Looks of the Week

This weeks favourite looks were both from yesterday - first up, Rachel McAdams in a Roksanda Ilincic gown at her movie premiere in London. When I first saw it I thought "WOW". I did take me a beat to decide whether that was good wow or bad wow. Good wow won! It's just a dressy dress is all so it's not anything you or I would likely wear, but I rather enjoy looking at it and think it's stunning! I'm in love with white first off. Then we have the iridescent belt (which wait until fall, it's gonna be HOT!), and a really cool and subtle touch of colour on the back. I think she looks great.

WAY over on the other side of the fashion (and colour) spectrum we have Keri Russel in a more modest black ensemble that is totally wearable for the everyday girl! I definitely the all black look as it's very chic, but then you can play with it as she does with the lace back. I'd wear it in a second!

Now, there actually was a LOT of awesome this week so I'm including two more looks of the week via Kerry Washington and her Giambattista Valli mini, and Amanda Seyfried with her racer back Gucci mini. Both fun and flirty, and styled well (simplicity is key) I thought they were 2 summer looks worth including.

Style Icon: Olivia Munn

Let's start this post with a little TV bonus: I'm super stoked that this coming Sunday season 2 of the show The Newsroom is premiering! In case you're not familiar it's an HBO series starring Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer, and also today's style icon Olivia Munn. It's a riveting and intelligent show that takes you on a behind-the-scenes look at a (fictional) newsroom during real-events that have made headlines. Of course it's not that simple, as they have their own side dramas to work through as well. I believe season one is out so you should definitely check it out!

Now, back to our style icon. Prior to The Newsroom I didn't know who Olivia Munn was, but later recognized her from the movie (that I much care for) Magic Mike. Both the show and the movie were coming out around the same time so she was doing double the press and it was then that I noticed her fabulous fashion sense, and she's since kept impressing. In general I find her style very effortless and simple, but she takes it to the next level with either a print or a pop of colour. Another style icon who has a realistic style that can be translated to real life. Gotta say, I'd be happy to rock any one of these outfits!

 

Style Icon: Nina Dobrev

The Vampire Diaries actress has already made my blog for her good sense of red carpet fashion so it's no surprise I finally decided she, and she alone, deserved a moment in the fashion spotlight. She has previously made my Best Punk list at The Met Ball, as well as my favourites list at the SAG Awards. Let's not forget she also was voted Sexiest Style in this year's Victoria's Secret What is Sexy list. While browsing her looks over the last little while it was rather difficult to pick my favourite looks to feature - there were so many!

Kind of like my other style icons Blake Lively and Gwyneth Paltrow, I feel like Nina is all about the legs - if you've got 'em, flaunt 'em! I love how fun and youthful her style is but nothing outrageous. She does modest and sexy and chic at the same time!

What do you think about Nina's style? Yay or nay?

#candidlyNICOLE

If you are not a Nicole Richie fan, this post is probably not for you. I however AM a Nicole Richie fan and as such, felt the need to share her latest project. Her latest project is a web-series called #candidlyNicole and consists of short (around 5 minute) episodes staring Nicole and based around the subject matter in some of her hilarious and random tweets. The official description of the show is as follows: Nicole Richie brings her unfiltered sense of humor and unique perspective to life in a new series based on her irreverent Twitter feed. The show follows the outspoken celebrity as she shares her perspective on style, parenting, relationships and her journey to adulthood.

That pretty much sums up exactly what it is! In recent years (and thankfully since the show THe Simple Life) we've seen Nicole's sense of humour here and there (like it says above "outspoken" - again, not for everyone), and she's definitely proven herself as a successful business woman with her fashion and jewelry lines. She's also solidified herself as a style icon. I've been following her on Twitter for awhile now and it's very cool to see those tweets come to life (boy, how our world has changed - an online mini-series spawned from and based on someones tweets...). Here's an example of one such tweet:

That's a tweet she sent earlier this year that they turned into an episode. I remember seeing that tweet go by and thinking it was hilarious and random, and now there's a mini-episode on it - you can see it come to life! (The fact that that excites me totally makes me feel like a nerd by the way.) With each video being only about 3-5 minutes in length, they're just a quick entertaining blip to watch.

