Naomi's Fashionable World: September 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

You've probably noticed by now that I write about footwear - a lot. You know what the reason is? It's that I start at the bottom of my outfit - shoes or boots - and work my way up, and by the time I get to the rest of my outfit I'm totally frazzled. I don't want to seem long winded either, by going into a long, detailed description. I'm not intentionally cutting you out of the fashion insights I know you're simply dying for me to tell you about. I'll try to do better in the future, but for now, the topic is shoes. Check these out:

They're the latest from Gucci, Marie-Claire Model #319. When I saw them I simply had to have them. I'm still doing the Boho thing, for me it wasn't a summer fad. Not all the time mind you, enough though that I needed new shoes. The rest of my non-Boho closet isn't quite lux enough yet to work with these babies so Boho they'll have to be. I'm thinking bell bottoms, maybe leather bell bottoms, floral pants - bell bottom, of course - some kind of mini skirt maybe, maybe not with a bodycon mini it could get a little too bottom heavy, not something I think looks good. For the top, a crop top? Maybe a peasant blouse, something in floral maybe? And the usual for the rest - a cool hat, jewelry, belt(s).
Now there was a choice of colors for these gorgeous sandals:

And I picked black, because black seems to go so well with different outfit's color schemes. The darker brown version of these sandals, sorry the photo of those didn't work, might work with a dark bottom, but I can only see the white stuff in my wardrobe when I look at the tan version.
I really wanted to buy all three, and didn't, which brings me to the reason why: price! So how much did they cost? Remember I'm trying to be less long winded?
Catchya later.
Ciao.

Destination Runway with Bebe : Contest Entry

Destination Runway with Bebe : Contest Entry by naomig-dix featuring chain pendants

Bebe print top / Bebe jacket / Bebe faux leather shorts / Bebe boots / White patent handbag / Brevard zirconia earrings / Bling Jewelry sterling silver star pendant / Bling Jewelry chain pendant / Rebecca Minkoff wool hat / Bebe glasses / Karen Millen croc belt, $105 / Michigan State Spartans UltraSoft Blanket (Msu Team)

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Halter top / FAUSTO PUGLISI sweat shirt / PPGIRL black shorts / Tom Ford stiletto / Rebecca Minkoff tote bag / Brevard cubic zirconia earrings / Gypsy SOULE bangle bracelet / Bling Jewelry sterling silver jewelry / Alfani bracelet / Bling Jewelry sterling silver jewelry / L Erickson accessory / Fantas Eyes sunglasses eyewear, $20 / Black glove, $180 / Maurices black belt / Club Monaco leather belt / Tom Ford fragrance, $500 / Red nail polish / FANMATS non skid rug / Tapestry throw / B Ella small appliance / Small appliance / Small appliance / Home decor / Green throw pillow / Michigan State Spartans Embossed Metal Sign (Msu Team) / Michigan State Spartans UltraSoft Blanket (Msu Team) / Michigan State Spartans 2014 Rose Bowl Champions 12'' x 15'' Plaque... / Michigan State Spartans ProToast MVP 2-Slice Toaster (Msu Team) / Michigan State Spartans 2014 Rose Bowl Champions 13'' x 33'' Pennant...

"They remind me of the John Player Cigarette Formula 1 car" Buddy said as I zipped up my boot while getting dressed for the big game between MSU and Air Force. "The what???" I queried Buddy. Buddy explained that a very old race car was painted in black and gold colors because it was sponsored by a cigarette brand whose cigarettes and cigarette boxes had the same colors. Buddy is such a fund of knowledge, and it all made sense: Tom Ford is English, the English love Grand Prix racing, Ford is a car maker's name, even though the John Player Special Formula 1 car was a McClaren as Buddy had explained.
I had hoped to have a Detroit Grand Prix fashion blog entry, and Buddy and I watched the last Detroit Grand Prix briefly, though since I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt I don't think it would have been a very interesting piece. Well, there's always next year.
Now, the immediate problem was that the boots I was zippering were not exactly Tom ford boots. I bought them on, you guessed it, Aliexpress.com!

