Forget Matchy-Matchy, Just Wear What You Love

This is probably the last of my bare legs you'll be seeing for a while- it is now officially cooler Fall weather here in Sactown. I wore this outfit last week, just as the weather was losing its summer feel, but still had enough heat to run around sans tights, socks or leggings. But I am eagerly layering up. Silk snake print top (vintage Halston III) shopped from my own shop at Fringe. Over it is my weirdly charmingly tribal '70's sweater, and paired with my dark denim Ralph Lauren shorts. Nothing matches, and somehow, it all works. I think the key element was neutral on neutral and amped up prints in subtle tones. I'm loving my Freestyle leopard shooties, and the Iris Apfel styled yellow round sunglasses I recently scored at Cuff's.

Enter my Karina Dress Give-Away!

There's still time to enter the Karina Dress give-away! Contest ends November 1st and the winner will be announced December 2nd. So...whatcha waiting for? Click HERE to enter for a chance to win.

Layered Looks: Jacket, Sweater and Silk Tee offer up layered warmth for a California November

Style Made By Hand: 5 Quick Questions

Susan Tiner explores her style in her personal style blog, Style Made By Hand.

I'd like to introduce you to one of my November sponsors. Meet Susan, who blogs her personal style blog, Style Made By Hand. You'll find her on my +40 Blogroll, and most likely have seen her comments on many of your favorite blogs. She's a fellow Californian, and is currently exploring her style through various sewing projects and sharing her experiences with her readers.

5 Quick Questions

1) What's your name and what do you do? How would you describe yourself to a stranger?  

My name is Susan Tiner, and I'm a retired software engineer with a very part-time financial consulting business. As for what I'd say to a stranger, I might say that I sing in an Episcopal choir with my fiance Martin, voraciously read history, sew, blog, take care of our home (and our two tabby kitties named Brownie and Gray,) and visit with my adult son and daughter and their sweeties whenever possible. 
 

2) Your blog, Style Made By Hand, describes itself as a "minimalist exploring personal style through craft." By craft, I gather you mean sewing. How long have you been sewing, and how does this craft help you explore your personal style? 

I learned to sew while growing up. Family finances were constrained, limiting opportunities for new clothing purchases. Sewing provided a way to have more outfits. Once I had children, I stopped sewing for myself, and sewed exclusively for them- primarily every day clothing, but also clothes for special occastion, like ballerina and Halloween costumes. 

 

I stopped sewing regularly about 20 years ago, then started again this year, as part of my personal style quest. The style quest began as a self knowledge journey- I wanted to understand why I'd given up on fashion, and was dressing like an impoverished grad student.  Early on I learned that I do love clothes, but I'm frustrated with the ready-to-wear options, which often don't fit well and almost never express my style. Sewing lets me pick the pattern designs I want to work with, modify them to fit, select fabric that suits my preference for quality and design, and it's fun!

3) Has blogging had any impact on your personal life? If yes, how so? 

Most definitely. I've met so many wonderful people online, and have learned a lot from them. In writing the memoir posts on my old blog (financialorganizing.info,) I was able to write the past into perspective, and let previously painful memories stay at rest, to be at peace. As for the new blog, I don't think it would have been possible to find my style in such a short time if I hadn't had so much exposure to other bloggers writing about fashion and style. Seeing what other real women do, helps me classify information  a lot more efficiently than I could roaming through stores or reading fashion magazines. I hate shopping. And fashion magazines seem like nothing but ads with gorgeous photography. 

Subtle Paisley + Small Business Saturday

SUBTLE PAISLEY. Let me ramble a bit, friends, please indulge me. I've work hard all year to tightly edit my posts, so you can read them under 2 minutes. Yeah, I'm a thoughtful gal, but today I sort of want to loosen up, + just go with it. Maybe it's to match the new scenery you see here. I've been using FRINGE as my own personal photo studio; I love the funky decor and think it fits in well with my own personal style. 

I think today's outfit is typical of what I would call "Rosebud Casual." I can't seem to steer away from the old timey look, and with my wool cloche hat collection now out of storage, you can expect to see more me looking like an extra from a silent movie starring Lillian Gish. NOT that any self-respecting lady of the 20's or 1930's would be traipsing about in cut-off shorts, but the thigh-high socks, the cut of the shirt and the hat, have a bit of "speak easy" to me. 

