Breaking the Cardinal Rule

As a sophomore in college, I joined a sorority. It was a lot of fun. My parents paid for some of my very best friends, still to this day. It was a good investment. However, it was not very good for my personal sense of style. We all dressed alike, a lot of the time. The same crispy blonde highlights. The same Old Navy khaki pants. The same tie back top for hitting up frat parties on the weekends. One of the cardinal rules of sorority style was this: black belt, black shoes, black purse. One did not mix and match, or (gads!) mix black and brown.

It took me a couple years to get over all the sorority rules that had been drilled into my head. And now, mixing black and brown is one of my favorite things to do:



This dress might look familiar; it's the one I received at the LB Blogger Conference. It's a great, satiny-feeling date dress. But I wanted to rework it and wear it to the office today. So I paired it with very casual accessories, like the green cardigan (which I wore this past weekend), and brown gladiator sandals. The necklace is one of my favorite pieces; it used to belong to Great Grandma Midge:



I'm playing with lip color again today, layering Bare Minerals gloss in Cupcake over Clinique Color Surge lipstick in Precious Pink:



The clothes:
Green cardigan - Target
Dress - gift from Lane Bryant (available online and in stores, now)
Necklace - inherited from Great Grandma Midge
Gladiator sandals - Payless