So if you are a fan of Nicole's, do check them out because I bet you, like me, will find them pretty fun and hilarious.

Drinking & Tweeting

The second book I've finished since rediscovering myself as a Book Worm is Drinking and Tweeting by Brandi Glanville. 

If you like the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you will most likely like this book. If you love Brandi Glanville, then you will mostly likely love this book. If neither are true, well, I don't know how you'll feel about this book actually! I am a fan of both the BH Housewives AND Brandi, as is my mom, and we both agree that you might have to know her to enjoy this book or for it to make sense. Brandi is so crass, outspoken, blunt, but in my opinion, also hilarious. One of the things I liked about the book was that as I read each page and each word, I could almost hear her saying it all! Hence where the disconnect might come in if you are not familiar. 

But moving on, she is of course the scorned ex-wife of actor Eddie Cibrian, who famously had an affair and left her for country singer LeAnn Rimes. There you go! You have the foundation of the book. The affair happened before she became a Housewife and although you hear snippets of her talking about it on the show, I was mostly aware of what had gone down from the media frenzy that surrounded the whole situation. That being said, it was a very interesting read because she is very real, and took you through her experiences. Don't get me wrong, this is a VERY fluffy book, but it was a quick read and I also found it a lot of fun.

I've said it before and I will say it again, I can't guarantee you'll love it if you don't know her (but who knows, you might!) but if you do, I recommend you put this on your summer reading list! 

Style Icon: Diane Kruger

Happy May everyone!

My latest style icon to be featured is Diane Kruger. I have loved her since I saw her in Wicker Park. She's just beautiful and elegant, and I personally think she knows how to rock the red carpet better than most! She has been the muse for designers such as Calvin Klein, Jason Wu and Karl Lagerfeld. Pretty darn impressive. I do like her personal style as well - I would describe it as super casual and "festival ready" if that makes sense. Although I like it it's definitely the red carpet where she shines the brightest!

And THIS beauty gown, I had to feature on it's own...

Celebrity Wedding Tease

I don't know about you but I love all things weddings! This goes from real life weddings, to wedding TV shows (Four Weddings, Say Yes to the Dress, etc.), celebrity weddings and so on. A big element of every wedding is of course the dress. I love looking at what the bride is wearing. This is one of the reasons I get especially excited about celebrity weddings - it's no secret I love going through celebrity fashion, so naturally checking out their wedding attire is like Christmas to me. Celebrity dresses can be the most extravagant and unique!

Way back when Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel got married I mentioned that one wedding I was dying to get a glimpse into was that of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. I think they are adorable and I love her style so I knew it would likely be incredible.

Well I think the time has finally come to come to terms with the fact that we (me) will never get to see what it was all about. Shortly after their wedding the 2 pictures above were released by Martha Stewart Weddings who helped coordinate and design it all - but being the private people they are, I think that might be all we get (hence the post title "Celebrity Wedding Tease"). I thought the pictures were lovely though so I wanted to share. 

Next up in celebrity weddings I am looking forward to seeing Jennifer Aniston tie the knot again. She looked so stunning when she married Brad Pitt, and her style has only evolved since so I have no doubt she will look beautiful. I also wouldn't mind seeing Angelina Jolie... but more out of curiosity. 

How about you? Whether married or not, are you into the wedding craze?

