Be Inspired- Chloe Norgaard

After pretty much dropping out of college and coming back to my hometown with nothing but a part time job at A&F, I've been forced to do some heavy thinking as to where I want to be headed in my life... Well, I'm definitely going back to college. Just community college this time. Going away to some preppy four year school was what everyone expected of me and wanted me to do, but it wasn't the kind of life that I was going to feel happy living. I realized I want my life to be meaningful to ME. I don't want to be jumping through hoops like a circus dog for the rest of my life. So as of now I am going to try to make my life choices based off of my idea of success, not everyone else's. And for me, that is constantly learning, gaining new experiences, following my passions and my heart, and always doing what makes me feel good about myself as a person. :)

Relating this back to fashion; I was looking through photos on instagram the other day when I came across a model named Chloe Norgaard who inspires me to take more chances and be more true to myself. Even though I seriously want her life... Haha! But besides the fact that she travels the world and gets her picture taken for a living, she has one of the most spunky, interesting, and unique senses of style I have ever come across and she totally pulls it off. Which, to me, says she knows herself well and is completely comfortable in her own skin. Here are some of my favorite examples of Chloe style... :D


First off, under her professional modeling profile her hair is listed as "rainbow". How bad ass is that!?!? And I love how she can be wearing flowers and a dress one minute, bone gloves and a neon beanie the next, and be sporting rainbow mini braids and baby nails next to top it all off... Talk about a fashion chameleon! But the best part is she always looks like she's having the time of her life :) And I think THAT is what makes her so inspiring to me.
Want to see more Chloe? (I sure do!) Go to her tumblr at http://artoftranslation.tumblr.com/

Bratz Dolls

When I was a little girl, I swore to myself I would have a wardrobe as awesome as my best friend's bratz collection when I was a "grown up". I thought bratz dolls had THE cutest outfits. Even over Barbie. The other day I saw a little girl playing with a doll that looked like bratz, (it may or may not have actually been one, I have no idea if they even make them anymore... ) and it reminded me of my fashion obsession when I was a little girl. So I pulled out my laptop and googled "bratz dolls" and looked through some pictures. Surprisingly, I still think their style is pretty cute and got the idea that I should use some of their outfits as style inspiration, fulfilling my childhood dream! Here are some of the pictures and outfits I came up with. Enjoy! :)

Bratz wear a lot of mini skirts, tights, and knee high boots. (which are super in style right now!) So In order to copy their style, these three items are a must. I mostly chose winter related pictures since that is the season we are heading for, which means lots of sweater vests, sweaters, and furry jackets in bratz language! Bratz dolls are also very preppy, so most of the clothing items I chose were from Abercrombie, Hollister, and American Eagle. It might also have something to do with the fact that I work at Abercrombie... But their stuff is super cute so whatever. Haha! Here are some outfit ideas:

As you can see, I tried to stick to the same color pallet as the dolls with many different shades of pink, but I made it a little more wearable by adding deep burgundy and navy blue and swapping out baby blues for soft grays. Still cute and youthful, just a little more mature. I love how you can really get fashion inspiration from anywhere, even your favorite toys as a child. Hope this post was interesting and inspires you to have as much fun getting dressed in the morning as it was for you to play with your barbies (or bratz dolls) growing up! :)

-Camille

Authenticity

So I just spent two months living in beautiful SoCal at the University of San Diego and I can honestly say I absolutely hated it. It was gorgeous, the weather was amazing, the beach was a quick bus trip away, and I got to go surfing! But something I was really disappointed with was the lack of authenticity of the people I met at my college. It made living there unbearable because no one was real. I come from a very small town so I'm used to quirky unique people who live how they want and dress how they want and I value those aspects that distinguish people from one another. At the University of San Diego, the trends were what dictated almost everyone's choices. From what concerts you went to to what clothes you bought to even what cupcakes were cool! (Hint: sprinkles! But they actually DO taste amazing!) So today, here are some of the best and worst trends I experienced in SD: (in my opinion, of course)

Worst: the obsession with European clothing,

Why? Well not only are European clothes way more expensive in the US, but I personally find most stuff at least from Zara and Topshop really unnatractive... High collars, boxy shapes, and lots of black remind me of sad orphan movies in the rain (sorry Zara). Topshop is notorious for those boxy "jumpers" and tees too. Sorry, but I'm an American and I call my knit winterwear sweaters, thank you very much. And Brandy Melville, the new SoCal fashion obsession from Italy, actually is pretty adorable; as long as you're a perfect size 2 or smaller. So if you were one of those abercrombie & fitch protesters because they don't carry anything bigger than a size large for women, please don't be a ginormous hypocrite and go buy half your wardrobe at brandy... Please, be true to your values. Another thing to consider: why support European clothing companies when you could be supporting American ones? Price difference aside, buying from American companies is going to help our American economy. In San Diego, we are living in the United States, right?

Best: Sprinkles cupcakes and Madewell,

These cupcakes are not your average supermarket nasty frosting no flavor cupcakes. They are absolutely delicious and come in a wide variety of flavors. I think I tried red velvet and Reese's and both times the frosting was amazing (cream cheese frosting on red velvet and peanut butter frosting on Reese's). They taste like homemade cupcakes and since I love baking and make cupcakes all the time, these really helped curb the craving when I was living in the dorms and couldn't go bake cupcakes myself.

A brand baby of J. Crew, Madewell is effortlessly put together while still maintaining that rugged "I live out in the boonies" feel that I absolutely love. From camo ball caps, cozy flannels, baggy ripped up jeans, and polka dot socks to pleated mini skirts and silk blouses, this brand has a distinct mix of styles that makes it stand out from the array of high end clothing stores at San Diego's Fashion Valley Mall. It is expensive, but I'll definitely be splurging here when I save up the extra cash!

Now that I'm back home, I hope to spend some more time writing for this blog so my posts aren't spaced out two years apart. Haha! So if anyone actually reads this, hope you enjoy it and there WILL be more to come! :)

-Camille