Clothes in Bloom

Clothes in Bloom by rachelheisen featuring tortoise cat eye sunglasses

For my post today, I've decided to make an outfit that highlights both a trend I covered in one of my latest posts for College Fashionista and the lovely clutch from my giveaway. I've been dreaming about getting a pair of floral pants all season, but unfortunately I haven't found one that I like that is also in my price range. 

However, I am considering these new BDG jeans that Urban Outfitters just released for fall. They're not exactly the floral I desired, but I do like all the patterns they come in. I'll do a dreaming about post on them a little later...maybe tomorrow? 

I was inspired to write this floral post by this girl I spotted on the Haight a couple weeks ago. She was wearing this adorable outfit with mint green shorts and a floral top, so I ended up like running after/mildly stalking her so I could take her picture. Honestly, taking street style pictures of people is so hard! I always end up looking like/feeling like a total creep. 

Don't forget to check out my post on College Fashionista on this floral trend and my floral inspired Pinterest board! 

California One

 

Sorry I've been away recently. I started working with a personal trainer recently so I've been going to the gym more regularly which takes away from my blogging time when I'm not working. Working out has been a bit of a struggle. First of all, I have discovered that I'm extremely weak. Like disgustingly weak, so working with weights has been quite the struggle. Also, I have discovered a am completely out of shape and my fears about being fat have been confirmed. I am fatter, weaker, overall inferior to the "average" healthy person my trainer keeps comparing me to. 

 

Besides working out, something else has been taking me away from my computer: driving. This summer my major summer goal was learning how to drive. I had gotten to an age where not knowing to drive wasn't just lazy, but simply embarrassing. Therefore, after and before work and the gym I would force my dad to go driving with me to get ready for my driving test. I think he enjoyed our time together, despite having to be in a car in an urban environment with a new driver. It probably was also the first quality time we had spent together for years now. Ultimately all that time paid off because I successfully got my license this past week! I took it in Daly City right across from Krispy Kreme (which is far superior to Dunkin Donuts to all of my East Coast readers). Unfortunately for me, because I am now working with my personal trainer, he put me on a no carb diet so despite having passed I couldn't celebrate with a donut. I told my brother that if I had failed I would have demanded a donut or five to make myself feel better. I'll discuss with you later my difficulties and struggles with this impossible diet. 

 

These pictures were taken on one of my drives this week. We're practicing the freeway since we didn't cover that before we got my license. I think he was too scared to bring me on the freeway until I was licensed. We drove down tot half moon bay on the freeway and on highway 1, the beautiful and windy highway on the coast of CA. He was like freaking out because I was going kind of fast on Devils Slide. Whatever. We made it all the way there and it was beautiful. All I wanted to do is get my bathing suit out and play in the beach. Unfortunately, I had work in the afternoon so we headed back to the city. But I NEED to get back to the beach. Who wants to go with me??

Take a long drive with me
on California One, on California One.
And the road a-winding goes
from golden gate to roaring cliff-side,
and the light is softly low
as our hearts become sweetly untied
beneath the sun of California One.

-Decemberists

Promoted Without a Raise

The last couple days at work, I've been in a pretty bad mood. I felt like I was failing at my job. I couldn't sell a single banana card (it's like a credit card for Banana Republic). But even more frustrating, no one wanted any help and if they did they never really bought anything! Grrrrr.
So at the end of my shift, one of my leaders said she wanted to "touch base." So after my crappy days, I was pretty sure that she was going to yell at me and tell me I suck at my job. Insteaaaaaaaddddd, she said that wanted me to join the Styling Team. She went onto tell me how I'd get my own designated changing rooms for my personal customers etc etc Basically it sounded like I got promoted and was given more responsibility and pressure, but for some odd reason there was no discussion about getting a raise. Like come on, give me at least another dollar an hour! But nonetheless, I am now a stylist for Banana Republic. And apparently, we're the only team of stylists in stores in the entire company.