P.S. I'd like to credit my mom with my wedding fascination. My parents got married when I was 7 years old so most of my childhood I was exposed to wedding planning. She had a wedding binder, and as her mini-me I got to have my own wedding duo-tang, haha! It was pretty cute. I also got to be the maiden of honour at their wedding! :) 

Style Icon: Julianne Hough

Not just for her style, but I think Julianne Hough is an icon in so many ways! She's absolutely beautiful. She's so smiley and bubbly it's infectious. She's got a beautiful athletic body. She's talented (triple threat). And then yes, her style is awesome! I should probably just go ahead and admit that my name is Samantha and I'm addicted to Dancing With The Stars. I love that show so much! Not just for the stars (quirky) or the dancing (can be awesome), but also for the overall humour and fun that you get with the way it's produced and the hosting. So fun. Anyway, that's where I (like most of America) first saw Julianne and started to adore her and her personality! She really is awesome. Since then she's gone on to sing and act as well. She's a little rough around the edges with both, but she's adorable and I think she's definitely getting better (and more comfortable) with time.

Here are some of my recent fave looks Julianne rocked on the red carpet:

Off the red carpet her look is definitely more simple but always on trend:

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was also quite sad to hear of her and Ryan Seacrest breaking up a few months back. I thought they were SO cute together! Oh well, that is neither here nor there :) What do you think of Julianne's style?

Style Icon: Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm going to go ahead and guess that you either love her or hate her as I rarely meet anyone who's in between. No matter where you stand, you just have to admit, the lady has style! I absolutely love her red carpet style, event style, and street style. It's always simple and effortless but incredibly chic! Her enviable long and lean figure certainly helps as nothing seems to look bad on her frame. And the fact that she's a mother of two?  I commend anyone who can always look pulled together, and extra points when you're a mom!

All the above are of her in the past month, and it's this awesome outfit-after-outfit that inspired this post! Also, can we please take a moment to appreciate those orange ankle strap Michael Kors sandals? Paired with that purple dress? Love. 

 Last years Oscars | Street Style

For the record I am a fan :)

Bonus looks I love:

Shopping Advice via Lauren Conrad

I've already featured Lauren Conrad as one of my style icons, and with her own fashion line and style book, I think we can say the girl does know her stuff. I came across a snippet of an interview she recently did with Redbook magazine and she had what I thought was really great advice when it comes to shopping! It's advice that I think could help with the whole "shopping your own closet" idea, but if shopping in a store/online, it will help ensure you make wise decisions when it comes to your purchases. 

When it comes to shopping her advice is to pull out your 10 favourite pieces or most worn pieces and lay them out. This will help you "figure out what you gravitate toward, what makes you feel good". Two perks of this: that you have a clear view of what you actually wear, and what you WILL actually wear; also that with these pieces in mind, you can build a wardrobe around them which will keep them in rotation! She also mentions the usefulness of this practice when thinking about accessories - you won't be as likely to buy things on a whim and realize that it doesn't go with anything you wear!

To try out this advice I decided to scour my closet for my favourite/most-worn pieces. In order to get a well rounded and most accurate view, I made sure to include work attire as well. These are the pieces I came up with: 

Will it help? Time will tell. What do you think of this advice? Do you have any tricks or tips yourself to make sure you get the most bang for your buck?

Style Icon: Kate Moss

For my next featured style icon, I have chosen Kate Moss. I think she is an obvious choice having been in the fashion spotlight for, like, ever. Although she has had her highs and (countless) lows in the press and in her personal life, I still really enjoy her. Especially her fashion sense. Her style is very model chic, meaning lots of clean lines, neutrals and even more black! One thing I also noticed about her style is her overall lack of accessories. In my constant efforts to accessorize myself, it makes me feel better to be reminded it's not the be-all-end-all! 

