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As promised, here is my colorful, retro inspired interpretation of the famous horse print dress! Last time I wore the dress (which you can see here), I brought this crazy print into our century and toned it down with some edgy, black accessories to show how wearable the dress actually was. This time around I’m embracing all it’s nutso, retro vibes and crazy colors because…just look at it’s awesomeness! Using the dress as a jumper layered over these billowy sheer sleeves harkens back the era the dress was born in. I feel like a secretary on the later seasons of Mad Men that just decided to go hang out in a field for the fun of it. Obviously, a true to era interpretation and a sunburst color palate isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it sure as heck is mine!

And now I have to say farewell to the most amazing dress ever so Kristina can be reunited with it. I can’t wait to see what it’s next adventure is going to be. Long Sleeved Dress: Thrifted | Horse Print Dress: Kristina | Shoes: Thrifted | Brooch: Antique Store | Lips: Colourpop Ultra Matte Liquid Lipstick in Beeper as a base and LA Girl Matte Flat Velvet Lipstick in Oh, La, La on top Happy Thursday! I hope you all will forgive me for an incredibly short post, but as I write this I am sitting on the couch with a stuffy nose and sore throat, desperately hoping that this will be short lived and I’ll be well enough to go camping this weekend. Thankfully, I snapped these photos wearing Hannah’s darling striped dress a few weeks ago, and they’ve been sitting in my queue waiting to be blogged!

I’ve had this dress from Hannah for a while now (sorry,Hannah!) along with a few other things of hers, and I’ll be honest: I am getting a bit stumped as to how I should style certain things as my own style gets more and more focused on vintage and retro housewife themes. But as soon as I put it on I felt very sixties, and it became a fun little game of black and white patterns with a retro feel. If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I’m really generally not a neutral colors person (I mean, hello, pink hair!) but when it comes to black and white, there’s just something so classic about it that I cannot resist. Nothing I’m wearing in this outfit is vintage, but it all works so well to give off that classic sixties vibe and I really want to secretly integrate this dress into my closet forever. You won’t miss it right Hannah? And how cute is this hedgehog brooch? I’m constantly trawling the jewelry counter at my local thrift stores because they never fail to produce fun and unique brooches — and come to think of it, this may actually be vintage. I’m not great at dating jewelry, though, so I really don’t know. Dress, Hannah’s | Shoes, scarf, and brooch, thrifted

I hope you all have a fantastic memorial day weekend! I am determined to go camping, even if it means that I’ll be sitting with a sinus cold by the fire under a tarp because it’s supposed to rain all weekend. Sounds fun, right? ;) Emily was gracious enough to let me borrow this lovely scalloped collar shaped necklace. I was so excited when I saw it in her closet because it was so full of sweet little details. I not much for accessories, but this is exactly the kind of accessory that I would like to add to my collection. It’s a statement piece that mimics the characteristics of a collared shirt or dress. I was even more pleased when I saw it in person because it is solid. It’s heavy and thick and I imagine it could take a beating. Much like many women I know, it’s beautifully formed with sweet, delicate details and fortified with strength and resilience. Because it takes from both the hard and the soft it’s perfect for adding to any outfit. I wore it to mimic a collar on my floral sweater as a nod to the collegiate quality of my plaid driendl skirt. I love mixing this skirt up in different outfits because it has a distinct preppy style with its navy color and plaid print. Yet, the primary colored lines offer a chance to play up lots of different styles and colors. The skirt can be librarian chic, 1950’s sweet, or even spunky and ecclectic with a graphic tee and statement belt. I’m going to be putting it up for swap to see what the over lovely ladies can do with it! Sweater: LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s | Skirt: Thrifted: Shoes: Payless | Necklace: Emily’s Happy April! This month, all of us Shaped by Style gals are going to share our own take on an accordion pleat black (or navy) and white striped skirt. Now, we’re not swapping these skirts, we just all happen to have one – well, okay, maybe a few of us hurriedly thrifted one after this idea was born – and we are excited to start this series in April titled “Shaped by Stripes.”

While we are already going along the theme of swapping the same garment amongst ourselves to share how we can style it, this is the first time we will all have the exact same garment to style! I like to think of this series as our own version of the Little Black Dress, except instead, it’s the Little Striped Skirt. For myself, I definitely love color and pattern mixing, and if I had a floral shirt I would have paired floral with these stripes. But, I think leopard print shoes and a polka dot headband make up for the lack of flowers pretty well. This headscarf was actually a little gift from Hannah!

