Fashion Feature: Papercut Magazine

I have a fashion feature in Papercut Magazine mes cheris! You may or may not have picked up on my not so minor obsession with head wear. Hats, turbans, scarves... I just love the option to play up your outfit through an accessory so seldom chosen nowadays.

Give it a read and tell me... 

What is your favorite head wear for this season?

Pourquoi Pas?

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Why not keep on believing my loves? I have been job searching lately which warrants its fair share of ups and downs...especially when the fashionable industry you are dying to be in is a bit closed door. I, like everyone, have hit my points where I can no longer keep myself upbeat, but 90% of the time, I'm optimistic that my amazing opportunity is right around the corner. So I skip from coffee rendez-vous to networking event basking in the glory of New York City and feeling satisfied that at least I know I am home and in the right place.

Monday I had a coffee with a new friend who shared some rejuvenating words that caught me off guard...

No matter where you are in life, if you only focus on your impossible circumstances you are bound to sink. If you keep your head up and your eyes on your goal, you have no other choice but to keep on stepping and arrive at your destination. Its in the doubting, the questioning, the focusing on the negatives that the road gets impossible.

 As a planner, be it events or life, the hardest thing for me to do is let go and trust God will provide. And even though I have been provided for time and time again, I still worry. So I'm glad that when I struggle with the calm of knowing everything will work out, I have great friends to be that constant reminder of trust and patience and faith.

Alexander McQueen | Continuing on the Legend

Alexander McQueen was a rare fashion innovator of our generation. A true legend whose far to early departure left a permanent hole in the fashion industry. As much as I love fashion, it has become an overpopulated industry of copycats. Everyone thinks they can be a fashion designer...and maybe many can, but not everyone can be a fashion visionary...and that is what it takes to run your own label and transform it into a fashion house.

Alexander McQueen was a rare exception. In an age of dying fashion legends, one seemed to have reincarnated in the youthful fearlessness of a spunky Brit. Every season without fail His became the show to anticipate. With never tiring creativity, McQueen's clothes were not the only art on his catwalks by far. He was a rare designer who understood the art of entertaining and married that to his show concepts.

Sarah Burton has taken on the ever impossible task of steering the helm after McQueen's death. And contrary to popular belief (even Women's Wear Daily loves her) I have to say...I'm not impressed. Allow me to explain.

{merci StyleFrizz}

Sarah Burton has created some beautiful pieces, not a lot of color even though the McQueen line was fabulous with that, nonetheless, here are some jewels from Paris Fashion Week Fall 2011:

Photos compliments of WWD.com

But note the following creations...haven't we seen them before?

Oh, riiiight...they are almost identical to Alexander McQueen's former Fall and Spring lines leading up to his untimely bow out.

Sarah Burton - Fall 2011

This photo is thanks to Style.com

McQueen - Spring 2010

This futuristic vision for the line lent to a lot of fitted "body armor" type suits.

Sarah Burton - Fall 2011

McQueen - Fall 2010

This almost nod to Chinese motif was prevalent on many pieces in this collection.

Sarah Burton - Fall 2011

McQueen Fall 2010

And the dropped waist with the exaggerated gather was also a key icon for this collection.

There is a not so fine line between honoring a vision and mimicking past styles, and unfortunately I can't say much for what I believe Sarah Burton is doing. The thing Alexander McQueen was revered for besides his dynamic vision was his constant gear in a new direction. Look how different the looks are from Spring 2010 to Fall 2010 alone! 

On a hopeful note, I can see Sarah Burton has talent, but personally I challenge her to push this to realms of limitless creativity. I can't wait to see the result. 

What do you think mes cheries?

Revamping in High Gear

I would like to personally thank you all for hangin' in there as I have needed so much time for transition. I am literally giddy every time I think about all the places I want to take The Embellished Life and cannot wait to set foot on this next leg of the adventure.

Blogging is very fulfilling to me. It allows me an opportunity to interact with wonderful writers, artisans, and fashionistas from all over the world and at the same time it gives me an outlet for my many passions. The fact that I get to write (which I love) about fashion and travel (which I'm obsessed with) and share beautiful things with you everyday warms my heart!

