Street Feet: Booty Call

Falling Hard for Sofft: The Boots Say Style. The Feet Sigh Comfort.

Last week, I decided to keep these Sofft leather booties, and I am so glad I did. I can't believe how incredibly comfortable these shoes are! They are a stylish mid-heel, with padding in the interior, adding cushion to the balls of the feet and a slight arch support. They are leather inside and out, and are so breathable that my feet felt just as fresh at the end of the day, as I felt at the start. With their style savvy, quality construction and smart design, its easy to see why I've fallen hard for Sofft.

Tomboy X: Sportswear For Women Over Forty

Earlier this month, a fashion show/fundraiser took place in downtown Seattle, to launch a Kickstarter campaign for a line of women's sportswear designed for an often overlooked demographic: active women over forty. Tomboy Exchange was created to fill a gap: practical and wearable women's clothing for women in their forties, who like their style frills-free, but want it served up with a side of casual cool.

“There isn’t a clothing line that is focused solely on the +40 demographic in the same way that we are,” stated CEO of Tomboy X,  Fran Dunaway. "Tomboy Exchange is about democratizing fashion and paying attention to a demographic that has been ignored by the fashion industry." Committing to manufacture in the U.S. and designing for real women, Tomboy X is determined to fill a niche overlooked by the fashion industry: over 40 year old women who still want to look good and feel like themselves." 

Rosebud in a Red Hat

Blooming in a Red Hat

This morning, I'm typing this at my desk in an old mohair sweater and flannel pajamas. It's is cold and grey out, and I've got no inclination to go outside. I need to remind myself that Spring is right around the corner, and flowers are on their way to save the day,  budding into a warming landscape of bright and lively colors.  In the meanwhile, I imagine myself planted somewhere deep in the heart of a meadow, at one with a field of nodding poppies, soaking up the sunshine, bright as a blossom, and happy as a rose. 

FRESH PICKS: Saks Plaid Boucle Wool Blazer

Observe yours truly mad-dogging you on the catwalk. Here I am, strolling my front sidewalk, playing runway model for my Etsy shop. Now let me direct your attentions to other things, like this GORGEOUS bouclé wool jacket, for instance. It is a dream of a thing! Thick nubby textured bouclé wool in a rich red plaid, fully lined with silk crepe georgette, and in perfect condition. It's about a women's size 16 (see listing for exact measurements) but I'm a size 12 and the roominess of the cut suits me.

Street Feet: Coach Classic

I HEART Coach.

For shoes once described as "not exactly good looking, and not you one bit," these Coach flats have been kicking it in my wardrobe for over a decade now, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say they were probably a good investment. They are a result from a Macy's shopping spree made at a New Year's sale,  oh so long ago, whose purpose was to separate me from the Doc Marten brigade at the cafe that I was working at the time. I was sick of looking like every other slightly pierced and tatted downtown chicita, who stomped around in some variation of a thrifted black concert Tee, all wearing what seemed to be the same baggy pair of Levis lashed up with studded belts and grounded by the ubiquitous pair of black Doc Marten boots. 

Our non-conformity was getting to be a little too matchy-matchy for my taste, so all of a sudden I took up this persona of a prepster from the 1970's. Meaning a penchant for browns, greens and orange corduroys, flattering novelty T-shirts from the era, tweed and/or gingham, and

Outfit Post: Lovely Rita LBD

Traffic Stop: The Rita by Karina Dresses

Lovely Rita. How chic is the cut-to-the-chase elegance of a simple Little Black Dress? This LBD is a short-sleeve Rita, made in the USA, by Karina Dresses. That means it's wrinkle free, made from an easy wear, easy care breathable microfiber fabric. 

Take $30 Off: Use Coupon Code ROSC30 for $30 off your purchase.

