getting fancy

Last week I met up with local photographer Willow Eskridge to do a fun photo shoot with this pretty dress!  I've been wanting to do some more collaborations with local folks, and it was so much fun shooting with Willow in her studio.  We had originally planned on doing outdoor photos, but the weather suddenly became awful (typical Tacoma), so we opted for the warmth and dryness of the studio instead.  It's definitely funny having a photographer, as I'm pretty used to the tripod/self-timer gig, haha!

Modcloth contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in styling one of their dresses from their most recent Make the Cut collection.  I think the Make the Cut collaborations that they do are just so fun, and I keep meaning to submit my own design, but then I forget, so I'll have to wait for the next time they a Make the Cut collection to throw my hat in the ring.  If you don't know about the Make the Cut collections, ModCloth asks participants to submit clothing designs based on a given theme and then choose a handful of designs to put on Facebook for voting. All of the items in this most recent Make the Cut: Winter Garden Gala Collection were designed by ModCloth and Teen Vogue community members, and were picked for production by ModCloth's Facebook community.  I think it's a really creative way to put out a special and unique collection, especially since it gets their whole customer community involved!  

The dresses in this last collection are more geared towards fancy event type dresses, so I decided to style this dress more like I would for a fun party, rather than for everyday wear.  It has it's own little petticoat under the skirt, but I added one of my own vintage petticoats to give it a bit more volume.

 
dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/seychelles :: tights/courtesy of asianicandy necklace/courtesy of poppy & fern :: photos by Willow's Photography
Last night I actually did attend some holiday parties, though I didn't wear this outfit.  I didn't get any full outfit photos, mostly because it was already dark by then, but maybe I'll recreate the outfit in the daylight and take some photos, because I really loved the outfit (maybe I'll wear it for NYE)!  I wore these awesome glittery shoes (they're on sale! woo!), so I basically had to go all out with sparkles, and wore my sequined dress and glitter star crown.  I do love getting gussied up for fun events, especially because I rarely have the excuse to get fancy, but damn does it feel good to get home, take off the high heels and dress and slip into comfy sweats and slippers at the end of the night.  Being fancy is fun, but being cozy is so wonderful.