style advice – Page 5 – Ensemble of Elan

Mastering the Edgy Cool Girl: Happily Grey

Mary Seng of Happily Grey has long been one of our favorite fashion bloggers and Insta-girls. We love her edgy, yet feminine sense of style and how she can make anything from leggings to ruffle dresses feel effortlessly cool!

Here’s our take on how to emulate her fashion sense and photography style:

Delicate Gold Necklace and Emerald Dress

What I love about Mary Seng’s blog and Instagram feed is that even though she wears a wide variety of styles and colors, it all feels cohesive due to the nature of her styling and photo editing.

When I was choosing an outfit for this shoot, I went through several of her favorite styles in my head: ankle boots, statement sleeves, funky footwear and more before I settled on wearing a pair of white, wide leg pants with a feminine, floral detail.

I didn’t want to make this outfit too girly by adding ruffles or a colored top, so I stuck with a simple black cami and added a mesh bomber jacket to give this outfit the sporty edge it was lacking. I finished off this look with these pale blue, strappy mules because Mary Seng is not one to stick to neutral, basic footwear.

If you want to create a look inspired by Mary Seng, I would suggest you pair clothes that you wouldn’t normally think to put together. Wear a fun, off-the-shoulder dress with tennis shoes or layer a top with statement sleeves under a dress or overalls. Mix and match styles, but remember to not try too hard because if there’s one thing that sets this fashion blogger apart, it’s that even though her outfits are unconventional, they always look natural.

-S

So Mary Seng’s blog, Happily Grey, is literally my favorite blog in the world. My role model, my icon, my inspiration to start a fashion blog all comes from this fashion influence in Nashville, TN. I was drawn to her because I was surprised that such an edgy, modern presence like Mary could come out of the rootin’ tootin’ south. It made me believe that I could make my footprint on the fashion industry too.

What I love about Mary Seng’s style is how she is never afraid to break the rules. Her style is the epitome of the edgy cool girl, but she also breaks out flowy dresses and skirts from time to time, which is how I chose my ensemble (see what I did there). I leaned towards Mary Seng’s more feminine side with this emerald green dress, which I paired with black heels and gold accessorizes. I even styled my hair in the famous Mary Seng low, messy bun!

One of the reasons I think I was so drawn to this blog was the photography. I found Mary’s photographer, Alaina Mullin, on Instagram, and I must say this woman knows how to take some damn good photos. There is always so much movement in her photos, and the editing is incredible. They keep a pretty unsaturated background, usually urban and grey (hence Happily Grey), but they keep the subject in bold color! The skin tones are pretty dark, so if you were trying to edit similarly, I would suggest keeping the exposure down and bringing that contrast up to the moon, baby.

-H

Mary is relatable because unlike many fashion bloggers who take some truly daring style risks that don’t always work, her style is always easy to love. We adore her, and we think you will too!

Check out some of her looks at http://www.happilygrey.com.

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

Using Fashion to Craft Your Personal Brand

There is so much buzz right now around crafting your “personal brand,” whether it’s for the purpose of getting a new job, promoting your own business or craft, or simply giving the world an accurate idea of who you are and what you stand for.

As three creatives, we love using fashion to promote our personal brands because how we present ourselves to the world is quite important in each of our lines of work. Here are our thoughts on how we use fashion to bolster the world’s perception of ourselves and how you can do it too:

To use fashion to cultivate your personal brand, you first have to figure out what your personal brand is. Do you want to be seen as a logical woman who has her head on straight? A free-thinking creative? I personally want to be known as the girl people can turn to for advice or assistance with any of their personal style woes, even if their preferences differ from my own.

We will soon be launching a styling service (stay tuned for more details on that coming within the next few days!), so it’s important to me to instill a sense of confidence in my potential clients. That means even though I love risky, out-of-the-box styles, I know not everyone does (and I don’t want my clients to think I’ll be dressing them all in high-waisted referee pants and lace crop tops!), so I need to make an effort to reflect a variety of styles within my own personal style so clients trust that I can meet their own fashion wants and needs.

