Finding the perfect summer dress that is the bare essential for a Flamboyant Natural.

I have many dresses but none are casual. Most of them are not even my style. I bought them for occasions that required I wear a dress. I have three little black dresses even though I have decided that I don't look good in black. So I am turning over a new leaf and editing out my dresses that don't reflect my true style. I needed a knit dress that has a simple line long enough to reach my knees and in a color that looks good on me. 
So this dress will be the first one that fits these requirements, and the best part is it only cost $12.99.
The hat adds the interest.

Breaking my rules:Missoni knitwear

I love Missoni knitwear. There is something that speaks to me in those horizontal zig-zags!

I never wear horizontal stripes because I am already horizontally challenged in my upper half of my body, but fashion sometimes requires me to break my rules so I bought a Missoni inspired knitwear top. Here it is with denim clam-digger length  jeans.

Here I am wearing it with my new denim knee length shorts and caramel colored sandals. Although I know it makes me look bigger on top I just love this pattern and had to break my rules once. Some times fashion doesn't look good on our body type but maybe that doesn't matter because I feel good wearing something so lively. Do you make exceptions to your fashion rules and break then once in a while??

Cool on the hot side: details that dont heat you up

I am trying to stay cool in the 95+ heat here on the East coast. At the same time I am trying to look seasonable 'cool'. I have on a cowl neck sleeveless top in a grass green color. I have a coordinating necklace that was made by some individuals that live in Uganda. I feel that these beads are very natural looking and unfussy which is what I want just to polish up a simple top and capri outfit.

In the bottom photograph I am wearing white cotton capri and white sleeveless tank top and a brown linen loose shirt.(the top is brown not purple) The linen shirt keeps me protected from the sun but covered up and because it is linen it breathes. I added the Jasper necklace because it really picks up the color of the shirt and my hair.

My world is not black and white!!

The little black dress, black dress pants, the black blazer, black pumps, black ballet flats. I don't look good in black so I wonder would I be able to survive if I remove all black items from my wardrobe?

Stay tuned  The no black wardrobe plan: Staying with my Flamboyant Natural wardrobe I am going to substitute olive green for black this summer as my staple. So I will be looking for the LGD (little green dress)instead of the LBG dress. Lets see what I come up with. Do any of you think that Black doesn't look good on you???

color pattern texture shine:What not to wear mantra!

On the show 'What Not to Wear'  Stacy and Clinton often make this statement: color, pattern, texture, and shine are the elements of an interesting outfit.  So I'm going to give it a try. Keeping with my style theme of Flamboyant Natural I am wearing my cargo shorts, sleeveless tank top with top stitching in a wine color, I am wearing wine colored sandals and a scarf with this color in the print. The ends of the scarf have metal 'coins' sewn on the bottom. The earring are a little group of nuggets in the wine family. My bracelets are tiger's eye and another thinner resin one that looks like wood. So I have color-top and shoes, pattern -scarf, texture-earrings and scarf, shine- coins on scarf and jewelery.  Do you consider these elements when you decide on the elements of your outfits??

Being true to my style:Flambouyant Natural

I love style archetypes. I think they are fun to read about and fun to try and analyze yourself with their parameters. I saw this book Metamorphosis: Discover Your Image Identity and Dazzle as Only you Can by David  Kibbee written in 1987 as one of the more thorough presentations on the subject. It talks about Yin/Yang physical properties and is quite heady. I decided from digesting his information that I was a 'Flamboyant Natural'.  There is a website that discusses his concepts in more detail at: http://seasonalcolor.yuku.com/forums/71/wardrobe-and-style

I also liked a group of clothing that I found over at the Vivienne Files that were a perfect collect of these types of looks. I love khaki green, I love cargo types of pants, I love the artsy vest, cardigan sweaters, knit jackets etc but very casual.

I also liked these summer looks that I found on 'Cabi Canary' on what to wear with cut off jeans or cargo shorts.
So I tried to recreate these looks for myself. I was trying to do the loose blouse look over cut off jeans but am disappointed by how BAD my jeans look because they are so rumpled...UGH.

In the next photo I was copying the cargo shorts with the drapey summer weight vest. The greens match fairly well and I think this is a better attempt at my new style. Do you have a style type that defines you? How did you figure yourself out?

The dirty wardrobe:what to wear when you are going to get dirty?

Every year I need to re evaluate what I wear. Last year was the year I got a professional color analysis and a professional bra analysis. Money well spent.
This year I am going to analyze my wardrobe according to NEED not WANT.
I have come up with a list of my usual activities and sorted them into two groups:dirty not dirty. I need to realize that some of my activities make me sweat and get grubby while other activities I carry out don't. 
Here are the list of dirty activities: indoor cleaning, outdoor lawn care, dog grooming, dog walking, exercising at gym or riding bicycle.
Normally I wear grubby T shirts and beat up shorts to do the dirty activities and invariably I will jump into the car to go to the grocery store without changing first. Guess who I always run into at the grocery store when I do this of course people I know. So I want to create a "dirty activity wardrobe" that I won't be embarrassed to be seen in at the grocery store.
So my question is what do you wear to sweat in??
Are exercise clothes practical enough to do grubby work around the house?  I noticed that yoga pants etc are not inexpensive but because of their 'wicking' properties may be more practical, what do you all wear to sweat in? I noticed that Angie of 'You Look Fab' just calls this type of clothing 'gear'. She states that you should never wear your gear except at home or in the gym. Is it realistic to be fashionable when you are sweating???