How to wear colored pants/denim

How to wear colored denim/pants.
1) Color blocking - Mixing and matching colors, i.e. blue pants with purple top or a complimentary colored top. At most, only wear 3 colors. Anymore than 3 can be too much. 
2) Neutral Tones - Can't go wrong with this. When wearing colored pants, the safest approach is to wear neutral tones - beige, ivory, taupe, black, gray, and white. This, of course, allows the pants to stand out!
3) Patterns - Mix and match solid with patterns.  

Here's the perfect example with ALL 3 ways to wear colored denim! 
1) She's color blocking - red pants and blue shoes
2) She's patterning - horizontal stripped shirt (Instant Classic Tee) & printed sweater
3) Neutral colors - ivory sweater & ivory and taupe shirt. 

Anthropologie

  

Colored Pants & Fedora Hat!

Colored pants are certainly "IN" this season.

Ever since I started working at Anthropologie, colored pants slowly made its way into my wardrobe. It was definitely different from my usual denim blues, browns, whites and blacks.  I actually never imagined myself being able to pull off this type of look. Of course, since it's in-style, I had to give it a try. Soo.. I bought my first pair of colored pants. This was my first pair.. and in "bright-red". 

Anthropologie * AG Stevie Ankle

Just recently, after coming back from a month in Europe, I went back to Anthropologie to work after being 1 month detached from the constant browsing and shopping that often occurs while I'm on the clock. This time though, I was shopping for hats.

You can choose to skip this part and go on with post, or you can read this to fill in the blank.  
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Why hats?  The day before going back to work, I met up with a friend for dinner. She happened to be wearing a really cute hat. After telling her that my head was too big and that I don't normally look good in hats, she couldn't resist but to test my theory. I was quickly proven wrong. On the contrary, I actually looked okay with a hat.
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After looking around for about an hour after work, I ended up purchasing this.

Anthropologie * Cobalt Flash Fedora

While I was contemplating on buying this hat, I of course tried on a few other articles of clothing to see what I could match this hat with. What better choice than to buy a pair of pants that was near the same color. So I tried this on:

 J Brand 29'' Skinny

Unfortunately, I didn't walk home with these pants. The major reason was the obvious one and that was the price. Even with my discount, it was a little too heavy for my wallet. Soo.. I left it behind. But... I didn't stop thinking about it.

Blue Pants?
On Friday, Andrew & I went shopping before we met up with our small group. Because he needed some jeans, we dropped by AE/American Eagle. To my astonishment... I found a pair of pants that were about the same color as the Fedora hat - as well as the J Brands from Anthropologie. The fit was actually perfect - due to the fact that they are jeggings and very stretchy - whereas the J Brands left me were slightly tight around the calves.

AE's Blue Jeggings @ $44.50 vs. Anthropologie's  J Brand 29'' Skinny @ $176.00

I couldn't resist. In the back of my brain... I couldn't help but think how I really wanted the J Brands. I knew that they would be faithful to me and would hold together through constant washing and wearing (not that I would be one to wear it everyday)... But... even so, I couldn't justify the cost.  The price difference was too significant. Of course, I knew I was sacrificing quality. I had to say goodbye to the J Brands.

Here's the final outfit :)

AE Jeggings, Anthro Talauma Tunic & Cobalt Flash Fedora, Naturalizer Hunter Boots (2010)

by: Ax2 Design & Photography

In the end, because I bought the AE jeggings, I saved almost $60. I just couldn't say no. SOOO... I finally got my blue pants! Who knows.. I might even get the red ones... we'll see.

For those who need extra advice on how to wear colored denim/pants, please read my next post :).

 

Traditional with a Modern Flair!

While we were traveling in Romania on Sunday, we stopped by a beautiful city called Sibiu. There, at the Ethnographic museum, I bought a traditional, supposedly, hand-made Romanian blouse. It costed about $30. I was looking at the possibility to buy a full dress but discovered that because the dress was all sewn by hand - with very intricate details - it would have cost over $100+ to buy one. Not wanting to shell out that much, I settled with the blouse.