This is why I chose a relatively simple look for this shoot. I realized a while ago that I almost never wear jeans in photo shoots, and I don’t think I have literally ever worn a t-shirt for a shoot, so I figured I would give it a try and make those seemingly simple pieces feel fashion forward! There are a lot of women out there who live in jeans and t-shirts, so I needed to make myself relatable and my style accessible to them.

So for you, what do you want to reflect? What do you want people to know about you before you ever even open your mouth? Keep your personal brand in mind when choosing outfits, and it will not steer you wrong.

-Sabrina Runge

As an independent musical artist, I choose how I am represented. I don’t have a record label telling the world who I am, and I like that.

As a natural performer, it’s easy to perform on and off the stage… to try to be something I’m not in order to feel “good enough.” I had to learn how to stop performing, and, as a dear friend put it, “just be.”

This year, I’ve begun to take that mindset on and off the stage; to do what I love because I love it, not to fulfill others’ expectations. It’s a privilege to “fill the air, the silence” (as my boyfriend says it) with whatever I choose and to remember that people show up to hear me and let me be myself with them. Nobody likes false advertisement, and with that in mind, I use style to visually represent my true self.

I prefer minimalism and consistency in my style. If I go a little out of the box from my day-to-day for a show, it’s because I want to use style as another way to express my creativity. However, with that exception, I usually prefer to let my personality and music do the talking. Choosing a simplistic, neutral-based style allows room for interpretation. It doesn’t make such a statement that others can automatically have a definitive opinion about me before actually knowing me. I desire to know others and be known truly, not superficially. I’m not saying I wear plain, homely things in some sort of “stick-it-to-the-man” mindset against our society’s focus on image. I do enjoy many trends in our culture, and I love expressing myself visually, but I do not depend on it.

All that being said, my style usually consists of mostly black, flowy pieces. I wear a lot of black because I view it as a confident color. (Honestly, I love any outfit that feels like pajamas.) I’ve come to love my nearly shapeless body, and I try to not deceive anyone into thinking it’s anything else. If my shape disappears under a flowy dress, that’s okay with me because in this heat, I’m just happy for cool clothing. As far as accessories, it’s safe to assume that I’ll almost always be wearing a key necklace that says “BE” on it to remind me to be real, along with the same gold studs, my mother’s ring, and black booties. I value consistency and simplicity. My style is constantly swaying between simply confident and confidently comfortable. That’s the mindset I try to live in as well. Confident but not conceited; comfortable and content with myself.

–Tiffany Lee: Musical Artist, Nap Queen, and Plant Mom

Whether you are a business owner, lawyer, or fashion guru, you are your brand. So, as your brand, the way you present yourself is the way you display your business. As a fashion blogger, photographer, and soon-to-be stylist, I use fashion as an avenue to make a good impression on others, thus creating a good impression for my business. Even if I’m simply running to Kroger to buy more Halo Top ice cream at 11pm, I still try to make an effort to dress nicely and look my best no matter the occasion because I never know when I’m going to run into a present or future client.

Always looking presentable and approachable instills a kind of trust with my clients. I’ve branded myself so they know they can trust me to always do the best work I can for them because I put that same kind of effort into myself (almost) everyday. Jogger pants, loafers and a chic, silk cami is one of my go-to outfits because it’s effortless yet sophisticated for wearing out, and I can still go home, plop down on the couch, and spend the day working and editing photos without ever having to change clothes!

When I started out branding myself as a photographer, I dove in headfirst and told people I was up for anything, from newborn sessions to weddings. Yet, I realized this wasn’t what I really wanted to do, so I began focusing on what I loved: fashion photography and portraiture. As a fashion blogger myself, I see both side of the lens, so I have a unique perspective when it comes to fashion photography, which sets me apart in this field and aligns with who I am as a photographer and a person.

It’s a lot easier (and more authentic) to cultivate your personal brand when you are honest with yourself about what you want to do. It’s no surprise that I didn’t get booked for many newborn sessions because my heart wasn’t really in it. Once I created my personal brand that aligned with each and every one of my passions, I began to see a lot more success in each of those fields, and you will too.

