goldenpig

I love coming up with catchy WIW titles, haha!

1-2. J Crew burgundy cashmere sweater (this sweater is so soft, unlike the J Crew fisherman sweater I initially tried--the one that made Angie itch). It's so much softer/nicer than my Only Mine cashmere sweaters.
H&M black skinny maternity pants
Peacock necklace
F21 bronze and orange bracelet
The Sak black purse
Mia Nanette black booties

3-6. YLF Gap sweater in ivory
Target ponte leopard skirt (non-maternity but stretch waist! And only $20!)
Alexis Bittar orange leopard pendant
La Canadienne Galaxy brown suede boots
Jack Georges brown briefcase

Thanks for looking and commenting!

1-2. Pretty sure I've worn this combo before, but the growing belly always makes it new again! This stretchy dress is going to be one of my workhorses for 3rd trimester. I feel like it looks better on pregnant me than non-pregnant me, because I don't have to be self-conscious about wearing it! When I'm not pregnant there's always this bit of worry that someone will mistake the apple pudge for a baby bump!
Here's the non-pregnant version...see what I mean in the side view #8:
http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....black-lace

Anthro B44 tiered stripe orange midi dress
Lafayette 148 caramel leather jacket
Alexis Bittar orange leopard pendant
F21 bronze and orange bracelet
Mia Nanette brown ankle boots
Fossil floral satchel

3-7. My lovely secret santa gift! Could not wait to wear it! Paired it with my new ivory Gap sweater and my burgundy skinnies.

I received an exquisite handmade necklace, with a set of hand-crocheted rings in my favorite burgundy color! It is an unusual statement piece and I had to wear it right away! My patients and nurses loved it...lots of compliments today! Thank you sweet Secret Santa!

If I had to guess who would be so crafty and talented and thoughtful, I would say Diana, as she makes the most amazing hand-knitted items for her wardrobe! My secret Santa tried to throw me off by using a California return address (that didn't match any of the Elfster participant's mailing addresses), but I have my suspicions anyways (and I found a sneaky way to confirm them)! Thank you so much Secret Santa for a unique and gorgeous gift that took a lot of effort to make! I feel so special!

Debut of the ink blue Gap sweater. I'm sorry for the poor pic quality--was trying out pics on my iPhone but for some reason the color is off. The sweater looks purplish in the pics but is more of a navy blue. The skirt is a little darker blue IRL and does match the sweater. I feel like this outfit looks better IRL than in the pics, but I could be wrong.

What do you think of the skirt? It's a Japanese Weekend maternity skirt from about six years ago. I'm dreading getting the "D" word, because of the ruffled hem and I know it looks kind of like my 90's printed skirts that got the thumbs down from you all. It is reversible (black on the inside), and stretch waisted. I wanted to wear this sweater with my Anthro Liquid Acres pencil skirt, but I'm getting to big for my old pencil skirts--they're turning into minis by the time I hike them over my belly! I tried to update the skirt with current sweater and polka dot tights and ankle boots...is this acceptable or too dated?

Thanks for your comments!

Gap ink blue dolman sweater
Japanese Weekend blue and white maternity skirt
WHBM ink blue jewel bracelet
F21 navy polka dot tights
Mia Nanette black ankle booties
The Sak black purse

A random assortment of outfits from this week. A lot of black and white/grey and plenty of burgundy. I think these burgundy maternity skinnies are turning out to be the workhorse of this season! I wore them three times in 5 days! So glad I bought them.

1-3. What I wore to take DD to ballet class, then to see Santa, then to see the Nutcracker, then to one of DS' classmate's birthday party. (Pic 2 taken by DD). It was a long day but the Kate Spade dress held up nicely. Funny story...while we were waiting in line to get into the Nutcracker, a woman came up to me (looked like she was in her 60's) and said, "I have those same exact shoes! I've never seen anyone else wearing them so I had to come talk to you!" She said she had bought hers in a little boutique in Maine. So funny! Once I also had someone accost me in the ladies' room and say the same thing about my purple tweed coat from Anthro that I was wearing--she said she also had the same coat! I suppose if I saw someone wearing one of my more unique pieces, I'd probably approach them too!