I have high hopes for The Embellished Life and cannot wait to see how the next year blossoms. But I know what I want...what I want to know is what you want to see from me?! How else do you want to be inspired to embellish your life? Here is your time to have your voice heard!

Please send me great vibes at ideas!

Pitch me your art, your shop, your fashionable ways!

Do you have a Travel Confession? Fashionspiration?

Life is beautiful when we are all in it together.

I look forward to hearing from you!

embrace being unique.

Jessica

Guest Blogger Challenge

I beg your pardon for my absent lately mes cheries. I am in the middle of relocating to the whirlwind city of Manhattan and it is proving to be have quite a lot of bumps along the way. Is moving ever easy? I don't think so, but it seems that Manhattan is quite a closed door city!

So while I wind through my hectic yellow brick road to Gotham, I am calling all you Embellishers to a challenge! I would like to give the reigns over to you guys to be guest bloggers while I am in the middle of moving!

{thanks weheartit for all the photo love}

HOW TO BE A GUEST BLOGGER?

Send me your Guest Blog Post on the topic of your choice via email.

WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT?

Pick from an array of things related to Fashion, Music, Pop Culture, Travel, Inspiration, Art, Love, Life, etc. Keep it upbeat and motivational of course and if you don't have the right photos I can help you out there :)

You can even write a post for one of your Embellished Life favorites if you wish: Pourquoi Pas, Travel Confession, Fashion 101, Fashionspiration! Have fun, get creative, and share your flair for what makes you, YOU!

WHEN TO SEND?

NOW! You can begin sending them in right away, and keep them coming, this will be a fantastic way to see how you all Embellish your lives every day!

I cannot wait to see what you dazzle me with darlings!

So get typing!

Dream Big

It is a strange feeling to know you are smack dab in the middle of living out your dreams. But your wildest dreams only happen if you seize them mes cheries. Yes it is risky, because to gain big you have to gamble big, but what if you always played it safe? If you always live in the black and white box where nothing happens to you, you may never get hurt, you may never fail, but you will also never fly and you will never succeed. Life is too short to rob yourself of its fullest potential. Have you ever considered that you are the only thing holding you back from your greatest potential?

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When we are kids we dream big and don't think about any repercussions because nothing in our minds is worth sacrificing the prize where we have our eyes fixed. Then somewhere between Barbie dolls and diplomas we enter a world of confusion and hesitation. We justify ourselves by calling this reality, but isn't reality just the environment you create for yourself? Of course we have responsibilities, financially and so forth, but who's to say you can't up and change your life if its not what you want? You can. We psych ourselves out and say that no one really lives out their dreams once they grow up, is that really being a grown-up? Living a bland vanilla life of paycheck to paycheck, mortgage payment to car payment to the grave? What if you want a world of color, a world of adventure, excitement, and challenge? What if you actually delivered on all the things you promised your daring younger self?

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Faith was never meant to be a drug,

to sedate us through a life that we hated.

~Steven Furtick

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Find your dream and take that leap of faith. It is better to gain wisdom through living your dreams then to always live in the depression of what-if. Your dreams are what make you unique, so go get them and show me what you've got mes cheries!

Since the First Day

I loved you since the first day... I believe that I love you for always.

What is so wrong with love? When did our society build up such a phobia of this word? Love is the scariest , most thrilling, unnerving, rewarding thing you can experience. But the only way to experience it, is to take the risk and dive in head first, unprotected, and vulnerable. And yes, that is scary as hell, but the crazy insanity that follows, the feeling that you will never return to Earth, that is the feeling worth all the risk.

Hearing I love you is such a wonderful feeling, and as people, we need love to keep us going in this nonsense world. If you love someone SAY IT! What if you never say it and then they leave and you lose the one person you ever truly cared about because they didn't know you felt the same? Don't allow movies and TV shows to convince you that I love you is this scary step in a relationship that should only be done on Society's Timeline. You know what? You decide your relationship's timeline. If you like a girl, call her, don't wait three days. If you love someone, tell them. If it feels right, then it feels right, and waiting four months isn't going to change that.

Who do you love mes cheries?

