Obsess: Woman by Common Projects

The wonderful thing about fashion is that it can me so many different things to so many different people.

I just spent a couple weeks in Los Angeles, and I have to tell you, I've never felt more New York.  When I landed, I was wearing a grey long sleeve crop top with an oversized T by Alexander Wang cardigan, black ripped jeans and knee high Alexander Wang Sigrid boots.  I stepped out of the airport into beautifully sunny, 70 degree LA and just saw t-shirts and color everywhere.

I noticed that LA had this air of not being put together, though I'm sure that people spent a lot of time on their outfits.  The casualness of LA definitely got to me.  I relaxed my style.  I found myself gravitating towards oversized t-shirts and boyfriend jeans.  Maybe that's what brought me to covet the Woman by Common Project slip-ons.

It's not that I saw a lot of people in them, but something about them was so laid back and comfortable that they seemed to fit right into the whole LA vibe around me.   As much as I loved them, I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on them because they're about $400 a pair!

At the end of the day, they're KIND OF like Vans, though WAY more sleek.  I can't help but love them.  Here are the ones that are my favorites:

The Classic Black

In Oxblood

And the Achilles Sneaker in Pink!

I'm pretty sure they'll go on sale soon.  I saw a lot of them on sale (but not in my size...ARGH!) when I did this search for my favorites, so if you like them too, maybe I'll be an Obsess to Own story for all of us!

Ogle to Own: The Shoes!

I forgot to tell you where I got married!  I was lucky enough to get married in the tropical paradise of Thailand.  My husband's family is Thai and a lot of his family was in Singapore and Thailand, so it was a great excuse to do a destination wedding.  We got married in Hua Hin, Thailand.  You probably haven't heard of it before because it's not a huge international tourist location, but I have a feeling that it won't be long until others discover it.

When it came to looking for wedding shoes, I knew I needed a sandal- no way was I going to end my wedding night with stinky feet!  I was prepared to spare no expense- this was not going to be an Ogle story.  I would buy whatever shoe I wanted.  

I'm not really a shoe junkie (if you read this blog, you know handbags are my drug of choice), so I wasn't really sure where to start, but sparkly was the first thing that popped into my mind.  I looked at countless pairs of Rene Caovilla strappy sandals, I tried on all the rhinestone covered sandals at Saks...nothing seemed to really work.  As a matter of fact, most of them were incredibly uncomfortable.

Sigh*

Now, comfort isn't usually something that matters that much to me, but in this case I knew I would have to wear them for hours.  I started to turn my eye to metallic sandals.  Metallics have been kind of "in" for a while and I've generally avoided them in sandals (though I'm not sure why), so starting to look at metallic sandals was a whole new world for me.  At the same time I started my search, Barneys was having a sale over July 4th.

BINGO!  Found them!  AND they were on sale.

Now, I had my reservations.  You see, this cute little shoe has a platform and I was really worried that it would make the shoe not look delicate or graceful.  A friend at work stopped by and took a look.  

"Dude, get them."

That's really all it took- I was checking out and 2 days later, they arrived.  I put them on, feeling a little like Cinderella with the glass slipper, and did a twirl or two in them.  They were perfect.  They were so comfortable.  It was time to Facetime my mom!  She loved them, too, and the rest is history.  

I danced all day and night in these perfect heels and you know what else?  I plan to wear them again.

Own: My Wedding Gown

When I started my journey to find a wedding dress, I had all kinds of ideas.  I wanted something that was unique.  I wanted something that would wow people.  I didn't want lace.  I wanted to be different.

I went shopping with my mom.  What did she want?  Everything traditional.  She wanted lace.  She wanted strapless.  She wanted a blusher.  She basically wanted everything I didn't want.

I didn't want to change my opinion.  I had this image in my mind and it's what I wanted.  When I got to my dress appointments, I shook my head at the strapless, lace, traditional gowns.  I waltzed right past them on the racks.  I fell in love with a gorgeous Angel Sanchez structured gown.  I felt AMAZING in it.  I had a bridal MOMENT with it- you know, like on Say Yes to the Dress where the bridal is all squeals and bursts into tears of happiness.  Here's that dress:

But, this was not the dress I got married in.  

My mom was insistent- not annoyingly so, but she is my mom and moms know a lot about their daughters (even thought daughters, until the end of time, will deny this).  Also, I am her only daughter and I didn't want to strip her of the right to see her only daughter in a dress that she liked.

The last dress I tried on was her choice- a lacy, strapless, mermaid gown.  She had seen it across the showroom in someone else's dressing room and insisted that I try it on.

I reluctantly put it on and, at first, it didn't seem like anything special.  I didn't even really look at myself in the mirror.  I just walked out.  As I emerged from the dressing room, I watched my mom.  She was speechless and her eyes were full of tears.  My mom's reaction instantly melted whatever image I had in my mind.  I can't even really explain what my heart felt when I looked at my mom.  Her reaction was what I wanted and when I realized this, the image I had in my head really didn't matter anymore.

I realize that this story has gone sappy quickly, but when I think back about my wedding experience, I have the fondest thoughts about it because of the emotional connections I had with my choices.  So without further ado, here's the dress:

 I bought this LACY, STRAPLESS gown by La Sposa.  I felt beautiful on my wedding day.

For the church, I had removable straps added.  Oh, and you know what else?  I wore a veil with a BLUSHER and it was the best decision ever.  I can't even describe to you how special the moment I shared with my dad was when he lifted my veil to give me to my new husband.  All the best decisions made.

Thinking back about the things that I Own, they usually are things that are more classic/timeless/things that I think are worth it.  My wedding dress was really the epitome of that.  I would buy it again.  No regrets.