How To Style Bold Printed Leggings part II

For the second part of the series on how to style bold printed leggings with two looks, I’m wearing what’s got to be one of the most amazing designs on a pair of leggings I’ve ever come across.

Let me pause for a moment and explain to everyone how I really believe I might have missed my calling in life as an art history major (although I majored in English, I did take two elective art classes which partly satisfied my obsession.) I love art. I love old art, I love modern art. I love almost every style of art in the textbooks. I think my most perfect date would be going to an art museum. I’ve always loved this painting from Gustav Klimt for its abstract romance – a couple encompassed by a vibrant art nouveau design, the male softly kissing the woman’s cheek, her graceful expression, the decadence of the gold leaf surrounding them – it is one of his more popular ones, after all.

Before I go further, I do feel I owe my readers full disclosure on the matter of how I came across these leggings. I was sincerely debating how I would answer someone if they asked me where I bought these leggings. Here’s the plain truth: I came across these leggings on an Etsy shop for a great deal (it was two for the price of one: the other leggings I bought from this source will be in the next post in this series.) They were shipped from China and that’s virtually all I knew at the time. I was so impressed with the quality and design of these leggings that I went back to order more because they had tons of different designs. When I went back, the Etsy shop was completely gone. Vanished. I did some research online months later and discovered I very unfortunately might have bought a duped or discontinued pair because these leggings might actually be from Black Milk, but are no longer around – here’s my evidence. There’s no tag on the inside of these leggings to indicate what company actually produced them, nor any evidence of a tag removal. Although I’m still unsure of what the whole deal is with these, I do feel I owe it to the manufacturers to link interested readers to a reliable source. After my experience though, I'm very reluctant to label one site or place as an official or reliable source, since I'm still not sure what the deal is. Since I've determined these leggings are no longer in production, the old pairs must be circulating in places like eBay or Amazon or what have you. A simple “Gustav Klimt The Kiss leggings” google search should result in some findings - I'll let you determine what's best. Now that that's out of the way, here's the looks I came up with!

Look One

For the first look, I went for a real party look. Black plain crop top to balance the leggings (the back of the top has a cute but simple strap design that is not pictured) and a hairstyle I can tell right now that I will frequently wear this coming summer. I call it the Grecian goddess hair. All you have to do is wear a headband hippie-style across your forehead and roll and tuck your hair in (it’s better when the hair slightly damp with some mousse, I learned quickly.) After wearing it all day, you’ll have some nice heat-free curly hair that evening. I forewent most accessories and opted for a long pair of earrings. I'm banking on people to know the painting and make this connection, but I totally picked out the gold wedges because it reminded me of the gold leaf around the painting. Alright, alright, I know, it's so minute, but it made me happy matching those items.

Look Two

The second look is ideal for cooler weather. Wanting to incorporate some other pattern instead of a solid color as I’ve been doing, I went for a thin gray striped sweater which was some awesome embroidery on the sleeves. I thought in this case with an intense graphic on the pant, stripes would be the only other visual design I could incorporate. I went straight for a flashy red pair of heels.

Stay tuned for the next and final look which is coming soon!

How to Style Bold Printed Leggings, part I

One thing that I promised myself I would do when I brought back Harlequin blog last year was to incorporate a sequence of styling series – essentially, to release a number of subsequent posts all related to the same topic or exploring the same theme. I’m excited to challenge myself for the month of March by releasing a series of three posts, starting this week, each based on styling advice for bold printed leggings!

In this series, I’ll be exploring how to wear the same bold printed leggings in two different looks: one for daytime, one for evening. I’ll show readers how they can dress up or down the leggings and all the nuances of accessorizing and styling the looks based on setting.

Who doesn’t love some funky pants? I mean, there’s no way you can wear these eye-catching designs and not feel an extra boost of confidence in your walk. I’ve always loved the convenience of leggings because they pretty much go with any top or dress. I started out like everyone else with my trusty old solid black leggings. I still love them, don’t get me wrong, but when I came across these Nasty Gal Milan leggings on clearance, I needed them in my life (they are no longer available to buy online sadly, but if you have a similar design, the advice remains the same!)

But the question remained: what on earth would I wear these with? The design, the most awesome part of the leggings, was also the most challenging as far as matching without going too overboard. When wearing these bold prints, it’s easy to want to keep your top as basic as possible. So I thought solid colors on top would allow the leggings to speak for themselves. But a solid v-neck would be so boring and would downplay the whole look. That’s when I considered the fabric type. These leggings are a stretchy nylon fabric; something silky would mesh very well. I chose this silky yellow top because although it was plain, which was just what I needed, the buttons had a slight embellishment that complemented the design of the leggings.

