Stella&Dot – Petite Plus, Meow!

#OOTD + Scarborough Town Center

Only two more weekends before my gf ties the knot with her lovely fiancée! Weeee! This weekend we – the Bridesmaids – are taking the Bride out for some special girlie time, followed by a joint evening-o-fun with friends of both the Bride & Groom.

I needed to make an outfit that’ll be lady-like appropriate for High Tea, yet able to go straight into an evening of Off-Key Karaoke Singing at their Stag & Doe. All the while keeping in mind that all of these shenanigans are taking place in the depths of Scarborough … which is a huge factor when considering shoe options in the cold winter weather of February…(I’m soooo sick of boots…sigh.)

This was the first time I was travelling into Scarborough via TTC since moving to the Queen West hood. It was a journey and a half! But upon arriving at Scarborough Town Center – I was dazzled by all the renos. This mall has really stepped it up since my highschool days of being a mallrat. Since my ride was running late, I had ample time to explore both levels of this mall and even took advantage of some of the winter clearance sales and beginning of Spring deals too.

My mini-kill-time-in-the-mall-haul consisted of:

Laura Petite – where I scored fabulous deep green leather gloves for $19, a silver chain for $9 and earrings for $7; and
Old Navy – picked up ANOTHER pair of my fav Diva pants are back in this great floral black with white pipping $25 plus this cute Navy skirt with red anchors $17

Some of you may remember this dress from a previous post [see Making Old, New Again]. Well, I finally got the hem of this dress shortened and now it’s perfect!

So for my Outfit of the Day (OOTD), here’s what I’ve come up with:

Prior to getting this dress hemmed, I’ve often worn it with a longer open cardi…either my cream long-sleeved knitted one from Winners OR my brown short-sleeved one from Reitmans.

But this time around, I decided to change the look slightly pairing it with a short grey cardi to hide the peekaboo cutouts on the back of this dress. Saving them for the evening look instead 🙂

Curious about what peekaboo cutouts I’m speaking of….and want to see how great this dress can look when you’re not limited to winter salt-stained covered boots? Scroll to the bottom of this post to see some of the lovely shots of JUST this dress from the creative eye of Rebecca Northcott. (Oh blue suede platforms, how I’ve missed you old friends…sigh.)

How I got The Look:
Groovy polka dot dress from Forever21+, Toronto Eaton Center
Tall grey boots from Payless
Grey v-neck cardigan from Old Navy, Toronto Eaton Center
Carmel/beige floral fascinator from Your Big Sister’s Closet (Dundas W/Keele Sts)
Odette Cuff + Odette Earrings from Stella & Dot

Photo credit: Rebecca Northcott, Rebecca Northcott Photography

Stella & Dot: Spring/Summer Lookbook (Part 1 of 3)

Friends – about three weeks ago, as you can see from my Instagram pic below, I went to my mailbox and squeeled with delight to find the 2014 Spring/Summer Stella & Dot Lookbook had arrived!!! Even my pup, Bert seemed excited 🙂

I dunno about y’all … but I might love jewellery and accessories a little more than I love clothes. Why? Because they ALWAYS fit!!! If you’re like me, you’re used to going up and down in weight constantly. Which often means money spent on fab pieces of clothing only getting worn once or twice before it’s too big or too small to look “good” on you anymore. Buuuuut when you buy a lovely piece of jewellery or a fab pair of shoes or an amazing purse/scarf/hat…typically, no matter when you wear it again, it’s gonna look as fantastic on you, as the day you bought it!

Two years ago I got introduced to this fabulous line of jewellery and accessories through a girlfriend who hosted a Stella & Dot Party. Think Tupperware party meets the uber chic & fashionable. It is here that I met the lovely and stylish Amy Lazar Kleiman, Independent Stylist for Stella & Dot. And we became fast friends!

I’ve come to own and love many Stella & Dot pieces over the last few years … many of which I’ve incorporated into outfit posts on this blog already [See Shades of Grey for Spring, #BOPO Art Installation, Cherry Bomb, Pretty in Pink, and Navy Polkadots] . Now, if you’re new to discovering your love for Stella & Dot, you may be taken aback at the price-points of their items. I was too at first. But what I’ve come to really appreicate is the uniqueness of the jewellery – you are NOT gonna to find everyone and their sister wearing these pieces when you’re out and about, like you will if you’re wearing cheap costume jewellery of the Reitmans, AdditionElle and Forever21’s out there. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all over the “Buy 2 get 1 free” deals on the sale racks of these spots too, but Stella & Dot’s quality and selection really is far superior than anything you’d find at the mall.

