And the Oscar goes to...

Hey everyone,

I wanted to remind you that the Oscars are tonight, and I am so excited! This year in the film industry there were so many incredible Oscar deserving films. Some of my favorites include: Black Swan, Inception, The Fighter, The Social Network, The Kids Are Alright and The Kings Speech. I cannot wait to see who the winners of the most coveted award are tonight. Who are you rooting for? Great writers, performances and acts, the show is one of a kind. I hope James Franco and Anne Hathaway do a great job as hosts for the show. The young actor and actress came as a surprise as this year's hosts. Not only are these two not comedians but they are also both very young, in fact the youngest hosts in Oscar history. So I guess only time will tell to see how Hathaway and Franco do as hosts.

Don't forget about an extremely important part of the Academy Awards, the Red Carpet! I recommend watching the coverage on E! They always get great interviews and have fun personalities, and really focus on the fashion! I cannot wait to see the dresses, tuxedos, jewelry, and hair (not to mention the good, the bad and the ugly!). I'll post my favorites from the night, so check back!

Hope you all have a great 83rd Oscars night!

Things I love this week

I am a little bit of a creeper, but I was obsessed with this girl's outfit. You can't quite tell, but there was a great runner, sporty feel to her leggings. Her tank top was nice and long, and seriously distressed. It was also thin to perfection. I wish I would have gotten her head in this picture because her american apparel zip up was over her head, she was wearing this distressed denim vest and she had a great pair of ray bans. Not to mention her hair was dark and long, with a little bit of a wave. This is the ideal grunge look for me and it seems to be a popular look on the UW-Madison's campus. Love it.

Ashely Olsen is channeling the hobo(esque) look but I am in love with her fur hat. If she wasn't wearing it I would probably mistake her for a bag lady, but the hat makes her look chic with a bit of the Olsen's flawless layered look.

One of my favorite bloggers, something navy, posted this on her blog. I am in love with her apartment. The black couch looks so comfy and so chic, the silver staircase is beyond cool and the shag rug is basically awesome. Wish I lived here.

I have a love/hate relationship with pink, I don't ever wear it (but I don't really wear any color) but I have so much pink stuff. Lamps, bedding, phone cover, laptop cover... you name it. I love this outfit, the different shades of pink are so harmonizing with one another. The bright hue of the pink stockings, with the light almost baby pink of a tunic with the pink nail polish is so appealing. But my favorite part is the tiny turquoise ring that is perfectly complementary with the entire outfit.

I love Liv Tyler, I think she is so beautiful and has such a unique look. I love that this picture of her looks so grunge, but she looks so angelic in her lace pink outfit.

New York Fashion Week: The Row

You all should know by now how much I admire Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, so for my first post on New York's Fashion Week it makes the most sense to post about The Row. Some may not agree with their Fall 2011 show, some may be upset over the fact they didn't have an official runway show, but a one-on-one interview type show. But I believe that most (especially PETA) would be upset over their extreme use of fur in their collection. Among the tailored suits, menswear for woman, and a hint of color, the majority of their collection was taken over by fox fur. Fur jackets, vests, hats, even fox shirts were created for their Fall 2011 collection. They also introduced a line of luxury hand bags (made from crocodile) and the cutest shoes! I know it's not the best but I love me some fur, I grew up in a fur loving household. My mom wears her full length mink coat during winter every year, she has three of them, along with her fur coat she has a lovely fur headband. When I was growing up I would wear this cute little rabbit fur coat to all the high holiday services, and when I got a little older it was passed on to my younger sister. So as bad as loving fur is, I do love the Olsen's line. When I think of old, glamorous fashion I always think of a draped white fur coat, it seems as if Mary-Kate and Ashley are trying to capture old Hollywood glamour. I think the mixture of their iconic menswear styles and the fox fur is such a classic look. Another favorite from their collection are these incredible leopard TOMS shoes, they are so unique not only are they TOMS (which you usually don't see with a fur coat, let alone on a runway) but they are cashmere and affordable! Can't wait for these to be accessible to the public, can't wait for my pair! Check out the Rows Fall 2011 line, what do you think of the fur?

Versace, Versace, Versace

From the Golden Globes to the Grammy's I have seen so many stars dressed to perfection. However there has been a repetitive style in a few of the award shows, worn by Jennifer Hudson (Grammy's), January Jones (Golden Globes) and Blake Lively (not at an award show but the Loraine Schwartz Collection). All three of these lovely ladies, who happen to be three of my absolute favorites, were on my best dressed list. All showing off some skin and some pretty awesome fringe donned these beautiful Versace gowns. Luckily there were no exact repeats, but these Versace styles do happen to be very similar in cut, shape and look, but all with their own special something. These dresses are so different than what we normally see on the red carpet that they deserve some special recognition. The bustiers on each of these dresses have such beautiful detailing. Jennifer Hudson's is my favorite of the three, I love the deep navy color and the hint of sparkle around the torso and bust. (She looks great with her recent weight loss!) She can really pull of the dress, love that her hair is down as well, the straight sleek look goes great with the dress. Which is your favorite?

tribal wear continued...