Look one

In the first “daytime” look (which is a little less bold than the second and perhaps a little more appropriate for most occasions), I buttoned up the top to the very first button and incorporated a thin belt which I found in a vintage shop. You might not be able to see in the pictures, but it has two lions on it which I thought connected with the Milan vibe of the leggings. I rolled up the sleeves to my elbows and wore a casual flat shoe. This is a very easygoing, comfortable vibe while still being bold and outgoing.

Look two

Photography by R. Kooy

For the “evening” look, I used the same top (note: in the coming blog posts I will actually use a different top altogether. I wanted to play with the versatility of using one top for this look to show how you can dress up or dress down the same items.) Having rolled up the sleeves even further, I left the first few top buttons undone and tied together the bottom pieces to turn it into a crop top (tie it just like a shoelace without making the bows!) I think the most challenging part of this second look was picking out the right shoes, which I settled on a pair of black wedges.

Also, I don't normally model my pictures with any handbags, but I absolutely had to feature my awesome handbag and wristlet from Fossil! I'm so in love with this eggshell blue color. It had such a nice cohesion with the leggings. When I thought about doing a series on how to wear bold printed leggings, I wanted to showcase how you could confidently wear each look out everyday and what better way to do that than by incorporating the everyday necessities of a wallet and handbag. 

Stay tuned for the next look featuring another pair of bold printed leggings!

Can I Do this DIY: crop top & accessories

Photography by R. Kooy

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There really aren’t enough occasions to dress up for in life.  I've always loved formal wear; it means we're going places. Something special is about to happen. I think the real appeal of wearing costumes is that it allows us to take on different characters or personas so we become someone else entirely for an evening. Wearing this look feels like something out of a story. And what’s even cooler is that I made two of the items I’m wearing with very simple steps which I will explain below.

This is a linen maxi skirt I found in goodwill many years ago. What’s amazing about this skirt is that someone hand painted the scene on the front and back. It was also made in Hawaii. Apart from these minor details that were inscribed on the inside of the skirt, I know nothing about it. Other than the fact I don’t think it was actually intended for wear. I might not look it, but I was slightly suffocating.

Clearly this photoshoot was taken back in warmer weather, but I still want to talk about maxi skirts for a moment. I usually see people sporting them in spring and summer months, going for a relaxed but boho feel. I have two maxi skirts in my closet, one with a black sheer overlay (I DIYed it and made the black skirt underneath it shorter…More on that later, perhaps?) and another paisley printed one with a thicker material (which was also handmade, apparently). Recently, in this bitter cold weather, I’ve taken up the practice of wearing the paisley skirt with a pair of leggings underneath and I’ve found that this provides far more insulation against wind than wearing pants alone.

So about that crop top! This is the first “Can I Do this DIY?” review I’ve done for this blog and I’m proud to say it was incredibly easy. This came from a popular tutorial floating around on Pinterest, originally posted on a pair and a spare blog (click on the two links to find two sets of instructions). 

Here’s all it is to it: get a tank top, lay the top face down, cut along the seams in the back and cut across just under the bra line. Turn the top over, and measuring correctly, make one sweeping cut up the middle. It’s not much to look at in this form, but to wear it, you cross the two long pieces you’ve just made, tie a knot in the back and tuck in any corner pieces around the neckline. Viola! Having used a random tank top from my drawer, I do advise DIYers to grab a top that is long. I can’t stress this enough. The one I had barely made the cut. The top needs to at least reach slightly below the hips… If not, you won’t be able to tie it in the back. Although the tutorial and I used solid colored tanks, I would love to see what this looks like a with a patterned top. You’ll also want to be aware of the type of fabric you use…Realistically, I doubt this top has much longevity, especially if you have to wash it (I would hand wash it if you absolutely have to) but I made sure to use a jersey fabric because it stretches and doesn’t easily become threadbare.

I made this hair accessory out of a thrift store floral arrangement I found for twenty-five cents. All I did was spray paint it a metallic gold and let it dry. Using one of those packaged sponge buns you can find at most beauty suppliers, I pulled my hair into a tight bun and placed the floral pieces accordingly. However you want to place them is up to you; I went for a denser, fuller look. With hairspray and a little faith, they neither shed nor broke, but driving in a car with a low roof was a challenge! When not wearing the arrangement, you can use it as a nice decorative display by putting it in a vase on your vanity or night stand. Isn’t it so cute?!