The best part about purchasing any thing Stella & Dot is the hassle free return policy, the low flat shipping rate and the fact that they stand behind the quality of their goods. The Bianca Tassel was one of my first and still beloved pieces I purchased. It goes with basically everything and I wore it often. Sadly, I’ve had bad luck with loosing a bobble or two. I alerted Amy, my Stella & Dot Stylist, and she took care of everything! Within a week I had a BRAND NEW Bianca Tassel Necklace at my door to replace the broken one – easy peasy!

With Spring just around the corner …. Amy and I will be bringing the readers and followers of Petite Plus, Meow! some exciting opportunities and a contest in a 3-Part Blog Stella & Dot Post! Exciting!!!!

Part I: Getting YOU your very own Lookbook! Although the links I’ve provided within this post will take you to the Stella & Dot online catalogue, isn’t is always sooooo much better when you have an actual, tangible, touchable catalogue in your hands to doggie-ear pages of all the items you need and wish to make yours? Of course it is! 🙂

Want one? Click here and Amy will send one to you straight away….for FREE!

I’ve got a few ideas as to what we should Giveaway to one lucky winner – but I’d love to hear what ya’ll like the best from Stella & Dot’s Spring/Summer Collection. Use the Comments section below and let me know what you’d love to win (include the catelogue page# too so others can check out what might be on the short-list of prize to be won!!)

In the meantime…..

I just launched a Facebook Page to help spread the word about this blog – LIKE me. 🙂

AND….If you haven’t officially started following PetitePlus, Meow! on WordPress….START!

Stay tuned for Part II: Contest Giveaway from Stella & Dot ….. weeeeeeeee!

Shades of Grey for Spring

I’m really digging shades of grey that seem to be everywhere this winter. Like this cutie-pie illusion of lace dress that I’m yet to wear – picked it up during Boxing Week at Toronto’s Eaton Center. It’s light weight with a bit of crinoline at the hem just at the knees, that gives the skirt a bit of volume. Just a really pretty lady-like look.

In an effort to make it springtime ready, I paired it with pops of coral with accessories and sophisticated bling from Stella & Dot.

And as usual, I’m always thinking about how I can take my outfits to the office or for when I’m delivering a training session. A simple black tuxedo blazer seemed to do the trick!

Alternatively, maybe I could do a nude pump with a more colour pop blazer too. Hummm…thoughts?

How I got The Look:

Bianca tassel necklace from Stella & Dot

Coral tassel purse from Aldo

Coral glossy wedge sling-backs from Payless

The illusion-of-lace dress is from Forever 21+, Eaton Center

Black n’ white tuxedo blazer from INC, The Hundson Bay Co. in Yorkdale Mall

And the puppy … The Berto – he’s my heart and had to make an appearance in this blog eventually 🙂

Photo credit: Tami Falus

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Cherry Bomb

I bought this Cherry Bomb dress last year as my Happy-Birthday splurge. It is a sexy ultra form-fitting pin-up/vintage/ultimate bombshell dress…and oh so comfortable. This dress has a wrap twist in the bust area, enhancing ‘the girls’ and cap sleeves that look great on all arms. It even has helpful gathers in the front skirt to help hide any possible flaws in your waistline. The dress is a classy below knee-length, and has a nice slit in the back for ease in cat-walking. Being petite, I did have to get a few alterations to both the length (shorten) and have the arm holes taken in a bit more so that it neckline would stay-put.

Being a September baby, it was warm enough to simply be worn all on its own from dinner to dancing into the wee hours of the morning. I really wanted to wear this fab dress for this past weekend’s #DUSTED event I was invited to, but I would need to transform this Cherry Bomb dress into a more winter-friendly one. So here’s what I did:

Gave up the flower in my hair and the peep-toed pumps. Put on black hose and short rocker-chick booties, along with a black leather and suede open jacket that helps keep that rocker-chick look alive – plus helps keep me warm under the winter coat when waiting for the notoriously late Queen streetcar to get around Toronto on a Saturday Night.