Kate Spade Jillian black and white polka dot dress
H&M pink cardigan
Dotty purse
All Black Fishbow pumps

4. Just hanging out at home with my sister and brother in law and their two girls, doing an early Christmas celebration. DD and her cousins were decorating a gingerbread house. I purged a bunch of stuff from my closet and offered it to my sister...she took most of it, so I was happy both that she could use it and that I had cleaned up my closet.

Japanese Weekend striped top
Pea in the Pod maternity burgundy skinny jeans

5. Wore this to work--hearts and flowers. I loved having the matching flowers on the shirt and the ballet flats. Here is my new quilted hearts burgundy bag. I love having the extra room compared to my burgundy clutch.

Pea in the Pod grey cardigan
Pea in the Pod floral tunic
Gap maternity tank in black
Pea in the Pod burgundy skinnies
Born silver flower ballet flats
Betsey Johnson burgundy hearts satchel from DSW

6. Exact repeat of my Anna Karenina outfit from last month (http://goldenpig.lookfab.com/p.....ucle-skirt). Though I am starting to get too big to wear belts and pencil skirts now...it's not quite as comfortable anymore. So I may have to put them away...wah!!!

H&M burgundy cardigan with fake fur collar
Halogen cream lace tank
Anthro leaf belt
Fossil floral satchel
F21 bronze stretch bracelet
Nordstrom tweed bloucle skirt
Clarks brown pumps

7-9. Bringing out the bubble necklace again. I always seem to want to wear this with patterns rather than solids, so it will blend in more. I thought the colors of the leopard flats would bookend the black and gold necklace. And burgundy bag to match the burgundy pants. The top is getting to short to cover the elastic panel on my maternity jeans, so I may have to start wearing maternity tanks underneath these normal shirts.

Tahari black leather jacket
Classiques Entier ruffled ruched teal and black tank
Burgundy maternity skinnies
Betsey Johnson quilted hearts maternity bag

This is way overdue, but I had promised several months ago that I'd post a collection of my first-trimester outfits. I've never posted so many outfits all together, but it's kind of a fun retrospective of my style! I may not look very pregnant in most of these, but I actually was trying very hard to minimize the bump, because I wanted to wait till second trimester to announce the pregnancy.

I only gained about 4-5 lb, but it was all in my tummy, and it was fairly noticeable if I let it all hang out (like in #44!). I learned that being an apple and having learned to dress my shape over the past year with the help of YLF was useful, because I could just use the same apple-minimizing tricks to hide the bump.

I wore a lot of structured sheath dresses and pencil and other high-waisted A line skirts to hide the bulge. And I used fitted and nipped waist jackets and lots of belting to define the natural waist and make me look slimmer (nobody expects a pregnant woman to wear belts). And I also used tunics, billowy blouses and ponchos to skim over the bump, which was new for me as I typically did not do much waist surrender before this. Both strategies worked pretty well.

The wrap and draped jersey dresses were not quite as good at hiding the bump though...as I found out later, #46 apparently caused some gossiping amongst my mom friends at a kid's birthday party ("Is she or isn't she?") but nobody dared to ask. I was lucky that several of my pants still fit through the first trimester, so I didn't have to resort to the rubber band trick or Bella bands. But I typically wear skirts and dresses much more anyways, and found that for me, they were more forgiving of a growing tummy.

I made it to week 13 before being "outed" by one of the nurses at work. I almost made it to the end of first trimester without revealing my secret! I think the trick to hiding a pregnancy (besides the figure flattery tips I listed above) is to avoid using empire waists and maternity clothes for as long as you can...keep wearing your usual clothes and slip in a few new looser/larger pieces here and there, so it doesn't seem like you're switching to a whole new (maternity) wardrobe all of a sudden. Plus you don't want to buy maternity clothes too early, because they won't fit you later...I bought a pair of white maternity jeans in first trimester but then when I pulled them out in 2nd trimester, they were now too tight!

Anyways, hope this is helpful to all the pregnant YLF'ers out there. I know I really wished I had more info on how to dress during pregnancy, so I'm hoping this will be useful! And even if you're not pregnant, you can have fun analyzing my style for me! (And maybe you guys can post a lookbook of your own style!) Thanks for looking and commenting (and wading through this huge pile of pics)! Stay tuned for the 2nd trimester lookbook!

