I’m Finally a Senior!

RedDSC_0199_1

redDSC_0223_1

redDSC_0231_1

After three interesting years of high school, I am quickly approaching my final year at a pace I’m not too comfortable with. With being a senior comes a lot of responsibilities and tasks that need to be checked off the to-do list. There are campus tours that need to be done, capstone projects that need to be started, SATs to study for as well as take, applications to send off to colleges, senior dues to pay off, a GPA to keep up, a show choir to lead now that I’ve been appointed captain (I’m super stoked about this), and on top of all that, balance a job on my plate. I will say that trying to write this list down got me breathing a little heavier, but every senior has to go through this. I should be able to do it too.

From the list, I’ve started campus tours. I visited Kennesaw State University a few weeks ago. I didn’t take any pictures, which I currently regret, because I was like a kid in a candy store. The campus is super cool and KSU seemed technologically advanced and offers good programs. In a few days I will be visiting the University of Georgia and I’m quite excited to see what’s in store. Another exciting milestone is that I started working. My first official job! I work as a cashier at a local pizza restaurant and I’ve been loving it. I’m the kind of person who will take working over sitting at home watching TV any day! Plus as a cashier I also take in orders, so it’s been definitely helping me build confidence when speaking to new people and enhancing my customer service skills.

A project that I’ve recently started is starting to take my senior pictures. I still have yet to sign up with a studio to get both my yearbook and cap and gown pictures. When it comes to the scenes my mom and I decided to do our own, ones that catered more to who I am and backgrounds that express the real Allyson. Like everything I do, I like to add a bit of a twist. My mom and I thought it would be a good idea to do some pictures at home since it’s where I live and spent my entire high school life in. We decided to do more of a high fashion shoot for my pictures, so we waited on a rainy day to take some cool shots. What I like about the pictures is that they have a range from almost playful to something a little gothic. I look like one of those chicks from horror movies who’s about to haunt someone (honestly those shots were my personal favorite). The rest of my senior picture scenes are still yet to be taken and ideas are still being brought to the table. Honestly, I think I need a scene surrounded by Disney characters. Those who know me will tell you that Disney movies make up my life. What can I say? I’m still a five year old at heart, despite the fact, I may need to face some responsibilities that require a tad bit of growing up.

Teen Fashion Blog: A Confidence Booster

teen fashion blog little black dress

DSC_3804R

teen fashion blog little black dressRecently I have been looking at the outfits I have posted in the past and realized that I tend to stick to the cutesy dresses, bright colors, and comfortable shoes that minimize my height as much as possible. For years I have stuck to playing it safe in the clothes that make me feel comfortable and better about myself but I have never tried to expand my horizons in clothes that may push me to reach new levels of confidence. Ever since middle school hit, my confidence started to deteriorate (as any typical middle schooler’s would). I always tried to avoid making myself look any taller because I felt weird being taller than more than half of the boys in my class. I have been quite shy with my appearance and confidence from the very beginning of middle school to the beginning of junior year.

I don’t exactly know what happened but I just remember looking at myself in the mirror one day and finally telling myself to stop caring about what others would think. I finally wanted to wear heels like every other girl could despite the fact that it could make me taller than everyone in the room. I was more comfortable with wearing crop tops despite the fact that it may show a little bit of my tummy (which is weird because I’ve worn bikinis for years when I go swimming). I was ready to mature my taste in clothing and be proud of what I’m wearing.

The reason I’m sharing this is because I know that there are some girls who read my blog who are either in middle school or high school who probably feel the same way I used to feel. This is more of a reminder that this is just a small period of time before you truly gain the confidence to look the way you want without being scared or shy about it.

I can tell you when it comes to this outfit, I wouldn’t have even thought about wearing it two years ago. I would freak out about the fact that some of the skin in my stomach is being shown or that I’m wearing heels that will make me look taller than all of the guys I passed by. I wore this outfit to a friend’s birthday party and I’m 99.9% sure that I was taller than everyone at that party in those heels, but it didn’t even faze me, I was more concerned that the shoes would keep me from dancing the entire night (but word of advice, always bring comfortable shoes that match the outfit just in case your feet can’t take it anymore :).

Teen Fashion Blog: Coachella Inspired Outfit

Coachella Inspired Outfit bohemian outfit

Coachella Inspired Outfit bohemian outfit

Coachella Inspired Outfit bohemian outfit

Coachella Inspired Outfit bohemian outfit

Coachella 2016 is coming up in April and I’ve recently had a small dream of going and experiencing what it’s all about. Coachella is basically an art and music festival on steroids. I say that it’s a festival where all the hippies go to party and have fun. Now I’m a pretty uptight person but I like to be able to let loose and have fun as much as I can yet it can be hard. I think an environment like Coachella would allow me to let loose and have fun like the rest of some of the hippies there. I was looking at the lineup and some big names are going to end up performing at the festival. Some of the acts that will be seen include Sia, Years & Years, Zedd, Ice Cube, Disclosure, Ellie Goulding, Of Monsters and Men, Alssia Cara, Calvin Harris, and many other musicians!