Brand new to moi, but got secondhand is this lovely like-new, vintage brown canvas "jean" jacket. I love its' paisley print! Paisley is a print I predict will be exploding on the fashion scene come spring. Bold, classic prints seem to be enjoying a trending renaissance, and I haven't seen paisley get any praise for quite some time.  So it's due. This jacket was a score from This N That Thrift & Gift, which is just down the street from Fringe; I've been stopping by there quite a bit. It's sort of dangerous for me, (you know, "shopping ban" + all.) It's an undiscovered gem here in Sacramento, so I feel like I get first pick on some great pieces.

The rose-colored glasses are part of the vast sunglasses collection available at Fringe. Sort of steam punk, doncha think? They look like they are from the turn of the last century, but are actually 1980 repro's of old timey glasses. The novelty aspect to these frames is that they completely fold up.

Namaste, Nakate

Taking Africa With Me: Bella models two pieces from the Nakate Project's new Fall Collection.

Their motto is a question: Where will you take Africa with you today? 

The Nakate Project is fashion meets philanthropy.

I've mentioned the Nakate Project before, here and in an article written for CBS Local. The people behind the Nakate Project believe that fashion is a powerful tool to change the world for the better. When you purchase and wear a Nakate piece of jewelry, you are providing funds and means for the women in the poorest villages of Africa to gain financial independence. 

So these little necklaces are doing more than just looking pretty around my neck.  Each bead, made by African women, earns them income to put food on their tables, buy medicine if needed, + pay for their children's schooling.  This Fall, the Nakate Project launched four collections, utilizing the Ugandan-made paper beads and incorporating them into fashionable, affordable jewelry pieces, many designed by local Californian + Oregonian artisans. 

To showcase the new Fall collections, Nakate teamed up with 8 bloggers for 8 weeks, each modeling different pieces from the 4 collections.   I was given two Nakate necklaces from their Fall collection, to incorporate into an outfit + share where I "take Africa with me."

WHERE DID I TAKE AFRICA? 

Today I will take Africa with me on my early morning neighborhood stroll. Africa will come with me, when I meet some friends for coffee. Later in the afternoon, I'll take Africa with me to the market, as I pick out the locally grown produce, along with the rest of my groceries, I'll think how lucky I am to have access to fresh food and clean water. 

The Karina Chronicles + GIVEAWAY

I AM A WINNER! A few months ago, one of my sponsors, Karina Dresses, ran a contest on their Facebook page. They were looking to name their new blog. Lots of ladies turned in their ideas, and I did too. And you know what? My suggestion  won!

According to the blog editor, bloggeress extraordinaire Sarah Von B: if your Karina dress were a blog it would be The Karina Chronicles. Like the dresses, the blog is funny, smart, helpful + stylish.  The Karina Chronicles has a great series of interviews called women we love,  + gives you all sorts of helpful hints,  even providing piles of interesting links to help you avoid work on Fridays.  How considerate of them!  You can befriend the Karina Chronicles on Twitter or Facebook or even subscribe to the RSS feed.

outfit post: Mustard Cashmere

Looking for a good fashion investment? Think cashmere.

At last, cooler weather! While it's still sunny out, and fall weather is ridiculously mild in my part of Northern California, there is just enough chill in the air to merit a dragging out of sweaters, and donning them.  This knitted article of sunshine was a good investment over 4 years ago from J. Crew. It's a 2-ply cashmere cardigan, and it's so lightweight, soft + warm. Still in good shape I might add, for being nearly 5 years old. That doesn't surprise me as I've held on to cashmere sweaters for as long as 20 years, and they were still in decent shape. In fact a GREAT investment is VINTAGE CASHMERE: it's that old adage- "they don't make them like they used to." Vintage cashmere is better, oh yes. Something about the long belly fur on those rascally Kashmir goats. Read about the advantages HERE, HERE and HERE.

But my mustard yellow cashmere sweater is a minor character in this story.  I think the star of the show was the sweet babydoll rayon dress, which is probably a year or two old, and purchased on the cheap at gasp! Forever 21. I am NOT a big fan of F-21, and to be honest, I'm not sure I got the dress there, but it was purchased new at a fast fashion shop before I decided to ban those kind of shops. The dress is lovely, however, with its navy floral print and cut out lace back. You can see the back and  how I styled the dress last summer HERE. 

So I'm going to give you a little style tip. When it comes to mixing colors you can't go wrong with combining the colors of red, yellow and blue. Then throw in some secondary color:  green. Look at the outfit and see how it works? While the colors are not the bright primary hues of red, yellow and blue, the muted tone of navy, mustard yellow and bits of burgundy just "go." Then when you see how it pairs with my amazing 1950's corduroy olive green coat you will feel the magic. Go ahead, ooh and awe.

