Carli's Closet

Black Friday Wardrobe Revamp!

Hello my fellow fashion enthusiasts!!!!

I am back! Sorry for the extremely long hiatus, but I promise to devote more of my time and energy into this blog as I really want to have a career in fashion styling/blogging.

Anyway, without further adieu…. Today my wonderful, loving boyfriend asked me to restyle his wardrobe. We spent most of our time and money at the H&M Men’s dept., although he also got a killer pair of shoes from Tilly’s.

Here’s the before and after shot:

The Before:

-Big oversized coat with faded armpits (also smelled like an armpit).

-Baggy unflattering jeans.

-Grandpa shoes.

-Boring tee shirt

The After:

-Black double-breasted peacoat, purchased for the fabulous Black Friday price of $50.00, $79.99 Reg. Here’s the anchor detail on the buttons:

-Grey H&M Slim Fit khakis $29.99 Reg.

-Grey DC Bristol TX shoes, Black Friday price: $18.97, $54.99 Reg.

….And bonus pic showing one of the fitted shirts he got:

Above: H&M L.O.G.G. Fitted cotton shirt Black Friday price: $15.00, Reg $29.95

Here’s some close up shots of the before shoes (I call them “grandpa shoes”) so can you see just how badly he needed this rehaul:

New shoes:

And for some additional flare and winter warmth, he also got this adorable wool scarf for $24.95:

Lastly, he got some nice form fitting Jersey V-neck tees for $5.00 each! (Not pictured).

All in all it was a very successful shopping day for my love and I! For any styling inquiries please feel free to message me anytime!

Happy Shopping,

Inspired outfit of the day. Top is Wet Seal, skirt is H&M, and shoes are Urban Outfitters.

Two things I learned about myself today.

So basically I am incredibly low on money as I’m only getting like 4 hours/week at work and having to provide for my puppy and myself (with some money help from my dad, but mostly on my own). Anyway, I’m broke as a joke, but I was hellbent on getting myself a hot V-Day outfit for my dinner date with the boyfriend.

The first thing I learned is that 1.) I am one thrifty bitch, and 2.) I will do just about anything for a nice pair of heels that I will maybe wear like once or twice. That’s a problem I know. Anyway, in a pinch I will do whatever it takes to fund my shopping trips, I am not above searching for coins and cashing them in for cash to do so. Also, i Just got lucky and remembered I had a little bit left on a giftcard for Macy’s that I got for Christmas. So basically I went to Macys and the selection was incredibly poor, since people, who are obviously much smarter than me, had already begun shopping for their V-Day outfits before now. However, I still managed to prevail anyway. I found a basic red pleated deep V-neck knee-length dress that I knew would get the job done. I tried it on expecting it to be like this kinda average looking red dress that someone in their mid-40s would wear, but as soon as I got it over my massive boobs it turned into this vixenous va-va-va-VOOM dress! Exactly what I had been looking for! So boom I charged that to the giftcard ($59.99). Omg I’m so happy about that.

Style tips for you in regards to pleated dresses:

This cut of dress is universally flattering.
The pleating in the front of the dress will hide unsightly belly fat.
The empire waist will make you look thinner.
The pleating in the back will enhance your butt a little too.
If you want it to look more posh or expensive go for a Silky/Satiny kind of material.
Also if you’re shopping in the Juniors section, size up because for whatever reason these styles always seem to fit a little small.

Anyway, back to my V-Day shopping expedition. After I had about $37.50 left on my giftcard. Then it was onto the shoes, now I already had some in mind that I had seen at my work that were these red suede Mary Jane pumps with a sexy little ankle strap across the top. I hauled ass out of Macy’s and ran over to CC as fast as I could, but alas my red beauties had already sold :(. Fortunately, as I was on my out of Macy’s I had passed by their red shoe display and saw these HOT HOT HOT suede Steve Madden, colorblocked pumps with red, hot pink, and coral on them that were on sale for $69.99 and I thought to myself “Hmm, maybe.” So after my disappointment at CC, I once again hauled ass back over to Macy’s, and crossed my fingers as I went to ask a sales lady if they had those in a size 6 still. Andddd…..they did! They fit and I knew I could use the leftover on my giftcard to cut the already-on-sale price down to half, so it was done and done! Omg, what a lucky lucky day for me.

I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but the heels are in fact hot pink. Mmm dream shoes! The grand total for these shoes (excluding my leftover giftcard money) was $37.97.

Style tips in regards to how to be more comfortable in heels:

Go for platforms, they take down a little bit of the height and can make your heels more comfortable. The ball of your foot isn’t on the floor and so there’s less pressure on them and the angle between your heel and the ball of your foot is reduced, so you’re not in as much pain as you would be with a regular heel.
Line the inside of your heels with moleskin to keep shoes from rubbing against your feet and causing blisters.

I will be posting a V-Day Polyvore display of all my favorite low-budget must-haves for you all soon! That’s it for me now.

Happy Shopping!

Love, Carli

Here is my in-person put together Holiday Party look although you can’t see my accessories (the earrings) that well. I am incapable of doing a party look without doing it up BIG (hence, the bow). It was a fabulous party and I think everyone had a blast. My boyfriend is also a saint for putting up with my pre-party stressing. I was also proud of his outfit selection. He picked a unique off-white collared shirt with thin blue stripes, that had a very minimal collar on it. He paired it with some nice black slacks and leather loafers. He thinks that the shrunken collar will become trendy soon (we’ll have see about that). Had I picked his outfit it would have been black slacks paired with either a black dress shirt or a blue dress shirt (potentially with a tie, perhaps a skinny one to look modern and sleek). Also with more shiny/fancy looking dress shoes. I still was impressed with his selection, but I like to do complimentary looks for us as a couple and people seem to be wowed by that when we go out to events with matching color accents.

My tips for how to pick out a Holiday outfit:

1.) The more it sparkles, the better. You must, however, accomplish this in a tasteful way. For example, pick only one, or two at the max, item/s to add the sparkle to your look (a dress and shoe.. though that might be pushing it), but not one on top of another sparkle piece (ie a sparkly dress AND jacket).

2.) This time of year is a great excuse to play with colors and patterns, go bold and see what happens!

3.) Dress/skirt length should be modest, i.e. not too short, since you will most likely be around family. If you think that your dress/skirt may come a bit short, then it is ok to pair it with opaque tights or leggings.

4.) This is also a good time to play with makeup colors, just don’t get too over-the-top wild (for example: neon green eyeshadow that goes all the way up to your eyebrows). Same rules apply for sparkliness.

5.) Hot holiday colors that I have observed for this year: (especially sequined items) shiny silver, shiny gold, rose gold, royal and navy blue, purple. Red is always a good default although I did not see very much of it while I was out shopping for my own outfit. Mixing colors is definitely allowed, as you can see I played with blue (the main theme color), black (bow, belt, dress coat), silver (shoes/earrings), and white (the dress coat). As long as you have a main theme to serve as the focal point, supporting colors can help to enhance an outfit.

That’s it for now! I wish you all the happiest of holidays!

HELLO LOVIES!

I am back!! I am sooooo sorry for the long hiatus, but I am done with school now and finally get to spend more time exploring this great passion of mine for fashion. So now, without further ado, here is my holiday outfit set. I actually will be wearing most of this for my Christmas Party and will post pics of it on me soon after. I will fulfill all the promises I made to you about posts you have requested in due time!

Christmas Party! by carlidel89 featuring fancy jewelry