Recapturing Fulfillment

Yesterday was a moving day for me. After a year of being in France, I have missed being in an environment where I could feel something more than skin deep. A community where I can feel included to believe in the one thing that I believe in most of all without having to defend myself for it. Even more than that, I have missed the feeling that my spirit is alive and full and about to burst with untainted joy and peace. It is really something hard to put into words; one of those things you only understand if you have taken the time to explore your spiritual level and nurture your soul.

Faith is a funny thing; it is something we all have, yet it is a word that can make people nervous. You have faith in opportunity that the perfect job will come along, faith in your man to take care of your heart, and faith in yourself to overcome all things that may alter your plans, but to have faith in a higher being; that is iffy. Why? Personally for me, having faith in God was never the problem, because no matter what problems have befallen me, He has cleaned them up and pulled me through. Now you most certainly can chalk that up to dumb luck or fate and I wouldn't blame you for it, why not? Except inside my soul, deep down in my gut I have this feeling; this undeniable truth that I cannot avoid.

Just like being in love is hard to pin down in words. You can have a range of emotions, and rant on and on about how that person makes you feel like you can fly, but love itself is pretty ineffable. That is what faith is to me, something crucial, necessary to my existence, but hard to always eloquently express. But regardless of how intangible it is, it will always be like my wind, impossible to have proof by sight but I can see its effects on everything around me and can feel its assured presence on my skin.

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Try a cup of faith today mes cheries.

Au Revoir France

Well I have made it, and I can't believe it has been a year. Living abroad has been the craziest roller coaster of emotions and experiences I have ever packed into one time period. I have stretched my soul past boundaries of comfort and learned to be an ever present outsider.

Living only in your home country, you take for granted the ability to express yourself and feel intelligent. You don't even realize the comfort you have that no matter where in your country you travel you have an immediate sense of community; an eternal sense of camaraderie. As you throw yourself into a different nation you suddenly don't get the jokes, you don't understand the culture's mentality, and in my case can barely speak the language. But let me tell you how rewarding it feels to complete a personal goal of this magnitude. I can speak French and its incredible and it still makes me smile thinking about it. I love being able to carry on conversations with strangers and switch between English and French with no thought. This year has been without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done, but I am stronger now that I have reached the other side.

France is a special place. I have loved it and hated it here, and pushed myself to be a more open minded, courageous person. The ability to travel at the drop of a hat is a dream come true and I have seen 6 new countries this year because of it. Trying to understand a culture that feels so alien to me has been very hard. I have expanded my palette to an array of new cuisine, some indescribably good, and some that still ties my stomach in knots. I will miss the smell of fresh bread from the millions of bakeries that rest in every town. And although I hate to admit it, I will kind of miss the laid back feeling of this nation. My internal clock is very New York, so its nice to live in a culture where being late is normal and it forces you to slow down and enjoy life.

Today I am flying home and there is a torn, bittersweet feeling lying at the pit of my stomach. I have missed my family, friends, food, and wonderful nation, but France has left an imprint on my soul. But, I know this will not be the last time I cross these borders and that makes me hopeful for the future.

Farewell France and thank you for the memories.

Electricity & Butterflies

Finding someone is an interesting feeling that can be described in so many ways. Your mind is consumed by only thoughts of them, and your stomach is trying desperately hard to function regardless of all the added butterflies and knots that have taken up permanent residence.

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What even causes this? Why do some people send electricity up and down your spine with just one touch, one look, while others will forever remain perfectly platonic? Even in friendships why is it that you can click with some and chat for hours about nothing and be perfectly amused while others you are pulling teeth for conversation?

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These invisible forces that pull people to you, like magnets connecting your souls, are indescribable and mysterious and oh so good. Fate is predictable in only one way; that it always surprises you. You may have everything planned and set in stone and out of nowhere a tornado picks up your house and you find yourself no longer in Kansas, no longer in any place called home, yet you are hypnotized by the vibrant new color of life. Do me a favor mes cheries, allow yourself to go there. Take everything fate throws at you and run with it. Life is too precious and too short to play safe and sit on the sidelines, get in the game and go for the gold, and let the butterflies carry you there.

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Who had your stomach all in knots darlings?

