Last year it was the fedora. This year it's the wide brim, floppy hat.
I just recently bought a navy blue, straw hat from Buffalo Exchange, and I love it. They are perfect for the beach and Arizona.
Wear it with sun dresses, shorts, jeans...whatever. These hats a great accessory to almost every outfit.
I will say though that these hats do look best when you can see your hair.
Images from Face Hunter, TFS, Free People, Top Shop and unknown.
I have fine, curly brown hair. I like to pretend that my hair is thicker and lighter than it is. Last August I had my hair highlighted. Loved it, but a month later when I went to my hair stylist to trim my hair she showed me that I had a big chunk of hair missing. Some of my ends had broken off. Yikes!
It was at that point that I decided that I didn't want to spend money on dying my hair anymore, and that I wanted to get my hair healthy again.
Fast forward to present day, and I now have two tone hair...AND I'm LOVIN' it! It also seems to be in style right now. haha!
Watch out Alexa Chung! Alex Evjen is your hair rival!
Anyone else out there going back to their roots?
I recently had the privilege of helping the Emenecker family pick out their outfits for their family portrait session with Melissa Jill Photography.
This adorable family of three invited me to their home to select clothing from their closet.
Little Miss Kailey is one of the cutest kids on the planet. I actually met her the day of her birthday, and she was sooo excited to wear her birthday dress and shoes to her party. haha! This girl LOVES clothes and accessories. She even added a little pizazz to her own outfit with her pink necklace.
We started with Kailey's outfit because she had a rainbow of colors to choose from. We chose one of her favorite shirts and her cute little gray skinny jeans. This set the color palette for the shoot - gray, pink and black
We then moved on to Terri's outfit picking jeans to keep with the tone, one of her favorite cardigans and a cute pink shirt. Terri is a lover of accessories, and did a great job of picking out a coordinating necklace.
Ryan had a great selection of dress shirts. He wore a black button up for their last portrait session, so I didn't want to do the same thing again. I also didn't want to choose a gray button up because it would have been too much gray standing next to Teri, and pink isn't Ryan's color. So, we stayed with black by adding a v-neck sweater and a pop a gray with a button-up underneath.
Melissa Jill did a fabulous job capturing this family's joy, as well as finding a coordinating location for their outfits!!! You can see more photos from their portrait session here.
It always feels like Christmas when I get to reveal a new photo shoot to you guys. haha.
I'm SUPER excited to share the photos of Let's Dance - a fashion collaboration between AVE Styles, Jeanette LeBlanc Photography, Kim Cornwell of Triple Threat Studios, model Jennifer Zahorski and clothing provided by The Willows.
This photo shoot was inspired by the simple beauty that dancers embody. With poise, emotion and posture even the simplest clothes and hair can be chic. Check out my past post showing some fashion inspiration behind the shoot.
We decided that Tempe Center for the Arts was the perfect place to photograph because it's an iconic piece of architecture, the walls are simple concrete and, of course, the space is used to celebrate the arts.
We definitely wanted our model, Jennifer, to have her hair up in a bun. Dance and hair bun are synonymous in my mind. haha. However, we decided to showcase two different types of buns - one on top of her head and a low messy bun that was actually made of three small ones. Kim Cornwell definitely out did herself, no?
Jennifer and I collaborated on the makeup. I really wanted smokey eyes to bring in a high fashion element and counter balance the simplicity of everything. So, we went with black eye shadow and pale lips also staying consistent with the monochromatic color scheme.
Jennifer Zahorski, our model, is a long time friend of mine. She was a professional model for a couple of years, and now works alongside the owner of The Willows boutique as a buyer for the store's clothing. You guys HAVE GOT to go in this place! The home decor is gorgeous, they sell the BEST scented candles I've ever encountered, and, of course, their selection of casual basics is awesome.
This bring me to the clothing...The Willows offers closet staples of white and black tank tops, sweaters, skinny jeans and leggings. Really simple, but necessary for every one to have because you can EASILY build off of these basics with color and accessories. AND sometimes it's okay to just wear a white tank with black skinny jeans and call it a day. With confidence and poise it doesn't matter if you're dressed head to toe in the latest print.
To tie everything together, Jeanette and Mary of Jeanette Leblanc Photography did a wonderful job directing poses, capturing the fashion and creating truly artist images that I'm so happy to have forever.
I hope you guys love it as much I do. Fire away any questions that you may have about the shoot, and DEFINITELY check out my creative partners' websites!
Inspiration and ideas by stylist Alexandra on fashion, jewelry, beauty, lifestyle, home décor and more…