-Hannah Lewter

Black Maxi Dress, Black Jeans, and Graphic Tee

Hannah’s Wearing:

Tiffany’s Wearing:

Sabrina’s Wearing:

What is ‘Cultural Appropriation’ Anyways?

For this post, we challenged ourselves to put together the most *American* outfits we could without doing any online research to see how much influence other cultures have on our sense of style.

In short, we failed. Miserably.

Literally none of the styles we chose originated in America. Then, we did some more research and found that the only styles that truly got their start in the United States are blue jeans and western wear.

This exercise was truly eye-opening because we saw firsthand that if we hadn’t taken styles from other cultures, there essentially would be no fashion in this country.

So, that brings us back to the idea of cultural appropriation. When is it okay to take ideas from other cultures and when is it disrespectful?

I remember people getting upset about things like the name, “The Washington Redskins,” or even more recently, not liking that Kendall and Kylie put their faces on t-shirts with the names of Tupac and other African American artists, but I didn’t realize there was a name for it: cultural appropriation. The definition of cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture.

As someone who is half Puerto Rican, I do understand this on a personal level. Particularly when people use bits and pieces of Spanish without really knowing what they mean, like adding “el” before certain words and “o” after them , like “el car-o” to be funny and make those words sound Hispanic.

It’s not that big of a deal to me because I know most people who do this are just trying to be funny and aren’t trying to be disrespectful, but I understand why it is offensive to some people. Taking some aspects of a language and using them improperly is not respectful to that language and the people who speak it.

-S

As we all know, America is a melting pot of different cultures. With so many different types of people coming to the States, cultures and lifestyles are bound to mix and take on aspects of other traditions. There are definitely reasons to tread cautiously when it comes to clothes, art, or anything from other cultures, but without this amazing conglomeration of people and ideas, we would not have things like Chicago-style pizza or New York Fashion Week.

I was researching cultural appropriation for this post because I actually didn’t even know what it was before Sabrina brought it up to me. I found this incredible article on how to approach cultural appropriation in a positive way, and I could not have put it any better myself:

“In the 21st century, cultural appropriation—like globalization—isn’t just inevitable; it’s potentially positive. We have to stop guarding cultures and subcultures in efforts to preserve them. It’s naïve, paternalistic, and counterproductive. Plus, it’s just not how culture or creativity work. The exchange of ideas, styles, and traditions is one of the tenets and joys of a modern, multicultural society. So how do we move past the finger pointing, and co-exist in a way that’s both creatively open and culturally sensitive? In a word, carefully.”

-The Atlantic, “The Dos and Don’ts of Cultural Appropriation”

If we limited ourselves to just ‘American’ culture and didn’t share with others, we would not have much at all. Blending cultures and lifestyles is what makes America, America.

So, if you like good music, good food, and good fashion, we should probably keep mixing cultures (respectfully).

-H

To be completely honest, I did not understand why people got upset about cultural appropriation until fairly recently. I thought that people should be happy and feel honored if another culture borrowed one of their ideas and showcased it. (Boy was I wrong.)

I finally understood why people got upset about it when girls started wearing shirts and toting coffee mugs with the phrase, “Nama’stay in Bed,” emblazoned on them. Namaste is a Hindi greeting, and one time when I asked a girl wearing one of those shirts if she knew what “Namaste” meant or even what language it came from, she had no clue. As someone who is half Indian, that’s when I got a little offended and realized that there’s a right way and a wrong way to borrow from other cultures.

It is acceptable to borrow another culture’s idea if you know the meaning behind it and you treat it respectfully. Such as, if a clothing company used tribal print on one of their artisan-crafted handbags and also told a story about creator of the bag and the origin of the print in the description, this would be acceptable. On the other hand, if a company put a Native American headdress on one of their Caucasian, underwear-clad models for a runway show, that is not okay (ahem, Victoria’s Secret).

-S

Sharing between cultures is something that is unavoidable–and honestly desirable–if we want to bring cultures closer together. But, there is a right way to do it by honoring the history of the cultural idea and the people who came up with it, and a wrong way to do it, which is ignoring everything except the aesthetic value of the idea.

Learn before you wear.