I have continued my search for a less expensive tribal necklace and I found something! It's not exactly the same as the necklace I showed here, but the necklace I found from TopShop has a much more modern look. I think it is a great find, and maybe even better that it's more modern. You can buy it from TopShop for $30, a much better price for a college student's budget. You know me, I love the black and white, this would look great on a really bright red dress or even a black sweater-- the lack of color in this necklace makes it super versatile!

tribal wear

If you've been looking at any fashion websites or clothing stores you would find that tribal necklaces are the new big thing. I think the tribal necklace is a great addition if you're a minimalist dresser like I am. I tend to wear lots of neutrals, not too many colors in my closet. . .yes it's a serious problem (I've been looking for the cure, a nice red accent). But sometimes my jewelry can be slightly boring and then the whole outfit is so drab, and this tribal necklace can definitely add some fab (it's true)! You can find this necklace at Max&Chloe, it's a little pricey. I tried looking for a similar necklace that was closer to a college students budget, but I had no luck. I'll continue looking and post any of my finds!

Loving the Tassels

I have been following the blog cupcakes and cashmere for a while now and I truly love her blog. A few weeks ago she posted this tassel garland wall hanging and I was immediately obsessed. The pink and peaches, the shimmer, I just love it! Unfortunately the company that makes these lovely wall hangings, ConfettiSystem, sells them for $130! Yikes, not in my budget (Maybe one day). So I decided that I would make my own. I headed to Michaels and picked up some tissue paper, and a nice ribbon to accent the colors I planned on using.

This is my inspiration:

I was prepared to have to make my own version of this wall hanging, I did a few testers on some of the colors I did not like and I found that it was pretty difficult to get that twist at the top. I ended up changing my whole plan and my end product was not exactly what I had hoped for, but I am pretty happy with the result!

Didn't have the best lighting in my room, but my wall hanging stretches about 6 or 7 feet. I tried giving it a different look making some of the tissue paper tassels different lengths.

The ribbon I used was a good choice, it has wire on both edges to keep it sturdy. The simplicity of the gold doesn't overwhelm the wall hanging either. I had originally chosen a really sparkly brown ribbon but switched to this ribbon, so happy with my decision!

This is what it looked like before I hung it up, I was still putting it together, but thought the overlap looked pretty cool. Like one big pom-pom.

Adding Textile

Mary-kate and Ashley have just launched a NEW line of clothing, TEXTILE Elizabeth & James. It will be available for purchase in March, I cannot wait to see what this new line will bring!

This picture is of them at their launch party, along side is their newly famous younger sister, Elizabeth (who their company is named after)!

Luck can change...when shopping

I am not that person who usually has the best finds, or is lucky enough to find the perfect dress and it just so happens to be 60% off, trust me I am not that person (or that lucky). But last week something happened, I found so many great finds. . . and they were all on sale! I was a little overwhelmed with my luck that I didn't know what to do, but well, buy them all. It's not like this happens to me very often so I had to seize the moment. As you should know by now I go to school in Madison and I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to have college sale nights. Last Thursday at urban outfitters they were having a promotion, if you had a student id all sale was an EXTRA 50% off!! Of course, I took advantage and all though I had to wait in line for SO LONG, I knew it would be worth it. I found a distressed, slightly faded pair of levi jeans for $15 (score), I found a beige, very soft alternative apparel tank top for $5 (score), and I found this black tank top/dress that had a pretty rocker design on it that was $5 (score). I was pretty pleased with my finds, but I was even happier when I decided to go back (see if I had missed any good finds) and I found the most perfect shoes. Jeffrey Campbell boat shoes in a perfect powder blue, they were $20 (SCORE)! I cannot wait until it's nice enough outside to wear them!

Like I had stated before I am lucky enough to live in Madison where the ONLY shopbop.com store, bop, is located. They were having a maxwell street days sale and it was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, sales on items that were originally $400 can only be discounted to a point, but it was fun doing a bit of window shopping there. I was lucky enough to find a nice pair of black Splendid leggings (I can always use another pair of leggings) and I found this very cute, very chic tank top by James Perse, that was relatively inexpensive and my favorite color, a play off olive green. I did do a little bit more shopping... but you'll just have to wait to check out those purchases.

How cute are these shoes!?

Next Stop: JCrew ?

I thought this was the best shoot J.Crew has had in a very long time. I loved the idea of romantic hollywood. They gave a whole different look to the spring 2011 line, it is so romantic and delicate. These photos are so unique, modeling behind the Hollywood sign, in the backlots of the Hollywood studios, and my personal favorite the Stahl House (the 360 degree view of Los Angeles). I recommend checking out all of their photos from this shoot, they are pretty awesome! Next Stop: Hollywood

JCrew Spring 2011

The look on the left is my personal favorite, not the biggest fan of the vest but everything else she is wearing I love! The Chambray shirt is a play on denim, but is so light and easy that is perfect. I recently found a black button up that is 100% cotton and is so light that it looks just perfect, reminds me of this shirt. The pixie pants in this outfit are also great, I have a different version of these that I wear obsessively. They are thick leggings that look great in a dressy situation, but look super cute with a chunky sweater (very versatile). But my absolute favorite part of the outfit are the sandals! During the summer I might wear the same thing a lot but I could switch sandals everyday, I always am looking for the next best pair and these Odeon sandals are just it, they are Italian made with beautiful soft suede and come in 4 different colors. I want them.

I posted the picture on the right because, well, I have a little celebrity crush on Sam Page. He just happened to be their guest model in their spring 2011 shoot. But I do also like the striped dress, very easy and they added a nice touch with the skinny brown belt.