White Diamonds

You may be wondering why this post involving No white OR diamonds is called 'white diamonds'.

I sometimes put together an entire outfit based on a fragrance.


She's so glamorous I can't even stand it.


My husband brought me home some white diamonds last night. What a sweetie. It's the quintessential 80's fragrance really. I think everyone's mom had it. I have a very strong 'smell memory' if that makes any sense. This scent takes me right back to the 80's and makes me think of 2ND wave feminists with shoulder pads and leopard print wrap blouses under their power suits. It's all very working girl.(Not That kind of working girl-the movie!)




I do happen to have this leopard printed wrap blouse that I thrifted a while back and so I decided to rock it with some jeans and my 'mom glasses'. I spritzed on some white diamonds-and Voila!





Have a stylish weekend!

HELLO!!!??!!! McFLY!!???!!!

For a brief magical moment in the 80's everyone was obsessed with the 50's-this gave birth to some of my favorite vintage looks of all time. Think Grease 2, Back to the Future or Joanie loves Chachi! This little ensemble that I've whipped up today is the bees knees! I think it's very 50's meets 80's. I hope everyone has a super stylish weekend!

Zombie at Tiffany's.

I found this picture on a T-shirt online the other day and instantly fell in love with it. Then I saw this woman on the bus wearing cute cropped jeans and all of this somehow translated it to this outfit. Perhaps none of that makes any sense but I'm just letting you all in on my thought process.....oooookay....moving on:

I absolutely adore the details on the cuffs and down the front of this vintage cardigan. None of these pictures are really that great but you kind of get the picture.






P.S. When I was uploading today's photos, I found these pictures that I took last friday that I never posted and I think the top half of my body from that day would have look great with the bottom half of my body from today. I'd still go with the black cat eye glasses though! Anyway people..stay stylish! Love, Onika.

VISION

You Guys I'm sorry.....


I know it's been forever but I'm not going to make excuses. I have just been working on other things. Namely myself. I've started doing some guided meditation and I created a vision board and a gratitude journal to get my life and my heart on the right path. I'm waging a non-violent war on my ego monster.

This may or may not be your cup of tea-I have not forgotten that this is a style blog but really I think that 90% of what people see on the outside is still informed by what's on the inside. The ugliest outfit can be fixed by a warm heart and vice versa.

Back to style.....I got some AMAZING new glasses the other day!

It's funny because if you recall, I kind of HATE glasses on me so I also got contact lenses. I LOOOOVE these glasses so much I haven't even opened my new contacts until today. Thank God(dess) for CLEAR VISION-litterally and figuratively.

Love you all! Stay Stylish!

Heidi was stylish.

Hello all! Today is going fairly well so far. I am wearing this amazing sheer/metallic/floral shirt that I got in the $2 clearance bin at a really nice vintage shop called the Mad Gypsy.



















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It's a great shirt. It's the most perfect length and it adds just the right amount of glitz to my boring office job :) I did this crazy thing with my hair where I did this big braid and wrapped it around my head. It is very reminiscent of Heidi or some other random 'Swiss Miss'. There is something about this belt that I also love. I got it on saturday before I twisted my ankle while Dining and Dashing -my ankle is almost better now, by the way. It looks PERFECT with this top which is pretty baggy and HAS to be belted. I really like these glasses alot. For some reason they remind of Frank Lloyd Wright-I have no idea why. I was quite conflicted about the boots. I have had these brown, over the knee boots for almost 3 years and I used to loooooove them but now I feel like a bit of a 'trendy Wendy' in them. I am a bit of a snob that way, I admit. As soon as something becomes trendy, I lose interest. In the end, I went with the boots because all of my other options involved heels and Heidi can't wear heels to run around the mountains now can she?!?





I feel super cute and ready to take on the day! I'm going to go Yodel.

I see London, I see France.......

I am taking a few minutes to post before the mayhem that is work begins. I have been so busy. Ultimately, it's a good thing. This outfit was decidedly cuter in my head than in real life but I still like it quite a bit. The skirt is dangerously short. Oops.







I'm not sure if I love the pattern of the shirt. I thought it was more of a floral but it looks a bit too abstract for me right now. I do love the combo of the "urban" earring with the cat eye glasses. Anyway, I'm off to work. By Stylish!


Dress worn as skirt-Suzy Sheer
Top-Winners
Tights-Suzy Sheer
Earrings-H&M

Thou shalt not covet they neighbors Blog.

Oh where to begin?

I have to say that I was discouraged by yesterday's lack of comments. I have been reading all sorts of amazing blogs lately by beautiful stylish women who clearly have tons of adoring readers and I let that nasty green monster get the best of me. Jealousy is not very stylish. I tend to be hard on myself and I think that maybe I seek more approval from others than I care to admit. Has anyone else experienced this when starting a new blog? It's kind of bizarre.

