The woman with the matching socks

I don't care who you are, but if you are a female and your socks are blatantly visible, there is a problem here. Now, I have nothing against a little sock peeking out from the top of your sneaker or something of that matter, but if it is paired with hideous clogs and jeans that are just a bit too short, it's absolutely not acceptable.

Here's the kicker, though: The offending socks MATCHED her shirt. She planned this. She knew that they were going to show, so she knowingly matched them thinking that it would look less than shockingly horrible. It was a total fail.

They were cranberry colored. White would have been semi-acceptable. Black would have been a much better choice. But cranberry? First of all, I feel like people that are above the average weight for their age group should not be attracting too much attention to themselves, which is kind of impossible when you're rocking a cranberry colored turtleneck, frumpy jeans, cranberry colored socks and clogs that should have probably been thrown out ten years ago. OK, so she's a prime candidate for What Not to Wear, but I feel like that show shouldn't even need to exist. I mean, the woman works for the same company as I do, so I know she makes money of some sort, because I know I am. Instead of hitting up Marshalls, (not that I don't love a good steal at my local Marshalls) try going across the street to Macys.

Jersey power

When it comes to fashion in New Jersey, a lot of people think TapOut tees, latex-fit skirts or essentially trashy items. Completely false. Not only does Jersey have some of the best malls in the country, people tend to forget the multitude of genius that comes from the state. Just because Snooki, Pauly D and JWOWW party it up in Sleazeside Heights, doesn't mean we're all uneducated assholes that fist pump and drink our lives to shit.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon is a Jersey boy born-and-raised. Jon Bon Jovi is from Perth Amboy, NJ and even though its central Jerz, it still counts. The world of comedy may not be the same without Paul Rudd, Zach Braff and Jason Biggs who are also from the dirty, and we all know that American Pie is the shit, and it wouldn't be the same without Jim.

Some other notable New Jerseyans: Chelsea Handler, Ali Larter, Queen Latifah, Tara Reid, Meryl Streep, John Travolta, Anne Hathaway (not born, but raised a Jersey girl), Brooke Shields (endured her high school years in Jerz), Bruce Willis, Derek Jeter (lol Yankees fans) and, did I mention, that Thomas Edison set up shop in NJ to discover cool things like the phonograph, motion picture cameras and the lightbulb? Because, yeah, that happened.

Here's where I relate it to fashion now. Jersey-born 25-year-old Adama Kai, whose Aschobi Designs label is the first western style imprint to set up in Sierra Leone. She moved to Sierra Leone at four, then later trained in New York and Paris and has since moved back to Sierra Leone to pursue fashion in an underdeveloped and undervalued country.

She creates gorgeous African-inspired dresses and photographs them in the suffering streets of the country. Honestly, I could not be more proud that she was born in my home state and is doing beautiful things in an equally beautiful place that has an unfortunate history of civil war and child soldiers.

Twitter Trends

Trends are funny. When I was the Spesh editor of the Hunt News (sorry for my broken English -- Special Interest section editor of The Huntington news) I did a "--- of the Week" type of thing. Since the section rotates every week between Food & Restaurants, Sex & Health and Fashion & Style, the "--- of the Week" would rotate between "Drinks of the Week," "Position of the Week" and "Look of the Week." Since handing over my editor position to my assistant, she has since changed "Look of the Week" to "Trend of the Week." I think it's a great idea, and while trends usually do only last a week or so, it seems funny to promote certain products or "trends" in a newspaper like that. Her first trend of the week was hair feathers.

I think her Trend of the Week was written phenomenally. My assistant is a really talented girl and she's going places, whether the journalism industry is slipping or not.

I just am not a fan of trends. Don't go calling me a hipster or something because, believe me, that's the opposite of what I am. I'm a blonde-as-shit sorority girl that loves flavored Bacardi and asshole frat boys. I'm not "too cool" to have a Twitter or 1,000 Facebook friends and I definitely don't wear flannel on the reg. I just find trends like this annoying. I mean, who the hell would pay $20 to have a single feather put in your hair? And if you have more than one put in there, don't leave the house because you'll embarrass yourself. Can you leave it in when you wash your hair or do you have to take it out? It's basically put in there like a hair extension would be put in there (and don't get me started on those things).

Having things like "Trend of the Week" is basically like saying, "look at what's cool now, here's how you get it, here's how much it is and while you don't HAVE to get it, it's just highly recommended if you want to be up on the style of the moment."

Regardless, if you have a hair feather already, that's great. I'm not even the type of girl to dye my hair, crash diet or get piercings anywhere but my ears. Call me conservative, but I'm a walking contradiction, I have a tattoo. In my defense, it's a memorial tattoo for my late Nana. And you know what, if a hair feather means that much to you, the more power to you, but trends change so quickly and I'm not about to spend $20 a week on something that's just going to change a few days later. It's like Charlie Sheen -- he may have gotten 1,000,000 Twitter followers in a day but where is he now? Drugged up and out of a job and a family. (I'm Team Ashton, naturally)

Sorry this wasn't more about Twitter, my headline was a little misleading. Get over it. So are trends.

