Social Media Enthusiast. Learning Designer. Curvy Fashionista.
I'm a 30-something Canadian born Bengali (parents are from Kolkata, India...for those of you who need to know that type of thing). I've been chubby-curvy-plus-sized my entire life. Standing at a height of 5'2 and with a darker complexion, it has always been a challenge finding outfits or "looks" that really suit me.
Living in the fashionable city of Toronto since birth, with a solid career has finally allowed me to embrace my love of pretty fashions in clothing, shoes and everything in between.
Pulling off a crop top takes a lot of guts. Wearing one as a plus size babe takes extra courage, as this is an item of clothing not typically deemed as “acceptable” to be worn by a larger lady, with mainstream beauty standards being what they are.
So how does a plus sized gal – moi – dare to wear a crop top to the office?
Let me show ya! 🙂
I took this simple black 3/4 sleeved crop top and layered it over top of a sheer white collared shirt, to create a demure Monday morning polished and sophisticated look.
Since the majority of this outfit is quite monochromatic, I decided to add a blingy statement necklace with loud bright pinks and greens, and earrings to match. (For other monochromatic looks click here, here and here.)
Old Navy‘s Pixie pants were recently on sale again recently – which I immediately alerted everyone to via the FB page – you’re welcome 🙂
I look a little hysterical, I know! Shopping deals on perfect fitting pants do that to me 🙂
I found this great houndstooth pattern among them. Just love the look of them with these glossy pumps!
Plus, I finally unveiled the wine moto jacket y’all helped me buy … well, helped with your comments on FB to determine whether or not I should bring this baby home from Reitmans! Haaza!
Curious about my #ootd in this picture? Click here 🙂
How I Got The Look:
Wine Moto Jacket, Reitmans; Statement necklace and earrings, LOFT; Striped paten leather purse, Kate Spade NY; Houndstooth Pixie pants, Old Navy; Sheer collared white shirt, Winners; Black 3/4 sleeved crop top, Forever21; Black glossy pumps, Payless; Michael Kors bracelet watch
The easiest way to make your Summer pieces more Fall appropriate isn’t to ditch them altogether, but to come up with new ways to wear them.
Here are a few simple ways to stretch your wardrobe and make all your old favorites work until Winter.
This simple short-sleeved navy geometric patterned, faux wrap cotton summer dress has been in my Summer-outfit-rotation for a few years now. I picked it up from the GAP in LA…and even though it’s starting to fad, I just can’t part with it. It’s kinda perfect for Lindy Hop lessons – that’s where I was off to in this outfit. 😉
To make it work for Fall weather I simply added tights. If you’re not into tights, try leggings (like I’m doing in these pics). They’re perfect to wear under your summery dresses for more coverage and warmth, while still staying fashion-forward. I chose a loud colour to help break up the other darker colours of this outfit.
Boots are an autumn staple! They make all of your summer outfits warmer and more functional. Easy Peasy!
You can find booties on the cheap and wear them with your favorite skirt and cardigan/sweater combo like I’ve done in this Outfit of the Day. Boots are an ideal item to stretch your wardrobe — I highly suggest you getting a couple of pairs in different heights. 😉
How I Got The Look: Navy geometric patterned dress from GAP; Ooh-la-la sweater, Navy & gold earrings and tights from Old Navy;Guess purse
So waddya think of the tips in this post? Will they help YOU transition some of your Summer pieces into the Fall? Use the Comments section and let me know.
By now y’all know how much I love any excuse to dress up. Costume and themed events just make my heart happy! 🙂
And this year there were THREEfun-filled nights over two weekends of Halloween Magnificence to get ready for!!!
EVENT 1: Toronto Lindy Hop’s Halloween Dance
This was a tricky costume to come up — All I knew was that this fabulous blue fringed wig NEEDED to be a part of it. Plus, whatever I came up with, I needed to wear something that was ‘dance appropriate’ … i.e. something I could sweat and move comfortably in AND one that kept ‘the girls’ demure and tamed for close dancing with strangers 😉
Tah-Dah!!! Dressed head-to-toe in blue (peplum top & pencil skirt from Forever21, patterned leggings from Old Navy) with a fabulous musical fascinator (Thanks for your craft work Erin!) Sooo….. What am I? Any guesses?
