Dressing for Everyday - Double Breasted Coat with Brocade Pants

I love love love clothes. I love them so much that I have been wearing them for most of my life! Hehe :)

But for reals, clothes are great. I mean I was a costume designer for years. I spent most of my adult life (and even before that) studying, making, researching, designing, and styling clothes. I would love to do more blogging about fashion. I want to be able to offer a look into dressing for real life.

As I have said before my sister, Annie, is pretty much the coolest person I know. For reals. She is beautiful and has a great wardrobe. She has a wonderful eye for classic fashion. So, I asked her to work with me to do some fashion posts.

We want to show how we work fashion into our different lifestyles on a budget. Annie is a college student who is a major free-spirit. She spends her days going to class, studying, hanging out with friends, drinking coffee and making art. I am a mom. I spend my days doing laundry, feeding a constantly hungry two year old, juggling an infant, and changing diapers. I think we cover a good amount of lifestyles.

We are both pretty classic dressers. Annie is a little more trendy than I am. But we both tend lean vintage whenever we can. We believe that dressing for your body and in items that make you feel great is the key to endless style. And endless style is the goal! (Or not looking bad in photos 15 years from now is the goal.)

Annie an I truly believe that clothes can change your life. So, we are going to start posting some really great outfits to be inspired by. We want to show how putting together a great wardrobe can be easy, fun and if you are smart, it won't break the bank! The first look Annie put together is a mix of thrifted, vintage, sale and designer pieces. Its perfect! Exactly the way we like to dress.

Its a classic look with a few modern elements thrown in for some sass. The coat (ZARA) is the most expensive part of this look and it was a gift. Aren't those gold buttons and zippers to die for? The pants have a great subtle brocade pattern to them which is so classic and the shape of the pants shows off Annie's figure and her cute red ballet flats. Under her ZARA coat she is wearing a little cream lace shell she found in a hole-in-the-wall vintage shop in Ireland for about the same amount as an Irish pint. And her blazer is a thrifted H&M, it brings the whole thing together with a slight sheen and a button right at the waist to highlight her smallest area. Oh, and her gloves are from Cracker Barrel, my mom said that I had to make sure you all knew that fun fact.

I love this look for everyday, running around town, picking up groceries, getting coffee, taking the kids to soccer, etc... Its a great look, but its also easy. And easy is good for busy lives.

Top ........ Cream Lace Shell ........ Vintage (here's a similar one at Express)
Blazer ........ Denim Blazer ........ Thrifted H&M (old, but here's a similar one at J. Crew)
Pants ........ Black Brocade Cigarette ........ Target (old, but here's a similar one from Sanctuary at Zappos)
Shoes ........ Red Flats ........ Thrifted (here's a similar pair from Tory Burch at Farfetch)
Coat ........ Black with Gold Buttons ........ ZARA (here's a similar one from ZARA)
Gloves ........ Black ........ Cracker Barrel (*smile*)

Dressing for the job you WANT, not the job you HAVE.

This is a re-post from my old blog True Story. I posted it while in college, it was originally intended to help my fellow theatre students prepare for South Eastern Theatre Conference. SETC is a four day conference for theatre people, including interviews for designers and technicians and auditions for actors and dancers. Our university took a group of students every year so that we would have the opportunities to get summer jobs and make connections.

One of the things that drove me crazy about SETC was that almost no one knew how to dress well. The actors always looked nice, but the technicians and "behind the scenes" folks were always sloppy. This is generally the case with theatre. Sorry to say, but its true. I believe that EVERYONE should dress for the job they want and not the job they have (thank you Stacy and Clinton!)

Whether you like it or not, what you wear speaks volumes. You are judged by what you wear, and first impressions count! Especially in the job-seeking community.

I have a few notes about this post. a) it was before Pinterest, so if you want some really great inspiration check out Pinterest. b) it was written specifically for my fellow theatre students, but that doesn't mean that it isn't applicable for other young professionals. c) I do not have the rights to that info-graphic, not sure where it is from.

I think this is great information. Hopefully its helpful!

XOXO,
Coco


Here is my original post:

Dressing for the Job


Many of people have been asking me what to wear for SETC and USITT and Portfolio Review Day. I thought I would post something about the research and expediencies I have had on this subject.

First of all, I would just say go for something professional. Colors and styles are up to you. You want to express your personality, but a refined version of you.You want to look like you are taking this opportunity seriously and therefore you should dress as such.

