New Year Styled: Striped Dress + Link-Up

After wrapping-up the year with our December Cozy Series, it's time for a new style theme for our Wednesday link-ups with The Blended Blog!  For the next two months we will be focusing on a New Year Styled.  You can interpret this prompt a couple of different ways.  One option is to style the new year's latest trends.  The other direction you can go is in styling your already-loved pieces in new and exciting ways!

I have just embarked on a Shop Free for Three Challenge with my friend, Carrie.  What does that mean?  I will not be shopping for clothing, shoes or accessories for the next three months!  This is going to be quite the challenge for me!  That being said, I'm interpreting our prompt the second way and I'm excited to get back to some good remixing!

For each week of this series, I will choose an outfit from this time last year.  I will then pick one item from that outfit and remix it to create a new ensemble!  Here is my first attempt!

You may recognize this outfit as being my favorite post from January of last year!  I absolutely love the dress that I featured.  I'm a sucker for anything striped and I love the pretty, green color.  Not to mention the ponté fabric is super comfortable!  For my remix, I wanted to do something a little more interesting than just adding a cardigan (my go-to way to wear this dress).  So I added a sweatshirt to create a skirt and top look!

Another change I made was going with navy as my neutral instead of black.  The stripes in this dress can really look like either depending on which neutral you choose!  Throw in a little bit of pattern mixing and voilà!

So what are you looking forward to doing this winter?  Remixing what you've got in your closet or jumping into the seasons latest trends?  Either way I hope you will join us by linking-up below and every single Wednesday for the next couple of months!

What I'm Wearing:

Dress: Old Navy (similar, similar)

Sweatshirt: LOFT (similar, similar)

Tights: Nordstrom (similar, similar)

Shoes: Amazon (exact)

Marsala Day to Night

Have you see Pantone's Color Report for 2015 yet?  The gurus of color have announced Marsala to be the "it" hue of the year!  "Much like the fortified wine that gives Marsala its name, this robust shade incorporates the warmth and richness of a tastefully fulfilling meal, while its grounding red-brown roots point to a sophisticated, natural earthiness," (Pantone Color Report).  Fortified wine and a fulfilling meal?  Where do I sign up?

To compliment Marsala, Pantone has chosen nine other colors to be the Spring 2015 En Plein Air palette.  Lucky for you, Alex of Undergraduate Style has already done a wonderful job of showcasing and describing these lovely shades.  Today she's hosting a link-up where you get to show the world your favorite Pantone-inspired ensemble!

In a perfect twist of fate, the Anthropologie dress that I purchased in February just so happens to be Marsala!  Here are two ways I've worn this dress already!

Wearing a long-sleeved shirt under a sleeveless dress is quickly becoming my favorite way to layer!  This pairing makes the dress daytime (and school) appropriate and is perfect while there is still a bit of snow on the ground.  I'm also going to claim that this shirt is Classic Blue.  What do you think?

This is how I spiced up the dress for a special Valentine's Day date!  Suede wedge booties, a denim jacket and a tassel necklace were perfect for catching a stand-up comedy routine, attending a screening of The Princess Bride and eating deliciously greasy food with my handsome guy!

I'm also linking-up with Bri of Work Clothes, I Suppose today for Third Thursday Threads.  This month the theme is "Favorite Sale Purchase."  Anthropologie is one of my favorite stores but rarely can I afford to buy their beautiful items at full price.  For that reason, finding a great deal there is like finding a hidden treasure.  Purchasing this lovely Marsala dress for $52.95 when the original price was $158 makes this my favorite sale purchase of late!

What I'm Wearing:

Dress: Anthro (exact)

Gingham Shirt: Banana Republic (similar, similar)

Pearl Statement Necklace: Simply Charming Boutique (similar, similar)

Blue Tights: Nordstrom (exact)

Blue Flats: France (similar, similar)

Denim Jacket: Hand-Me-Down (similar, similar)

Tassel Necklace: LOFT (similar, similar)

Black Tights: Nordstrom (exact)

Booties: DSW (exact)

Other Link-Ups:

I Do DeClaire- Confident Twosdays

My Closet Catalogue- TARDIS TUESDAY (I'm claiming that Classic Blue is the same as TARDIS Blue)

Brighten It Up

This month, I've been participating in a fun challenge over at my friend Carrie's blog, A Lovely Little Wardrobe.  Carrie has been hosting Create 28, a wardrobe remix that encourages us to wear 28 brand new outfits using what's hanging in our closets.  What I'm loving about this challenge is that it's totally flexible.  I don't have to limit my number of pieces and I don't necessarily have to follow any rules.  Each day, though, Carrie gives us a prompt that we can follow to get the creative juices flowing.  I'm finding that this is a really fun way to get dressed and think about my clothes every day!

While I've been having a lot of fun participating, I haven't been on top of photographing my outfits (#stylebloggerproblems), so this one is actually from a few weeks ago.  Can you guess the prompt?  You got it!  Carrie challenged us to wear bright colors!

Carrie's cry for bright colors was timed perfectly with the arrival of my most recent ASOS order.  As soon as I saw this floral number, I knew I had to wear it!  Since the dress stands on it's own, I kept the rest of the outfit neutral with navy.

What I'm Wearing:

Dress: ASOS (exact)

Tights: France (similar, similar)

Flats: France (similar, similar)

Linking-Up:

A Lovely Little Wardrobe- Create 28

The Brandied Pair and Style Honestly- Fab Five Friday

I Do DeClaire- Confident Twosdays

My Closet Catalogue- TARDIS Tuesday

Pink Sole and Cha Cha the Fashion Genius- #HowIFall