I’m THE BLUES!!!!
Pretty fun night dancing away to the Tia Brazda Swing Band … who dressed up in Halloween splendour too! Love it!
Love that the Toronto Lindy Hop community is sooooo into dress up too! How great is this pic!!! For full album of pics click here.
I’m happy to report that my wig and headgear stayed on all night….even during spins and dips and everything. It only slipped off once 😉
EVENT 2: Impromptu drinking and dancing in The Village on Church St. – Toronto
On Halloween Night, the rain killed all original plans to parade around Church St. in Day-of-the-Dead makeup. Sooooo ended up drinking with a last-minute posse of peoples I haven’t seen in ages, in my skeleton inspired sweater dress from Damzels. A chubby skeleton – HA! Kinda funny, no? 🙂
Me in my Day-of-the-Dead Mask (from Claire’s Accessories), Skeleton-esk finger mittens (from Old Navy) and Skeleton inspired sweater dress (from Damzels Doll Factory).
I’m not gonna lie …. the drinking might have gotten a wee bit outta control this night. Followed by a cab ride into The Village for dancing and pancakes in the wee hours of the AM. Needless to say, I was bed ridden the entire next day, until it was time to get into costume #3!!!
Check out the crazy long line up in the rain for the Cadbury Chocolate Factory on Halloween night! It was nuts!
EVENT 3: Retro Video Dance Party’s Halloween Night @The Mod Club – Toronto
And the best for last …. “SHE-RA! SHE-RA!” {insert musical interlude here}
I’ve been wanting to dress as She-ra for Halloween for as long as I can remember. Sadly, store-bought costumes were all extremely little with zero options for a plus size bod like mine. Le sigh…
I shared my story of disappointment with the talented Carmen of CNL Designs , plus sent her a link to this DIY costume I found via The Stylish Geek, to help her get all the pieces together and TA-DAH!!! Magic happened!!!
Entire costume from crown to cape to boot covers made by CNL Designs. Sword from Dollarama. Blonde wig from Black Market Vintage. And the AH-MAZING ‘industrial strength’ Strapess Bra from Cacique, Lane Bryant.Princess of Power with Marilyn Monroe (aka the Birthday Girl that night)
There were some impressive costumes at this party — including Bret ‘The Hitman’ Heart, Bjork, and The Shinning’s Grady Twins (creepiest costumes there that night…yikes!)
My favourite pic of the night: Shera vs. Thor!!!!
There was a lot of dancing and I’m happy to report that the costume held up pretty well all night. Minus my crown tips sadly as you can see below …sigh
“For the honour of Greyskull….I AM SHE-RA!!!!!”
Sadly, I didn’t win for best costume (wasn’t even in the running….sigh). 😦
But you know who did? Someone from my posse — A Tribute to Robin Williams! Isn’t she amazing!!!!
Soooooo there you have it friends!!! THREE costumes for Halloween 2014!
Which one did you like best? What did you all dress as for Halloween? Tell me all about it in the Comments section 🙂
Here we go… Keepin’ It Causal continues on the blog with yet another quilted vest from Old Navy – they were only $15…had to get it in black as well 😉 (Click here to see the other colour I got.)
Zoomed in view of the various patterns mixed into this casual look!
I tried taking a close up so that you are able to see the different fabrics, textures and patterns that help create more ‘interest’ in this causal look 🙂
For Fall especially, try not to be afraid of bright colours. Fabulous colors make an otherwise ordinary outfit totally vibrant. Since I kept the footwear simple and black, I went for bright yellow and a multi-coloured scarf for some pizzazz.
