So I have definitely expounded often and loudly about how much I love and adore my J. Crew Factory Bellas. With an 80% wool/20% Polyamide combo, the two bellas I own from the J. Crew Factory are much softer than my "real" wool Bella (I wore it here last).
I own one in a deep pink/purple and another in a coral. You have seen the coral before,
when I wore it with a crewcuts top and a pair of paisley pants (which were also from the outlet).
Today I am going to show off the other outfits I have created with these Bellas. They are not in any particular order and were all worn in 2011, but I can't promise you that they are all that "recent." LOL. I take my time and while many of my outfits/reviews are published right away, there are quite a few that just kind of stare out at me from Picasa saying, "why, dinagideon,
why is it taking you so long to publish me???" Heehee, yes, I just admitted to having conversations with my pictures. ;)
This is the deep pink/purple bella worn with the silk ruffle confetto dress that
I wrote about in this post. I find the dress difficult to wear, I feel like it is A LOT of pattern and a bit crazy, so I need to tone it down in order to wear it. I found the perfect solution with this jacket!
I wore this to an Arbonne party I was hosting a few months back. I find it fun to be able to dress up, be a bit professional, but because it is all part of a "party" atmosphere, I can rock wild colors and patterns. This party was successful, so I will take that as a good sign to wear this dress again at another business venture of mine.
The nude heels by Cole Haan? Yeah, needed to really tone down this part of the outfit, I can only imagine how close to clown-like I would look like if I had on brightly hued shoes, too. ;)
The Bella collar is the reason so many of us are Bella-obsessed. The nipped in waist and the classic buttons help, but that collar screams special.
Obviously I had to wear Arbonne makeup that day (as I do most days, but on party days I really show off), and I like the colors/shades I wore that day.
So smiley. :) This Bella does really bring the tone of the entire outfit down a bit, I think I may never wear that dress on its own ever again.
Here is the outfit, I took this photo a few days before I wore it just to make sure it worked together. Although this is not technically a "Mommy Style Monday" (they will come back, promise), I think that is a great tip for all Mommies out there...take a quick photo of an outfit
on the hanger before you wear it...if it looks off you may still want to give it a chance on a body, but I could immediately tell this outfit would work on me. So I had no hesitation when throwing this outfit on the morning of the party. (Was a great time-saver, too, it takes me a while to set up for a party!)
Here is the "real" Bella on Vanessa the model from the Paris Catalog...it is definitely a different shade/saturation and there is no herringbone in my version (although there is in my coral one), but I feel like I can still use this image when planning a future outfit with my pink/purple Bella. (I see a really lovely fall SAHM outfit!)
 |
| CW wields her magic wand wishing for a crewcuts Bella. |
This is the coral Factory Bella, and this time I wore it as a SAHM outfit. I literally only left my house that day to go to dinner with Mr. Dina and the kids.
This time I paired it with a navy tee (Boo Coo tours one with the gator) and the ever wonderful chambray cocktail capris and my ever present Japanese sandals (tend to be worn only in the house, honestly).
CW has now grown big enough to be receiving hand-me-down crewcuts from her brother. :) Rex has had this polo (with its cute crab critter in the hem) for years (2007, I believe) and now that CW is big enough, it is hers.
No Bella as the end of the day necessitated me taking it off (it got a bit warm). This Boo Coo tee is a lot of fun and I find I turn to it a lot (the mid-navy color works well with so many of my items in my wardrobe).
Of course I had to do a shot of this collar, too. You can see the herringbone in this shot.
I went to NYC a few weeks ago to see a show, go to dinner, and meet up with the lovely Marietta, and all without the kids (freedom!), so I knew I wanted a good "stroll around New York" outfit. I felt good that day...it was warm, blue skies, people were friendly, in short, just perfect.
I paired the Bella with the vintage striped bateau tee in camel (love this shade), a pair of it! jeans, Cole Haan penny loafers, and a Chico's necklace.
One of the places I chose to "model" for a picture. This open space down near Wall Street is an oasis...amongst the cramped, tall EVERYTHING, it is nice to find a space where you can feel open and free. (Being a native of the DC area, land of OPEN
everywhere makes NYC seem so claustrophobia inducing! We even have height restrictions in DC, so those big, sun-blocking buildings so ubiquitous in NYC are never going to be an option for us inside the beltway types.)
Here I am with Marietta after we had a yummy lunch together. I love being able to see the beautiful bride to be whenever I am in NYC. :) Don't you all love her outfit? The cardigan is clearly my favorite, Anthro really gets how to make a cardigan!
BTW, don't you just love how Daniel Radcliffe is smiling over us? It is almost like he is blessing our friendship with his smile.
This is a photo I processed through Picnik, which is a Picasa program you can find in Picasa (if you all edit with it).
I obviously am on the subway here. Here is another way DC is WAY different than NYC. Even our Metro is all
wide open. LOL. (Sneaky secret, though...I prefer the NYC subway, even though I took the Metro everyday to school back when. NYC subways are always on time, there are plenty of them, and there are tons and tons and tons of stations. I still prefer walking to the subways, but DC vs. NYC subway? No contest. Why do I hate the DC metro so much?
Let's just say I blame it ALL ON THE RED LINE. You DC people will totally get that.)
You all have a great Monday.
P.S. I am going to be especially busy this week...I may not get to comments until late this week, if at all. I am still here, and I promise, you will hear from me again, and all questions asked will be answered. ;)
