Personal Style: Who's That Girl?

I get it all the time. PR pitches addressed to "Celine." People seem shocked when they find out that my name isn't. And it isn't even close. But there is a story to it, one that I actually hold very near and dear to my heart.

And so, on this day when I'd have loved to post a new style dilemma for you, or told you about some event, but didn't get to it, well, I figured I'd answer that question, "Who's That Girl?" So head on over to that ubiquitous "About" page, here, and find out.

Image via

Then, if you like what you see, and this blog is the only place you've come across me so far, well, then, get on the social media wagon and follow me elsewhere...

DC Celine on Facebook - I don't read as many blogs as some, but I do have my favorites. I share links, photos, and other interesting fashion and style things that pop up in my own feeds here. And, for those not on Instagram, I periodically post my Instagram pics (at least from my #twitterfashionshows) here, too. Have a question about something you see on my facebook page, just comment, and I'll track down the answer!

DC Celine on Twitter - 140 characters of fashion and style focused chatter. Fairly regular tweets on what I've been #wearing. I also share where I've been that relates to my own fashion, style, and personal journey (no, I'm not "mayor" of the Starbucks and the yoga studio, I swear). Have a style dilemma or a "where do I eat in DC" question? Tweet at me, and I'll give you my (solicited) opinion!

DC Celine on Pinterest - For those who follow the blog, you know that, even when I'm too swamped to post regularly, I can usually find a few minutes to pin. I've got boards for everything from seasonal clothing (Winter Girl) to aspirational fashion (Pie in the Sky) to #healthyme to my travel desires (Where My Heart Wants to Go). And if you contact me with a style dilemma, and are on pinterest, we can do a collaborative board, like we did to find City and Sand's reception frock.

DC Celine on Instagram (@DC Celine) - Some don't get the "filters." I, on the other hand, love them for Making My Pictures Look Better. And since I'm not an Outfit of the Day #OOTD poster, but sometimes want to share at least the concept of what I've thrown on, I find it easy to make a simple shot shine. Also, The Beans. And H.

Weekend Style: Weekend at Home

This weekend is the first we've had all together at home in a month. It's also the last we'll have all together at home until September. Therefore, despite us being "at home," it was jam-packed with all sorts of domestic tasks - and a fair amount of indulgence. Both exceptionally necessary.

First row: (Not pictured: The approximately 73 hours we spent at IKEA before) The Bean and I (she in her Janie & Jack, I in my picked-out-by-The-Bean-in-NYC pinkyotto), before heading out to a celebratory dinner at Marcel's; The Bean and her rainbow trout with spinach and roe (the roe weren't so popular); the scotch H and I needed at Jack Rose after our amazingly indulgent and delicious-as-always dinner (cooked by Chef Wiedmaier himself, and who charmed the pants off of all of us when we met him after dinner)

Second row: Sunday morning birthday party; spicing cauliflower for roasting, inspired by her favorite part of our Marcel's dinner, "Meeting the chef;" one of the first "We're Cleaning Our Bedroom Thoroughly" discoveries of the day: the sheepskin rug we found in an old duffel bag underneath our bed and now keeps our tootsies comfy on our bedroom floor

Third row: Part of our newly clean and reorganized bedroom wall unit: my grandparents' engagement picture, our wedding day, Budda; Romanian, Greek, American, English, German, and French literature, my grandmother's orchestra binoculars; the books we won't ever give up, because

Fourth row: a basket hiding the family cameras from Bean No.2, my mommy's lamps awaiting shades, my puppy in brown paper; art books, atlases, and 1989 newspaper articles on the trials of Nicolae and Elena Ceaucescu; our major going-out-of-business-sale rug score, in all of its 80s porntasticness

Fifth row: my grandmother's finery, including - literally - kid gloves; Mom-Mom's compact and slide-out purse comb; rouched-wrist gloves I need to wear soon

Sixth row: a gloriously plaid 70s satchel that had been under our bed; our bed, newly decked out in IKEA linens, a vintage accent pillow, and my great-grandmother's crochet work; Mama's Monday morning's joyful tears of a first day of kindergarten

Also, in case you're not following me on Instagram, please do! @DCCeline there, as well as on Twitter.

Style Debate: Can You Judge a Person by Their Shoes?

In lieu of a full-fledged post today (there was no time to work on posts over the weekend when you're busy meeting childhood heros like, you know, Ernie), I'm going to simply direct you over to a conversation I hope I started (ok, Kassie started) on the DC Celine facebook page.

Click here to join the discussion.

In the interest of that, you know, SEO thing, and, well, the fact that my graphic design abilities don't let me put a screen shot in that's big enough to read, here's the text of my status post on the fb page.