Saturday Night's All Right for A Fight

Only there was no fight. Saturday was the opening night for the Cuff's Naked Canvas art show, and I wanted to go check it out. So I did. It was a a cold evening, and I was stoked to be able to pull out one of my wool capes and a wool sweater to wear on my bike ride to Cuffs. But the store was so warm inside, I immediately had to strip of all resemblance of cold weather wear. So this is NOT an outfit post- because the best parts of the outfit were draped over a chair most of the evening. But I WILL give you a teaser: Brown/Cream windowpane plaid CAPE, and Norwegian wool sweater. 

Let me tell you, it was cool to see my work on somebody else's walls! The show was an eclectic mix, showcasing the variety of sparkling talent living in Sacramento. Speaking of stellar, it was a most handsome crowd, and some of my favorite peeps came out. Like Kerry, Kara, my pal Mary and the most charming of creatures, Ann and Stan of Annimal House. Everyone looked deliciously lovely.

Bella in Brown (Photo credits: Kerry Dolan)

Self Portrait: Like No Place on Earth, part of the Naked Canvas show at Cuffs

Blogger Buddies! (Photo credit: Kerry Dolan)

Getting Naked

This Saturday marks the art opening for a special show at Cuffs. Cuffs, you may or may not know if arguably one of the sweetest boutiques in Sacramento, and lovely Lacadia, puts together monthly art shows for the walls of Cuffs. This month, she is curating an interesting show, featuring women of Sacramento, and I was honored to be asked to contribute. The theme was Naked Canvas, and we were to draw on clothing/textile inspiration and come up with a self portrait. So with my battery of self portraits in my pocket, I submitted one of my favorites for the exhibition. I am looking forward in seeing the other contributions as well.

Also this week is the Second Sunday Open Air Market at Fringe. I'll be selling some great stuff for $20 and under, along with some of my good blogger pals, so do stop by and shop! 

Lindsay Rickman models some great Fringe vintage. (Photo: Bella Q)

With these future events you can see I've been crazy busy all week but one of my highlights was styling and shooting a photo shoot for Fringe featuring one of my favorite models, my dear friend Lindsay. It was magical- out of 450 shots taken, only 3 or 4 were less than fantastic. I can't wait to show you some of them- in fact, there's a little sneak preview over on my Facebook page so if you want to see 'em, click HERE. 

And to add icing to my lovely cake, I am honored + pleased as punch to make it this week in IFB's Links Ala Mode. IFB is a great network and resource for fashion bloggers, so if you blog about fashion, click the link over on my side bar, + join!

Shorter Days of Winter

Edited by: Collette Osuna of Statements in Fashion
With shorter days of winter on their way, many of us will spend countless hours wrapped in a warm comfy robe, our hands nestled around a cup of hot cocoa, and stalking our favorite blogs and fashion sites. What could be better than online window shopping and thoughts of Santa’s arrival in our heads?
This weeks links showcase some awesome blog posts I’d love to read on a cold winter night.
Take some time to read about Eco friendly designers, tips for pursuing a career in fashion, jewelry tricks, DIY’s, fab bloggers over forty, and more.
Have a great weekend & stay warm!

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: NOVEMBER 10th

• Being Zhenya: DIY: Elbow Patches
• Bows & Sparrows: Allison Bethurem, social media marketing & PR manager gives us a glimpse inside her closet.
• Elodie Bubble: Sunglasses trends on spring 2012 runway
• Ethical Fashion Blog: 10 eco fashion designers to watch
• Fashion Dynamite: How to create a bracelet stack
• Fashion is Evolution: The latest edition of "Color Theory" examines pink
• Good Morning Angel: GUCCI ♥ fur & jewels
• Grace Niu: My picks for fabulous cocktail rings, on any budget :)
• Ode to Awe: Designer Collaborations: A look at why Forever 21 fails where competitors succeed
• Over 50 Feeling 40: A different way to look at fashion blogging & why we should work together!!
• Scandalous Beauty: Network Your Butt Off: Creating the Perfect Business Cards for your Blog
• Searching for Style: 5 Things To Consider Before Pursuing a Career in Fashion
• Six Inch Walker: Getting down with leo love & this season's hottest baroques!
• Soy Chiild: The college girl's guide to looking fabulous without sacrificing comfort!
• Statements in Fashion: Channeling Woodstock: Beatles Style!
• Style Abuse: Trend: White for Spring is Groundbreaking
• Style by Mahlia: 7 tips on effective flea market shopping
• The Citizen Rosebud: The plus 40 fashion crowd is NOT invisible. We are growing in number, we are building community
• The Frugalista Diaries: Video Hair Tutorial - Sock "BUMP IT"
• The Style Confessions: The surprising nail polish brand that lasts a whole week without chipping.