Soul Composer

Life turns corners so quickly and before you know it, time has gone by, people have changed and new possibilities have taken their course. Sometimes you find yourself reluctant to let go of the past and sometimes you might be sprinting away from it, in the hopeful escape of an exciting future. But remember, everything always happens for a reason. That guy didn't call back because there was a better one waiting to bump into you around the corner. You didn't get that scholarship because another school is ready to give you far more possibilities than you envisioned for yourself. We go about planning away trying to control something that is impossible to pencil into a calendar. In retrospect everything makes sense, and you can clearly see how another path would have not been the best thing for you. That's the frustrating thing about life: patience and trust. Having faith that everything will work out, because time after time they always have. As you wind around the corners of your life remember that. Try and let things go and trust that it will all be OK. Rather than be afflicted about the future, revel in the possibility of today. Take each days problems as they come and you find over time that you have happily made it into the future from one little step at a time.

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Start keeping a journal. Looking back on old worries can be reassuring that your new ones will resolve just as well. Give yourself an intimate glimpse into your own mind, and discover mysteries deep within your heart. Flipping through your life, once you've poured out your heart on paper can be a beautiful lesson about the workings of your soul.

What will be your Dear Diary mes cheries?

Happy Bloggoversary

In the midst of an exciting Italian adventure, I completely bypassed the 1st birthday of The lovely Embellished Life! I must say that a year has absolutely flown by, as they always promise to do, and it has been quite a whirlwind. My original intent for this blog was to just update on my travels for family and friends and share my musings on fashion...it has become oh so much more than that. This blog has given me an outlet for joy, inspiration, pain, growth, and a community of support. I have made new friends and loved learning about all of you along the way.

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"I see life as an art. As the artist of my own life, each day another brush stroke is made on the canvas which will one day be called "My Life." If I am to live with the end it mind, everyday that I am blessed to live and breath is an opportunity to create the life I envision for myself. I want my life to be one of beauty, peace, style, and grace -- an utterly fulfilling life that inspires me as well as those that I love. It begins by creating a clear vision and then daily making choices, both large and small, that move me in the direction of my dreams." - JacquelineRose

Thank you all for staying Embellished

I cherish you dearly

-Jessica

Where For Art Thou Shakespeare & Company?

Darlings, I would love to introduce you to one of my favorite places in Paris, The 5th Arrondisement. As you wander around the beauty of Notre Dame why not take a stroll across the street? Among a smörgåsbord of diverse cultural cuisine on a bustling fun street, here you will also stumble upon the world famous hole in the wall bookstore, Shakespeare & Company. Now for any bibliophile, like myself, you WILL be in Heaven. Serving as not only a bookstore but also a relaxing place to read, all day if you'd like, it specializes in English Language Literature and has a fascinating history. Now, as you all know I can't resist a unique boutique, but add a complex and fascinating story like this one and you will easily see why I am in love with this shop!

Originally started by Sylvia Beach, and expatriate from New Jersey, S&Co. has been around since 1919. Not always in its originally cozy corner along the Seine, before the last World War it was on the Rue de l'Odeon, and frequented daily by the greats such as, Ernest Hemmingway, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. S&Co at the time was the center of Anglo-American literary culture and repeatedly housed books that were banned in the UK and America. It closed in 1941 after, allegedly, Beach refused to sell a last copy of a Joyce novel to a German soldier.

But it lives on now, thanks to George Whitman, a Massachusetts boy who merged it with his book shop on left bank after the death of Sylvia Beach in 1951. George calls the bookstore a "socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore". The store also has 13 beds and over the years has housed some 40,000 young writers, called Tumbleweeds, who earn their keep by working in the shop a couple hours a day. George welcomes you to stay as long as you want and prop up your feet upstairs and read everything in the store, the only thing he asks in return is a one page essay about your life, he even provides a typing booth, complete with an old fashioned typewriter for you to tell your story on! At 96 years old, he remains the figure head of the shop but has past the legend onto his daughter, what an incredible legacy to keep alive.

*historic info is thanks to wikipedia and shakespeareandcompany.com*

Pretty amazing isn't it mes cheries?

Hourglasses & Mirrors

Its funny how quickly things can change; sometimes subtle and other times like a bomb. One day you can wake up and find that the person you thought was your future has all too quickly become your past; you can discover the person you thought you would be has yet to be near what you are so far.