This was another quickie outfit – comfortable enough for window shopping on WQW (West Queen West), yet polished enough for a casual lunch out somewhere too 😉
There we go …playful prints for Fall. What do you think of this look? Yay or Nay? Use the Comments section, tell me your thoughts.
Continuing with casual looks on the blog today. Fall and Sweater Weather seem to go hand-in-hand. Turns out most of my outfit is from Reitmans today.
I think I put this look together for some errand running and grocery shopping. Since this is a short-sleeved sweater, had the weather been cooler I could easily worn a long-sleeved tee underneath to make this look work without additional outerwear wearability. 🙂
I just love this stripped glossy patten leather Kate Spade NY purse! (As I’m sure you know by now, as it seems to make an appearance is many of my outfit posts lately – click here, here, here, here.) It just give any outfit a more polished look I think. 🙂How I Got The Look: Sweater, white tee & capri activewear bottoms all from Reitmans; Sneakers from Ardene; Necklace gifted and stripped glossy patten leather purse from Kate Spade New York
If you’re looking for more Sweater Weather inspirations click here, here, here and here.
For the past few years I’ve totally been a skirts and dresses kinda gal. I very rarely ever wear jeans.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the look of denim! It’s just not the first think I of wearing. But for Fall they are pretty perfect for a causal vibe. (Click here to see how I incorporated denim previously this week.)
I picked up this faux hoodie-denim jacket from The Hudson Bay Co. this spring from the Jessica Simpson Collection.
I wasn’t sure if mixing dark with light denim would work — but I like how it turned out. Since I kept the colours pretty simple throughout the outfit, adding the pink plaid pop of colour in the footwear and scarf really worked out nicely 🙂 (Click here to see the shoes and here for the hoodie-jacket in other looks)
This jacket doesn’t quite keep me warm enough for the cool Fall temperatures — so a hat not only helps keep the heat in, but also helps facilitate me not brushing or doing my hair! #winning
How I Got The Look: faux hoodie-denim jacket, Jessica Simpson Collection; Black n’ white striped tee from HBC; Plaid loafers from Payless; Dark bootleg jeans from Old Navy; Scarf and knit hat from Ardene; Stripped paten leather purse, Kate Spade NY
What do you think of this casual look? Do you like mixing denims and patterns? Use the Comments section…tell me your thoughts.
Last week we focused on office appropriate looks on the blog. So, this week I thought we should focus on creating more casual looks instead!
As you know – I’m a minimal makeup kinda girl who hates brushing her hair. Check out how purrrfect my Swarovski PAW jewellery looks…just enough casual bling 😉
Truth be told, I have a much easier time dressing up than I do dressing down. Maybe because I work from home mostly, anytime I have an excuse to leave the house, I wanna get all dolled up rather than dressed down.
So dedicating this week to more Casual Looks is a good challenge for me 🙂
I’ve always shied away from these puffer vests – adding more “poof” to the top half of me just wasn’t cute. But then I came across this quilted vest at Old Navy (on sale for $15!) and it won me over! I think it worked out well with this denim & plaid combo for Fall. (For other plaid looks click here, here and here.)
I put this outfit together for an afternoon of mall-window-shopping. 😉 They are kind of perfect for the weather we’ve been having in Toronto lately too.
Waddya think…you likee?
How I Got The Look: Plaid leggings from Ardene; Hunter green quilted vest & Denim long-sleeved shirt from Old Navy; Brown suede booties from Reitmans; Grey cross body purse from Michael Kors;Swarosvski PAWS Jewellery from MyBeaded Designs
So beautiful that I was able to get away with simply wearing my new blush blazer (from Dorothy Perkins) as outerwear alone over this long sleeved sheer dress to the office.
I’m still learning how to use my Mac for photo editing … just figured out how to insert these talk bubbles above 🙂
How I Got The Look:
Dress and earrings from Old Navy (click here to see the dress in other looks); Blush blazer from Dorothy Perkins; Shoes from Winners (click here), purse from Guess, watch from Michael Kors
Thus concludes the week of office appropriate looks as promised. What did you think of this one?
