Category — Cath’s Style

1.) My new Dolce Vita Blakely top - asymmetric sleeves, soft jersey, loose fit around the middle (no need to suck in the stomach!) and perfect for work or going out. In the photo, I’m wearing it with a pencil skirt and heels, but I’d love to pair it with some super skinny, cropped black trousers and ballet flats.

2.) Arrow ring by Low Luv x Erin Wasson. I’ve been looking for an inexpensive gold ring that has stacking potential. Plus, Low Luv is Erin’s only design partnership now that RVCA has dumped her.

3.) Popeye’s Red Beans and Rice. I always love red beans and rice, especially when my mom makes them, but sometimes I get a HUGE craving for the Popeye’s version. I don’t know what they put in it, but it’s delicious, fast food, Cajun goodness in a cup.

Right after work on Friday my bf and I did a little bit of bar hopping, Brick Store Pub –> Young Augustine’s –> Palate Wine Bar. Needless to say, it was a fun evening. I’m blaming my cheesy, overly pose-y stance on the two high gravity beers I already had in me when my bf snapped this by Young Augustine’s – a great beer bar/gastro pub in south Atlanta.

F21 vest, Simply Vera tank from Kohl’s, AA skirt, Dolce Vita shoes and bag from Vivid.

I wear vests to work a lot in the summer and this Forever 21 vest is one of my favorite. I like the longer proportions and the slightly rolled sleeves. I bought it last year because it reminded me of that gorgeous blue YSL vest that Juliana Moore wore on the cover of Domino.

I should have asked my bf to take a closer shot of the sleeves and lapel, but the photo below will give you a better idea of the cut. I know Forever21 gets a lot of slack for copycatting, but I would never in a million years be able to afford the YSL version.

PS: The vest isn’t the only thing I copied from that Domino cover. I also painted my apartment with the same wall color, Benjamin Moore Iced Mauve.

Books and clothes don’t seem like much of a combination, but they’re two of my favorite things. If you made me choose between the two, I wouldn’t know what to do.  Lar and I grew up in a house filled with books and our mom got us hooked on reading at a young age (John Bellairs books used to be our favorite summer reads – pre Harry Potter goodness). It freaks me out a little when I go into house that doesn’t have any books. How is that possible?

In the photo below, I’m standing in my parent’s current library/sitting room. They gave away most of their books when they moved down to Atlanta last year, but with monthly trips to the local thrift stores, book sales, book festivals, local book signings and indie book stores, we’re building the collection back up.

Outfit details: Shirt from Evolve Boutique, Asos denim pencil skirt and Seychelles heels.

It’s that time of the season where I start getting really sick of the clothes I have. My summer work wardrobe consists of a small rotation of sleeveless shirts and skirts. Maybe once the summer sales start I can stock up on some floral pencil skirts and cute silk tanks.

I think I’ve shown this necklace on the blog before. The pendant is a prehistoric squid fossil. Don’t believe me? Call Vivid Boutique, they’ll make one for you!

Usually when I buy a purse I wear it for about six months straight. The last new purse I got was a Christmas gift from Lar. It was great for the winter and spring, but lately I’ve been itching to tote around something a little more summery. My search ended at Vivid Boutique where I found this gray, vegan satchel. Perfect for work and big enough to carry around a book or two on the weekend.

I’m sitting on my couch in my new studio apartment. You can’t really tell, but I painted the walls of my living area Iced Mauve. I think it brings out the green of my couch and the gray of my new purse very nicely.

Scoutmob happened to offer a 50% off coupon for Squash Blossom Boutique on our birthday and I took that as a sign that I should buy something. That’s only logical, right? Lar got some really cute sandals and I ended up buying this striped, ruffly shirt. The coupon was clearly meant to be.

The shirt is very light-weight, black and white (well, cream) stripes and tunic length so I’ll be able to mix it up a bit with future outfits. It was the perfect summer top for our July 4th picnic with the family: hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, 5-cup salad, brownies and watermelon.

Outfit details: Boater hat from Nasty Gal, Mystree shirt from Squash Blossom Boutique, Urban Outfitter shorts, Dolce Vita shoes, leash from the Animal Rescue Shelter and our family dog Boo Radley.

My favorite part of the outfit:

My bf made me this necklace for my birthday and I LOVE it. He knows I’m a huge Wizard of Oz fan (Lar and I have both been fans since we were 2) and couldn’t find anything Oz related that wasn’t super cheesy. So he cleverly made the pendant and attached the silver himself. I think he should have his own DIY blog!

We spent most of our birthday at work, but we took a long lunch at Brick Store and then went shopping at Squash Blossom (hi, Jinah!). Cath was wearing one of her prezies from moi. Doesn’t she look great in this vintage dress from Ramona West?!

Dress from Ramona West, shoes are Dolce Vita, vegan bag from Vivid Boutique in Decatur.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Everyone! So so sweet! It made our day!

ps- For those of you who asked, our mom was not expecting twins the day she delivered us. They pulled out Cath and I popped out 30 seconds later.

Hello dear readers! Apologies for being away from AsianCajuns for so long. Immediately after moving I had to go out of town for work and am still unpacking and organizing. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful twin sister that picks up the slack when I’m buried under boxes and furniture.

Outfit: Bf’s aviators, shirt from Limited Too (13 years ago!!!), American Apparel skirt, H&M belt and Dolce Vita shoes.

