Carolina Cup Week: The Dress

Girls take a long time in choosing an outfit, we know that. Imagine Christmas plus warm weather plus a day long tailgate plus mimosas plus hats and you've got the beginning of the gist of Carolina Cup.

Choosing a dress for Cup is no easy task. I take awhile in deciding my dress. Carefully evaluating all my options. Trying on tons and tons and tons of different styles. Do you go strapless? Straps? Stripes? Solids? Prints? Ruffles? Longer hems? Peplum? Embellishments?

And that's only after you've made the choice of designer. Lilly is the obvious choice, and 95% of stylish Cup attendees will be in a Lilly Pulitzer dress dating back to 2003 until the last 3/25 shipment.

There are so many choices! After having worked a full Cup season, these are the front-runners of dresses:

The Lowe Dress in Pretty Pink Tootie was hands down the most popular dress that people were buying for Cup! It is SO stinking cute on, and we even suggested monogramming the seersucker part on top!

The Payton Dress was second ONLY to the Lowe Dress. This sweet strapless number was so popular, and I have to think it's due to all the faaaaaabulous colors in the print. They really knocked it out of the park with this floral look.

Although a late arriver to the game, the Lonnie Dress was another big player! This dress was really elevated when you added a belt. Knockout!

Valentina Dress--pink seersucker, TDF. Done and done.

The Sandrine Dress in Shorely Blue Tossing the Line was an early front-runner. There are fun embellishments and the back is a big V. So so so cute, but definitely better for the shorter gals!

The Adeline Dress in my book is a "life dress". I have this from last year and I was elated that it was brought back for Cup '13--apparently so was everyone else! This was snatched up SO quick!

The Nina Dress in Tootie was another popular choice! As you can see, the best part about this shift is the ADORABLE back and zipper!

I have also been TIGHT-LIPPED about my own dress, but I am SO excited to announce that I am wearing the Lowe Dress in POP!:

As soon as I saw this dress on the back cover of the Spring catalog, I knew this was going to be my Cup dress! I ordered it and had to do a bit of altering to make it Cup-ready, but I. Am. In. Love. I look forward to taking LOTS of pictures with anyone who has made the same choice as me, because, we all know that great minds think alike! This dress and print are one of my favorites I've seen in recent years, and I am THRILLED to be wearing this number!

What are you wearing? Is you dress on the short list? Do spill the beans...I did!

xxKatie

Outfit of the Day: Sweet Nothings

Yesterday I donned a new-crowned favorite dress of mine! It's a silk-blend all over-print Lilly dress that works great in fall to winter! I love that I can wear this dress with tights and boots but also flats or nude heels too once it gets warmer.

It has the best v-neck neckline and is a false wrap-dress. It's a professional looking as a wrap-dress but you don't have to worry about sitting the 100% correct way like you do in a true wrap. My mom and I agreed that a wrap dress is an ideal work dress because it's almost always appropriate. I've worn this dress with a blazer on top (with nude heels) and it's been great.

To casual-ize this dress, I added a cream colored scarf to bring out the creamy base color and added the black tights and my two-tone boots. I wore my hair down regular and plain so that the dress could do the talking! The print name is "Sweet Nothings" which I just LOVE as we approach Valentine's!

With this kind of bold print, you can really tie in so many of the colors! We had a woman come into the store and bought a pair of blue trousers that really popped with the top she had in this print and made the bits of blue really stand out. Did you even see the blue in it?!

I'm glad I can still get some use out of my dressy boots before the weather turns to Jacks and McKims weather!

xxKatie

Mixology 101: Mixing Prints

I am by NO means a bold risk-taker when it comes to outfit choices. I stay conservative with what I choose to wear and I stick with what I know. Occasionally I'll try (and like!) trends and some times they don't work out as well for me!

Recently for church, I wore one of my staple outfits, a black turtleneck, a colored skirt, black tights and boots. It's a notorious Katie outfit. I change up the skirts and shoes, but this outfit gets mileage. As I was getting dressed, I decided to toss on a Murfee scarf that shared colors (pink and orange) with the skirt I was wearing. 

Let me back-track a little, and add that my boss at work is a PRO at mixing prints. She always does it well and I admire how breezy and easy it is for her. As I was getting dressed, I was channeling her--especially because she loves that print of my scarf!

Anyway, the idea grew on me a TON through the rest of the day. I do have a few tips for mixing prints though:

1. Pick coordinating colors: choose items that have close colors. This keeps the look unified and clean without getting confusing.

2. Keep everything else basic: I feel like this speaks for itself; if you're going to mix prints or motifs, keep everything else subdued. My boss with often add a plain vest when she's mixing prints.

3. Be confident: know your look is GREAT and rock it!

Is this untraditional look something you've tried? How did you mix?

xxKatie

Prints on Prints on Prints

You know when you're trying to describe a pattern, but can't always articulate what it is, this is the PERFECT guide on tons of them!

Amy Atlas (of  Sweet Designs) seems to be a name and blog popping up all over the blogosphere (and Pinterest too!) and now I see why! Her helpful guide is colorful and fun! Be sure to click on the image itself so you can read all the descriptions--they're too fun! My two favorite descriptions: Gingham and Seersucker! She's witty and fun, and I had to pass this along!

xxKatie

Oh the Places You'll Go

I'm not talking about the famous Dr. Seuss book, but rather one of my new favorite Lilly prints!!

Where's your patch?

The Maryland patch features black-eyed Susans, our state flower, and crabs! I'd like to think too, that the blue and yellow is a little homage to Navy too!

The South Carolina patch has the yellow Jessamine, our state flower, a pig for barbeque, a Clemson Tiger paw (eww--but pretty cool for Tigers at the same time!), and the Great Carolina Wren, which I'm going to think of as a Gamecock! ;)

Where's your state on here? Do you love the special symbols and meanings?

xxKatie