Due to my new position, you might see some more polyvores highlighting Banana Republic clothing as a practice creating outfits for customers. I promise, we actually have some pretty cute clothes! I've been eyeing a whole lot of things this past week. Oh no! I forgot to extend the hold on my blue pants!
But this is what I wore to work during this whole ordeal. I was inspired by the advice I presented in my post for College Fashionista on stripes from J.Crew's fashion director, Gayle Spannus. Treat stripes like neutrals. Therefore, when I grabbed this skirt (it's one of my few skirts whose length is appropriate for work), I no longer felt obligated to grab a white top. Instead, I grabbed this old Michael Stars t-shirt from high school! I then added more to the outfit with my statement necklace from J.Crew, but unfortunately, I forgot my new green rose studs. They really added to the skirt...
So what do you guys think of my pattern mixture? Do you think it's worthy of J.Crew?

 

Sweater: Uniqlo

Shirt: Michael Stars

Skirt: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Shoes: Sam Edelman

Necklace: J.Crew

Seeing Spots: Polka Dots

Seeing Spots by rachelheisen featuring a cropped jacket

Bustier top / Alexander Wang cropped jacket / J.Crew long pencil skirt / Lanvin choker necklace

So today is yet another Polyvore day. Because I have to wear business casual clothing to my job at Banana Republic about five times a week and my business casual wardrobe is limited, I have not been coming up with a lot of different Outfit Post worthy outfits. And whenever I do, I'm always running late and don't have time to take pictures with the appropriate lighting and angles that would be worthy of your readership. In fact, I've had my parents take pictures of two of my outfits this week, but they sucked at getting the lighting right and I didn't even bother posting them. We're bumping up the quality in this joint and we can't have any poor lighting!!
Now, I've decided that every Monday I'm probably going to end up presenting you with a Polyvore. Why? you may ask. Well, every Monday my post for College Fashionista is published on my STYLE ADVICE OF THE WEEK. And I figure that presenting you with an outfit highlighting the trend I documented on the street and discussed in my post would be perfect. Yea? Ultimately this will make these posts pretty short because you'll have a 500 word article on College Fashionista to read instead! YEYYYYY!!!!

The picture from my article. It's hard to get a good picture in the middle of downtown SF!

But as you might have guessed based on my Polyvore collage, my style advice of the week is on polka dots. Despite apparently originating from England, the polka dot just seems so American to me. And I'm honestly not that completely off-base in connecting those two (despite what my editor told me). The polka dot first gained traction in the 1920s when the Minnnie Mouse illustration was presented in her signature polka dot dress. Later on, celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe donned the dots and they also became the staple in Lucille Ball's wardrobe for I Love Lucy. Today, polka dots are just as popular as ever and a great pattern to play with to add some youth and playfulness to any outfit! Check out more of my advice and musings over polka dots in my post at College Fashionista. Also, check out my Pinterest Board focusing on polka dots for more visual ideas on how to wear them.
Ok I need to go to bed right now which you probably could've guessed because my writing right now is atrocious. But I promise I'll be back soon with a more legitimate post than this.

Made In the USA

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYONE! I have to admit, that for the most part, I haven't done anything particularly exciting for July 4th in the past. However, this year I really wanted to make it special. I was hoping for a BBQ with american flag themed foods etc. I even made a pinterest board for all my July 4th inspired images, outfits, clothing, and food! Unfortunately, when I got my schedule for work this weekend I found out that I have work today. Apparently, I get paid time and a half for working on a holiday so I guess that's one upside: I get paid 1.5x minimum wage today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

I also found that getting dressed today was very difficult. Although I have been pinning about this day for some time now, I apparently never actually bought any apparel for the event. I'm kind of confused about how I still haven't managed to buy an american flag themed article of clothing since I've been lusting after them since they got cool with those Australian tumblr girls. Side note: did anyone find it kind of weird that australians were wearing the american flag? Just in general, why are non-americans so obsessed with this pattern all of the sudden. I thought foreigners hated america these days...

Here's another example, Brandy Melville. I'm pretty sure this company is based in Italy, yet so many of their items have the American Flag on it. And it's not just there to take advantage of the Fourth of July market; it's there all year! Actually, I've been lusting over this sweater for awhile now but never bought it because when would I wear a sweater with a large american flag? Oh wait, I know maybe for a fraturday or for watching fireworks at night on July 4th! I'm so dumb. 