SPONSOR:
Newly Arrived at Shopbop: Herve Leger, Nanette Lepore, Dion Lee, Twenty8Twelve, LeSportsac, Soft Joie, Gorjana, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Sonia Rykiel, Robert Rodriguez, Tory Burch, Ugg, & Halston Heritage.
PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE
If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE.

November's Second Sunday Market: Bloggers!

Local-vores: MARK YOUR CALENDERS! 

This coming Sunday, we have a special event happening at the Fringe's open air market. Come November 13th, you'll get a chance to shop from a fashion BLOGGER'S closet! Specially selected for this event, were some of my favorite Sacramento fashion bloggers and they are sharing some of their good stuff with you. 

Join Kara from Crimson & Clover, Vanessa of Queen VII's Reveries, Mary Van Note, Jen Wade of Wade & Associates, Lisa of the tasty Closet Candy, the Nakate Project and ME, for this fun sale of fashion-ables with a fine selection of vintage clothing, jewelry, accessories, + house wares. The bloggers will be joining the already wonderful offerings of This N That Thrift & Gift, Fringe, + the Antique Company.

To whet your proverbial appetite, here are some pictures from last month's MARKET: 

Honorary Rosebud: My friend Mary showed her support by wearing her mom's vintage T-shirt

Stan and Ann of Annimal House showing off one of their flea market finds.

This handsome couple may look familiar: it's Ann, an official Sacramento Style ICON with her equally stylish husband, Stan. They are showing off some of their recent scores from the nearby Antique Faire.

Is it me, or are they the cutest, coolest couple, EVER?

This month I'll not only be selling my finest Fall frocks INSIDE Fringe, but will be setting up a HUGE sales rack outside at the open air market. I'll have a seasonal selection of dresses, sweaters, shoes and then some all for under $20 bucks.

outfit post: The Best Thing in the World

     Dude: There are some things
           in life I can't control.
     Me:   Like what? Needing sleep?
     Dude: How much I miss you.

TRUE STORY.

Sometimes, I can't help myself.  Darlings, this is one of those times.
I'm feeling a bit Syd-Barrett-meets-Elizabeth-Barrett-Browning, sing songing mad, mad love into everything, with every object in the world reminding me of H-I-M.  And by him, I mean the dude; MY dude.

You know the tune, right? It's on every radio station you dial into.

outfit post: Plaid Meet Mandarin

Brushing up on my Mandarin. Mixing an Chinese dragon print with classic Scottish plaid.

I do love mixing prints. I had been waiting ALLLLL season to wear this major score- a vintage Pierre Cardin wool plaid blazer in PERFECT condition. While we are just barely getting slightly cooler weather, it was just cool enough to merit a blazer over my newly acquired satin Mandarin top (Thanks, Idalia!) So plaid meet dragon. Play nice and nobody gets hurt. 

The photos were taken by Kerry. We met at Peets Coffee for a Street Style SACRAMENTO meeting, and we decided to do an impromptu photo session. Let me tell you- it is strange NOT to be BEHIND the camera. I felt stiff and awkward having someone turn their lens on me! Please note: not a lick of make up so you are seeing the Bell au naturale. Enjoy.

有趣的混合打印，带来好运。(Photo credits: Kerry Dolan)

Now Wearing:

• hearts for eyes
• vintage Pierre Cardin wool plaid blazer
• vintage satin mandarin top
• mom jeans shorts
• Janzen plaid backpack
• Coach wedge sandals

Closet Candy- Pops Up at Article Consignment

Lisa, the sweetheart behind VIP Closet Candy is going to sweeten up your wardrobe. A Sacramento stylist, Lisa Kennedy Watrous opening her first "Pop Up Shop" inside Article Consignment.  Saturday is the launch of Closet Candy and they are celebrating with an evening filled with music, food, friends and fashion.  

Lisa Kennedy Watrous loves fashion and she'd love to share her styling expertise with YOU!

Celebrate the Closet Candy's Pop-Up Launch Party: 

DATE:        Saturday, November 5th, 7 pm-10 pm

PLACE:      Article Consignment

WHERE:   5704 Elvas Blvd. 

                    Sacramento, CA 95819

vipclosetcandy.com

CITIZEN SPOTLIGHT: Bloggers Over 40

You are not invisible-YOU are beautiful

Last February, I post a blogroll about 20 in number.  You see, I'd been blogging for a couple of years and felt the "odd man out," being almost twice the age as many of my fellow blogger buddies. I wanted to see if there were any other fashion bloggers out there who were like me, over the age of forty. They seemed few and far between, and few were aware of any others. But I knew they were out there, gathered up a list, and I posted it.