"DC Celine is going to start a conversation prompted by a medical study. Kassie Rempel, founder of SimplySoles, posted this article this morning. I will admit, I haven't read the article yet. But I will also readily admit that I 100% agree with the headline.

I will also state that I firmly believe should have made a hiring decision a long time ago based on my reaction to a candidate's shoes. Not listening to that reaction - and my gut - cost me a lot of heartache (that, yes, made me stronger and wiser, but that's beside the point, isn't it?).

[Link to the article on Medical Daily about personality traits and shoes.]

Discuss."

Also, please do jump over to that facebook page and "like" me. I often share articles, posts, pictures, and thoughts that don't make it into full posts here on the blog. Please join us. Then there's Instagram (via webstagram, too) and Twitter, too. All @DCCeline, of course.

Style Dilemma: Guest of a Wedding Dress

Like many of my reader questions these days, this one came in from the twitterverse...short & sweet:

Style Dilemma alert! Chelsea needs my help! Here are the project requirements - I mean - dilemma details:

Where & When: Early May, in Annapolis, 3:00 ceremony at Naval Academy Chapel, with a 5:00 reception at William Paca House. It’s Navy. It’s Annapolis. It’s colonial.

Who: The Groom is a Navy pilot, and Chelsea’s hoping there will be some young Top Gun studs in attendance. Really. The Bride is Chelsea’s connection to these nuptials. “Bride is 28, totally hip and fun.” Chelsea, a blogger herself, posted their sweet engagement - and then wedding planning - here for all to read (don’t mind if do!)

Why We Care About Chelsea’s Dress: By Chelsea’s own words (at my nosy question of “who else will be there who's opinion you care about, whether or not you should”): “the pressure to look good is high.” While there aren’t a lot of folks in Chelsea’s immediate professional world there, a cross-section of her blog’s (small) fan base will be looking to see what she is wearing.

What Chelsea Says She Won’t Wear: “In terms of styles, I generally love cowl and v-necks, sleeveless and cap sleeves, and the body of the dress can be fitted or a-line. I hate dresses that have elastic around the waist (a thicker or banded waistband is fine). I am not a fan of one-shoulder or strapless dresses on me, primarily because I hate strapless bras (with all due respect to my friends at Coup de Foudre). The bridesmaids are wearing navy, so I am trying to steer clear of that color (though of course I have found a number of dresses that are navy that I love). I want to be able to wear it again (don’t we always say that?) and would like to keep the price under $350.”

As we’ve emailed, tweeted, pinned, and g-chatted through the beginnings of this search, it’s also come to light that she [eyeroll] has some hangup about not wearing a dress that might be perceived as “white.” Can’t imagine why.

What I Can Tell You About Chelsea: She’s a firey, spunky, passionate girl who runs her own business, is a mother to two amazing (not so little) boys, and has a thing for novels that pretend they aren’t trashy (don’t hold it against her - I certainly don’t). She’s a Hill junkie who’s been there, conquered that, and has the brains to prove it. Her style runs to brights (and navy, in this case) and appropriately flirty with a strong dose of class and elegance. The first time I laid eyes on her was at our first #BlackChampagne meet, where we dressed for an imaginary funeral. She had on a fitted black sheath with the most gorgeous neckline and back. Translation: she has an amazing figure with curves in all the right places and isn’t afraid to use them well.

So.

Normally, here’s where I’d offer 3-5 choices in her price range, taking into consideration her the “parameters” she gave me, and maybe include one that pushes her style envelope. I’d line them up in polyvore and make my recommendations.

But we’re not going to do that this time.

This time, we’re asking for your help, oh Infintessimal Readership. Chelsea needs your help. She needs the power of the social interwebs. And I just know you’re going to step up and deliver.

How You Can Help Chelsea: We’ve gleefully devised a couple of ways, and will keep you posted as each of them comes to life.

Pinterest: Chelsea’s just gotten addicted, so I’m taking her quite literally and made (ok, it took absolutely no arm twisting, but it just sounds better that way) her create a group board. She’s already invited a few stylish friends, and we’ve already started pinning and discussing. Join the crew at the great “guest of wedding” dress search board. If you can’t figure out how to get on to the board and start pinning your ideas, just tweet or email me.