Kind of the way I love old photos of Audrey or Marilyn, I also love the photos Kate has taken over the course of her career. For that reason I would LOVE to get my hands on her book Kate: The Kate Moss Book. I think it would be a perfect coffee table book! It comes in 8 beautiful covers (below) shot by shot by Mario Testino, Corinne Day, Inez & Vinoodh, Craig McDean, Mert & Marcus, David Sims, Mario Sorrenti, and Juergen Teller. Definitely not expecting a high-quality read out of it - but more as an adult picture book... :)

Funny Friday: Oscars & Jennifer Lawrence

To cap of this week following the Oscars, I thought I'd share some funny things not just having to do with the Oscars, but also having to do with Jennifer Lawrence. I have said it a million times (or twice) and I will say it again: prior to seeing Silver Linings Playbook I really didn't like her much but now - after the movie, seeing interviews and her awards show flubs - I'm kinda loving her!

The first thing I want to share is a photo The Platform (best known for personalities such as P'Trique) posted on Facebook yesterday, with the caption "Who else thinks this should be an actual ad in the next issue of Vogue? Tumbling is SO chic right now."

Here are a couple of Jennifer Lawrence videos that have been making their rounds on the internet this week. The first, her hilarious press speech after winning her Oscar:


And when she met Jack Nicholson for the first time after he crashed her ABC interview...


Have a fabulous weekend!

Attraction Alert: Coral Shoes

As of late I have found myself VERY attracted to coral shoes. Coral shoes of any shade also - whether they be on the neon side or on the pastel side. Below I've featured Jessica Alba and Hayden Panettiere wearing a couple of beauty pairs in bright versions of the shade. They are both wearing fairly modest and classic outfits, but paired with these shoes, their overall looks are given some life and some fun!

I could not find any shoes that were quite as bright neon as Hayden's, but I think I found Jessica's. My best guess is that they are the Kate Spade "licorice too" pump in the colour "Fuxia Flouro Patent" (below). They run for a not so modest $300. In my search I was looking around for some other colour/style/price variations and this is what I found:

Rachel Roy | Kate Spade | Alice +Olivia

 Town Shoes | Aldo

What do you think of coral shoes?

Funny Friday: Celebrity Tweets

If you happen to have a few minutes (and I really hope you do!), please take a look at this little YouTube playlist I've put together. 

I happen to think that Jimmy Kimmel is HILARIOUS and browsing through his YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon these gems. In these 3 videos he has celebrities read real tweets that were either directed @ them or about them. Seriously funny stuff here! (I put them in order but I'd say 2 and 3 are the best) Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend! 

 

Julianne Hough for Sole Society

A couple of months ago I saw Julianne Hough announce over Twitter that she would be collaborating with Sole Society to develop a line of shoes. Well, over the weekend I noticed that they have finally been unveiled. I've only recently been browsing Sole Society footwear and so far I think they have a lot of really great styles. This collaboration I feel is no different. I tend to really like Julianne's style so I'm not surprised that I like the shoes. I'm not crazy about her flats, but I wanted to share some of the heels that I liked! 

"Makenna" sandal | "Gianna" sandal | "Angela" bootie

First, there's the "Makenna" sandal. Very fashionable and fun. I like the zipper detailing and how bright they are. Next there's the "Gianna" sandal. I feel like this one is inspired by her dancing roots as it very much reminds me of the type of shoes they wear sometimes on Dancing with the Stars! I do however think that the style and the colour are pretty darn cute. Finally we've got the "Angela" bootie. I really liked this colour with spring around the corner, and we all know a peep-toe bootie is super trendy right now. 

What do you think of her collaboration?

Cute slogan too... 

2013 Grammy Looks

As I'm sure everyone is aware, last night was the Grammy Awards. I watched the red carpet special before the show then watched the first portion of the show itself. I must say, when it comes to red carpet awards shows, I think the Grammy's are the most fun. By most fun I mean that it is a formal event that brings out a lot of gowns, but usually with an edge. Perhaps though we would have seen more risk takers if CBS hadn't issued a memo telling attendees essentially to cover up! There definitely were some celebrities that tested the limits - Katy Perry with her "key hole", Jennifer Lopez with her hip high slit, and Kelly Rowland with all of those sheer cut-outs in her dress. Compared to some outfits in previous years, those are actually fairly modest violations of the dress code. Needless to say, I really enjoyed the fashion last night.

