Flower Power! Part One!

I love a good floral print.  Not so much the cutesy ditsy florals, but colorful and graphic high-contrast patterns against dark backgrounds have always been a favorite.  This spring, I've picked (HAHA! Get it?) some excellent ones for the shop:

Some of the styles above have already sold (and in the future I'll blog about new arrivals while they're still...new arrivals) but I'll be adding more over the next few days.  The shirt minidress (second row, far right) is still available AND it's from Liz Claiborne AND it reminds me of something Janeane Garofalo's character might have worn in Reality Bites:

(Also note Winona's floral maxi.)

In a later nineties movie reference, this fitted rosebud dress (that I juuuust listed!) channels Bianca Stratford's in 10 Things I Hate About You:

And here it is again worn with a cardigan over it! (Also known as: I need to incorporate this gif into my post.)

Oh, snap!

This gardenia(?) dress is also available in the shop.  I was captivated by the pattern.  The fit is flattering and flow-y as it is, and, if you're inclined to reworking dresses, you could get an entirely different look just by creating a hi-lo fishtail hemline and subtracting the sleeves:

I have a few go-to dresses in my closet and they happen to be covered in flowers.  Golly, floral prints sure are versatile!

This ruffle-hem dress, shown with a cropped tee over it (80s workout wear courtesy of my mom...) appeals to my punk-lite teenager self.  A decade (and a half) ago I might have added round sunglasses and a beret but these days I play down the edginess of the dress with a cardigan.

This romantic number (hello, red roses!) has a bit of a 40s vibe with it's strong shoulder and no frills silhouette.  It's a modest and girlie option for date night with ankle-strap high heel sandals and a contrasting belt.

This is my latest favorite in the floral dress department.  The fit is really flattering and I love the criss-crossing (RIP Chris Kelly) strap detail at the back.  It's an fun strap design but it's a situation that requires a specific brassiere.  I've gotten around that by wearing it underneath my army jacket, last seen here.  When I look at it on my dressform, I'm not so sure I like the proportions the jacket creates...next time I'll try it with a shorter, fitted denim jacket...or a denim vest!  I do like how I accessorized the dress so here's a close-up of those details:

The Aesa pendant necklace is a favorite I got from Totokaelo a couple of years ago.  As a cheapskate, it was a bit of a splurge even at the sale price but since I wear it almost everyday, the cost per a wear is literally pennies. (#fashionistalogic!)  The gold-tone leaf choker was an eBay score, also acquired a few years ago.  The pin belongs to my dad, but it's been on loan for awhile.  The square buckle belt was thrifted and I haven't found a dress it doesn't look good with. 

There are quite a few skirts in this floral collection.  Some favorites:

This one sold a couple weeks ago.  I love the teal/purple/green on navy color scheme and I'm partial to how I styled it.  Stripes (and polka dots!) are the neutrals of patterns, they go with everything and look great with floral prints:

Exhibit A: Pattern on Pattern.

The skirt below was for sale.  And it didn't sell since I decided to hang on to it a little longer.  I showed it with a white tee and denim jacket (far left) but offline I actually styled it as shown on the right.

   

Acquiring things for the shop and then reneging on it happens entirely too often, but  the next few skirts are for sale in the shop...if only because they don't fit me.

There's that Liz top, again!

I'm really tempted to keep this skirt, too.  Unfortunately the color doesn't really flatter me.  I have this weird thing about brown people wearing brown and people wearing flesh tones in general.  But look at that sweet pindot and those blue roses!

Here are not one, but TWO awesome, floral-printed takes on a white denim mini skirt.  I love the coordinating daisy zipper pull of the one on the left (from Esprit) and I don't mind the pastel purple and gray rose pattern happening on the right one.  I feel like both of these could have been taken from Kelly Kapowski's closet.  (Because this blog post hasn't reached it's quota for nineties references.  What can I say?  I'm a nineties bitch.) 

Tune in next time for part two of the florals post: flowers on shoes and blazers and housewares, oh my!