And, since I love color, I had to add something bright. This almost neon yellow shirt is always my go-to when I want something super saturated. Accordion pleat skirts can sometimes be a bit scary, I think; they like to hug your curves, which can be good and bad, depending on the day. This particular skirt was actually once a dress – a really ugly one — that I snagged at the thrift store for a dollar simply because I thought it was outrageous. I’m glad I did, too! After hacking off the top entirely, it made a really great skirt and basically birthed this whole series! If you want to join us this month and wear your OWN striped skirt (or dress; hey, we don’t mind some variation!) please comment with your post link, tag our Facebook Page, Twitter, or Instagram (all @Shapedbystyle) or use the hashtag #shapedbystripes to show us what you wore! We want to round up all the gorgeous ladies who join us to share their own striped garments and showcase your beautiful selves at the end of the month in a round up post! And if you write a blog post, be sure to copy+paste this banner into your post! Until then, I hope you have a beautiful Monday. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh set of eyes to help you see something in a new way. I bought this red cape a few years back at my local Salvation Army because — well, it’s a vintage cape, do I really need a reason? But then … it sat in my closet. And sat. And sat. But after offering it up for swap in this group, I’ve found myself much more inspired to wear this piece. Kristina wore it beautifully over full skirts with heels, and then Noelle looked super chic and crisp in a plaid top and gray straight skirt. When I was reunited with my cape, I paired it with a vintage Op Art top (which my grandmother sewed for my aunt in the 1970s), a pair of checked skinny trousers and my trusty black heels for a look that felt both straightforward and distinctive. And if there was ever any doubt in my mind about whether capes are easy to wear, it’s gone now! All these looks have proven otherwise. Red cape, I’m sorry I let you sit in the closet for so long. I promise I’ll bring you out to play more often. Thanks to Kristina and Noelle for inspiring me to stop neglecting this fabulous garment! The one little tidbit I can tell you about my time with this lovely red cape is, you always feel fabulous when wearing a cape. It’s impossible not to. You’re one part super hero, one part Little Red Riding hood, and one part vintage sewing pattern illustration. That adds up to a whole lot of fierce, romantic chic. Plus, you can throw it on top of anything and look instantly amazing and I’m not sure there is anything else in this world that can get the job done the same way. I played around with a lot of looks and even attempted to photograph several of them but something always got in the way. Whether it was bad lighting, rain, or a forgotten camera battery, something was always stopping me. Ultimately, I landed on this outfit because it reminded me of work wear featured on the previously mentioned vintage sewing pattern illustrations and it wasn’t a direction I have seen featured with the cape yet. I also found that while Emily and Kristina paired the cape with long silhouettes, I preferred short and sweet on my body as the length of the cape plays of the length of the skirt and gives the illusion that my legs are longer than they really are.

I just might have a more modern and playful look up my sleeve for later because I can’t stop myself with all these gorgeous borrowed items! But, shhhh….don’t give my unmitigated gusto away to everyone else. Sometimes when you see an item at the thrift store, you just HAVE to buy it even though it’s completely impractical and you have no idea when/how you will wear it. Enter this red cape: My feeling about clothes is that you have to follow your heart. I know some people might get a lot of joy out of a wardrobe that’s totally utilitarian, practical and predictable. But not me. That’s why a) I snatched up this vintage red knit cape the moment I saw it; and b) I begged Kristina to let me borrow this skirt after she posted her first outfit pics with it. In fact, I was so enamored of this skirt that I styled it twice (scroll down to see a pic from my previous post). This print just made me smile, and I couldn’t help but pair it with another bright, primary color. I usually avoid outfits that don’t have a defined waistline (or at least a narrowed point in the torso, like an empire waist). But I really enjoyed the drama of combining the A-line skirt with the sweeping cape. Thanks, Kristina, for letting me play with this fun wrap skirt, and for sharing some great looks with my red cape! I know I just wore this cape for Shaped by Style, but… #sorrynotsorry, you guys. Because I couldn’t resist wearing it to debut my Star Wars skirt. It is the perfect accessory! I made this skirt to go see The Force Awakens on Friday (no spoilers, just… it was so good!), and was literally down to the last second in finishing it up. I’m kind of a last-minute person when it comes to making things. Gifts, clothes for myself, etc; I had this fabric for at least a month before we even bought tickets for the movie, but I finished the last seam 40 minutes before we had to leave. Not even kidding.

And uh… I’m only just today starting on making Christmas gifts for people.

Yeah. It’s a problem. I made this skirt to wear with the petticoats that I own — which are massive and too short for my normal knee-length skirts — but that wasn’t the original plan. I don’t use patterns, so, being the frugal person that I am, I tentatively told the woman at Joann’s to give me 2-1/2 yards of this fabric and I hoped it would be enough to make a circle skirt as I’ve made before. But when I got home, I was about 1/2 a yard short of how much I needed for the length I wanted. So instead of a knee-length skirt, I decided to model this one after the skirt I wear with my petticoats (it used to be the only one I had that worked with those!) and here we are! I am really happy with how it turned out! It’s a wrap skirt right now, and I might leave it that way — I didn’t want to bother with figuring out the very last seam that connects to the skirt together (in order to not have to do an elastic waistband, I have to make a slit in the side that doesn’t close, so the fabric has to overlap to hide the opening, which means I have to angle my seams and… I don’t exactly know how to explain it all, so…) and it’s a big enough of an overlap that I don’t have to worry about the flap flying away in the wind and exposing everything underneath. Skirt, self-made | cape, Emily’s | shoes and shirt, thrifted | earrings, Rocksbox | tights, Target

I was so happy with how this turned out that I finished my Christmas skirt early! And by early, I mean I finished it on Saturday. So, you know, six days before Christmas. So, so early. ;)

I hope you’re all having a great holiday season! Why am I wearing pastels in December? I promise, I’ve got a good reason — two of them, actually. Reason No. 1: It’s not winter yet in upstate New York. Let the record show that I am NOT complaining. I am a summer-lover; there is not much I like about cold, snowy weather (and typically we get plenty of that here in NY). But it is a tad weird. I didn’t wear a jacket today. In December. In the Northeast. Just sayin’. Reason No. 2: I just kicked off a fashion challenge I am co-hosting with a friend, and our first prompt was pastels. This was a great challenge for me, because I don’t usually gravitate toward lighter colors, so it was fun to see what I could put together. For my first pastel outfit, I chose this mint dress, which is one of my swap items for this group, paired with a blush top with ruffled shoulders. And I couldn’t resist getting all matchy-matchy with a collar necklace I picked up recently at the Salvation Army thrift store. I added dark tights and neutral shoes to bring the whole thing together. I love adding a long-sleeved top under sleeveless dresses to give them new life during the winter (which, usually, in my neck of the woods is like half the year). What are some of your tricks for styling “summery” clothes in colder weather? I’m looking forward to sharing this pretty and feminine dress with someone else in this group to see how they style it! If you want to play along with my fashion challenge, check out my Instagram at @breadandrosesvintage.