More Than Magazines

Walk This Way: The Citizens of Rosebud Newest Curated Collection on the Catwalk

Witness my fantasy runway show, just in time for the tail end of New York Fashion Week. Consider yourself, dear reader, front row and center. Fashion is as much about fantasy as it is about apparel, and sometimes I wonder, as a fashion blogger,  just how much fantasy is part of what I do here. After all, those outfit posts are staged, and don't think for a moment, that I would post an unflattering pose! I unrepentantly re-touch + embellish: I'm over forty, so indulge me the occasional soft focus and air brush on those raccoon eyes, and a cropped edit so I can represent more hour glass than time's up.

I also wonder sometimes, about the reality of friendships; we blog, we comment on blogs, we say nice things. Well, at least I try to say nice things, and I've been lucky, very lucky, that mostly nice things are left in the comments here. Virtual friendships are forged; have you ever wondered how much reality these friendships possess? Is our community just as much a fantasy as the fashion images we ingest? 

Street Feet: Leaping Leopard

Are these kicks simply the cat's meow? Or just purr-fect?

The Prada Pope, and Chocolate Hope

Holy Moly! Chocolate that Tastes Heavenly. Oh, and the Pope Quits His Day Job.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to this incredible line of chocolates, made by fancy pants chocolatiers from Ohio. Chocolatiers are people who work with chocolate like a painter works with paint- it is an art, and the medium just happens to be "the food of the gods." Natch, I was at my local neighborhood fancy-pants-chocolate-store in Ballard, enticingly called Chocolat Vitale, craving a proper cup of hot chocolate when the angel who runs the joint, took the liberty in sharing generous chunks of glorious chocolates, and that's when I encountered a big bar of heaven.

There is too much to describe my friends, but let's just say, it blew my mind. As in I can not hold a thought in my head when I am biting into this confection. Milk chocolate that is not too sweet, with the boon of being ethically sourced, encases a pocket of delicious caramel. Adding insult to injury, they've sprinkled it with sea salt and toasted coconut, so the mouth encounters sweet/salt, smooth/textures, and explodes with heavenly ecstasy. I'm now obsessed with this bar of wonder. And having put a few under my belt, I'm now praying for some semblance of self control, so as to be able to keep wearing pants in my size.

 

This chocolate bar is mind blowingly incredible. Try at your own risk! 

Bissinger's Chocolate Rainforest Bars (Coconut Caramel w/ Red Hawaiian Sea Salt)

In Bloom

Mix, not Match: Plaid, Stripes and an Apron Get Shaken and Stirred in a Colorful Ensemble

Maxi skirts make me think of Vix, so when I needed a cheer up, I put on a long taffeta plaid skirt that reminded me of the Vixen herself. Adding a hodge-podge of patterns picked me right up- and reminded me of my childhood dress choices: I'd just put on my favorite clean items and head out the door. I seldom "matched," but I always felt joyful.

Product Review:The Tommy Hilfiger Trench

Perfect timing, Tommy Hilfiger. My  gorgeous vintage and thrifted winter coat was on its last legs, and my search for its successor hadn't been found. Qualities I was on the hunt for, in a replacement Fall/Winter coat were the following:

• Well made
• Classic yet quirky
• Flattering and well fitting
• Modest and winter ready
• Under $150

I wanted a coat classic, a little on the dark side, and yet funky. Would a contemporary coat be able to fill my outerwear needs? Oh yeah, did I mention needing the budget friendly part? As in the past, there are a couple of department stores that I go to, when I need something that I can't source from a thrift store. Macy's is one of those places.

Street Feet: Red Swedish Clogs

Swedish Fish: Fishing For Compliments in these Candy Sweet Red Swedish Clogs in the Ballard district

Ballard is an historically rich community that boasts a proud (and colorful) Scandinavian heritage. So in my attempt to blend in last summer, I kicked down some good Americano dinero to purchase the candy apple red, tall yet traditional Swedish beauties that you see here. They are still being broken in, but I can see YEARS of good wear in these Nordic lovelies!

As they say in the old country: Lev ditt liv lokal, och älskar den globala (Live local, love global.)

