Weekend Inspiration

The forecast predicts rain all weekend, but I have gathered visual inspiration to (hopefully) prevent cabin fever. I will keep in mind all the following colors and patterns and hope they inspire a creative endeavor or two while I am stuck indoors. Check them out:

Brazilian floor mats colored with all-natural vegetable dyes. Simple colors and patterns, but still visually appealing. I love the middle one the best!

 I love the embellishment of her blouse/necklace/who knows what. Tonal but lavish and it looks like she just threw it on yet is decidedly glamorous.

This lady is rocking the Thakoon for NARS nail collection that doesn't debut until May 1st. There is enough bright, cheery color to keep the rainy day blues at bay a few times over! (official page here).

The girls from WERELSE did a collection for Mango and I love this boldly-colored scarf printed with an octopus design. I wish the website had a picture of the whole scarf, though?!

 
Rain will not prevent me from going to the flea market as I am on a serious hunt for a bar cart and decanters/related accessories! Hopefully I will have some DIY projects or some awesome vintage scores to report next week. Have a great weekend!

Color-Pop-Goes-My-Brain And I Take On A Project

Let me start by saying I love gray. I love it so much I try to make it seem cooler by spelling it "grey"...

But I have noticed that grey is becoming a default color (or lack thereof) in my wardrobe. Winter dressing is a challenge for me because of all these new acoutrements that freezing temperatures necessitate; how do I make everything work together?! My mornings seem to go like this:
1) Assemble great outfit with colors I like. Yea!
2) Ready myself to leave and remember that I need to wear gloves, hat and coat.
3) Second-guess my outfit because now all the accessories need to coordinate with the existing look.
4) Sigh, change into regular jeans and a grey sweater so that I don't look like a drunken Easter egg.

Not the most positive way to start the day, eh? But this morning I thought, "What's so wrong with looking like an Easter egg?" I have been walking around looking as interesting as a bald Chia head, but I want to sprout into a colorful novelty garden, darn it! The muted tones I have been wearing do nothing to express my personality and they do nothing to alleviate the winter blues. I don't know if wearing neon can prevent S.A.D. but it doesn't depress me, so why wait until spring to bust out the brighter colors?

Fast forward to the current moment and I am looking at collection of goodies that spans the rainbow and in fabrics that range from silk to denim. Anthropologie and Madewell have some of my favorites and since those stores are 4 miles away from my house I think a little reconnaissance mission is in order....

Madewell has great basics in bold colors and what would make you happier than throwing on a cobalt tee and lemon pants?

1. Outfield sweater in bistro blue

2. Skinny colorpop jeans in electric citron

3. Silk singalong top in plum orchid

4. Penfield kasson parka in bistro blue

Anthropologie had lots of cheery colors, but the items with fun prints and patterns were especially eye-catching:

 

1. Other Sands scarf in turquoise

2. Southfork Rancher hat in red

3.Tufted Dots sweater in grey motif and neutral motif 

(I liked both colors too much to choose between them!)

"Okay, lady," you say, "you have colorful inspiration, so what?" Well, now I have to make some outfits with bright pieces. And to make sure I start walking towards the light, I will force myself to wear bright colors all weekend to break my dreary habit. Hopefully by next week I will reserve grey for accent and balance and have lots of colorful outfit snaps to post! (cross your fingers!)
Have you been embracing bright or are you too bogged down in a sea of dark neutrals?

Spring RTW 2011-- Lanvin

I am a sucker for draping and pleats (as I have mentioned before here). As this is one of the things Lanvin's Alber Elbaz does best, it's pretty safe to say that I like the creations he churns out season after season. This season was not much different, but I appreciated his use of color, the addition of texture and prints and a little sparkle. Nothing was outrageously inspiring, but I figure that if Elbaz can maintain a signature style for the house, tweaking it slightly each season to keep it fresh, and make them tons of money, he's probably doing something right ;)
Here are some of my fav's:

I love the yellow and grey combo and the fitted top VS flowing skirt contrast.

Flattering draping + nature-y prints = every woman will want one to take her from poolside to party when the weather warms up...

Texture on both top and bottom! Sparkles! Exclamation points! :)

Have a great Monday, everyone!

(All images from style.com, where you can see the full collection)