Mom Fashion: Black, Beige And White Together
- August 5, 2015
- by Melissa Lawrence
Hello mama dears. Growing up, I remember my mom describing certain fashion rules concerning women’s personal attire. Back in the day, your shoes needed to match your bag. Your shoes and belt needed to be the same color, ideally the same leather. White wasn’t really supposed to be worn before Memorial Day nor after Labor Day. All of these rules dictated how to put together an outfit.
Well, that was then, and this is now. Especially over the past few years, must-follow rules for women and men who want to dress well — unlike any prior time in history — have flown by the wayside. Men and women to a large extent have been freed up to dress in the way that suits them personally. I’m a huge fan of this phenomenon. To me, a big part of life involves tapping into your own passion points and personal sense of well-being. Clothes can play an important role in this journey that plays out on a daily basis. How fantastic that we modern moms can head off for our day or evening dressed in a way that rings true to our own personal style and makes us feel comfortable and good.
Whether it be yoga pants, boyfriend jeans, leggings, or a funky evening outfit for the movies or a dinner out, find something you love and rock it out ladies!
As part of my sales hunt in Barcelona last month on July 1 (the day the reductions start!) , I stepped into Sandro (one of my favorite designers) hoping to find some Sandro women’s clothing on sale, and find I did. Everything was 50-90% off — BINGO. To start, I found this super comfy, fun beige tunic with a white blouse attachment. “What do I wear this with?,” I asked the salesperson. In my mind were a pair of skinny jeans in a faded color. “Anything,” she replied, “jeans, white pants, even black pants.” “Black pants with beige,” I thought to myself, “Do beige and white go together? Do black and beige go together? Doesn’t combining these colors violate a rule of color coordination when it comes to dressing?” I could see my Irish Grandmother Anne in the back of my mind — if Anne donned black pumps, she also had a black bag, and this ensemble would not have been paired with brown or black. And that was that.
I followed the salesperson’s advice, and here I am the other night headed out to dinner with Marc in Rio. We’re here for a week to attend a close friend’s baby’s baptism and trying to discover as much as we can, try out Brazil’s specialty Feijoada, and hopefully pick up a few basic words of Portuguese. After a lot of time apart this summer, it’s a huge treat to take this second honeymoon of sorts.
Back to the outfit. You’ll maybe recognize the shoes, my favorite pair of Stuart Weitzman‘s that are high, sleek and super comfortable … I could wear them all day. On the bottom, a pair of 7 for All Mankind black skinny jeans that I bought as my first pair of non-pregnancy jeans after Beckett was born in the fall of 2007. They’re skinny but don’t cut off the circulation, leaving room for a yummy dinner. Man, these jeans stand the test of time… that is 8 years ago now and they are as good as new.
For a clutch, I grabbed a Karen Millen studded little jewel that I picked up for 25 Euros.
They say not to carry around a lot of cash or valuables in Rio, so I left my wedding ring, watch and earrings behind in NYC, and stepped out wearing no jewelry whatsoever with the clutch as my accessory.
As we were flying solo without kids Marc, aka the CloudMom in-house photographer, could take a little more time than usual for our fashion shoot — ha ha — and thus began a great evening.
Sending love from Rio, and stay tuned next week for another Rio fashion post since we’re wining, dining and dressing up more than usual.
Melissa xoxo
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