On Monday, after seeing Ana come in with her traditional Romanian shirt, she asked "why don't you wear yours too". I thought, what a great opportunity! So, I went back to my room, tried on a few outfits, and finally settled with this.  I paired the Sibiu traditional Romanian blouse with a belt from Urban Outfitters and a Skirt from Anthropologie.

These outfits are mixed with a traditional Romanian top (from different parts of Romania) and a modern skirt.

 

Something a little different and quite unexpected!

During this past week, I had the awesome privilege to take pictures of the best-dressed manager in the Cluj-Napoca, Romania office of the company that Andrew works at. We've interacted with him quite often throughout these past three trips. We've also grown to love him very much, especially his peppy personality.  It wasn't till now that I was given a chance to take pictures of him.

The photoshoot came about all because I was complaining about the picture on his Skype. When I mentioned how stern he looks in the picture - contrary to his normal personality - I didn't exepct his reaction to be - "well, in that case, will you take pictures of me then." Although this was more of a clean photoshoot - no frills and such in terms of lighting and even the outfit - with Adrian, even in the simplest outfit, he still looks incredibly sharp. Nodding in agreement with one of our mutual acquaintances, when I showed her the photoshoot, she said, "He is [definitely] a very beautiful man".

 

 

To my joy, one picture made it to his Skype, while the other made it to his LinkedIn profile. :) But the last picture depicts his personality the most! 

Adrian is sporting a baby-blue dress shirt; a black tie with possibly a bit of baby-blue on it, and a black single breasted, tailored suit.  

In Cluj-Napoca, Romania Again

Our third trip to Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

One week passed already. Having more time, than usual, to think, I've finally decided it's time to add to this blog.

I was fortunate, last time, to befriend some of the best-dressed people at the office in Cluj-Napoca (the company where my husband works at). With fashion changed and also changing again with the coming season, hopefully I'll get the chance to see the transformations of fashion from summer to fall.

With somewhere in between - summer and fall -... here's, yet again, the always beautiful Laura!

Another one that stood out today was a good and longtime friend of ours, and also colleague of my husband - Ms. Ana Maria. Perhaps why she stood out was quite simple - she was wearing the shirt I gifted her the last time she came to the states. I encouraged her love for red by buying an Anthropologie red sleeveless shirt that, I felt, would look really great on her! Much to my happiness, not only did it look great, but it also fit perfectly (well it could have been a little smaller, but it still looks great).

Often times it's hard to find clothes that match perfectly because of the varying sizes at Anthro (due to the varying brands and designers that seem to make a lot of clothes either for really big people or very small people). I had to be extra careful. Soo.. just looking at the shirt and how much it stretched... I took a chance and found success. I knew she would know how to style it up.

So here she is. Simple, but yet quite elegant... as she usually is.

Some pictures to start off the blog!

Through the past two years, as Andrew and I have become more active in our photography business, Ax2D Photography, we've gotten the opportunity to work with people all across the world! From Cluj-Napoca, Romania to Taipei, Taiwan, we've gotten the opportunity to capture many beautiful people!

Here are some records of our trips from these past two years.

Many of our ax2d.com viewers or those who have been on our facebook page have seen these pictures already! But bear with me though, especially as I collect more pictures!

IF perhaps you are interested in appearing on this blog and may be in Santa Monica, :), feel free to e-mail me about it!    

Don't really know where to start but here I go!

Fashion is a true art form.

After I started falling in love with all things Anthropologie, I've noticed I've become really conscious and observant of how people dress. Hopefully through photography, I'll capture all of these people at their best!

This blog started all on a whim. It all started after a discussion about how there hasn't been a popular blog that stores pro/high-quality photos of people who dress and live Anthropologie!

In this place, hopefully it will epitomize my love for fashion and also my love for photography.  This will be a space where I am hoping to capture those in love with Anthropologie and the style of fashion that has become widespread because of it and also those who have preceded it.

While you are viewing this page, please feel free to comment about any and everything. Whether it is to praise how people dress or just the matching of outfit itself, I want this to be a place of discussion and reflection!

Hopefully, as you look through my collection of pictures, you'll find your own style and fashion in it and through it.

from Anthropologie.com