It's beginning to feel a lot like springtime

Oh, H&M. We just featured the hell out of them in The Huntington News in an article about summer fashion. They might as well sponsor us. (Dress) H&M $22.80.

Now, when it comes to shoes, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go colorful or traditional with black. So I have both options for you, obviously. The orange wedges aren't super practical, but they're adorable as hell and I'm sure you could find another alternative use for them...maybe. (Shoes) Zappos.com $89. Yeah yeah yeah, they're a little expensive ("champagne option"), but the black one's aren't, don't worry.

These can definitely be worn on a more-than-once kind of basis, which makes them more worth it. The "beer option" of the day. I mean, florals are super super in for this season, so they're hot as hell. But black. Just remember that. (Shoes) Zappos.com $49.95. Wedges are apparently easy to walk in too, another plus.

Obviously you need a bag to go with this. And cross-body bags are really practical and girly. This bag is only if you go for the BLACK shoes option. Don't want to be too multi-colored with orange shoes and a coral bag, yikes. Go with a neutral tone, like this bag, if you choose the colorful shoes. (Bag) Forever21 $22.80.

Now for a pair of earrings to top it all off. Wear your hair down and messy curly by the way. It'll be a super chill look with a bunch of sweet elements from this season. (Earrings) Forever 21 $3.80. Feathery, a different texture than the leatherette bag adds a little feminineness to the chunky heels and leather and chains bag.

Now for the total. Total for this outfit (with the black wedges) is $99.35. Total with the orange wedges is $138.40. You've gotta remember that I accessorize these outfits every time and you can really reuse many of them! You can add one of the belts I used in my first post over a simple white cardigan kind of like the one in this post, but not blue obviously.

Getting Nauti(cal)

Shoes (Sperry Topsiders) $75.Oh Sperrys. Such a TFM. I mean, what's more fratty than a boat shoe. Not to mention a pastel boat shoe. I know these aren't really for a beer kinda wallet (but even the frat boys that drink the Natty Light splurge on these puppies) but I just got a pair and they're so comfy they're worth it.



Top (Old Navy).Now onward to the cheaper and more wallet friendly stuff. I went to OldNavy.com for the first time in a very long time today. This top was right on the homepage and I realized that maybe Old Navy is stepping up their game because this is super cute and for only $12.99 it's a steal, even if it'll fall apart in the washing machine.

 Cardigan (Old Navy) $29.50. Now, the cardigan may throw you off a bit. You may be thinking, "wait, those blues don't match!" But they do. The Sperry's are a lot lighter in person, I know, I'm wearing them right now. Plus, who said they had to be a perfect match?

Necklace (Old Navy) $10.50. This necklace works really well in tying everything together. The slight blue hint won't overpower the look but at least we all know you gave a shit about your accessories.

Necklace option 2 (Old Navy) $12.50. This one may be a better choice now that I look at them together. Pearls always keep it classy and they're a huge TSM. The blue ribbon shows us you matched but didn't go with the matchy-matchy lighter blue.

Total for this outfit (I used Necklace option 2 rather than option 1) is $130.39. Keep in mind that the Sperry's were literally more than half of that. Without the shoes, the outfit was only $55.39. Wear a simple pair of blue jeans with a medium wash so you're not pant-less.

Formal dress & HELP with shoes

So I just bought this dress for Kappa Sigma formal in April. It's from Express and is on sale for $69. I'm very very excited because it's a super flattering dress. The rouching is actually perfect, especially if you're a little self-conscious about your hips like I am.

However, I'm having issues about what color shoes to wear. I'm not really sure what shade of pink I should go with. I obviously am a huge fan of pink, being a DZ and all. But since the dress is super classy and I'll probably wear pearl jewelry, i need to make the shoes stand out a little, or at least make them awesome and perfect. Not sure whether I want to go a little crazy with the shoes or have them match the super-classy style I'm already going with. Someone help me decide?

       $79                                                      $65

  

$89.95                                                       $89

 

      $112                                                    $66.50

Seriously Champagne

Dress - So I tried this dress on in Express the other day. It was so flattering. Very very short, but so awesome looking. It's $59 on sale, but I might go buy it anyway. It's awesome as hell. You can dress it up to go out to dinner with the girls (a skanky dinner) but more importantly it will
absolutely assist in getting guys'
attention in the bar.

These shoes are $225 because they're Michael Kors (my favorite designer). They're for the people who have a seriously champagne-ready  wallet or bank account. But if you don't and you can only afford the high-end beer or the low-end liquor, the second shoe option may be more for you.

Shoes - On heels.com, they're $89.09 which isn't totally unreasonable for a good pair of heels. And believe me, you want them to be a good pair of heels. I've had friends break heels on my favorite pairs of shoes completely unintentionally. It just happens and you're more likely to actually get them repaired if the shoes meant something to you in the first place.

(Bracelets) Forever 21 - $8.50. The're super dangly and fun and with such a small dress, a lot of accessories is totally necessary.

(Earrings) Forever 21 - $1.50. Simple studs won't cut it for a plain dress. Match the bronze from the shoes. Bring a crazy colored clutch out with you that goes with bronze and black, like purple, maroon or a dark mustard color.