I have yet to unpack all of my accessories so my outfits have been a little bland as of late. The photo above was taken before the move when I still knew where my sunglasses and belts were. The shirt is from middle school (it was not as fitted back then), but I can’t seem to part with it because it’s so classic.

Picasso and Hepburn were fans of the black and white stripes:

Same goes for Audrey Tautou as Chanel (navy and white is equally as timeless):

As much as I love my 13-year-old Limited Too version, I’d like a black and white piece that’s a little less fitted. I love this Rebecca Minkoff shirt. It would look great tucked into a black pencil skirt for work or un-tucked with black shorts and a boater hat for the weekend.

It’s a little too warm in Atlanta to justify buying a sweater, but I love the boyfriend cut of this Vince sweater. I’m really tempted to buy the Gemma dress because it has a pocket in it – I love pockets in dresses!

Come to think of it, I’m going hold off on buying anymore clothes for a while. I need to find room for the clothes I do have. The “walk-in” closet in my apartment is more like an entryway into the bathroom. I think I’ll have to store my shoes under my couch – eesh!

I’ll be taking photos of my new place once I paint the walls and get the artwork hung. My goal is to have it all done by the end of the month. Here’s hoping!

After four glorious days in Ocean City, MD, I’m back home half a shade darker (I pretty much drown myself in SPF when I’m at the beach so I don’t get much of a tan), a few pounds heavier (drank a lot of Dogfish Head beer, got my fill of Utz potato chips and Tasty Cakes) and am ready for another vacation (there are hundreds of emails in my inbox at work that I have yet to tackle).

Cassius sunglasses, Torn tank and black denim shorts from the U.O. sales rack last summer.

I usually read nothing but trashy mags at the beach, but on this trip I mixed in some more substantial reading like Vogue and Dwell. I like to stick to summer dresses at the beach, but I seemed to have given away almost all of them last year. So my vacation uniform consisted of tanks, shorts, sunglasses and flippy floppies.

Maybe it was the four years he spent in LA or his love for thrift stores, but I think my bf has great beach style. You can’t really tell in this photo, but the thrifted shirt he’s wearing has pastel blue, pink and green threads running throughout it.

After attending a wedding in Baltimore, we vacationed in Ocean City because my family has a condo on 94th Street. Lar and I grew up going to the condo every summer and it’s wonderful. My dad and aunt bought the place about 40 years ago and it’s never been redecorated – shag carpet, faux wood paneling and avocado green appliances. Want to see photos? Just wait for the next post!

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Thank you so much to all of you for the lovely anniversary/birthday wishes for AsianCajuns! Your comments always make our day/week/year(s)! xoxo, Lar & Cath

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DIY ruffle t-shirt, Target cardi, J. Crew necklace, H&M belt, American Apparel skirt, BCBG pumps.

Lar and I both are always inspired by all the fashion and style diy bloggers, but we rarely try to copy any of the projects. I have no explanation for this. Laziness? Dreading the mess that comes with crafting? Lack of sewing skills? It’s probably a mix of all three.

Luckily, I have some very crafty friends that can get me motivated every once in a while. A few weekends ago Julia, of Squirrel and Fox blog and Heliotrope, hosted a craft day. She’s been playing around with some diy projects she found on Made By Lex and invited a group of us over for some sewing and mimosa drinking.

Julia guiding Ali’s fabric cutting. She used the zebra pattern as the ruffle on her black shirt.

I used an old light pink shirt to get fabric for my ruffle on top of a darker pink v-neck Lar picked up for me at Rag-o-Rama in Little Five Points for $10.

Lar and I took a beginners sewing class one summer when we both thought we might want to go into fashion design. We learned quite a bit in that class; like how to thread  a sewing machine, how to adjust the tension, how to make a pillow case and a pair of boxer shorts. We also learned that we weren’t too fond of sewing and that fashion design was probably better left to those who do.

Here’s a close-up of my shirt. It’s pretty sloppy, but layering it with a cardi and dressing it up for work seemed to hide a lot of the flaws.

Thanks to Julia for getting me inspired for the day! Maybe I’ll be up for another DIY project in a few months.

There’s nothing new about combining yellow and gray. I think the yellow and gray combination in clothes reached its peak two winters ago with the ubiquitous yellow and gray striped cardigan that every store in the mall sold. For some reason it wasn’t until I saw Sandra Bullock wearing the outfit below in The Proposal that I thought I’d give the color combo a try myself.

Image courtesy of AllMoviePhoto.com.

I have no idea why I was inspired by a kind of run-of-the-mill romcom and a kind of ho-hum outfit. Bullock actually wears some gorgeously tailored suits in the film (accessorized with Prada, Louboutin and Hermes), but I suppose those seem so out of reach for me. So the yellow and gray outfit must have stuck out in my mind for its practicality. I already had all the pieces to incorporate the color combination into a work-appropriate outfit:

I de-preppified the look with the lacy Rodarte for Target cardi and my new chandelier necklace from Rockit. The white tissue tee is from Urban Outfitters, Proenza Schouler for Target skirt (hand-me-down from Lar) and nude pumps from the now defunct Eviva shoe store in Decatur.

I think it took me so long to jump on the yellow and gray bandwagon because I was worried the mustard yellow would make my mixed-Asian skin look a little sickly, but somehow it works. Maybe I have just enough Cajun in me to make it a complimentary color.