If you’ve missed the others this week click here, here and here.
Since I’m usually a work-from-home kinda gal …. these last few days of having to get up, dressed and out the door to go into the office has created a lot of alarm clock anxiety in my life. I find myself waking up multiple times in the wee hours of the morning (4am, 5am, 6am..) freaked out thinking I’ve overslept.
Well, this fear became my reality the other day, when I opened my eyes to see that it was 8:14am and I was still cozy under my comforter with my first meeting downtown beginning at 9am!
What’s a girl to do outfit wise when time is NOT on her side?
It’s Office Jumpsuit time!
How perfectly did this selection work out. No need to worry about coordinating tops to bottoms. No need for hosiery. Just cover it up with a cardi or a blazer and BOOM – office ready!
As I was running late, I chose to go with my light leather jacket (Danier) and simply wore it all day as a chic blazer to help bring this Summer jumpsuit Fall wearability. [SIDE NOTE: This lamb skinned jacket hasn’t fit me in years – and now it zips up and everything! Woot! Woot!]
Now, I wasn’t always so keen on this onsie-look. Click here for my initial reactions to this plus-size fashion trend. Click here to see how I wore this jumpsuit in the Summer months.
Some general rules I think need to be followed to take a jumpsuit into office wear:
Choose a jumpsuit that is simple and basic. No sparkles. Nothing with a deep-v – keep ‘the girls’ workplace appropriate.
Cover up with a jacket, blazer or cardi to create a more conservative look and neckline.
Keep your jewellery and accessories simple.
I would have loved to rock some pointy toed heels with this look to give me some height and make my legs look longer, buuuuuut as you know I was running late. So flats that matched my purse was all I could swing I’m afraid. Plus, they facilitated in my mad dash into the downtown core as fast as my little legs would carry me!
Who’s already jumped on bringing a Jumpsuit to the office? Would love to know what you did to make it work for you. Use the Comments section … tell me everything! 🙂
How I Got The Look: Jumpsuit from Reitmans; Purse from Kate Spade New York; Jacket from Danier Leather; Swarovski PAWS Jewellery by MyBeaded Designs; Shoes thrifted
The week began with a post I called Edgy Officewear — there was quite a few comments on the PPMeow Facebook Page encouraging me to do more office appropriate looks on the blog. (Thank you for the feedback and interaction … it really does help me create content that YOU want to see & read…so keep those comments coming!)
It just so happens that I’ve got to head into the office 3 days in a row this week. HAZZA!!! If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know that I’m one of those fortunate/unfortunate people who get to work from home most days…so planning work wear this week was a real treat for me. Nerdy-Nerdsony thing to say – yes, yes, I know. 🙂
I’ve been more daring these days with mixing patterns in my looks. When I first picked up this fabulous stripped cropped blazer from one of the many blogger racks at this year’s BigDeal Toronto event, my first thoughts were…
BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE!
But the cropped style of this blazer and the classic black n’ white combo really hooked me …..and the price: $10!!! Yup! It needed to come home with moi! (Stay tuned for a complete event recap blogpost for BigDeal Toronto soon friends).
Being both petite (short) AND plus sized, finding perfectly fitting dress pants are the biggest nightmare ever. Buuuuuut I have fallen in love with Old Navy’s Pixie Pants … they fit perfectly even after several washes. (Click here to read my post on discovering this line of fabulous pants.)
Let me apologize for the gloomy photoshoot – it was a rainy day in Toronto and I only remembered to take pictures of this outfit AFTER a full day at the office…hence the wear down of makeup and disastrous hair. I was pooped! I dunno how you normies do it – going into the office everyday! Ew! 😉
How I Got The Look:
Striped cropped blazer, Forever21+; Black jewelled tank, Reitmans; Red pants, Old Navy; Leopard fur heels, Calvin Klein; Michael Kors bracelet watch and simple gold earrings.
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