Something else that I love about Coachella is the fashion! The style that you will find at Coachella is a lot of boho. This style is very relaxed and all about being carefree, kind of like the festival. When I think boho I think loose clothing, fringe, lace, and flower crowns! Me being my girly little self absolutely adores flower crowns. I had done a boho inspired look back in the summer and I decided that it would be perfect for a Coachella outfit. I’m wearing a blue jumper that is fairly loose. I paired it up with a nice headband that ran across my forehead the way a flower crown would. I also wore some fairly large earrings because the jumper’s top was low cut and I didn’t wear any jewelry around my neck. To match the large silver circles in the earrings, I wore a belt that had a large buckle. To finish off the look I wore some silver sandals to top the boho look off. I may not be able to attend the real Coachella but maybe I’ll be invited to a Coachella inspired party!

Teen Fashion Blog: Celebrating Wolves

teen fashion cropped top high waisted pants cardigansandnecklaces.com

teen fashion cropped top high waisted pants cardigansandnecklaces.com

teen fashion cropped top high waisted pants cardigansandnecklaces.com

I am pretty excited to say that this week will definitely be an eventful, but good week. Today is the two year anniversary since Cardigans and Necklaces was officially created. I’m ready to begin adding a second year worth of content to the blog! Another year of creating pretty outfits sounds pretty great if you ask me!

Another thing I’m pretty siked about is starting a brand new semester of school tomorrow. Last year I had an accelerated pre-calculus block class that I was not very fond of, but this semester I won’t have it any longer! I’m ready to meet new teachers and make new friends in my classes. This semester I will be taking a block physics class and a block Spanish 3. I’m not big on physics since it’s a mix between math and science (not my favorite subjects), but I’m ready to give it my best.

For those of you who don’t personally know me, I am probably the biggest Teen Wolf geek there is around. I mean, who else would binge watch all five seasons of the show in four days or learn all of the ages and heights of the actors in the show? Okay, I may have quite a bit of an addiction for the show going… but I promise you I’m not crazy (that’s a lie, I’m pretty crazy). All I can say is that a girl needs her fix of super attractive mythical creatures with crazy cool butt kicking abilities. Tomorrow season 5b of Teen Wolf starts and let’s just say that I may have cried a few tears of excitement this morning, #FanGirlAlert.

Speaking of my quirkiness, we all have learned from the past that I can be quite the mixaholic. A Mixaholic is a person who loves to mix and match different patterns and colors together quite a lot to the point where loved ones worry for the person’s well being and wonder if they will ever give up this addiction. Well for you loved ones, the answer is a big no, I will forever play around with patterns. The outfit above is a perfect example of my mixaholia (that might not be a word). A floral purple crop top with a grey and blue striped cardigan is quite a pattern mix but it definitely works. Since I’m not big with exposing too much skin, I always try to pair up crop tops with high waisted bottoms (in this case a high waisted blush pink pant). Since I already had so much going on in the top I kept the shoes and pants a light neutral color. The buttons in the pants were a rose gold color so I made sure to tie in rose gold earrings. Other than that, the outfit required little jewelry and looked pretty great. Remember young grasshoppers, sometimes less is more.

Teen Fashion: Summer Lace Elegance

summer lace elegance ootd

summer lace elegance ootd

summer lace elegance ootd

The Bohemian style has been quite a popular look this summer. Every store I go into I end up seeing tribal like patterns, fringe, loose clothing, headbands that wrap around your forehead, and lots and lots of lace! I have always been a fan of clothes with cute little lace details because to me it screams girly. Just this spring I stocked up on some lace shorts for the summer because they were comfortable, good to keep cool, and super cute. Now lace isn’t only associated with the bohemian look, you can style it any way you want. It’s just that now with the bohemian look being in, it is easier to find clothing with lace on it.

I decided to style up my white lace shorts in a more elegant way this time. I took a nice light grey sheer top that is very simple but has a small lace detail around the neckline. Too much lace can over power so that’s why I had a simpler shirt with only a tiny bit of the lace accent at the top so that the look was simple yet elegant. I also paired it up with some white sandals which is perfect for the summer even though there have been a few times where I got really bad sandal tan lines. I also paired it up with a necklace that consist of white, black, and grey beads. These are fairly basic colors and not a lot going on but my mom always tells me that sometimes less is best. In this case the simplicity of the outfit is best and elegant at the same time.

