More flattering alterations / DIY

before             -              after

If you read the feature on me on Glass Boutique’s blog, you probably saw that one of the favorite items of mine from their shop was Something Else 2 Way tank (which is actually on sale now). I love this top for it’s perfectly simple fabric and color, yet totally rad cut. However, unfortunately, something that seems perfect in our minds, does not always look perfect on our bodies. Some garments just are not flattering, and do not support our comfort and confidence. Basically, they just don’t feel like “us”. So the amazing girls at Glass Boutique invited me to remake this top so it feels more like “me” because I believe that with a few simple alterations your dream garment can look as good on you as it did  in your mind. Here’s the result.

top - ℅ Glass Boutique + DIY / sandals - Sam Edelman (via Nordstrom) / choker - H&M

Here’s what I did:

1) Cut the side of the top shorter so one side of it shows of my shape and waistline instead of falling right on to the biggest par of my body - hips.

2) Sew on a leather piece. This makes the bottom of the top a little heavier which makes it fall even better. And it just looks cool.

These tips are very specific for this top, but I hope they can still give you ideas on altering other clothing that needs to be more flattering.



Also, if you’d like to hear my “awesome” Latvian accent, click here for a little video of Dennis Roliff asking me a couple of questions about Beach & Dress.

Much love, beautiful beings!! Thanks for everything!!

sneak peek

skirt, shoes - H&M

Photographer - Greg Flanik

Model - me

Maybe you remember I mentioned that while in NYC I bought the perfect white skirt. Well, here it is. Weirdly, I haven’t had a chance to take a whole outfit picture with it, but I used it as a styling piece when working on my modeling portfolio last week and this is a little piece of one of the images.

Speaking of something a bit more relevant. Do you remember the goals you set for 2012? How is that going? You become good at things that you focus on. Where is your focus this week? Questions I’ve been asking myself last couple of days.

AND, also a program called Random Number Generator has selected 3, 17, 13, 1 and 7 to receive “The Little Black Jacket” posters. Ladies, I’ll be in touch with you in a minute!

As always, much love, babes!!

pretty black

sandals - Sam Edelman (via Nordstrom) / shorts - vintage / top - Cheap Monday (via Urban Outfitters)

My head must have been out in the sun a little too much and cannot function right since I decided to wear all black on one of the hottest days of the summer. You know how it goes… I got new sandals (thanks to sweet, sweet Stefania of Effy’s Eyeliner), and it just felt like this was the most appropriate outfit to show them off with.

How was your weekend, babes? I went to a wedding and a christening. One word. FEAST.

  Pretty Lights - Can't Stop Me Now 

toreador

leather top - DIY (similar here)

Photos by Greg Flanik

Some shots Greg and I did after a day of hard work just for fun. I thought using the red sheet was such a brilliant  idea on his part. And yes, I finally made a black version of the leather top.

Are you having a beautiful week, babes?

bare hands / accessories

I never really post about just some details or accessories of my outfits, but I believe these two additions to my "jewelry box" definitely deserve a shout out. First are so called nail rings that I purchased on etsy. I fell in love with these right away because for years now my nails have been triangle shaped, and I don’t use nail polish a lot (funny enough that one time I decide to post about my nails I do have nail polish on) so they just felt like the perfect accessory to complete my bare hands, if you will. The second is a ring I bought while in NYC. The cost was $3.50 and I gave in. There you go, now you know.

As always, much love, babes!!!

Make it a beautiful Sunday!!

Chanel’s “The Little Black Jacket” by Karl Lagerfeld

dress - a perfect gift from a friend

While in NYC I had a chance to attend Chanel’s exhibition “The Little Black Jacket” styled with a help of Carine Roitfeld and photographed by Karl Lagerfeld. I have to apologize for the couple of instagram pictures that you might have already seen if you follow me (@karinadej) or on twitter, but honestly this iconic label has made sure that every aspect of the exhibition is polished to the perfection, and the fashion enthusiasts that cannot view the exhibition live do not have to search for some “not so high quality photos of photos” (what mine would have been), but instead can have a phenomenal e-experience right here.

But what are the pictures of three posters from the exhibition? Well, those are actually souvenirs I brought for you (these are all the choices they had) because I love you so much, and I appreciate every single one of you. All you have to do is just be the awesome self that you already are and follow me on bloglovin’ and/or Google Friend Connect. Leave a comment stating which poster you’d like (Sarah Jessica Parker, Vanessa Paradis or Elle Fanning) and your email address. In about 10 days with a help of number generator I will randomly select 5 of you, and ship your posters :)

Make a beautiful day for yourselves, babes!

PS. I’ve had the honor to be featured on Glass Boutique’s Blog. You can check out the feature here. Thanks, Toni! :)

PPS. I’ve put some more summer dresses from Urban Outfitters and American Apparel on ebay. 

Coney Island

dress - c/o Sugarlips / bag - DIY (similar to this) / sandals - dolce vita / sunglasses - asos

I just felt like I had to update as soon as possible because today my husband, friends and I visited Coney Island. Even though Brooklyn feels like home now, I had never been to the beach here yet so this was a new experience of NYC. As I said on my Instragram (@karinadej) the beach just made me fall in love with my already favorite city even more. Please don't forget about it when you visit NYC. Especially if your are in a mood for some excellent Russian food.

I was wearing my lovely dress from Sugarlips. A simple outdoor wedding is coming up, I might just dress it up with a nice hairdo and I'm all set. What do you think, babes?

Much love to you!!!

...

denim jacket - Levi's (+DIY here)/ top, purse - vintage/ sandals - dolce vita

You know, just an outfit that I want to wear here in NYC every day. And I found the perfect white skirt at H&M. You shall see it soon.

Much love, babes!!!

NYC, wait for me!

jacket - ℅ Sugarlips /pants - American Apparel /top, purse, sandals(Hush Puppies) - thrifted /leather collar - DIY (here) /messy version of my Samurai Hair



These pictures are actually from last Sunday. I just didn’t want to overwhelm you with two black and white outfits one right after another. On the other hand, maybe I should have just posted it right away because I have nothing to hide - I dress black and white all the time (lately). You probably already saw the purse I have on my instagram (@karinadej) because I just had to share it right away. The purse is yet another  thrifting score. I had seen similar ones from Alexander Wang and Philip Lim, and I would be lying if I said they were on the top of my wishlist, but once I saw this baby at my local thrift store, I just couldn’t pass it up. In my opinion, it’s even better than the other two because it’s in my favorite combination - white and gold.

Alright, babes, I have to go now… busy morning… because my husband and I are GOING TO NYC today! yay! My favorite city, wait for me!

Much love to you!!

Perfectionism ruins / DIY

I wish I could say that bleaching the color out of my life was my original idea. The truth is that very many bloggers have showed all kinds of bleaching methods. So just take this post as another inspiration to bleach everything! While doing this I learned a couple of things. First of all - my perfectionism can ruin things. I really wanted the denim Levi’s jacket to be as white as possible so I kept it in bleach over night because after couple hours of bleaching it didn’t seem white enough. MISTAKE. All buttons fell out and as I was washing it, a few big wholes ripped. The color now is perfect though so please don’t judge me when I still wear it. Calvin Klein shorts let their color go within 40 minutes. I was shocked since they were originally a lot darker than my jacket. And the American Apparel dress took about 2 hours. Overall I’m very happy with the results and I’m in the middle of bleaching another item. I’ll show you the results once I have them.

Also, as you can see I’m in a process of unpacking and decorating my apartment, thus the taken apart table behind my couch and rare posts.

Love you, babes!!