Although the Aliexpress seller said they are Tom Ford boots, the label on the boots is Tom Ford too, I'm skeptical that $1500 boots could be marked down to $30 or so. Incidentally, I didn't even pay $30! I bought them at the seller's price reduction, during a Chinese New Year sale, plus, I had a big pile of coupons because I am constantly linking Aliexpress stuff to Pinterest and other websites. So the final, total price was $3! That's right, only $3! There were no shipping charges either! Now, I'm not saying every Aliexpress deal would be like this, but at the bottom of the Aliexpress page there are some other boots supposedly by Tom Ford for cheap too. It takes a lot of effort to dig these deals up,and these deals are almost a year old.
Here's the other reason I don't think they are genuine Tom Ford boots:

You can see by comparing the photos above, plus the link from Poyvore in a post directly prior to this one, with the Aliexpress web page above them, the differences: the Aliexpress boots have a higher, differently shaped heel and a wider zipper, and the lower part of the boot has a different shape too. Frankly, even though I have never seen the original Tom Ford boots, I prefer the boots I received from Aliexpress. From my understanding, the Tom Ford boots are PU and the Aliexpress boots are genuine leather for another thing. Sorry Tom, even though you are very handsome - and sexy like Tom Jones if I could be so bold as suggesting, sorry Buddy I'm kidding! - I could not afford your boots.

Well, that's enough about the footwear part of my outfit. You can see what I wore in the Polyvore set in this post. I redid this outfit because at first I couldn't find the set with my first version of it, and when I did I couldn't find the leather shorts in the set. I thought the item might have been deleted, so it might have vanished from the set entirely. I guess that's why I haven't won too many contests on Polyvore! Incidentally, if you are interested in what it takes to win a Polyvore contest, my posts directly before these football posts have sets from contest winners, not me, that show what it takes to win - more about that later. Also for online shopping perils, you might want to read the post with the bracelet, a couple posts back.

Back to the outfit; I'm not sure what to call it: airline stewardess gone Go Go dancer, or Go Go dancer working as an airline stewardess, maybe. I was looking through some of my mother's old fashion mags, like Vogue, Harper's Weekly and such, and this outfit definitely has a '60ish vibe to it. Anyway, I picked up the shorts from yesstyle.com and from the photos you can judge that they arrived a bit different from the ones in the Polyvore set, but I still like them because they look a little like Balmain shorts what with the added elasticity part, I guess you could call it, near the top. But these have a cute cuff too.

Now, the next question is: what would a fashion obsessed college girl like myself be doing at a NCAA Division I college football game? NCAA Division I should give you a hint - this is not my first time at the rodeo. MSU is football crazed, and when a Professor contacted me about doing an article for the college newspaper, The State News, plus an interview with one of our gridiron heroes, I jumped at the chance. I talked to some U of M at Ann Arbor students about their college newspapers and our, MSU's, student paper is a bit different. Whereas the U of M Ann Arbor paper is largely student run, with of course a faculty adviser, the State News is very tightly controlled by the faculty, which has some advantages because if you know one of the Professors on the advisory board you are a shoe in to get your article published. Nevertheless, girls and football usually don't mix. While most guys know what the fourth down is, most girls know more about who Jane Eyre or Heathcliff is and the twain usually don't meet.

Here I am in Spartan stadium modeling my outfit. I wound up here because I went to get something to wet my whistle and got lost - should have brought my Quesadilla machine, again - Spartan stadium is that huge. It isn't even on the MSU campus, it's about 15 minutes away by car and it puts the Detroit Lions home field, Ford stadium - another coincidence - to shame. If you have any illusions that college Division I sports are not professional sports, take a good look at this picture: do you see all of the TV network posters and emblems? All of the other networks have posters and displays down the hall! The Spartan team website is managed by CBS sports! There are over two dozen different Division I teams at MSU, and MSU is basically a professional sports franchise with a college tacked on to it. The next big question is: why would someone interested in communications want to go to a pro sports factory like MSU? It's mostly because there is so much media attention here - sort of, more about that later. I had some problems in high school, what with my parent's divorce, and my grades suffered, and my parent's income was too high for me to qualify for financial aid so I could go to a private university anyway, so MSU it was.
It's a good thing I wandered into this hallway because a couple guys ESPN noticed my predicament and volunteered to help me out. It was very cool hanging out with the ESPN people. I'm not sure I made any valuable connections, but I learned alot from them. For instance, the game announcers aren't even in Spartan stadium, they're in a studio in New York. The only ESPN people who are ever here at Spartan stadium are the on site producers/directors, some technical people, and one or two on field reporters.
A very educational experience, and after this very informative meeting I met up with my photographer in the Spartan locker room:

