stripes – PPMeow!

Neon & Stripes

Hello friends!!! Sorry it’s been such a long while since I’ve done a proper blogpost.

Summer days lead to summer nights…and I’ve been making the most of both so far this July.

Hope you are doing the same. 🙂

Guess what I’ve managed to do? I finally introduced some NEON into my summer wardrobe!

It’s everywhere. You’ve seen it. I just didn’t know how to pull it off myself. But then I found this body con dress from Rainbow Shops on my last cross-boarder shopping trip earlier this Spring for a super steal of a price. And it’s been hanging in my closet with tags on ever since.

I finally had the nerve to wear it while I was in Ottawa over Canada Day Long Weekend. (Stay tuned to the blog for a recap of my trip…coming soon!)
The centre colour block of neon with the bold black and white strips down the sides of this body hugging midi length frock, make this a very loud and vibrant look. Especially when worn at night … So I made sure to keep accessories, shoes and purse solid black and simple, to avoid adding any more noise to this outfit.

During the hot summer months, neon is quickly becoming something I want to wear more of. I’ve been looking for the perfect chartreuse pieces to introduce into my wardrobe next. Preferably in a pump 😉

How I Got The Look: Neon & Stripes dress from Rainbow Shops; Jelly shoes from my AsianAdventure

Have you jumped on the neon bandwagon this summer? If you’re nervous about it, start small. Go for a piece of jewelry with neon stones, neon nails, or a neon belt.

Are you following me on INSTAGRAM? If so, you’ve likely seen a few more pics and video clips as I took them during my trip. Search for the hashtag: PPMeowTravels to see more of my adventures and outfits there.

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Fall Double Feature: Sporty Chic

Here it is folks ….. the LAST outfit post from our week long Fall Double Feature special. Hazza!!!

I hope you’ve been enjoying and following this FIRST SERIES on PPMeow! Cassie from Style Cassentials and I had so much fun putting together this collaboration. And we’d love to know what you thought too (use the comments section below to do just that, friends).

We’ve been discussing and putting our own unique twists to Fall trends ALL week. If you missed any of my previous posts I’ll list them at the end of this one…so you can get yourself caught up and Fall ready! 🙂

Let us end this series by being Sporty Chic!

Waddya think of this triple-split shot taken by *LawreneceKerrPhotography* …whist I was ‘getting camera ready’ in the mirror? Kinda clever huh…

This was the hardest of all the Fall looks for me to put together this week, from my existing wardrobe.

Truth be told, dressing down or sporty isn’t something I do regularly. Seeing as I work from home, I revel in the opportunities to leave the house — and when I do I always wanna dress up, rather than dress down 🙂

So this was a good challenge for me.

My entire mauve-toned outfit is from Reitmans. I’ve totally become a skirt-and-dresses-type-of-chick days, so I paired this simple pencil skirt with a tri-coloured striped button down v-neck cardi. For some reason anything in a stripe seems ‘sporty’ to me …

Of course, these high-top platform sneaks help give the whole look a more casual-sporty-vibe. I try to avoid wearing sweaters with jackets in the Fall – so in an effort to keep warm for Fall temperatures, a simple black n’ white patterned pashmina scarf worked out perfectly. And then for a third pattern, my zebra clutch.

How I Got The Look:

Tri-colour stripped cardi & mauve skirt from Reitmans; High-top kicks from Torrid; Zebra clutch from AlterEgo Clothing and the black n’ white pashmina scarf and hoop earrings were gifted

How much do you love this diagonal zip jacket Miss Cassie is wearing? And that fabulous cuff – LOVE IT! Head over to Style Cassentials for all the details on how Cassie has styled the trends. Or visit her Facebook page here.

And just in case….if you’ve missed a few from the special Fall Double Feature? Not to fear…

Loving Leather click here; Sweater Glamour click here; Modern Monochrome click here;

Blooms on Black click here; Blue Hues click here; Mad for Plaid click here

Photo credit: Lawrence Kerr of LawrenceKerrPhotography.com

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Backless Nautical Navy

Ooo!! It’s summertime and I have to admit, I’ve been baring my arms and legs much more than I ever had in pervious summers.

Blogging has gotten me braver in my outfit choices and more confident to rock things I’d normally shy away from. Like this fantastic dress I picked up cross-border shopping recently … I was immediately drawn to it on the rack. Buuuuut upon picking it up I noticed that an important piece of fabric was missing ….that critical piece of fabric that covers up my giant bra clasps and that loveable back roll that gets formed upon wearing said giant bra.

Doesn’t this dress just SCREAM: Summer!!! I just love it!

