JOLEEN CREATIONS COLLAB

Happy Monday y'all! I had such a great weekend since my parents were here. They bought a bench from someone on Flea Market Flip, so they're going to be on TV; we went to the American Museum of Natural History; ate a lot (and I mean A LOT) of good food from some of my favorite restaurants; and they got to see what a typical day is like for me in NYC.

Today I'm sharing with you a collaboration that I recently did with a local designer, Joleen Richards of Joleen Creations. Joleen has been making jewelry for about five years now. She started partly because she was bored during the summer and was in search of a new way to express herself. So she decided to make jewelry, and about two years ago she decided to pursue it more since she was receiving positive feedback. Joleen likes to use a lot of beads in her designs, and is always trying to make unique pieces.

I like to keep my jewelry really simple, and when I went to Joleen's website, the necklace with the pearls was the first thing that I saw. I love wearing pearls, but I hate the standard pearl necklaces cause I think they look kind of old. But Joleen's is very modern and sleek and I knew I wanted to do a feminine look with it. The other two necklaces - the black and white wraparound ones - I saw next on her website. I love layered necklaces and I liked how simple these ones were with the solid colored beads and a few accent beads. And the tassels were a bonus! I love tassels. I don't wear beaded necklaces a lot because sometimes I think they look to chunky, but these ones are so chic - I would wear them all the time!

For creating the looks, as soon as I saw the pearl necklace I knew that I wanted to do something feminine. I wear black and white 99% of the time, so I decided to stick with that color scheme. I love this skirt because it's very flowy and hits me right at my waistline (which is hard to find). I decided to put it with a plain V-neck tee that I knotted at the waist because I can never be too dressy (I like to be casually classy). Also, since the pearls are very classy and I had my peep-toe heels, I thought the causal tee would take it down just a notch. We decided to switch things up and try the same outfit with another of Joleen's necklaces (the wrapped black beaded one with tassles), which I thought contrasted very nicely with my white tee and went for a little more of an edgier look.

When I saw the second necklace, the wrapped white beaded one with tassels, I loved how she styled it on her website (with a black turtleneck), so I looked through my closet to see if I had anything like it - and I did! So I wore it with a fitted turtleneck tank dress, and I knew I needed to add an extra layer, so I put on a white, fringed, knitted kimono (I don't really know what to classify this as). I thought that the white of the necklace and the white of the kimono would look nice together, and they both had fringe/tassels so I knew the texture would match perfectly.

If any of you are interested in the pieces I chose from Joleen Creations, find them here, here, and here.

xoxo,

Lex