So I was moping around this morning feeling fairly overwhelmed and then I got this WONDERFUL compliment from Nika who has the most daring and original style. She writes a blog called Irie Chic and she nominated me for a Blog Award! To be honest, I'm not really sure what this entails but I am sure that it rules. More on this to come. ThankYouThankYouThankYou.

Despite my case of the grumpies, I did however still manage to look super cute! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you.....THE BEST T-SHIRT EVER:

I haven't been able to wear this bad boy for a while because it is super tiny and since I've just had a baby I was not super tiny at all. It fits again which is pretty sweet(p.s.much more to come on baby weight/body acceptance later on in this blog!)



I love it paired with these glasses. I bought it at a vintage clothing show for $4. That was the best $4 I have ever spent. The rest of the outfit is nothing to write home about. I wanted to keep all the focus on the HILARITY.

I may post something else later today. I have to write about my blog award and I want to do another "style shuffle" before the week is over so keep checking in!

I have never seen Mad Men.

Mad Men seems like one of those shows that even if it weren't as good as everyone says, I would watch it just for the clothes. I love shows like that. Once someone told me that I was like "the girl on a bad sitcom that you watch anyway just to see what she's wearing". That was one of the greatest compliments I have ever gotten :) I have a small collection of 1950's 'house' dresses. at least I think they would be house dresses. I think it's so funny that when I wear one everyone thinks I am so 'fancy' when the original owner probably wore it to do the dishes or clean out the fridge or something. It is amazing how lazy we have become when it comes to style. Not that I don't like having the option of dressing down which women in the 50's didn't really have. I sometimes romanticize the 50's because in retrospect it seems so glamorous but I can't help but think sometimes of what it would be like to actually be a black woman in the 50's in North America. Probably not all that glamorous most of the time. There was really no grey area when it comes to images of black women in popular culture in the 50's it was really a whole lotta this:



or this:



Both of these women are absolutely beautiful. I just can't imagine what it would be like to have such a narrow representation of myself in mainstream culture. Sigh.


Anyhoo...back to my outfit!










There is a transformation that occurs when you put on a vintage dress which I really like. I added the glasses because I think they work so well with this dress without being too 'costumey'. I would never risk it if they were actual vintage frames but since they are a more modern shape it works. The cardigan and the pearls finished things off even better than I had hoped.

Anyway, have a great day everyone. Go call your Grandma. Or Great Grandma. I am old.
Stay Stylish!

Men Don't make passes.....

So this is going well I think! A trillon Thank Yous to anyone who has been reading so far. My hope is that people are inspired to take a little bit more time to think about the beauty that is all around you every single day. My son helps me to do that. He's going through a 'WOW!" stage. Yesterday he came running up to me to show me A SHOPPING BAG yelling "Wow, Wow WOW!" The thing is, it WAS a nice shopping bag(shiny black and white Damask-AND it made a fun crinkly sound!) but when you're 14 months old everything is NEW. I recommend going through life like EVERYTHING is new-FOREVER. That sounds rediculous and cliche but I really believe it's true. I've been thinking about what it is that helps one cultivate a sense of style and I've come to the conclusion that it really does have a lot to do with being able to see beauty in the seemingly mundane. It's also has a lot to do with tension and contrast.

"What the hell are you talking about?!?" You may be saying.

Well I'll show you. Take the outfit I'm wearing today for example:





I have always been half blind(not really but you get it)and I have always needed glasses. I have never really liked wearing glasses and so more often than not I opt for contact lenses. I don't have a good reason for hating my glasses other than the fact that I think they make me look less "pretty" which is rediculous I know. Anyhoo....I have 4 different pairs of glasses because I am crazy and obsessed with looking 'just right' at all times. I've had these glasses since I was 19 and I love them. They are sort of an updated cat eye which is such a classic shape and so much fun. I didn't wear them for years and I've just put them back into rotation. I love the contrast of a 'nerdy' pair of glasses with my dreadlocks and tattoos. Or the tension of a 'ladylike' top and bow in the hair with the 'sexy' leather boot and pinstripes. It keeps the eye guessing and makes you look...wait for it.....STYLISH.

Does that make sense? I hope so.

Overall I think this outfit is super cute and sexy in a very subtle way which was my goal. SUCCESS!!!

p.s I have a very high forehead. Eat your heart out Tyra Banks.


glasses-Vogue
Pants-don't remember brand(Winners)
Shirt-H&M(Thrifted from Goodwill)
Beads-Thrifted(Goodwill)
Boots-Gifted(my sister)