The hi-lo skirt is perfect for petite beauties as there will be zero ‘tripping-up-the-stairs’ incidents as there might be with lengthy maxis (least it’s the case for moi…seems I’m terribly clumsy). I’ve already professed my love and devotion to all the nautical-ness in fashion since the Spring…so this dress just needed to be mine! Click here and here and here and here for all my previous nautical love posts friends!

A special shoutout to the lovely coral floral necklace and earring set I’m wearing in this post. Picked it up from this cute lil’ boutique called One Girl Who on St. Clair West in Toronto. Recently rediscovered it among all my jewellery….. doesn’t it just add to the summertime fun feeling of this outfit? 🙂

How I Got The Look:

Backless Navy Striped dress from Rainbow Clothing from recent Cross-Border shopping trip; Coral floral necklace & earring set from The Girl Who; Pink purse from Your Big Sister’s Closet; White & gold sandals from Le Chateau

So… waddya think about the backless-ness of this dress? Would you rock it? How would you style it? I wanna know what you think friends….tell me in the Comment Section below!

OOTD: Rainy Day Alternative

It’s a full week of rain in Toronto … and although I’ll happily take it over snow, I’m always looking for alternatives so I can avoid carrying around a giant umbrella to get from A to B in the city.

I have the best pair of galoshes!!! These pink paisley rubber boots basically screamed “Irene” when I scored them a million years ago from Wal-Mart.

But sometimes, a girl doesn’t want to be in humid rubber boots all day. Plus, these boots don’t exactly go with ever look and outfit. 😉

So here’s what I put together as a Rainy Day Alternative recently … in an effort to rid myself of an umbrella and galoshes.

The solution: A giant hat + booties!

Now naturally, this alternative is only good if the temperature is warmish (15+) and rain not too heavy so your footwear doesn’t get ruined. Since my jacket was 3/4 sleeved (and extremely light), pairing it with this fun scarf helped give me that extra bit of warmth. If you wanna see the many other ways to tie a scarf, I’ve got you covered in that link 🙂

Since the overall colour scheme was pretty simple and muted, I thought I’d add a pop of colour by wearing this HOT Pink gold studded belt to give my outfit some pizzazz!

I’ve been all over this circle scarf I picked up back in November from Aldo (I even mentioned it in my Interview upon being nominated for a 2014 LIEBSTER BLOG AWARD). It’s a light-weight simple beige toned bird patterned scarf, that I find myself adding to any and all outfits I whip up, especially on the weekends for running errands or impromptu meet-ups for brunch, drinks and the like.

Like the look? What are your solutions to looking cute in the rain?

How I Got The Look:

Bird circle scarf, Aldo Accessories (click here for related other posts)

Pink paisley galoshes, Wal-Mart (click here for related other posts)

3/4 sleeved brown jacket, AdditionElle

Black n’ white striped long-sleeved dress, Old Navy

Hot pink studded belt, Your Big Sister’s Closet

Large cream brimmed hat, Toronto Vintage Clothing Show(click here for related other posts)

Faux cowboy booties, Payless( click here for related other posts)

SexyPlus Clothing Grand Reopening!

I was fortunate to have met Stefanie Augusteijn a few years ago B.B.B. (Before Becoming a Blogger). When I moved to midtown Toronto, her boutique SexyPlusClothing was walking distance for me when it was located just south of Rosedale subway station on Yonge St.

I’ve picked up a few coveted pieces from her shop in the past, including my beloved high-waisted leopard pencil skirt, my black lace wrap top and the highly complimented Cherry Bomb dress.

She’s recently relocated this fab shop. This past weekend a friend of mine and I took a Saturday morning road trip out to Mississauga to be a part of Stefanie’s Grand Reopening & 5-Year Store Anniversary Party!

There were promises of Fresh New Spring Arrivals + Buy One Get One 50% offers along with Fashion and Beauty Prizes…and best of all Gourmet Cake and Refreshments!

Don’t let the outside fool you – the store is beautiful! And Stefanie designed it all herself!!! The fresh, bright off-white of the entire space and hardwood floors with pops of that SexyPlus signature pinks all over the place, along with the familiar alphabet artwork of Lime Green Squid just make you feel all smiley. 🙂

Lime Green Squid's plus size art — Lime Green Squid’s artwork

Closer Look of Lime Green Squid’s artwork. A few of these framed pieces were given away to a few lucky customers of SexyPlus Clothing.

“Dress for the weather you want, not the weather you have!”