Reva of Reva's Rags to Roses getting her chic on

I almost didn't bother to post it. It would have been easier to just put the roll on my sidebar. I didn't think many people aside from me, Reva, Sacramento and Pam L would be interested.

Turned out, I was wrong. Turned out, there were lots of bloggers who were interested. Some of them over 40. Some of them under 40. All of them craving to see real women all of ages bravely show off their style.  Bloggers who were over 40 added their blogs in the comments, and I kept adding their names to the blog-roll. To this date, that post on +40 bloggers has gotten over 10000 hits. And every day, it gets around 100 more. 

The post was updated so many times that I decided to give the +40 blogroll a PAGE of its own, and that original list of 20 bloggers, have grown into a (still growing) list of well over 100. That's one hundred women (and some men) who do outfit posts, who write about fashion, who are actively online and seriously know how throw down some serious style. 

I feel good. 

So, I've decided to go a bit further. I've also decided 

November Sponsors

It's official! November marks the 3 year anniversary of this blog, AND it is also the month in which I officially accepted sponsorships for the Citizen Rosebud. So without further ado, let me share with you the lovely people and businesses who now sponsor the Citizen Rosebud:

• The Equine Bovine
• Funkoma Vintage
• Fringe
• Karina Dresses
• Kirsten Marie
• Martin Mattox
• Nakate Project
  
• The Style Confessions
• Style Made By Hand

I am absolutely touched by the rousing support that has been offered me, online and off. Thank-you all- both sponsors and readers for allowing me the opportunity to make a living in fields of interest that I love: writing + fashion!

Let me give you a quick introduction to some of these lovely people:

Equine Bovine- Equine Bovine is the personal style blog of Kerry Dolan, a dear + personal friend of mine, who also happens to be my co-publisher for Street Style Sacramento.  Kerry is one of the sellers at one of the finest vintage boutiques in Sacramento, Crimson & Clover, and she is determined to share her passion for fashion. She is a city girl with a country heart.

Funkoma Vintage- Funkoma Vintage is an online shop from Seattle, Washington. Funkoma Vintage is right up my alley; their motto is "We like it Secondhand, and we like it Handmade." Funkoma Vintage is full of vintage clothing for men, women and kids, as well as vintage housewares and furnishings. To make matters more delicious, Tressie, the lady behind Funkoma Vintage, also designs a line of hand-made goods under the moniker of That Yountville Girl.

Fringe- I think I've mentioned Fringe before....so to refresh your memory on this first-rate Sacramento shop click HERE.

Karina Dresses- Another possibly familiar name to my readers is Karina Dresses. Straight out of Brooklyn, Karina Dresses is an woman-owned American company makes "dresses for every body." A couple of months ago, I was honored by Karina Dresses to be chosen to be one of their brand ambassadors, and I've been enjoying my Karina Dresses ever since!

Kirsten Marie- A longtime blogger buddy of mine, Kirsten Marie is a personal style blogger who has also taken the plunge and opened an online shop. I enjoy her outfit posts, her reviews on beauty products and now we all have the opportunity to shop her closet! You can read her blog HERE, and shop the shop HERE.

Martin Mattox- Martin Mattox is the vintage home furnishing line of Arbogast Design.  If you want impeccable and livable interiors, you work with the interior designers at Arbogast Design. For inspiration and the best curated collection of fun & funky furniture and curios, you shop Martin Mattox.  Martin Mattox is now located at 3 Northern California locations.

Nakate Project-  Founder Shanley Knox is a sister-from-another mister who believes that fashion can save the world. She created the Nakate Project to help one of the poorest villages in Uganda, Africa, and has set up a way to empower the women of the village to generate a viable income for themselves and their families. The Nakate Project produces limited editions of this African-made jewelry and showcases it in a high fashion context. 

The Style Confessions- The Style Confessions is the personal style blog of L.A. based doll designer Heather Fonseca. Heather's blog happens to be one of my must-read blogs on my blogroll. Heather is a plus-forty fashion lover, and with her wonderful outfits posts, her smart street style captures and informative articles on fashion history and doll design, she has me returning week after week for more of her style confessions.

Style Made By Hand- Style Made By Hand is the personal style blog of Susan Tiner. Newly retired, Susan uses her blog to explore her journey personal style and craft, and shares with her friends and readers her ventures into hand-sewn clothing. Sharing her love of textiles and texture, color and character, Susan allows us into her living room and wardrobe and gives us a glimpse of the woman behind the garment.