I ended up finding a red striped croptop from my intense croptop phase last year. Unfortunately, I do not own any patriotic clothing that is work appropriate (aka isn't a belly shirt or a tight little skirt). So today at work I will be wearing all black because I HATE AMERICA! ... I don't, but that's what it's going to look like. After work, I'm planning on watching the fireworks with some friends and hopefully I will take some pictures so I can tell you all about it!

Also here is my pinterest link if you want to check out my MADE IN THE USA board. It's pretty I swear!!

Images from pinterest

Cookies Rule Everything Around Me

Sometimes I feel like I just waste my summer. I just sit there on my bed watching yet another episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians or Law & Order while aimlessly and pointlessly surfing the internet. Now, it's even sadder for me to spend my free days this way because I only get 2 days off a week and then I'm back to talking older women into buying that soft soft, 100% cotton cardigan at Banana Republic. But this weekend, I was slightly more social. Hooray! I'll tell you what I did today and safe my yesterday activities for another post, so I can pretend like I am super social all the time. 
Today, I went to Telegraph in Berkeley with my friend Camille. She was planning on going with some of her friends from high school and I just tagged along. Having grown up in San Francisco proper, I never really venture out to the suburbs or surrounding cities. I mean I live in the the city, and all these other places just surround it. But it was nice venturing out of my normal places and going to what we called the Haight street of Berkeley. I bought this really pretty mint green dress that I hopefully will do a post on very very soon. We went to a lot of different stores, but after my large $40 purchase, I tried very hard to not buy anything more. But we did get a bite to eat. 

Yummy in my tummy!

There's this place called CREAM (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me). The idea is you get to choose two freshly baked cookies, an ice cream flavor and they make you a made-to-order chipwich! It was soooo yummy, and there were so many options that I just want to go back for more! And it was only $2, which is nowhere near the most I've paid for a dessert in the Bay Area. If for some reason I find myself on that side of the Bay Bridge again, I might have to get another.

After our chipwiches, we headed back to the city and hung out in Duboce Park. By this point in the day, my outfit had changed dramatically. But what we ended up with was a mostly borrowed outfit from my friend Camille (I had slept over the night before). The outfit is slightly mismatched, but I think it turned out alright? This is my first time wearing this necklace that I bought from Forever21. I was looking for a colorful, preferably somewhat green statement piece for my job. I ended up buying this necklace, which I liked but isn't exactly the best to create a professional look. Nonetheless, it's a nice piece to add some color to my drab outfits and for my days off. I'm also wearing my handy dandy army jacket from Wasteland that my friend Catherine has been trying to steal for ages. My skirt and tank top are both my friend Camille's.

Had to add my normal dumb looking picture

Tank: Unknown

Skirt: American Apparel

Jacket: Thrifted from Wasteland

Shoes: Sam Edelman

Necklace: Forever21

Sunglasses: Wishbone

Outfits of Our Dreams: Stripes Get a Makeover

Organic by John Patrick merino wool sweater / 3.1 Phillip Lim crepe pants / Loeffler Randall clogs shoes / Stella & Dot chain jewelry

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little obsessed with stripes. Now if you haven't picked up on that pattern, I invite you to look down at my last outfit post and then to your right to my lookbook.nu feed. Stripes, stripes, stripes everywhere! There are many reasons why today seemed like the perfect time to post about stripes. 1) I'm wearing stripes today 2) Fourth of July is coming up with all its stars and stripes 3) Today my post about stripes went live on CollegeFashionista. When I was doing my little research for my post, I found this lovely quote from J.Crew's Fashion Director, Gayle Spannaus. "For me, stripes are a neutral--I pair them with everything." I loved this quote because it opened up a world of opportunity to my favorites stripes. 

Above, I have posted my very first set from polyvore. I joined the site 6 months ago, but I didn't really do anything with the site until today. After I read that quote from Gayle Spannaus, I instantly wanted to pair my stripes with some of this summers favorite trends: patterned pants and neon. Unfortunately, I don't have either. Coming to the conclusion that I need to go shopping (surprise) and that I cannot do an outfit post on my imaginary outfit, it hit me: Polyvore.
Tell me what you think of it and maybe follow me? I don't really understand how that site works still. Also don't forget to check out my post on CollegeFashionista! I've linked you to some more amazing striped items!