1-5. 6/22-6/28 Week 4. #1 is the day I found out I was pregnant!
6-11. 6/29-7/5 Week 5.
12-16. 7/6-12 Week 6.
17-24. 7/13-19 Week 7. #18 OC YLF meetup--pic with MaryK!
25-30. 7/20-26 Week 8.
31-36. 7/27-8/2 Week 9.
37-44. 8/3-9 Week 10. #43 and #44 were taken on the same day! The bump-erasing power of structure and waist definition!
47-50. 8/10-8/16 Week 11. #49 is twin day with Rae!
51-54. 8/17-8/23 Week 12.
55-60. 8/24-8/30 Week 13. The stretchy skirt in #55 is what gave away my secret, so I finally announced the pregnancy to everyone (including you all at YLF!)

Yay, made it to 3rd trimester! Let's pop some bubbly! But since I can't have champagne, I'm wearing it! Everything I'm wearing has some sort of bubbles on it.

I posted a K/R on this necklace and bag:
http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....two-purses
and they got lukewarm reviews. Let me know if you like them better styled--I left the tags on them just in case!

TJ Maxx $20 bubble print dress (I forgot the brand)
J Crew black bubble necklace
DSW black quilted clutch with gold "bubble" studs
All Black fish bow pumps with "bubble" cutouts on the cap toe

When I saw Rae's thread about her Shadow Persona (http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....he-grocery) I had to post my WIW because we are unintentional twins today--both in sweaters, plaid skirts and boots! Waving to my sister schoolgirl twin!

On the way to work I was listening to an 80's mix CD I had made and one of the songs was Simple Minds' Don't You Forget about Me...so I thought I'd call this Pretty in pink (& plum) as a John Hughes reference! I love the 80's--that was the last time I remember being totally interested in fashion and music. So my schoolgirl look today reminds me of my schoolgirl days. Back then I was more into the Madonna look with floral blazers and lace hair bows and fingerless lace gloves and knotted pearls and piles of bangles and jelly shoes!

Question for you...which handbag do you like better with this outfit? Do you like the patent burgundy clutch which is matchy matchy with the patent burgundy boots, or do you like the print mixing with the plaid skirt and floral bag? And does this correspond with whether you more of a mixer or matcher yourself? I went with the clutch today but brought the floral bag as well to hold the rest of my stuff. Didn't carry them at the same time though, LOL.

Yay=matchy matchy with the burgundy clutch
Nay=print mixing with the floral satchel

J Crew burgundy cashmere sweater
Japanese Weekend maternity blouse
H&M pink & plum plaid skirt (left the waistband slightly unzipped)
Aquatalia Vavoom boots
Ann Taylor gold & burgundy necklace
DSW burgundy clutch or Fossil floral satchel

OK, anyone up for a fun challenge? Wear two different outfits (or find some previous WIW's) that represent your primary style persona (or everyday style) and your "shadow" style persona (a secondary style that you like to explore once in a while, or one that you aspire to or are attracted to but doesn't quite fit with your lifestyle). Here is Suz's thread for reference: http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....adow-style

For me, my primary persona is Demure Bombshell. Very feminine/ladylike, fitted waist, lots of RED, a hint of glamour, but not too overly sexy either.
Shadow style is Urban Warrior Princess, heavy on the P. I like the contrast of tough and girly, leather and boots and studs and zippers, but I don't have the personality or lifestyle to pull this off every day. Also I'm a little too polished to do pure UWP, which tends to have a lot of RATE elements, so I just dabble in it once in a while for fun.

Here is what I wore the last two days, and a couple more from my non-pregnant WIW's so you can see the contrast. Same trench coat but very different vibes.

Hope you all play too! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

1-5. Demure Bombshell
Adrianna Papell red faux wrap dress
Secret Santa leopard necklace (from Lisa from last year)
Tortoiseshell handbag
B Makowsky Heist red and leopard heels
6-10. UWP--Here I'm channeling Una--I know she has this skirt!
Tahari black leather jacket
Target black exposed zipper top
Target green snake skirt
F21 bracelet
Mia Nanette boots
The Sak black purse
11. Demure bombshell signature outfit
http://goldenpig.lookfab.com/p.....ure-outfit
12. RATE Kate Spade
http://goldenpig.lookfab.com/p.....le-attempt

ETA: Even if you haven't named your style persona yet, don't worry, you can still play! Just pick an outfit that is your favorite or feels very "you", and do something that is opposite in style. Or a contrast, like feminine and masculine, or polished and rough around the edges, or colorful/bright and dark/neutrals, or boho and preppy. Your style doesn't have to have a name, but I think it's a great thinking exercise and lots of fun!