Well, he isn't really my photographer, he's a student just like me. So I'm waiting, along with some of the player's family and/or parents, in great anticipation for our heroes of the gridiron to return from the field after defeating Air Force. I'm hoping my interview will go well, in spite of the fact that I missed most of the game talking to the ESPN people, who once again proved very helpful by escorting me to the locker room where they were going to do some post game followups like me.
All of the attention delayed my interview with our Spartan star quarterback Connor Cook. I've never seen Connor on campus, with 25K students that might be the reason still...yet, while I was talking to this very handsome, and of course athletic guy, I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be a NFL wife, sorry Buddy it wasn't serious! I mean this guy is going to the NFL! He's a first round draft choice and who knows how much money his NFL contract will earn him.
I thought it would be better if I talked to Connor alone, so I bid my photographer farewell and told him I would be back in just a little bit:

Privacy couldn't coax the questions I was desperately trying to weasel out of our school football hero: what teams are interested in you, how much do you expect to earn, how long will your contract be for, do you like quesadillas? No luck. I wasn't expecting much on those topics since the financial aspects of the sport, as I seem to remember, seem to be left to the last minute.
Summing up, it was a great experience and I'm hoping to get the chance to meet and interview more members of the team, who, I've learned, may be on their way to the NFL as well.

So that's it, sorry I didn't post this earlier, would you believe it takes me over an hour to get these posts ready for publishing? And what with college and homework, my other blogs, Polyvore, and putting stuff up on the web to get store coupons, my etracurricular activities, I'm plum out of time.
Now, about those Polyvore contests. I did win something, well, not exactly... I came in third in a PPZ lingerie contest, though I'm still waiting for my $20 coupon, which should be coming soon. A lot of work for $20 I would say.
I want to thank everyone or anyone who read this for any or all votes for my sets - keep them coming I need your support, thank you very much.
More good stuff is on the way, check back later.
Catchya later.
Ciao.

Sorry Fausto, not this time. Yep. 3 scarves.

Sorry Fausto, not this time. Yep. 3 scarves. by naomig-dix featuring real leather boots

Embellished top / Acne Studios black shorts / Gianvito Rossi real leather boots, $745 / Rebecca Minkoff satchel bag / Alfani jewelry / Yochi gold and silver earrings / Gypsy SOULE bracelet jewelry / Bling Jewelry blue topaz pendant / L Erickson accessory / Lucent gold sunglasses / Club Monaco wrap belt / Opera glove / Maurices rhinestone belt / Women's Accessories at Style Moi / Tory Burch vintage shawl / Red nail polish / Bling Jewelry pendant / B Ella small appliance / Small appliance / Small appliance

Tom Ford boots

New Tom Ford Black Leather Over The Knee Boots (see more black boots)

Replay bracelet

Replay Bracelet (see more bracelet bangles)
I Thought I'd write a little about this bracelet which was listed as a belt in Polyvore and that I used as a belt in many of my sets. I became so infatuated with it that when I saw it on sale online I pushed the buy button without even thinking. When I opened my new package excitedly to savor my new acquisition, I was astounded to find my belt had either shrunk or I had purchased a belt for some one from Gulliver's travels. Nevertheless, I decided to keep it since it wasn't worth the cost of returning it and it was still an interesting bracelet. The moral of the story is I guess you need to look before you leap and make sure what you think is what you want is really something you would care about owning. Just the standard stuff.