Photos by: H+L Creations

Savvy’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Trend Tips: The Graphic Tee

The graphic tee: everyone knows it, everyone loves it, but not everyone knows how to style it. To keep your look from venturing into middle school/Hollister tee territory, stay up to date with these easy outfit tips:

The graphic tee is one of the biggest trends of the summer, but (ironically) because this piece is so versatile, it can be difficult to style it in a way that feels fresh. I paired this graphic tee from Natural Statement with a side-split maxi skirt to make it feel a little more feminine and make me feel as though I could be walking along a beach somewhere.

I found these chic, black loafers AND this woven purse at Goodwill the other day (score!), so I thought they would be the perfect additions to keep this look easy and casual. If you are going to try out a maxi skirt this summer, go for one that doesn’t feel basic (so 2015). Try out various, ankle skimming lengths, or find one with some sexy slits in it (or create the slits yourself, like I did!).

-S

As much as I love chic, summer colors–vibrant yellow, classic red, and everything in between–there is something fashion forward about going monochromatic when putting together a summer outfit. Everyone owns and wears graphic tees on a regular basis, so I didn’t want this look to feel as though I just threw it together on my way to class.

I pulled out the block heel booties I usually reserve for fall and tucked in that graphic tee to accentuate these high-waisted shorts and add a street style feel to this ensemble. I added a denim jacket to throw in a littttllllleeeee bit of color (but not much), so I wouldn’t be mistaken for gothic, and so I could swing it around when I wanted to and feel like a runway model.

-H

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

Photos by: Rainwater Reflections Photography

Pants in the Summertime (It Can Be Done)

If you ask anyone who lives in Arkansas what they most frequently wear in the summertime, we’ll bet you anything that their answer is not “pants.” The blistering heat combined with the unbelievable humidity makes it difficult to wear anything except shorts and sundresses without having heat stroke.

Yet, as two people who don’t want to wear shorts and sundresses 24/7, we’ve had to find some tricks to wearing this article of clothing without instantly regretting it as soon as we step out of the house.

I am the self-proclaimed pants master. When I bought these pants from Goodwill, they were loose and straight-legged, which wasn’t exactly flattering, but because of the high waist and the lovely print, I saw potential in them. The first time I tailored a pair of pants, it took me 9+ hours of watching seamstresses’ tutorials on YouTube and trying out different techniques before I ended up with a pair of pants with which I was satisfied. This time? Maybe an hour.

After tightening the fit and slightly cropping the legs, these pants have become one of my favorites because they look like something I would find at Reformation. I like to mix up my summer pants repertoire with a pair that has a little character, like these, instead of only wearing jeans or black jogger pants. The fabric of these pants isn’t particularly breezy, but I actually felt fine while we were out and about because the cropped length + sandals ensured that my feet and ankles stayed cool.

I don’t necessarily dislike wearing shorts, but it’s a struggle for me to find shorts that I love because I am very particular about them. I used to love low-rise, super-short cutoffs when I was in college, but I’m over that phase. Now, for me to buy a pair of shorts, they have to be high-waisted, a little bit longer, and be something more than a plain jane pair of Daisy Dukes. Shorts are just not as chic as pants to me, so they have to be really intriguing for me to want to spend money on them.

-S

To wear jeans or not to wear jeans, that is the question. I am the kind of girl who loves jeans (ask anyone who knows me; they wouldn’t be able to pick my legs out of a lineup because I so rarely wear anything but pants or jeans), but when Arkansas’ humidity is at its peak, trying to squeeze into a pair of denim skinnies is literally impossible. Even I at some point have to retire my jeans in favor of something more breathable and lightweight.

Instead of trying to survive in denim, I flock to patterned joggers, or sometimes even a pair of wide-leg pants because they are airy, appropriate for a 9-to-5 job, or for even after hours when paired with some stilettos. I don’t mind wearing shorts, but I’d much rather wear a flattering pair of pants, so when I hop from freezing coffee shop to coffee shop I don’t in turn into an icicle. Opting for airy fabrics–cotton, linen, mesh–provides a way to look polished in public while not roasting to death because of your friggin’ pants.

So will I be wearing pants this summer? Hell yeah- no sweat (literally).

-H