For the evening my top fashion prize goes to Rihanna in a custom Azzedine Alaia. I couldn't stop staring at it! The colour, the way it moved - I thought it was gorgeous. My next favourite would be Carrie Underwood in Roberto Cavalli. I knew she would make it to the top of my list the second I saw her. She also looked stunning!

Here are a few of my other favourite looks on the red carpet (apparently I was drawn to dark and red gowns!):

Allison Williams, Skylar Grey, Miranda Lambert, Natasha Beddingfeld

Who were your style winners of the night?

2013 SAG Awards Fashion

The SAG Awards took place on Sunday and since I didn't watch them I did my usual Monday morning online fashion recap! I've got to say, I was MUCH MORE impressed with the fashion here then I was with the Golden Globes fashion. Definitely more favourites to choose from. I can only hope it's a sign that the Oscar fashions will be off the charts!

My take away from these awards were that blue and anything sparkly/metallic were big! My top two looks from last night were Marion Cotillard in Dior, followed by Amanda Seyfried in Zac Posen. It took me awhile to figure out my #2 spot, because as much as i love Amanda's dress, I wasn't so sure about her giant necklace she accessorized it with. After much thought, I decided I loved that dress enough to make her the runner-up. 

Here are a few more favourites worth sharing:

Nicole Kidman, Claire Danes, Nina Dobrev, Jordin Sparks

Who topped your list?

Style Icon(s): Jennifer & Justin

Imagine this: you're married to Brad Pitt. Then imagine, he leaves you for Angelina Jolie and they go on to have a humongous perfect beautiful family. Pretty hard to top right? Not as hard as you might think. How does one top Brad Pitt? With the much more manly, much more handsome, Justin Theroux. 

I am going to go ahead and assume that everyone knows who Jennifer Aniston is.  She really is one of America's Sweethearts. It's hard not to love her. And going back to her Brad-breakup, if there was ever a girl who knows what "looking better after breakup" is all about, it is her. She is coming up to her 44th birthday and has never looked more awesome! In my opinion she's always been fashionable head-to-toe... literally! Remember "the Rachel" hair cut? She also has the ultimate accessory now in Justin, that equally stylish finance of hers! I think they are just the cutest couple, and SO NYC chic with their classic black duds. When it comes to her man and her style, if you ask me, Jen has won both rounds!

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2013 Golden Globe Red Carpet Winners

Last night was the 2013 Golden Globes. Just like the People's Choice awards, I did not watch the show, but first thing this morning I went online to check out the red carpet fashions and pick my favourites! Normally I like to watch the Red Carpet specials before the show, but football took priority last night. 

After sorting though the fashions I realized that I sadly didn't really have many "WOW" moments. The top two that did stand out to me were definitely Kerry Washington (in Miu Miu) and Jessica Alba (in Oscar de la Renta). Their outfits were VERY different from one another but I thought both looked elegant and absolutely stunning! Along with their looks I've posted a few other favourites below. 

Who were your standouts from last nights show?

My Choice for the 2013 People's Choice

There were lots of great looks last night at the 2013 People's Choice awards - and lots of sexy, daring looks too! I wanted to share my top 2 - Taylor Swift in a Ralph Lauren collection gown (after yesterday's post you KNOW it's the outfit and NOT her, haha), and Lea Michele in an Elie Saab mini. Geez Louise I would wear either of these in a heart beat! You know, if I had somewhere to wear them and a larger disposable income :)

I think it's a little bit funny too that after my style resolution a few months ago to accessorize myself, both of these looks have little-to-no accessorizing. It's perfect though! Keeps the looks classic. It's also helping to inspire me for my birthday look which is later this month. Already thinking about wearing a white Alice + Olivia mini-dress, perhaps I will pair it with some pink shoes!? Kind of combining these looks and creating a real-world, more practical ensemble.