123 / AUTUMN ASPIRATIONS

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times - autumn is by far my favourite season. I love basically everything about it from how chilly the air gets, to how it gets dark earlier, to pumpkin spiced everything but the fashion is what truly holds a special place in my heart.

I have a lot of basics when it comes to clothing. If you were to look through my closet right now you'd find an avalanche of black skinny jeans, black tank tops, a ton of t-shirts and a handful of white blouses. What I'm looking for now is an assortment of different standout pieces. It seems as though this season I'm really gravitating more towards styles that I can only describe as 'dark romantic' - so more dark florals and pieces with more traditionally feminine Victorian flares. My imagination is struck by more recent Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana runways, which is very odd if you're familiar with my typical tastes. Right now I'm particularly taken with grandma inspired pieces and I aspire to walk around looking like an old patterned couch (I'm 1000% serious).

All clothing pictured are plus sized
(*) - premium pricing

Clothing // VIOLETA by Mango printed bead jacket | EVANS white printed crepe jacket | New Look INSPIRE multi rip skinny jeans | New Look INSPIRE black lace shell top | BOOHOO isabelle paisley smock dress

Accessories // ZARA tassel embroidery leather messenger bag | H&M wool hat | ACNE STUDIOS 'jensen grain' booties (*) | MAC lipstick in 'cyber' (purple) | MAC lipstick in 'creme in your coffee' (pink) |  BAUBLEBAR 'xena bib' statement necklace

* All thoughts are my own - this is not a sponsored post in any way. There are links provided to the original image/retailer if you are interested in anything pictured.

STYLE ICON SATURDAY/ fourteen

I'm happy to say that I'm reintroducing my "Style Icon Saturday" posts. If you're new to the blog and are unsure of what that means, here's a little bit of a break down: Every Saturday I will post about someone whose style I admire. They can be famous, male, female, plus size, someone I know personally and I can even write about brands or specific runway shows that I'm loving at the moment. I believe that it is a great way to showcase the inspirations behind my own personal style, to introduce you to some people with fantastic style who don't have their own blog and mostly, to start getting on track with having some sort of structure and schedule with this blog. I hope you enjoy this post as well as future posts, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave them in my comment box or send me an email.

Okay, now back to the post!

CHRIS MACMARTIN
This young gentleman right here is one of my absolute favourite human beings. Chris is my cousin, one of my closest friends and one of my biggest inspirations. He puts his heart and soul into everything he does, be it his music (he and his barbershop chorus, Toronto Northern Lights, are gold medal champions as of this year!) or his fashion choices. We aren't currently living in the same city so I knew that next time he came home for a visit we had to find some time to see each other and I had to snap pictures of one of his legendary ensembles. As you can tell from the photos below, this is a man who isn't afraid of colour. He is the total polar opposite of me in that sense; I really have a thing or two to learn from him. When I asked him about his choice of colours in this particular outfit he had this to say, "I used navy as a neutral to do colour blocking. It's fun and summery, and can be used with a variety of looks."

Chris is currently a sales associate at Banana Republic, so staying on trend is pretty much in his job description. He has just about every colour of polo under the sun and his collection of suits is constantly growing. Some of my fondest memories with him were when we used to go shopping across the border in the United States. I like to believe that we fed off of each other during those trips and that we helped each other build upon our personal styles.

To check out his personal website and to find out more about his music/projects, click here. 

CARDIGAN/ Banana Republic POLO|CHINOS|BELT/ Gap
GLASSES/ Ray-Ban SOCKS|WATCH/ Hugo Boss SHOES/ Aldo

* All pictures were taken by me. Sorry that they're so contrasty, it was beyond sunny that day.

TWENTY-SIX/ winter dress ideas

Winter is in full force where I live. The days are shorter, it's freezing cold and the ground is covered in a thick layer of snow. As much as I love this season, it is so difficult to get out of the warmth of my bed some mornings. Usually I'll wait until the last possible second to get up and get ready for the day. I give myself about five minutes to actually pick out clothes and throw them on so I've been sticking to a strict uniform of dresses, leggings and a cardigan/jacket/sweater/blazer combo. There's a lot less effort in wearing dresses than there is in just about anything else and the most fantastic part of it all is you almost always look great. It's foolproof, really.

Right now all of my favourite dresses are from Old Navy. You can usually find them in the clearance racks ranging in price from $2 - $20. They fit like a glove on me and I love the assortment of styles, colours and materials. Also, I can't really argue with the prices. I also have some from New Look, Avon and of course, thrift shops. If you find it's difficult to find a dress to fit your body type properly, look for something in a jersey-type material. It's usually very forgiving and flatters every body type. Also, a pop of colour can bright shed some light on an otherwise dark winters day.

Here are some outfits I could definitely see myself wearing over the next couple of months. The second one is especially easy, and leggings are much much warmer than pantyhose. 

Look One: jacket/ New Look dress/ H&M, clutch/ New Look, necklace/ ASOS, booties/ Jeffrey Campbell via Solestruck, tights/ Addition Elle

Look Two: dress/ Old Navy, leggings/ New Look, blazer/ H&M, boots/ black velvet Dr Martens via Solestruck, necklace/ ASOS, watch/ MBMJ, purse/ H&M

* All images belong to their respective owners and have been referenced back to the original sources. This post was not sponsored or endorsed in any way, all thoughts are my own