It’s also a nice light outfit for the summer, especially when death comes knocking at your door in the form of 100 degree weather. When I went to take these photos I sat down on the concrete wall and my thighs were super red after the shoot because they were burning. It’s even worse when you have to sit in a car with leather because not only do your legs get burned, but your sweaty thighs start to uncomfortably stick to the blazing leather. I think the North Pole is starting to sound pretty good at this time of year, don’t you think?

Style Cravings: Fanny Packs?!

Style Cravings: Fanny Packs

Some of you probably looked up at the title and thought I was completely out of my mind…well I promise you I’m not so please bare with me. I’ve been looking back at a few runway pictures and styles and something that I saw reoccurring a few times were stylish fanny packs. This caught me by surprise because I never thought a fanny pack would ever get into style. When I think of fanny pack I see a male tourist wearing sunglasses, sunscreen on his nose, a striped polo, cargo shorts that go higher on his waist than supposed to which is held by a belt, high socks, sunburned skin despite the fact he has sunscreen on his nose, and of course a fanny pack that holds his camera and perhaps even tickets to a certain place. I always told myself I would never be that person who wore a fanny pack everywhere, at least that was till I saw a few of these cute little packs that can not only compliment an outfit, but it can even enhance it!

What I love about these Fanny Packs is that they don’t look like your typical fanny packs. These have cute little belts that hold the pack up instead of some ugly strap. Also the pack isn’t some odd shape that is kept in the front, these look like adorable wallets that are often put off to the side or dangling. I really wouldn’t mind wearing one of these fanny packs because they can conveniently hold things, can make an outfit look cuter, and you don’t have to worry about losing it or getting it stolen if it’s around your waist at all times. I really do hope these kind of fanny packs start coming into style and I start seeing them in stores because I will definitely jump up on this trend. The only thing I don’t like about the fanny pack is the name itself, it just sounds so weird. How about Style pack? Waist purse? I may need to work on a better name to call them.

FFF: Fab 50 Friday

FFF: Fab Fifty Friday

Now there has been this thing on social media that’s been trending called #TheDress. Now I’m a fashionista so naturally I was pretty curious about what it was. I had people all over my twitter posting about this dress. Now I just saw a black and blue dress so I didn’t see what the big deal was. Then I started reading the comments and found out that some people saw the dress color to be white and gold. I thought this was insane because all over social media people were fighting back and forth about what color the dumb dress was. Further curious, I walked over to my parents that night and asked them what color they saw. Apparently I’m the only one in my house who saw the dress as black and blue. We had a miniature family war over what color we saw. I did some reading into how it was possible for certain people to see one color and other people see another color. I read things from someone’s mood affecting what color you see to people claiming that it has to do with being some sort of color blind. I mean this lasted about a week guys! It was crazy how much attention this silly dress got and how much conflict it caused. There were even celebrities such as Taylor Swift joining the trend posting what colors they saw.

download

I also own this game called Crossy Road on my phone. I really love the app and find it quite fun, especially when i’m bored. The objective of the game is to try and cross as many roads as a character without dying. One is able to unlock different characters. I had almost all the characters and then I found out there was this update that would open up more characters so I got the update to challenge myself some more. I started looking through the different characters and what do I see? One of the characters I saw…. was #TheDress! I kid you not! This crazy dress got so much attention that it even get’s it’s own character on a popular game! When you play as this character the dress changes from black and blue to white and gold each time you play it! It’s absurdly cool!

crossy-road

Now you may be thinking I created this outfit using #TheDress as inspiration but I assure you that is not the case. I created the outfit and then after taking a good look at it I made a little joke inside my head. I told myself “is the dress white and gold…or do some people see black and blue?” Yes I know it’s a silly joke but I thought it would make for quite the interesting post, especially for those who have no idea what it is. To be completely honest the first thing I thought about when I saw the completed outfit was how it looked like something one of the Kardashians would wear because they seem to wear a lot of white. I mean I don’t blame them, the color looks good on them.

Now I do want to point out that this outfit ended up being a bit more than fifty dollars but how could I not post it? I thought it was too good of an outfit to waste. Now usually I would try and avoid crop tops as much as possible because I was very self conscious about exposing too much skin or if that would look trashy. I have recently discovered that crop tops are not a bad thing as long as you know how to dress it right and make it look more stylish and classy without the intention being to expose a lot of skin. I have found that high waisted bottoms look better with crop tops. That’s why I included a high waisted skirt with the crop top. Yes you may expose a little bit of skin but it doesn’t look trashy, it’s still pulled off as classy. The heels are lace and expose almost a brownish goldish tone which is where I combined the earrings to match. What I love about this all white outfit is that you can put pretty much any jewelry and it will still match. You can use vibrant colors to make the outfit fun or use subtle colors to keep it more elegant. Look at the picture of the dress and leave a comment telling me what colors you see. I would love to see how many people see one color over the other.