Twitter: If you are on this 140-character time suck, and you follow me, you know that I’ve uesd the #twitterfashionshow a few times. It takes a bit of guts, but Chelsea’s game. When we get to the point where she has Dresses in Hand, she’s promised to tweet us the choices so we can all chime in (@chelseachronicl). We’ll do our best to let you know ahead of time, so you can “tune in” and tweet along. And if Chelsea actually goes to a brick and mortar store, she will - gasp! - tweet us from the dressing room mirror. #twittershopping. Really. It works.

facebook: Yes, we’ll use this, too. So you non-tweeters can join in the fun, we’ll also post the #twitterfashionshow and #twittershopping pics on my DC Celine page. You’ll be able to comment away. It might sound crazy, but a virtual stranger’s opinion on these things sometimes reveals the best, most useful style observations. I was grateful (cheezy but true) for the help you all provided for the reunion and for a few other nights when I just didn’t like my closet.

So jump in! The social media water’s fine! And help out a Really Cool Chick with a Style Dilemma. And watch the interwebs for #guestofawedding #styledilemma...

UPDATE: Miss Chelsea herself has posted. How does she really feel about being the subject of a social media experiment - I mean project? Read on...

Style Dilemma: Black Champagne

Sequins and Sparkle by dcceline

Funny things happen on Twitter. You share things and thoughts you wouldn't tell close friends. You "meet" people. You learn about celebrity deaths before anyone else. You put a number sign before a string of words that would normally be a sentence and confuse the heck out of non-Twitter-users but makes you LOL.

You plan fake funerals with vats and vats of champagne and black sequined dresses.

True story.

So a few of us are going to have a Black Champagne party. We'll drink bubbly, eat salty, and probably talk salty, too (a few of us have been known to make a sailor blush once in a while). And we'll wear sequins. Because we can.

It's supposed to be black sequins, but when I went looking, the sequin selector on the Nordstrom site (seriously, they have "sequins" as a filter option on dresses, which. just. rocks) pulled up a few other colors, like gold and silver. So I included them. Then there's the deep blue "cold shoulder" mini I obsessed over last Friday (the charcoal/black version is the first one in the second row), but refused to try on because I was on a Bra Mission.

The silouhettes range from fitted to forgiving, with room for only bubbly or room for a whole tin of gift popcorn. Since I've only met literally one of the 7-8 women who will be at our Black Champagne party, I have no idea what might suit them.

But it's sequins. So a girl just can't go wrong.

If you want to find out more about the Ladies of the Sequins (because we're a fascinating bunch), watch for the #BlackChampagne hashtag on Twitter.

Style Dilemma Solved: Pink Rocks the Runway

This morning, Lisa of Dining in DC tossed her dilemma to the twitterverse in those blessed 140 characters: HELP! My dress I bought online for @PinkRocksRunway on 10/21 Doesn't Fit! What should I do? Where can I get a new dress?#fashion peeps

Sitting in traffic stopped on the Beltway, I sprang to her aid. Back and forth, she requested something "not too tight," so she doesn't have to worry about her tummy (she has 2 beans, too). She's a 4-6, and 4' 8". She swears that's not a typo. Given her timeline and a first try miss, trying it on the store would also help.

Style dilemma? Pshaw! Easy-peasy. (Did I just type that?)

To give Lisa both a place with elegant+sexy+flirty but still (relatively) reasonable options - and where she can try them on - I went to Neiman Marcus. Up popped a bunch of options that wouldn't have her looking the same as everyone else in their J. Crew lookalikes. Bonus? The NM site lets you filter for options under $300.

Ali Ro is a personal favorite. There's something about the effortless style that still has just the right amount of polish. The waisted, tiered ruffles add interest while still being graceful.

Sue Wong draws on a little 80s flounce. And who doesn't love ruffles and feathers done in a way that's actually understated? The structured, empire bodice and midsection would allow a girl to sample the cocktails and nibbles without fear.

Tadashi Shoji's rouching would be forgiving (especially in a 2x mama's tummy problem area), and the one shoulder sexy in a tempered way, but the flower might overwhelm a 4' 8" frame.

Phoebe Couture's menswear-inspired bubble dress is a little more structured, which I've found important in feeling comfortable and not worrying about the places I'd worry about.

I also tried (knowing others might don the same frocks, but thought I'd check anyway) J. Crew (only the bridesmaidsy ones came in pinks), LOFT (no pink), and Ann Taylor (no pink). Who has no pink?

Shameless Self-Promotion #DCTweeps

So...you love me, right?

Even if you're not a "Tweep," you can vote for me as your favorite DC Fashionista.

Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaase?

Style Poll: Fashion Faux Pas

It's not even about style. It's about not flashing the world.

For those following on twitter, you know I left my skirt unbuttoned this morning. Didn't discover it until just before my 11am meeting. Thanks for speaking up, colleagues!

So what have you left unbuttoned, unsnapped, unzipped?