Petite Fashion Challenge #5

Petite Fashion Challenge #5 was graciously hosted by Cynthia of Shorty Stories  and the challenge was to "brighten up your Winter blahs".  This challenge was timely as it's definitely grey and dreary out around here!

The challenge was as follows:


Create a sophisticated work appropriate look that has no more than one dark piece (it can be a skirt, pants, a blazer, sweater etc...) excluding shoes, accessories and hosiery.

So...I'm not sure how I did in the "sophisticated" aspect but I really don't have many bright main pieces!  Most of my wardrobe consists of neutrals and I throw in colour with some individual pieces or accessories.  My casual wardrobe on the other hand (especially in the Summer!) is a lot brighter.

Anyway, here it is!

Blazer:  Mexx

Dress:  mark by Avon

Necklace:  mark by Avon

Boots:  Me Too (Winners)

Tights:  Ellen Tracy - NOT petite friendly!!!

I honestly don't know if this worked or not.  I work in a casual environment and have worn this dress to work before with a cardigan but I do usually wear it in the Summer.

The dress is not a perfect fit on me, but the style of it isn't meant to be fitted.  It's actually quite comfortable to wear - perhaps I should make a point to wear it more often!

I also wasn't sure what type of necklace to wear with this dress but I opted for something long since the neck on this dress is so high.

And here's a peak at the back of the dress.  This is why I wouldn't be able to wear this dress to work without a sweater or blazer on top!  I think the back is a bit revealing for an office.  And please excuse my hair, I was having an unbelievably extra frizzy day when I took these photos so up into a hair tie it went!



I must say I'm loving these Petite Fashion Challenges as they are certainly pushing me to think more creatively!  Here are my previous entries:

Petite Fashion Challenge #1

Petite Fashion Challenge #2

Petite Fashion Challenge #3

Petite Fashion Challenge #4

To see all the other lovely petites that participated in Petite Fashion Challenge #5 please visit Cynthia at Shorty Stories for all the links.

Petite Fashion Challenge #2

After completing my first Petite Fashion Challenge I was excited to hear about Petite Fashion Challenge #2  hosted by Alterations Needed.

But then I kind of started panicking because September was filled with personal highs (friend's wedding!) and personal lows (2 funerals :(  )  and the rest of what makes life so hectic all in between.  I had pictured in my mind to turn a Summer Dress into an approprial Fall outfit which seemed easy in theory but turned out to be quite a challenge!

Here is the dress I picked:

Dress:  RW&Co size 00

Here's my spring/summer look:

Wedge Sandals:  Avon

This is a dress I ususally only wear on vacation because it's quite low cut.  Sometimes I would wear this over my bikini if we were walking around town.

So here is how I changed it to wear for Fall/Winter:

Short Sleeved Turtle Neck:  Joe Fresh

Cardigan:  Loft XSP

Boots:  Nine West

Tights and Belt:  Winners

Necklace:  Avon

I didn't want to just throw a cardigan over it and say "yay this is Fall" I wanted to really show the layering.  I put the turtle neck underneath for a bit more modesty and to make this work friendly but buttoned the 3rd button of the cardigan up so the neckline of the dress wouldn't really show.  I also liked putting on textured tights with this.  I thought it was interesting with the pattern of the dress.

So...how'd I do on my 2nd challenge?  I think this one was even more challenging than the first LOL!  But I'm so glad I did it, I would've never thought to wear this dress to work since it was so summery and revealing but now I can, YAY!

OOTD (from the weekend) all in black

Even though I've been trying to wear brighter colours or add interesting elements of colour to my wardrobe sometimes black on black is just a really easy and pulled together look.  

Top:  Joe Fresh (cheap! a few years old.) 100% silk!

Belt:  Winners

Jeans: Gap Legging Jeans faded black wash size 00 regular

Shoes:  Nine west westies size 6.5

I need to get another pair of black heels - have I ever mentioned how badly I wear out my shoes?

These could probably still be repaired by replacing the rubber at the bottom of the heels.  But seriously, this happened to ALL my shoes!  Does anyone else have this issue?  Hmmm...maybe this is my excuse to buy more shoes and rotate more often?  ;)

OOTD: adding colour to a boring outfit

As I've mentioned before I'm still learning how to "spice" up an outfit with colour.  I have this boring brown linen/cotton mix dress that I got from H&M a long time ago.  I wear it because it's one of those "throw on and go" pieces of clothing that I don't have to think about too much.  Here is how I would normally wear it:

Belt:  unknown from Winners

Pretty boring right?  Although it's a really easy outfit I always feel so "blah" wearing it. 

But it's already in my closet and it fits - I'm determined to make it work - so here is how I wore it the other day:

Dress:  H&M size 4

Earrings and Scarf:  Avon

I tried to spice it up a little with the scarf as a belt and the bold earrings.

I feel OK experimenting since most people at my work don't pay much attention to clothes and such.

So....does it work?  or is it a fail?

Date Night!

Tonight we had a date night!  Now, it was no where near as eventful as this this date night but dinner at a restaurant we've never been to before is all it takes to get me excited!

We did a little bit a shopping downtown before hand and walked over to the restaurant in the evening.  I didn't wear anything TOO exciting, but it's a bit more dressed up than my usual weekend outfits!

Jeans:  Banana Republic Trouser Jeans 0P

Top:  Jacob XS

Belt:  Danier

Necklace:  mark by Avon

I just wore flip flops - since we planned on walking around a lot I didn't want to wear heels.

Flip Flops:  Avon size 7

Today was a cloudy/sunny/cloudy day and usually the air conditioning in stores is blasting so I always bring a a cardigan of some sort

Cardigan:  Amber Blue (?)  Found at Winners

And a some pictures of my cute sandals!

We went to Urban Restaurant by the way.  If anyone is visiting Toronto I highly recommend it!

(....how are my pictures by the way?  Haven't installed photoshop yet, but I used picassa....I think they are a bit better, no?)