Hi all! Happy Monday!
Today I am wearing the Gap sweater that Angie is wearing in her gorgeous outfit post:
http://youlookfab.com/2012/12/.....-holidays/
I was looking for a white fisherman sweater and originally ordered the one from J Crew, but it turned out to be too itchy. Turns out Angie had already posted about that issue, should have read it before I ordered! So after reading her turtleneck post and her acrylic fiber post, she told me about the Gap sweater and I deduced which one it was by matching up the fiber content! :) I bought it on Friday but didn't have a chance to wear it over the weekend. But I couldn't resist pulling it out when I saw Angie's post! This is nowhere near as stunning as her version but I like it nonetheless...it's very wam and cozy. The sweater is soft--I'm wearing it with no underlayer and my skin is fine with it. Since Angie paired it with a beautiful cream coat, I decided to wear my new cream tipped peacoat. And my burgundy skinnies and clutch, my favorite color of the season. The necklace also has burgundy accents--I bought it at Ann Taylor in the 90's but who knew burgundy would make such a comeback twenty years later!

By the way, both the sweater and the peacoat are 25% off if anyone is interested!
Gap Dolman cable braid turtleneck sweater in ivory frost (use code GAPGIFT):
http://www.gap.com/browse/prod.....=245899012
You may have to size down--I actually had to size down to XS in this sweater, even with my big pregnancy belly--I tried M and S and they both swallowed me up and the sleeves were too long. I don't like oversized fit though, so your mileage may vary.

J Crew tipped peacoat in antique white (use code STYLE25--free shipping, and no longer final sale!):
http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Navig...../92050.jsp
This one ran true to (prepreg) size for me--I bought size 4.
Mavi burgundy skinny cords
DSW Urban Expressions Manhattan burgundy clutch
Mia Nanette black lace boots
Ann Taylor gold and burgundy necklace

I love all this talk about lists! Claire's s 10-item wardrobe thread (http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....m-wardrobe) and Suz's wardrobe essentials thread (http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....tials-list) and Krish's magnificent 5 thread (http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....cent-fives), got me thinking about a follow-up question (hope you don't think it's too similar): What is your own personal essentials list? I'm wondering what your current wardrobe MVP's--most valuable (or versatile!) players--are and what items you would consider your must-haves for your own wardrobe? I tried to whittle it down to top ten, but I'm a maximal wardrobe gal, so I had to go with 15.

To make it more disciplined, I picked one item from each major clothing and accessory category (otherwise I'd probably end up with 5 boots, 5 coats and 5 dresses!). Even though I don't think much in terms of capsules, my top 15 do make somewhat of a capsule since each item seems to show up in multiple pics. I think being pregnant has made me wear items more often, and plus since I'm in love with burgundy this season, everything seems to go together. Or maybe my style is coming together in a more focused way!

So I'm really curious to see what you all consider your top 10-15 wardrobe items. You can either copy the categories I used, or make up your own list, if there are certain categories you don't wear or other categories that you wear more. And please post pics if you have them!

1. Coat
Kate Spade Melissa black ruffled trench
2. Jacket
Tahari black leather jacket
3. Shirt
Pea in the Pod mustard cowl neck short-sleeve shirt
4. Blouse
Japanese Weekend fuschia long-sleeve maternity blouse (I can layer over this blouse and just use the collar and sleeves, so it's pretty versatile)
5. Sweater
H&M burgundy cowl neck sweater
6. Jeans
Mavi burgundy maternity skinny cords
7. Pants
H&M black maternity skinny pants
8. Skirt
ASOS bumblebee chevron skirt (this isn't necessarily my favorite skirt--I think the one in 10 is my favorite right now, but this one is the most versatile and because of the stretch waist I will be able to wear it longer)
9. Dress
Banana Republic ribbon wrap dress
10. Handbag
Fossil floral satchel
11. Necklace
White House Black Market black pendant
12. Bracelet
Forever 21 bronze and orange stretch cuff
13. Boots
Frye Melissa black lace-up boots
14. Heels
Clark black Mary Jane pumps
15. Flats
Born bronze ballet flats