Let’s talk about the event, the venue and Saturday night. Seeing as I only knew the DJ who would be busy working at this event, I invited a gf I recently reconnected with to be my +1 …someone to drink and dance with, flirt with boys with, someone to act as my paparazzi for blog-worthy photos. 🙂 Unfortunately, mere hours before waking up from my required ‘nap-before-I-have-a-night-out’ nap, I get a text and phone call from said gf, weeping about her on-again-off-again relationship that ended a few hours ago. Listening to her emphatically, I encouraged her to do whatever she needed to, and not worry about coming out with me…unless of course getting cute and dancing her cares away would help. She opted not to come. And I waffled – do I go to this event…ALONE…knowing nobody…completely friendless?

Why the heck not!? After all, I made a commitment to go, I’m dressed oh-so cute, and I’m chatty enough to manage a few hours of small-talk with strangers I’ll never see again, right? I was going!

The event was at Atelier Resto-Lounge (366 Queen Street East at Parliament St) – a beautifully converted space with exposed brick walls, that acts as a new casual restaurant for the neighbourhood sandwiched between small independent restaurants and shops on the north side of the street. I didn’t come early enough to taste their dinner offerings from their menu unfortunately, but the bar staff were lovely and I got to meet the owner, a young entrepreneur who seemed very pleased at the turn out for the launch party of this trendy new spot.

The venue is long rather than wide, with the DJ stage at the very back with a large screen that displayed various vids on mute and the occasional shout-out for the event name. I got there a little after midnight and from what I saw, it was a mature clientele (30+) who for the most part were dressed to impress. As I stood along the side-lines of the bar sipping my drink to people-watch I couldn’t help but observe how many more men there were to women in this place. And of this ratio, the women were all dressed fantastically, whereas I couldn’t say that about all the men there. In fact, it got me thinking about how much more of an effort chicks seem to put into everything that seemingly goes unappreciated yielding limited results, when compared with a guy who gets ready for a night out to meet or take out their lady.

I met a few nice women actually – they complimented me on my outfit and we got to chatting. Even danced around with a few, complete with fancy dips and spins on the floor. There was a professional photographer afoot, don’t know where/how I can get my hands on those pics just yet, so unfortunately my iPhone pics will have to do for now folks.

As the evening went on and the dance floor crowd diminished, I noticed a gaggle of guys who were dressed in jeans and hoodies – seriously – who, one by one, made their way to the group of ottomans where I was sitting waiting for my DJ friend. Listening to these 24-year-old boys tell me they’re 26, impress me with questionable humor and unnecessary close-talking, I have never been more acutely aware of how much I’ve grown and changed as a person who was able to politely tolerate my current situation. Don’t get me wrong, it is always flattering to be approached, but looking at the effort I put into my outfit vs. the results it yielded (young boys in hoodies) it’s a sad truth indeed friends. Luckily I was rescued by the DJ shortly after… {Insert “Last night a DJ saved my life” tune here :)}. Overall, the night was a success – I was glad I pushed past my fear of going to something like this alone, but in the end anything involving a dance floor is always better with a friend or two.

How I got The Look:

Cherry Bomb Dress by Stop Staring, from SexyPlus Clothing (Rosedale/Yonge Sts)

Rocker-chick buckle+zipper booties from Aldo/Black peep-toe platform pumps from Diesel, Winners

Black leather & suede open jacket by Jessica, Sears (Eaton Center)

Accessories: Earrings from BitterSweet; Odette Cuff from Stella&Dot; White hair-flower from Forever21

Pretty in Pink …

I love pink! I would wear it head-to-toe everyday if I could. But working for a Financial Institution as a Consultant of Training & Development Solutions, delivering instruction to classrooms of people regularly, I’ve got to tone down the passionate pink panther within me for the office. 😉

This shot is my absolute fav of me pretty in pink with the city in the background! On NYE I paired this high-waisted flare skirt with a black crop-top. Yup…I got brave and bared my mid-drif…and it was awesome! Sadly all of those shots were taking by wobbly drunks, selfies included, and such blurry pics are not cute for a blog, so stay tuned.

This black n’ white skirt has quickly become one of my all-time faves…and the pop of pink just makes it pretty perfect! Plus, with it being a pretty simple look, I can add my Stella & Dot bling to kick it up a notch! So now I’m looking for ways to bring this dynamic duo to the office.

Here’s what I’ve come up with …once the weather gets a bit more spring- like and I can wear my lovely peep-toed heels again.

Blazers are basically the best invention ever to give any piece of clothing a polished and immediate upgrade. I’ve paired up the above look with a classic black n’ white tuxedo blazer and pushed the colour limits of office-acceptable with a Kelly green blazer too.

You likee? 🙂