Leopardonnne moi ;)

(January 8, 2012)

Happy New Year guys!! This is my first post of the new year, and in the spirit of things, I'm trying something new. I'm a fan of animal print. Cheetah and Leopard are wonderful prints. They're just sexy and bold and chic; when done the right way..hmm. Pause (||) getting ahead of myself. Rewind (<<). 

This post will be devoted to a new combo I never knew would look good. Around the time I first started blogging, I discovered Red&Camel, very nice combo. Now I've found Blue&Leopard ;). Also, very..very nice.

It all started when I saw Ms. Blake Lively wearing this fabulous dress from the Spring 2011 Collection by Tibi ^_^. Instantly fell in love! I mean just look at it. the color is breathtaking, it giggles of spring. Not to mention how well Ms. Lively wears it. I've seen two other celebs donning this fabulous frock, but not like her. She really fills it out. In my opinion, the dress looks much more "made to fit" when it actually..fits, than when you have that "I borrowed my big sister's dress" look that a certain other celeb had *nothing against her*. Anywho, my first though was to try to make a similar dress, in a different print, though. Big fan of basic dresses. However, that vision was no realized; so I forgot about the dress, Until I was looking for a way to style the blue dress here. I didn't want to do black..since I would be wearing black tights. I was stuck. THEN...I remembered this photo.
Seeing that photo again made me curious if anyone else had tried this combo. The hunt brought me to one of my favorite blogs. Karla has great style and an even better closet. I'm currently pining for those Prada Pumps *sigh* but alas, I don't have several hundred dollars for shoes at the moment. Seeing her post really made me want to put a spin on the look. I love the dress she's wearing. Anyone would just pair it with a white espadrille or pump. The leopard actually made the dress stand out instead of just accenting it the way white would have. Plus, look how adorable she is ^_^! At this point I was definitely sold on the idea of pairing my blue dress with a leopard print of some sort; but once again I sought out more confirmation of the daring duo. That brought me Stephanie. I really like her blog, if you don't already follow her, please check her out. Her style is a little bit of everything, but most of all it's full of confidence, love it! This is her rendition of blue and leopard. After seeing that post, I was officially on board. Now..let's talk about the dress that started it all. A few weeks ago I purchased a very cute shirt dress, last seen here. 
My original intentions were to wear it for NYE service, but it was a business casual occasion, needless to say, it was too dressy..so I waited. And waited, and waited, and waited for a week. I didn't want to wear black heels with it, since the dress has black in it and I would be wearing black tights. After throwing around several ideas, I realized this would be a great opportunity to try this look. I already own a pair of leopard print booties. Somehow the shape of the bootie just threw off everything. I'm a recovering shopaholic..so I also didn't want to buy a new pair of heels just for one look..so I made a project out of it. I had a pair of black heels that were tore UP! Literally from the floor up, lol. They were the heels I wore for model practice for my first ASA show. If you guys are interested in how I did the transformation, let me know and I'll do a post about it :). Moving on to the look...
I'm very excited about this outfit. First, because I've really been wanting to wear this dress; and second, because I was really looking forward to trying the leopard/blue combo. 

I received a lot of compliments on this look. Everyone loved the dress, especially paired with the heels. I feel personally obligated to bring some wow the people in my life with my wardrobe..if not wow, at least intrigue and catch off guard. It's just another thing that makes me..well, me.

I opted for textured tights instead of my basic black. They definitely added something to the outfit outfit aside from being more opaque than my basic blacks, the texture was just nice all round.

I think I was really able to pull an element from all the ladies that inspired this look. My only intention was to pair leopard with blue, but it just happened to be a dress (like Blake and Karla) and a similar shade to the skirt Stephanie wore. I also chose a pair of bow studs, I just noticed that Stephanie wore a bow ring. The little details, I tell ya; make the whole look.

What's in the drawer?

Dress: Jonathan Saunders for Target (thrifted)

Heels: Bamboo, DIY-ed by me (Burlington)

Tights: owned

Earrings: Charlotte Russe

"Be that girl who stands out in a room full of people, as if you're the only one there..."

~Amanda