Decided on wearing this green & black maxi dress w/skinny black belt ($17 Forever21+) with a cropped cardi ($10 Old Navy) combo with my grey moto leather jacket (Winners) and Rocker-girl boots (Aldo) … regardless of the snow flurries that followed us from Toronto to Mississauga that morning. My hair was uncooperative this morning as you can see. Sigh…

Here’s a few snaps of all the shopping fun that was had at this beautifully renovated boutique for plus sized babes:

Me with Stefanie, owner of SexyPlus Clothing

Special shoutouts to go the lovely shop-girls, Dream Taylor and Sabrina who were uber attentive and helpful, providing honest opinions and encouragement once you’re ready to emerge from the change rooms. I tried on several pieces, including this lovely ‘Hello Yellow’ dress, this Black n’ White stripped number and this Tiki inspired beach-ready dress:

I even became the SexyPlus “Guinea pig” for trying on the new Convertible Maxi dress, as Stefanie transformed this lovely navy chevron patterned fabulousness whilst on my body for all to see the many different looks this one piece was capable of. Please ignore the giant bra straps that are taking away from the loveliness of this dress – clearly I was not prepared to be apart of this impromptu fashion show 🙂

Check out the pics below to see what this Marie Convertible dress in navy chevron can do:

It was a delightful afternoon….but as you can see from my face in the above pic, I was clearly torn as to which pieces I wanted to take home with me. I limited myself to only ONE new purchase of all the items above – I’ve got myself on a strict budget as my closet is bursting at the seams these days with all my recent mini-hauls.

Finally, I decided to buy the Captain’s Bodycon dress – it’s made in Canada!

Waddya think? Did I make the right decision? (Oh…ignore the moustache socks also…lol!)

SexyPlus Clothing’s new location: 5100 Maingate Drive, Unit 14 Mississauga, ON —- with lots of FREE parking friends. If you get a chance, you should def make the trip out to see what pretty fashions need to be yours!

From SexyPlus Clothing: The Captain’s Bodycon dress – it’s made in Canada!

#OOTD: Nautically Inspired

It’s been a while since I’ve done an Outfit of the Day post….with all the recent excitement of being a Bridesmaid, The Oscars and modeling for Dragons’ Den Auditions. So I’m excited to be sharing an #ootd with you all again 🙂

I picked up this fab lightweight cream crewneck sweater from Old Navy Boxing Day! These red anchors are the cutiest. I really love the nautical theme … Black, Navy, Red & White in combination with stripes and anchors are just the greatest things ever.

I’ve worn this sweater a ton over the last few months …but I never remembered to take pics for the blog. Monday this sweater made another appearance to the office and I finally snapped a few for this post, combining them with random selfies I’ve taken whist wearing it elsewhere. 🙂 This great red blazer is part of a skirt suit from Sears a few years ago…also scored during Boxing Day sales. The pants are those Diva Old Navy ones you may remember them from my previous post – and I stand by my statement: Best.Pants. Ever!

Here are two distinct nautical themed looks – both totally do-able for “9-5 office” and super perfect for post-office-day fun too!

Mixing Patterns
A huge trend right now, but for me doing it right is difficult. I think I made it work here with the red anchor sweater + black n’ white polka dot pant. The look was a bit more on the casual side, so adding the red blazer helped me feel more confident to bring this outfit to the office all day. Sigh…If the weather in Toronto will ever become spring like, I can finally stop pairing up all outfits with my winter boots – blah…sooo sick of winter!

Stripes + Solids
Keeping with my nautical themed post, I’ve often worn this red blazer with a simple black pencil skirt, rather than the red skirt from the suit set…in an effort not to be “too loud” at the office (remember folks…financial-institution-corporate-types don’t appreciate “loud” amongst them in cubical/open-office living…or so I’ve noticed). In an effort to still keep the look interesting, like moi … introducing a sharp pattern or print like this striped strapless peplum really helps me create some noise, without being too “loud” for the office 😉

So, which nautical inspired look do you like best?

Because I’ve been missing wearing shoes with my OOTDs, I’ve included a few fab shots taken by the artsy eye of Rebecca Northcott – a few in black peep-toed heels and others in red wedged heels 🙂

How I got The Looks:

Red blazer by Jessica skirt-suit set from Sears

Diva pants + Anchor crewneck sweater from Old Navy

Black n’ White stripped peplum top from AdditionElle

Large tear drop earrings in both Gold and Silver are from Payless

Peep-toe black platform pumps from Diesel, Winners AND Red Georgen pointed wedge heels from Aldo

Photo credit: Rebecca Northcott, Rebecca Northcott Photography

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Peplum, Pencil Skirt and Pink Pumps

A peplum top and a pencil skirt are two pieces, when paired together, can never go wrong! Especially helpful for plus sized divas, as it cinches in at the waist and helps create an hourglass shape.

Photo credits: Tami Falus

The classic black and white combo with a loud splash of colour with the pink pumps gives me a bit of edge, to an otherwise lady-like outfit.

How I got The Look:
Black peplum collar tank from Forever21+, Toronto Eaton Center
Stripped pencil skirt from Thyme and Honey, Marshalls Richmond/John Sts
Pink pointy toed pumps from NineWest