Cut and Paste Fashion

For many, a red and white striped shirt with jeans is classic French fashion. Today I am sporting this look and while I certainly recognize the Parisian influence- I attribute my inclination elsewhere. This sartorial shot of Eva Mendes is the anti gamine and I adore it. It was in a ton of magazines and blogs and I admittedly pasted in my fashion inspiration book.

Instead of pairing the top with skinny jeans and flats, she's bold with cat eye shades, big flares and higher than thou platforms. Oh and an EXTRA splash of red.

The seemingly basic outfit gained so much attention because of that- she took something standard and broke the rules. Yet, she still looks fantastic. Dare I say better than the rest of them Audrey copycats?

I'm wearing mine with nude loafers and hoop earrings. The bag: gold.

Back up lady, wait wait wait! Fashion Inspiration Book? What? 

For a year or so I've kept a book of outfits and items- from catalogs, editorials, how-to's, that tickle my fancy. I enjoy getting dressed, I take it more than face value of what I'm wearing that day. It's an expression, it's an opportunity to be creative EVERY morning that most of us just take for granted. And on those days when I do take it for granted, I don't feel my best. So I started the book to keep me fresh, full of ideas and in tune to what style I want to have.

With the relaunch of this blog, I'm happy to introduce a new series where I take an outfit from my book and show you how I copied it, made it my own or drew inspiration from it. I'll document myself on my best of Eva days and share them with the web. The photos will probably be super awkard but the bigger picture will be just lovely.

Stay tuned!