experiment with a plaid trouser and a solid colored top that fits in with the color palette, as I did with my look. This will have the opposite effect and cause the eyes to focus downward. 

OUTFIT DETAILS:

BLAZER: H&M

SHORT SLEEVE TURTLE NECK: H&M

SKIRT: Express

NECKLACE: Express

TIGHTS: DKNY Outlet

SHOES: Nine West Outlet 

Original post-http://www.jalisasfashionfiles.com/