RETIRED LIBRARIAN CHIC | BLOGLOVIN’ + H&M

Oh HAIIILLLLL YESS! It’s Friday and if that wasn’t good enough news, Bloglovin’ and H&M are also searching for the next breakthrough Blogger of the Year”. One of the greatest bennies of winning is you get the opportunity to be mentored by the one and only Leandra Medine of Manrepeller! She’s basically the #BossBabe of all #BossBabes and is an inspiration for all the women out there who have a voice and aren’t afraid to use it.

Not only is she not afraid to wear swimsuit bottoms as part of her outfit in the middle of NYC, she’s also absolutely hysterical! In addition – I love that she’s fully ready to boogie at any given time – a trait we have in common. Because really… if your clothing doesn’t allow you to break it down to Beyonce’s “Get Me Bodied” then you need to change.

While you may be thinking this post is just a love letter to L.M. (not a requirement to enter – just started out that way) I really wanted to take this opportunity to explain a little bit about what I believe personal style is all about. When it comes to getting dressed in the morning, it should be something that’s fun and not a chore. It’s not necessarily about following fads or buying high-end labels. It’s about dressing for however you you feel that day. If you feel like being lawyer-chic… then girl – whip out that pants suit! Want to tap into your inner Janice Joplin – who says boas are restricted to Halloween parties? Who’s stopping you? Your fear of what people may think? What does it matter if you’re feeling good about yourself? If you’re constantly worrying about what others may think then you’ll end up spending all your time pleasing others that you forget what makes the big Y-O-U happy. Trust me – I’ve been there. It’s boring.

If you’re wondering about the inspiration behind this outfit? Apparently I wanted to feel like an 78 year old former librarian who’s now retired in Palm Springs and uses words like “cattywampus” and “indubitably”. If I had cat-eye spectacles you best believe I would’ve been wearing them… complete with a silver eyeglass chain.

P.S. These pictures were taken outside of our local library. I just realized how perfectly poignant this location was.

These are actually the shoes I wore in my wedding. Two big thumbs up for re-purposing your “I-do” kicks. Also, this is the first time I wore heels since last Saturday when I busted my feet up dancing. I’ve been rockin’ sneaks since then and thought it was time to take off my neon band-aids and put my big girl shoes back on. Apparently it wasn’t. At the end of the shoot I noticed my right tootsie was bleeding. Props to my Shmoop (Seinfeld reference) for being prepped with a big blue band-aid when we got back in the car.

Side note: why don’t we ever just buy the regular nude colored band-aids? Side note to the side note: We should all start wearing band-aids on our cheek Nelly style.

I ALMOST FORGOT! HERE’S HOW YOU ENTER: 

Style an outfit wearing a piece of clothing from H&M. It doesn’t have to be new. You can wear an older piece as well. Anything goes. Then either upload it to the comment section of Manrepeller’s post, send a link of your outfit to breakthrough@bloglovin.com or enter via Instagram by tagging @manrepeller and using the hashtag #BloglovinHMAwards16. Do one… or do all three. The option is yours. But one thing is a must… you have to have fun while doing it! The deadline is June 19th. Happy styling!

SHOP MY LOOK:

Shorts: H&M // Shirt: H&M // Crop Top: FOREVER 21 // Shoes: CHINESE LAUNDRY // Earrings: FOREVER 21 // Rings: old (similar stacking rings available on ETSY)