Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Clothes Shopping: My "How To

Hello, readers! A lot of friends compliment me on how I dress and ask me questions about how to clothes shop, I don't know why, I think I'm still a work in progress haha. Even so, I figured I'd share a few tips and tricks I've learned over the last few years.

In high school I wore what I wanted, which mainly consisted of converse, cartoon t-shirts, dickies, and oh-so-frizzy hair. I was happy as a clam and didn't care a jot about what others thought of me. I took a 12 week ballroom dance class with some friends, and the girls were required to wear skirts and heels when dancing. I suddenly realized that I really liked wearing skirts and heels, and even began wearing makeup. The transition from tomboy to girly girl was a little strange because people weren't used to seeing me in dresses and makeup (and neither was I), but the looks didn't last long. I've gone though a few different styles since then and my current obsession, as you well know by this point, is currently vintage fashion. The 40's and 50's are my particular favorites.

Some people wear anything and everything and are quite happy. If you are not one of those people, and wish to create your own style but don't have a clue where to start, then here are a few tips to get started.

Dress to compliment your body type. In my opinion, this is the most important piece of clothing advice I've ever gotten, (thank you Stacy and Clinton from What Not To Wear). I'm still figuring this one out for myself, I've discovered that the best outfit can be ruined if it doesn't compliment your shape or if it's not appropriate. The simple way to figure out what your body type is: GOOGLE it. Find out what shape you are by looking at a simple chart like this....



Once you've figured out what shape you are, do a web search on, "How to dress if you're _____ shaped". You might find a few things helpful, mainly things like proper length and size, how to accessorize, and which clothes and colors will compliment your ALREADY beautiful body. 

Find a style you like (or several), by looking for inspiration. Is there an actress you admire? Look her up, find out what she wears and take notes! Ask your friends for used magazines so you can look through them for ideas. There's all sorts of fun stuff to wear, just keep looking until you find the style that makes you happy  :)  My recent style icons are Zooey Deschanel and Keira Knightley.




Shop with your friends. Sometimes I like to shop alone because then I don't feel like I'm wasting anyone's time if I'm just browsing, but others times it's great to shop with friends! It's a lot of fun and getting second opinions can help you decide if what you picked out is appropriate and flattering. 

Buy within your budget. IMPORTANT. You don't want to go home feeling guilty because you spent too much. If you can't afford to buy anything then just keep your eyes open for stores you like so you know where to go when you do have money. 



Become a bargain hunter. Sometimes you need to spend a bit of money on quality clothes like a fitted, button down shirt that goes with everything, or a good pairs of heels or work shoes, or a great fitting pair of pants, but not everything has to be expensive. So don't buy on impulse, do some research to find the best price and don't be afraid of thrift stores! Thrift stores are huge money savers. I can't tell you how many things I've bought from The Salvation Army or Goodwill that were brand new and still had tags on them!  Just take your time going through the racks, you have to look closely and have patience. 





Buy things with an outfit in mind. Every once in a while I buy something and then get home and realize that I don't have anything to wear with it, so it sits on a shelf or hangs in my closet, waiting to be worn. When you see something you like try to picture what you have at home so you don't get excited about your new item and then discover that you have nothing that matches with it. 

Have fun! Shopping doesn't have to be boring or daunting, take the time to enjoy expressing yourself through your style! 

I hope some of this was helpful! If I remember any other tips I'll be sure to share them. Feel free to ask me questions!

~Lady of Virtue





The Vintage Mafia

Good day, readers, in one of my previous posts I introduced you to a lovely woman named Fleur McGerr, the woman who showed me the wonderful world of vintage fashion. She is part of a gorgeous group of ladies called The Vintage Mafia (isn't that a great name?), and I just drool when I look at their blog posts and pictures because they're all so beautiful!





They have such adventures, sometimes I just want to pack up and head to England and join them. I have family there, and if I'm lucky enough to visit them one day, maybe I'll stop by and visit The Vintage Mafia girls as well! If you'd like to know more about them, visit their site at http://www.thevintagemafia.com//.

I'd love to start my own little vintage club one day, so that all my friends who love vintage fashion as much as I do could join me for a time of cards and dancing and vintage silliness. Until then, I guess I'll just have fun by myself    :)

Have a wonderful day!

~Lady of Virtue

Thursday, October 4, 2012

J'adore...

I absolutely adore Zooey Deschanel. I recently watched 500 days of Summer for the first time and loved it! (I think my tastes are turning slightly indie...and I'm ok with it). Miss. Deschanel has this sassy-ness about her  that is so alluring, and at the same time a sweetness and gracefulness. I've always wanted to get bangs like hers, but I know I wouldn't be able to pull them off as well as she does....


Her wardrobe is fantastic in 500 Days of Summer...



I just can't get enough.....


I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt's look is pretty darn awesome too...



I've taken a few fashion ideas from the movie, so you might see me in a few similar outfits  :) Gosh! She is just so gorgeous! Alright....I'll stop going on about Zooey Deschanel now, but I can't promise that there won't be more posts about her, no, I cannot promise.

Happy Wednesday!

~Lady of Virtue







Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Vintage Fashion, My New Obsession

One day I looked in my closet and realized that I have a lot of clothes...and I hardly every wore some of them. There were miscellaneous shirts and whatnot just hanging there because I didn't know what to wear them with or because they were too small and I didn't have the heart to get rid of them. So I went through everything and made room for a new, improved wardrobe. I didn't know what I wanted to wear more of, so I began searching for inspiration and continually found myself drawn to the lovely world of vintage fashion.

 I discovered this fantastic blog, written by a gorgeous woman named Fleur McGerr, and I couldn't stop telling everyone I know about her haha. She has inspired me to pursue my vintage wardrobe dreams and now I am absolutely addicted to her blog. You can read about her for yourself at www.diaryofavintagegirl.com. Here are a few pictures of her...


She is so beautiful and so wonderfully British! She's also one of the reasons I started this blog, she made blogging look like so much fun! 

Another one of my new fashion inspirations is Rita Hayworth, one of the Top stars from the 1940's. I find her glamour and style to be my favorite among the famous women of her time. Her hair and makeup were simple and elegant, ever her pinup photos were tasteful....which is an accomplishment in my opinion. 




It has now been a few months since I started adding more vintage pieces to my closet and now I have a small collection of items  :)  It's fun to see so many different vintage styles, I'm still trying to find out which one  suits me best. I'll post a few of my outfits in future posts!

toodle-loo!

~Lady of Virtue 




Friday, September 14, 2012

Who?

Why hello there, I am a Sammie. Who or what is a Sammie you might ask? Well, the truth is, I'm still trying to figure that out for myself. Life's experiences change us over time, and I can tell you, I've changed a lot over the last few years. I've had a great life, but you know how it goes....shift happens. I do my best to stay true to who I am, but recently I've had to reevaluate just who that is, and it's proved rather difficult. Thankfully, I have a loving family, supportive friends, and an absolutely wonderful boyfriend who all encourage me and love on me. And it definitely helps to know that there's an amazing God who loves me, even when I do silly, ridiculous things. So I'm not worried about being unsure of who I am, I feel like Doctor Who (SPOILERS) going through regeneration, knowing I need to change but not quite knowing what to expect when I'm done changing. So here I am, blogging away. This is me....and I have no idea who I'll turn out to be in the end.



My hope is that this whole blog thing will be good for me (I'm still new to it mind you), and I'm excited to see what comes of it. I started blogging on another site a few months back, but I've just found this site and enjoy it much more than the other. Here goes round two, stay tuned for my adventures   :)

~Lady of Virtue