Living Like a Nomad

jacket {Aritizia} - sweater {Jacob} - polka-dot skinnies {Gap} - leopard print shoes {Toms} - purse {vintage Dooney & Bourke} - 

sunnies {Forever 21} - key necklace {flea market}

Every semester Parsons hosts a trend presentation by Trend Union, a Paris based company and one of the world's most renowned trend forecasters. This afternoon was the presentation for Spring/Summer 2014 and I had the privilege of guest tweeting for Parsons during it. This season's theme was titled Nomadism and in a nutshell, it was all about roaming the globe, connecting with nature and basically living a nomadic lifestyle. Inspiration was drawn from the earth and the different cultures that live on it. I thought it was a great presentation and I was loving many of the forecasted trends. If you're interested to hear more about those trends, check out the Parsons twitter account here!

It really got me thinking about the whole notion of living life out of a suitcase and having so few personal belongings that you're able to pick up and move on to the next place should the mood strike you. This lifestyle is basically the antithesis of mine. I collect belongings, crave stability, reject change and usually need a solid few months to wrap my head around a new beginning. As I was sitting in this presentation and seeing beautiful imagery of hippies and gypsies, I realized that I have always been envious of the free spirited. To have the ability to go with the flow and not only be okay with it, but thrive from it, is truly a remarkable quality. 

After an entire life of accumulating 'stuff', I'm beginning to realize that maybe having less things, but with more meaning is better than having just a bunch of meaningless things. Obviously, this can be applied to all of one's possessions but for me it really applies to my closet. I'm not going to make some big (unrealistic) declaration that from now on, I won't buy clothes. I am going to say that I will strive to put more thought into my purchases. I mean, really think about what it is I want, if I have something similar to it already hanging in the back of my closet. I think I should challenge myself to mentally come up with at least five different ways I could wear this new item with my current wardrobe before making the purchase. I love the idea of being able to mix and match the majority of one's clothes with one another.

While I know that the nomad life is not for me, I wouldn't mind borrowing from it from time to time. Living in the moment, allowing freedom to take over and just letting go (both mentally and physically) are not the worst philosophies I've ever heard.

j.

J. Loves {Her} Style: Bag Envy

Meet Amy. She's from China. And I love her style. Read on to find out why!

Amy and I have a few classes together each week. And every week I drool over her handbag. I mean seriously drool. Serious bag envy. Then yesterday I find out it's Celine. Come on, Amy! As if my green-eyed monster wasn't rearing his ugly head enough already.

 

It was ridiculously warm in NYC yesterday. Like, 20 degrees celsius warm. Sorry American friends, no idea what that means for you... A little sidebar to let you all know how thankful I am that the rest of the world also measures temperature like us Canucks. Really, these faren..what? loving people need to get with the program! Anyways, Amy and I had back-to-back classes so we stopped for a moment in Union Square to enjoy the beauty that is Spring trying really hard to happen. Oh yeah...I also made her pose for me.

 

As if bag envy wasn't enough, Amy has to go and wear a leather sleeved, knee-length blazer. Her arms felt like butter, people! It's so chic, so "on trend". Then, when I think the green-eyed monster has done his worst, she mentions, "oh! This old thing? I got it on sale at Zara for $30". ROOOOOOAAAARRRRRR! So instead of letting my angry little monster gobble her up right there in the square, I snapped a few pics and told her I loved her style!

I suppose the ridiculously on sale leather-sleeved jacket balances out the insanely beautiful, insanely expensive, definitely out-of-my-price-range purse. I will have to settle for drooling a little bit whenever I see Amy carrying it. Sigh...

Once I got beyond the purse and jacket, which was hard. Really, really hard. I loved the deep orange dress she was rocking. And yes, those are leopard print sleeves you see peeking out. They took the form of a cardigan. So much awesomness in this outfit, it was almost too much to bear.

Amy, do the rest of us a favor, will you? Stop looking so damn good and being too darn cute all the time. K, thanks.

j.

J. Loves {Her} Style: Wildly Chic

Meet Lara. She's Lebanese and I love her style. Read on to find out why!

Her shoes caught my eye first seeing as how we were sitting facing one another in our Fashion Marketing class. Is that a royal blue heeled loafer with tassels I see poking out? Why yes, I think it is. Obviously while paying close attention to my professor, I began to check out the rest of her look. Perfectly tailored bootcut jeans? Check. Sleek black turtle neck? Check. Knee-length leopard print jacket? Big check. Amazingly chic black accessories? Check and check.

Having never actually spoken to Lara before this moment (besides a smile and hello) and never having asked someone to take a photo of their outfit, I really wasn't sure what to expect. But I just knew by her smile that she was going to be the sweetest thing and I was right. I approached her and asked if I could snap a photo and she graciously agreed. The real kicker was, when I told her I loved her outfit, do you know what she said to me? She told me she thought her outfit today was no good and she had wanted to go home and change! Girl, if this is what you look like on an off day, I would love to see you on, what you consider, a good day.

Simple, sleek, interesting. I can not get enough of this look. With skinny jeans ruling the denim world these days, it was so refreshing to see someone rocking a pair of denim trousers so effortlessly without looking frumpy. This look is all chic, no frump.

So, this concludes my very first "J. Loves {Her} Style" feature. I hope you liked it as much as I did because I do plan on doing it again. Next week. Thanks to Lara for being my very first style muse!

j.