Style Dilemmas: A Ball, a Nomination, a Gala, and a Family Portrait

It’s been a little quiet here on the DC Celine blogging front lately. I’ve been trying to focus on work and prepping the new Day Job for my 2-week absence while amping up #healthyme and spending time with the family.

That’s a lot.

I am not, however, gone from the blogging airwaves. I’m just keeping it to the other media at the moment. So here’s a taste of what friends (online and IRL) are asking and how we’re (because it’s collective in almost every circumstance) solving their style dilemmas.

Belle of the Ball (Pinterest board here, Chelsea’s posts here)
We haven’t posted more than Chelsea’s updates on Lee’s online fashion show. We do have a styling challenge we’re going to post - Chelsea’s going to style the champagne one shouldered dress, I’m going to take the gunmetal (with support from my warhead friends). I won’t say more than that, because I’m keeping my styling secrets secret. Gotta beat Chelsea, you know.

Dining in DC Does the RAMMYs
Lisa, the beauty and brains behind the acclaimed Dining in DC blog as well as the newly minted (baked? stirred? some other cooking reference) 4 Bitten Media cooperative, asked me for help a while back. The theme to this year’s Big Gala (the DC dining scene's Oscars) is “Hats Off,” which translates to, literally, hats for the men (easy, right) and fascinators for the women. Fun, on trend, and, well, when else do you wear a fasinator except to Gold Cup? She had some fantastic gown options, including a red stunner I’m dying to see her wear, but she decided on a, well, gunmetal frock. Apparently my preference for the strong, elegant shade is catching. She’s going to top her dark, side-swept locks with a pretty fascinator in purply hues. Searching for a dressy but not bride-y fasinator was not an easy task. (No pictures on this one - I'm keeping her gala ensemble a secret for her.)

Celebrating CityandSand (Pinterest board here)
I “overheard” hillarygrove and jesserker, just two of my new twitterverse-to-IRL friends congratulating cityandsand on her nomination. Nosy that I am, “What for?” Turns out she’s been nominated as member of the year and will join the board of directors for an organization near and dear to her heart. There’s a celebratory reception at which they’ll announce the award, and she was contemplating a new dress. Fans of the twitterfashionshow that they are, hillarygrove and jesserker sprang into action, and I butted in. There’s a pinterest board, and lots of color and sparkle. And just so you don’t think that pinterest is just a tool for companies to get you to buy new things, turns out cityandsand was inspired by the pins to don a dress from her closet. She has one similar to the pink one hanging below in a dove grey.

Counter-clockwise, from top left: Quillaree Macaron Shoppe Dress via BHLDN, Kenneth Jay Lane Sculpted Branch Cuff via Rent the Runway, CUSP dress (no longer available), Tom Ford Neroli Portofino via Nordstrom, Kate Chandelier Earrings (Kate Spade New York Accessories) via Rent the Runway

Dress selected, we moved on to jewelry. I’ll admit I had a little problem separating cityandsand’s (whom I’ve never met IRL, but seems to be similar in stature to me) jewelry search from my own lust-objects. The Kenneth Jay Lane cuff needs to be in my jewelry box now.

A Mama and Her Beans
I have a cousin. A long-lost cousin. She was a friend first, and we later discovered through drunken yells about Iggles that we are, in fact, fairly closely related. (It was a long time ago, ok? Long before either of us even thought about Beans. Looooong before.) Well, she texted me a few weeks ago. She’s just had her 3rd Bean, a second girl to sandwich her boy, and they’re doing a family portrait. On the beach. They live near Lewes, Delaware, at the beach, and she’s constantly posting pictures of their “playground” time on the beach. Yeah. You can hate her.

But anywho, she needed help picking an ensemble that would fit into the blue & white theme they’d picked for eveyone to wear. It would be a beach shoot, too, so casual. She was brave enough (seriously, she shouldn’t have any shame in front of me, given all that’s in our past, family or no) to text me pictures from the LOFT dressing room. I haven’t seen the final shot yet, but she ended up with a prettily layered navy blue top and white capris. Beachy, comfy, flattering, and she was happy in it. Ultimately, she picked it herself based on how she felt in it (“Feels great!” she said), which should, along with the fact that it’s navy and textured, translate well into a flattering and not-dated family picture. I considered sending her to Allie’s advice on dressing for the family portrait, and I certainly called on it myself (don’t pick the white for up top), but she found her own happy clothes place.

Top has somehow disappeared from the LOFT site between me putting it in the image above and now, so here's a similar one, Marisa Cargo Pants in white cotton poplin (LOFT). Background: my FriendCousin's backyard. Almost literally.

The moral of the story? Just because I’m posting Favorite Posts and gearing up for vacation doesn’t mean I’m not available for ensemble idea bouncing. Really! Tweet, email (dcceline dot blogspot at gmail), facebook message, or comment with your own dilemma, and we’ll see what we can do! Also, I won't post it unless you say it's ok. I never, ever post anything about anyone unless they're ok with it.