Also, with SETC and events like it, where you will be there for a few days and need to be professional the whole time, it is better to pick things that are interchangeable and items that you can mix-and-match well. Pick either black, brown, or navy and that's your base color. Then pick your other colors and pieces to match the base. Then you can bring one pair of shoes (very comfortable shoes, because you will be walking a lot) and one bag, only a few accessories that will match everything. You should bring one casual outfit, like jeans and a nice blouse, so that if we go out you will have something to wear, but even this should be nice. The city will be full of SETC people and you will run into them everywhere you go.

If you are working on building your professional wardrobe (which everyone should have), you should look for items that are built well, fit you well and that are timeless (not trendy). You don't want to hide behind your clothes and you don't want your clothes to speak for you. You want something that will not be distracting to what you have to say.

Basics for women:

• Pencil skirt/A-line skirt
• Dress pants
• Oxford blouse (white is good) or dress blouse of sorts
• Blazer
• Vest (everyone knows how much I love vests!)
• Cardigan sweater
• Fashion scarf (not intended to keep you warm)
• LBD (people says not to wear a dress to an interview, but I don't agree. If the dress is professional, no party dresses PLEASE)
• Sensible (and comfortable) heels
• Sensible (and comfortable) flats

Basics for men:

• Suit (you can break it up, wearing the pieces separately)
• Tie (they are not that hard to tie, get over it)
• V-neck sweater
• Trousers
• Dress shoes/loafers (though, I do love a good suit and a pair of Chuck Taylors!)

If you want more search the web! There aren't a lot of search results for "What to wear to a theatre interview" so instead look for "What to wear to an arts interview," or "What to wear to a fashion interview," Check out these sites:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2184627_dress-interview-art-gallery.html
http://www.collegefashion.net/fashion-tips/how-to-dress-for-a-job-interview/
http://www.fashionunder100.net/2009/09/savvy-stylist-casual-job-interview.html
http://www.durham.edu.on.ca/s_links/schools/dce/Images/dresscode.gif
http://blog.modcloth.com/2009-10-22-closet-confidential-putting-it-all-together

Diaper FAIL! (and how to fix it)

I love my son. I love being his mommy. I love almost everything that being a mommy brings to my life. 

One thing I do not love is the crazy amount of laundry I have to do on what seems like a daily basis. I especially do not love the nasty diaper explosions that just ruin his (and sometimes my) clothes. 

Since there is no handbook for new moms (if only!) I have had to do lots of on-the-job-training. This diaper fail thing is one of the many tricks I have picked up over the past eight months. 

Here is the before.

Pretty nasty, right?

Well, thankfully, I have experience with laundry.

I have learned a trick or two from my days of washing actors clothing for a living. Its relatively unbelievable what actors can do to a costume in the short amount of time that they actually wear the piece of clothing. Anyway, years of getting stains of blood, sweat, chocolate, hairspray, paint, etc... out of costumes overnight (in time for the next show) has taught me a thing or two. 

If you have ever tried to get poop stains out of your babies clothing you know how hard it is to really make it go away. Well here is your answer! I have even used this system on poop stains that are days old. I have done this so many times that I can pretty much guarantee it will work.

Step One: 

Rince the poop off the item of clothing.

(To be honest, sometimes I skip this step, but then there are poop flecks, eww, floating around the bucket.) 

Step Two:

 

Spray stain with Oxi Clean Laundry Stain Remover

Step Three:

Put a scoop of Oxi Clean Perfume and Dye Free Verstile Stain Remover in the bottom of a laundry bucket. Add enough hot water to swish around in the bucket and mix with the Oxi Clean. You want the powder to be totally disolved.  I use the Perfume and Dye Free Oxi Clean because my son has sensitive skin, but the other stuff works just as well.

Step Four:

Fill the bucket about 3/4 full with hot water, I usually do this in the bathtub.

Step Five:

Add your poopy (or stained) clothing. Stir the clothes into the solution with a wooden spoon (make sure you dedicate this spoon to laundry and it never gets put back in your kitchen) or with your hand.

Step Six:

Let sit for a few hours or over night. If you remember, give the solution a stir every once and awhile.

Step Seven:

Dump the whole solution and clothes into the washer with your normal load of baby clothes and normal detergent. Run it through whatever cycle you usually use for baby clothes, I always use hot/cold settings, and then dry like normal.

There you go! Thats it! 

Happy baby with clean clothes.  

This works super well for poop stains and I have used it to freshen up kitchen towels and other items around the house. Its a really easy way to keep your kids clothes looking nice and clean. 

NOTE: I have only tried this with breast milk poop, not sure how it would work with formula poop.