Teen Fashion: Valentine’s Day Blues

DSC_2990_1

DSC_2999_1

DSC_2995_1

I’m sure we all in our lifetime experience at least one Valentine’s Day Blues. Even though this year’s Valentine’s Day wasn’t bad or terrible, I didn’t really get the opportunity to hang out with any one so I kind of just stuffed my face with chocolate that day along with some Disney movie watching. Yes I know, I’m your typical teenage girl but what can I say? I love my Disney movies and I love me some chocolate. This past weekend I took liberty of going out to the movies even though it’s after Valentine’s days. The good thing about hearts though is that you can wear them any day without it being looked down upon because the holiday has already gone by. I didn’t want to wear the same old pink or red so I chose something different. I got this dress for Christmas and I thought it would go perfectly with these heart socks. I will admit I’m an odd one, only in my world can I justify that hearts and flowers go together. Also to add on to the funky pattern mix, I matched it up with some denim shoes for some extra fun. I mean while we’re still young why not feel free to act that way sometimes and dress young. I never completely understood the whole dressing older thing because we’re only young once so why not dress like it. I’ll have my time in the future to dress older and more mature but for now I’m going to be as quirky and fun as I can be.

You Wanna Be On Top?

you wanna be on top? teen fashion blog

A few weekends ago my mom told me about this modeling call that was happening in Atlanta and we both decided it would be a good idea to hit it up. I have never been to an actual modeling call before so I will admit to being a bit nervous. I have practiced my model walk for the longest time and watched enough episodes of America’s Next Top Model to know how to smize. What is a smize you ask? Well my friends, it’s when you use your eyes to brighten up your face the way smiles do, the only trick is that you can’t use your mouth to smile. It took a lot of funny faces in front of the bathroom mirror before I could actually get it. The reason my mom took me to the modeling call was that I could gain some experience and learn how the modeling industry works.

teen fashion blog modeling shopping

DSC_2487_1

DSC_2492_1

The model call was for a fashion show for a non-profit organization and was held at a small boutique in Atlanta. My mom and I made sure to get there an hour early so we could look around the store and do any last-minute practicing that was necessary. We ended up waiting there for nearly two hours because the people who were in charge of the modeling calls were about an hour late. I thought that was quite unprofessional, especially without a heads up. When she finally came in she handed some papers to my mom to sign since I’m still a minor.  There were only two other girls at the modeling call and they were also starting out their modeling career. The woman had me walk first and I made sure to put on the most confident look I could give and I never forgot to smize. As I walked I kept thinking “right, left, right, left. Stop! Pose, pose! you go girl! Smize and flaunt it!” I needed a bit of a confidence booster as I was doing it so it would make the walk easier on myself. The other girls went and did their walks, but they didn’t know what to do. One of them forgot to stop at the end and do a little pose and the other over did her pose. I’m sure mine wasn’t the best out there either because I am just starting out. What I did learn was that practicing and research goes a long ways. While I was there the woman also took some of my measurements to make sure I can fit into the clothes I would have to be modeling. I wasn’t too convinced with the modeling job over all because the people in charge of the model call didn’t seem to have their act together. At the end of the day, even though I am looking to enter the field I am not willing to do it with people who are not professional. I told them I would think about it but after discussing it further with my mom we decided that we would pass. The right opportunity will come, this one was just not it. Anyway, I figured you would still want to see some of the pictures from my very first model call.

you wanna be on top? teen fashion blog modeling

Now if you are also a teenage girl who is looking to land a modeling gig, then I am here to give you a few tips I have learned through my experience and the research I did.

When going to meet people, always have a smile on your face. You want to show them you are human and not some robot without emotions

Make sure that when you walk in you are fully groomed (nails are clean, hair is washed and styled well, personal hygiene is good, and the clothes chosen are nice).

Best thing to wear to a modeling casting call is a tank top to show your bone structure, skinny jeans to show off them legs, and heels to add some height and make your legs look nice as well.

If you decide to do makeup, keep it natural. Don’t go crazy with odd eye shadows and bold lipsticks. Highlight facial features and add definition to your face.

Comp cards are necessary to some modeling agencies or modeling calls so make sure to always have those in hand . These do cost money and can be expensive so before spending money make sure that modeling is really what you want.

Say you’re doing practice shoots or they are observing your walk and you make a mistake. Don’t point out the mistake and stop because they already saw it, it’s pointless to tell them something they already know. If you make a mistake just laugh it off and keep going. Laughing it off will also show the people who are hiring that you are more human and that you understand that you can make mistakes.