You can also shop some awesome Swedish Clogs HERE

Brick House

She's a Brick House. Oh so mighty, mighty.

I don't normally wear tiny little dresses and short coats- but when I tried on my new striped dress from StripedShirt.com, I felt so frisky, that I did it. This outfit is a triple strike of stripes: the dress, the cardi, and the scarf. I was so fired up from my stripe overload, it seemed natural to pair it with hot-house tomato red tights and my fierce fire-engine red IZOD fake leather biker jacket. 

I won't be coy: my curves were HANGING all over the place! But I felt ok about it. While I haven't dressed like this in YEARS, once I put together the outfit I wondered why I hadn't done so sooner. I didn't feel an ounce of frumpy, middle-aged or matronly. I feel flirty and mobile: so much so that I walked nearly 3 miles in this brick house of an outfit and was super comfortable wearing it.

 

The Woman Who Wears It

 

Over the years I've learned that what's important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.     -Yves Saint Laurent

 

I love wearing a "black floral" dress. It seems every year right around this time, I start pulling out my floral frocks, and the ones I love best have brightly blooming floral prints over a solid black background. I love the romance of it, the perfume of it- of feeling as if I were a fragrant bouquet; when I wear a black floral dress, I feel wonderfully womanly and wildly feminine. 

Floral Frocks That Rock: 

Everlasting Blooms

AX Paris Crochet Waist

I'm a big fan of the dress- it's a garment that can convey feminine comfort and confidence. I feel most myself in a dress, especially in a dress that allows movement, and poetry- and for me, no frock has more poetics than one blossoming with flowers.

Blooming Madly

February is short and sweet, so let me  cut to the chase, and start it off by saying: THANK YOU!

Thank-you dear friends + readers who make this fun exploration of style, something more of a graceful dialogue than a shout-it-on-a-street-corner soliloquy.

Thank you for being part of my creative process, and my community.

I'd also like to thank the blog sponsors, companies and individuals who show their support in the way of advertising, companies that often times include a person who I've met through my Rosebud community. They are sustainable style, body positive and women loving people, and they are here because they too, want you, to bloom madly.

Please show your support by visiting these good peeps:

Karina Dresses: Karina Dresses is a woman owned company based out of Brooklyn, New York. Focusing on the YES dress, Karina creates easy care, easy wear dresses designed for "every body." Use coupon code ROSC30 and get $30 off your Karina Dresses purchase. 

L'affaire Cashmere: This small but thriving import company specializes in quality, luxury scarves and stoles. Using whisper soft cashmere, wools and silks, L'affaire Cashmere produces a variety of traditional scarves, stoles and throws in fashion forward patterns and prints. Use coupon code VD14 for 12% off your order. Offer valid until February 10th, 2013.
Start your L'affaire today, and wrap yourself in love!

Sunglasses Shop: This UK based online sunglasses sells internationally. They sell fashionable designer shades on a user friendly website with impeccable customer service.
You order quality sunglasses, and usually get it two days after you place your order.

The Elegant Bohemian: I am thrilled to share with you my newest sponsor, The Elegant Bohemian. Fellow +40 Blogger, thrift store stylist extraordinaire and now eBay seller, Serene is the epitome of elegance and style in her pledge to SHOP SECONDHAND FIRST. Friends who need inspiration on how to live a frugal, stylish and sustainable life, you need to go no farther than Serene's fashion blog, The Elegant Bohemian. And PLEASE bookmark her eBay shop! Check out Serene's stylish and affordable finds by clicking HERE.


I'd also like to take a moment to say THANK YOU to all the lovelies who show their support by visiting my Etsy shop! I've had a number of friends and readers become new and valued customers, and for that, I am so grateful! If you've ordered a Citizen Rosebud fresh picked vintage goodie, and would be willing to share a picture of you rocking it, please let me know- I would LOVE to do a post featuring marvelous you in your Citizen style!

Wishing you all a very lovely February!