Character as well as destiny is made up of many tiny moments that over a lapse of time give us the complete picture. Its like looking at one of those collage pictures that create a huge picture by a bunch of very tiny pictures, in hindsight it is clear what the big picture is but as you are ticking away along your path of life each little puzzle piece seems to be unrelated and all too confusing. Maybe we sit perplexed by the man whom we were convinced was perfect in every way...at least until the Perfect Man comes along and than we have the "Ooooh" moment when suddenly all the failed relationships, broken plans, and heartache make sense.

*thanks tumblr*

But if anything is sure at all, it is that it all works out in the end, and worrying never added one glimpse of the future's answer. So the best we can do is have faith, in ourselves and each other, and soak up every moment like its our last. Maybe then, when we look back, we won't regret anything because we know, without a doubt, that we truly experienced all there was to offer and can be happy about that.

How do you live in the moment?

Love is...

One of the greatest things about love is that it is indescribable. It can be everything and nothing at once; a million little things or one very big thing. After hundreds and hundreds of years of music revolving around the subject we somehow still haven't fulfilled all the words that could be said about this power that possesses us all at one point or another.

*merci weheartit*

Even in one person the word love varies as greatly as the ocean. You might love your daughter with an overwhelming blanket of hopes and dreams, and love your job with its rush of power and fulfillment, and then love your husband with a consuming fire of passion and selflessness that no language could ever properly define. How does one feeling manage to evoke such range and emotion as love? That is why I am convinced that love is not a feeling, rather a verb. Love isn't "lovely" it isn't dainty and light, its enthralling and pushes you to action. Love changes the world with just a whisper.

What is love to you?

Atmospheric Potential

Who ever said the sky was limit?

Personally, I want to go past the ozone layer.

~Jessica Kelly

*merci Fenanda Prestes Photography*

Ambition is always something that came natural to me, and I'd like to think its contagious, so please catch my disease. Think of your "life plan" now think of your "wildest dreams" how big is the gap? How about bridging that just a bit? You can only accomplish what you allow yourself to believe you can accomplish. Far too often we fall victim to our own crime of limiting ourselves, and I think that is the worst thing to be held prisoner to. Do you realize you have the capacity to make all your wildest dreams come true? No, I am not talking about Jiminey Cricket, I am talking about you. What do you really, deep in your gut, want out of life? Well, then make it happen. Grab life by the horns and lead it away into the wilderness. One of my favorite quotes directs to aim for the moon, the absolute highest goal you can imagine for yourself, because then even if you don't get all the way, you still arrive among the stars. That is unintentionally how I have always lived my life: if I say I'm going to do something, I mean it, and I do it. I don't allow myself to settle for mediocre when I know fabulous is just a good umph away.

So please, the next time you try to limit yourself to what people tell you, you can't do, or even worse what you think is impossible for you, ask yourself one very important question: What do I really want more than anything? Shoot high and go for the goal, as you focus on the little steps along the way, you'll look up and one day realize the huge leaps and bounds you have made in getting there.

*thanks weheartit for the photos*

See you in space!

Don't forget today is your last day to VOTE on Etsy for the Embellished Necktie and grab yourself a chance at a fabulous French photo HERE!

Fashion is Fluid

Like all art, fashion is fluid. It is personal to its wearer, personal to its admirer and takes many different forms and meanings to every eye that gazes upon it. Always changing, yet constantly remaining the same. Its a long term relationship that you stand by through highs and lows and can reflect back with memories that bring tears and laughter. A lifelong marriage to the amazing person you are.

This fluidity is what I love about fashion. You can layer it, you can change it. It can fit any mood, any style, and any location that you wish to be transported. Fashion is a shape shifter, an appreciator of all that has been, and all that can be. It loves its wearer and creates muses for the masses. Always providing you with the embellishment you desire for the blank canvas that is your body.

One step down a runway can spark a movement, just as one step into a doorway can change a life. It can shout out your personality to the world or temporarily hide you when you need solicitude. So versatile, so dependable, fashion can be called on for any situation you find yourself.

*all photos thanks to We Heart It*

What is fashion to you?