What color is that scarf?

This is the coolest tool I've seen on the internet in a while: it's a color wheel that relates hues to color names to CSS hex #s.

This tool can make descriptions and designs so much easier to create! Or, it's just a fun way to test your knowledge of hues. Either way, it is programed with over 1500 color names to learn and enjoy.

First set

First set by alissabethsch featuring a pleated dress

I created a Polyvore account today and made my first set. Finally, I can see my fantasy outfits virtually realized!
I love the wintery feel of black suede accessories and this tan wool coat next to the vibrant ruby grapefruit color of this dress. And, of course, a denim vest.

Lost & Found Necklaces

I am obsessed with the following:

Promises Necklace

Ancient Future Necklace

Ceremony Necklace

Quartermaster Harbor Necklace

Each piece is by Sword+Fern, whom I now love. I am dying to play around with the chain lengths on these pieces to get some killer mix-and-match layered looks.

All Sword+Fern jewelry is made using various recycled materials from unexpected items like cars. There is something so alluring about art made with unseemly objects, don't you think?

How To Photograph Horizontal Stripes

I remember when I was in junior high while looking through our yearbook, my best friend and I hysterically decided that when people wear horizontal stripes in photos it makes their heads look disproportionally small. For the next few years, I avoided wearing horizontal stripes.

Luckily, my opinion regarding stripes has changed since middle school, when rugby polos and sailor prep dominated the stripes market (at least, as far as my 7th grade, world-wide-webless eyes could see*).

Here are a few striped looks I've recently loved. Please note that none of these images are yearbook-style headshots and all heads appear to be of a normal size.

RueLaLa

Madewell

Net-A-Porter

*In my defense, in junior high I did win the superlative for Best Dressed.

Closet Staple: The Black Tee

No closet can be complete without the trusted black tee. Not only is black a universally flattering color, but it goes with everything. You can wear it with rolled up jeans and combat boots for an edgier look, with a cute skirt and sandals for a more feminine take, or with harem pants for days when you need more room to breathe.

But don't get too excited yet - not just any black tee will do - in order for the top to be truly flattering, cut and fit is just as important as the color. I've had my share of black tees in the past, but this weekend while perusing Anthropologie, I felt like I finally found a black tee that fits my petite frame flawlessly and will last for years. I bought this one by Bailey 44:

It is so simple and beautiful, and I'm in love with the wide neckline. It is the ultimate dress-up or dress-down piece and I so look forward to wearing it (often)!

Colors of Nature

I recently tweeted that I have never seen a color combination in nature that I didn't like. It's true - even with colors that I don't expect to look good together, nature finds a way to make it work. Mother Nature always chooses the perfect shades to pair together to convey specific emotions and associations via color. (Think: orange + green - Halloweeny, right? But orange flowers look so fresh and beautiful in a garden!)

Let nature be your inspiration. I made these color palettes from a CNN video on the recent wildfires in Texas.

Even without the fiery image, don't these smokey orange tones leave you feeling eerily somber?

These muted browns and greys are silencing, just like the smoke that engulfs the city below.

Make it or break it: accessories

Yesterday, as I pulled on my black shorts and grey tee I thought to myself ,"Wow, this outfit needs a pair of curved high heeled red booties to take it from frumpy to sexy. A pair much like these by Maison Martin Margiela:

Needless to say, I do not own $985 boots, so I threw on my denim vest and black leather oxfords from Barneys New York. Like these, only mine have small studs on the toes:

When I saw my reflection in my car window with my dad's Ray Ban aviators from the 80's, I realized that the outfit I had envisioned as sexy with red booties had a cool, rocker feel solely because of the accessories I had chosen. It is fantastic how something as basic as black shorts and a tee can turn into something totally fresh with the help of a few necessary accessories.

And so, my love affair with accessories makes its first appearance in my blog.

Colors Everywhere

When forced to choose, it is always difficult for me to settle on one color. I always find that colors look prettier when next to other colors. It defines their feeling more and gives much more character than one, single color. That is why color blocking is so hot - it makes it okay to wear two statement colors together to show something more three-dimensional and bold.

Don't these water bottles look prettier together than individually? How is a girl to choose one!

From www.kleankanteen.com

Accessories for the Apartment

Soon, I will be moving into my first post-college apartment, so all of my spare time and energy has been spent dreaming about how I will decorate my new room! I haven't decorated a room of my own before because at home I've had mostly the same bedroom decor since I was little, and college doesn't really count with the chunky furniture already provided. My rental will be month-to-month, and since I don't know how long I'll be staying, all pieces have to be fairly mobile and able to work in a variety of room shapes. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't have a few key pieces to make my new place feel like home!

Enter: the coat rack. There is something so romantic and mysterious about a coat rack. Why not hang coats in the closet? Why the rush to grab and leave?

I've chosen some of my favorites.

Cute and flirty:

Ikea, $29.99

Urban Outfitters, $59

Powell Furniture, $120.70 on Amazon

Or modern, straight, and mild allusions to the feminine form:

Crate&Barrel, $369

Ikea, $49.99

Adesso, $91.94 on Amazon