Hair Inspiration: Solange Knowles

Images via Refinery 29 Interview

Though I typically wear my hair straight and pulled back in a pony tail or bun, I think natural hair styles are so stylish. I saw the photos above in a recent interview of Solange and it made me realize how much I love Solange's hair (and her style too)! She dares to be a little different and I always appreciate unique-ness in hair and clothing/accessories choices. Solange did admit that her hair is a weave in the interview, but I have no problem with that, a weave can give you the freedom to change up your look in a fun way, but you should also remember to take care of your own hair underneath. On another note, I'm looking forward to Solange's next album. Her previous album is still one of my favorites! In my opinion, a small afro is the perfect complement to summer outfit staples. If only I had the patience to style my own hair...For natural ladies out there, I'm thinking that this look could probably be achieved with a twist-out if it's not your natural texture.

Maxi Dresses for Petite Ladies

Images: Petite-Sized Maxi Dresses from www.asos.com

Despite my short stature, maxi dresses have become one of my favorite dress styles for the summer months. I admittedly only own one maxi dress that I wear as a skirt and a dress, but I'm thinking about purchasing a few others since I like this one so much. I was surprised to find while doing some 'window shopping' on the Internet, that there is a nice selection of maxi dresses that come in petite sizes at several stores.

Maxi dresses (or skirts) can be worn for a variety of occasions and are actually the perfect travel outfit because they cover your legs in highly air conditioned airports, cars or trains. Maxis also look nice with a variety of shoe styles and heights, from tall wedges to flat, gladiator style sandals. Here are a few styles I've come across that come in petite sizes:

The Loft Petite Border Print Maxi Dress
BCBG Max Azria One Shoulder Rosette Chiffon Gown
Old Navy Striped Long Racer Back Dress
Gap Empire Tank Dress
Macy's Sleeveless Paisely Print Smocked Bodice Maxi
Old Navy Women's Surplice Drawstring Maxi Dresses

There are also many treasures to be found in thrift and vintage stores. I bought a really nice maxi skirt at Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on my last trip to New York. If you are unsuccessful in finding a maxi dress short enough to fit you, try wearing a maxi skirt as a dress or bring up the hem of your dress by cutting it, hemming it, or using hemming tape if you have no sewing skills. If your dress has some sort of detailing you want preserved, take it to your local tailor, many dry cleaners offer reasonable tailoring services.

Romping Around

The weather has been boiling hot in the District lately and has sucked all of my motivation to be outdoors unnecessarily and actually forced me to turn on my air conditioner. I'm not big on air conditioning and usually only try to turn it on when I have company. But several subsequent days of 90+ temperatures in my city has forced me to use turn on the air when my fans weren't cutting it. The excessive heat also forced me to take my pictures indoors because the sun was too bright in my usual outdoor place spot. On another note, I sure do my usual camera which is still out of commission, my old Kodak Easy Share just isn't cutting it...

I bought this romper on Mod Cloth several months ago and can't decide weather rompers work for my curvy petite proportions or not, but I love the floral watercolor-looking pattern, so I wear it anyway. Stay cool!

Romper: Mod Cloth
Sandals: GoJane.com
Faux Glasses: Urban Outfitters
Belt: Nordstron (Junior's Section)

Song Currently on Repeat: "Stay Cool" by The Roots

What I Wish I Wore: 4th of July

The 4th of July holiday weekend is only weeks away, and this dress caught my eye because I thought the bright red color would be festive to wear to a cookout or an outdoor festival like the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival that is taking place over the weekend in D.C. Because I'm pretty short in real life, I love heels, but I decided that I'd go for comfort with the look above and wear reasonable flat sandals instead of sky-high wedges. I also chose a roomy bag that could easily fit a water bottle, an umbrella in case of summer showers, or a camera to document fun activities for the day.

Dress: Mod Cloth
Hat: E4Hats
Bag: Spotted Moth
Shoes: Amiclubwear
Bracelets: Old Navy
Hoop Earrings: Piperlime

Summer's Arrival

I watched half of the the documentary, The September Issue on Netflix over the weekend. It was an interesting peek into who the much talked about, Anna Wintour and she talked a little about how she ascended to her position. But from what I've seen, it does not take the place of my current favorite fashion documentary, The Last Emperor which is about illustrious designer, Valentino. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what this year's Vogue September issue has to offer. I'm loving the warm weather, but for some reason, I always get excited about fall clothing. Maybe its because for so many years I went back-to-school shopping for a few clothing items to start off my school year.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend with the Dad's in their life. Due to my out-of-commission camera, the picture above was taken by my Dad with his camera. Thanks Dad! I don't normally wear more than one item from any store, but I felt all the items were complementary and I liked the idea of wearing florals in celebration of the official start of summer.

Top: Nordstrom (Junior's section)
Skirt: Nordstrom (Junior's section)
Belt: Nordstrom (Junnior's section)
Shoes: Jessica Simpson via Dillard's

Camera Woes and 2011 Rachel Roy Resort Collection

Images: Style.com

Recently, I went to mount my camera on my tripod to take my regular outfit shots when my camera tripod tumbled and my camera fell face down on its lens. After my initial shout of anguish, I tried to fix it to no avail and then realized it's probably still covered under its warranty, so as soon as I can make it to the post office, my camera will be shipped to a repair center to be fixed. I'll either have to use my old Kodak camera that is several years old, or rely on the kindness of friends/family to take my outfit photos until I get my Canon Powershot back. *Smh*

In the mean time, here are a few of my favorite looks from Rachel Roy's 2011 Resort collection. I love the color palette used in this collection and could imagine myself wearing many of the pieces in the collection in real life. This collection makes me want to plan a vacation to an Italian city like Rome, Venice or Milan. I can almost visualize myself wearing some orange palazzo pants and a straw hat while walking around Rome eating gelato. I'd also practice what I remember from my high school Italian classes with everyone I meet... A girl can dream right?

Let there be pretty dresses!

This is just me; living up to my proclamation that I am a girl that never outgrew my love of playing dress-up. In a perfect world, I could broach the idea having tea parties with my friends without them thinking that I was attempting a joke. My love for tea and cupcakes are almost as strong as my love of clothes...My penchant for dressing up means I'm often over dressed for casual occasions in many settings, but I don't mind it so much, this is just the Shen Dove I've evolved to at this juncture in my life. So I'll steal Marie Antoinette's famous line and say, let there be cake (and pretty dresses)!

Dress: Vintage
Shoes: GoJane.com
Necklace: Forever 21
Sunglasses: Nordstrom (Junior's section)
Earrings: H&M

Method to the Madness

I set aside this weekend to be productive in some of my personal endeavors, but all I managed to do was overwhelm myself in thinking about what has to get done and not actually managing to complete anything... can anyone else relate?

After 'spinning my wheels' for a while, I decided to just sit down make and a list of what has to be done and then enjoy the remainder of my weekend. My brain seems to shut down from Friday evening to Sunday night and I've decided to stop fighting it and just be productive as possible during the week. I truly feel that once I learn how to manage my time effectively that I really will be able to take over the world (if I so desire to)...

On another note, at least my colorful skirt brought a smile to my face every time I looked at it during the course of the day.

Top: Old Navy

Skirt: Tracy Feith for Target

Shoes: Thirfted

Earrings: Top Shop

Song Currently on Repeat: 'Help Somebody' by Maxwell