Outfit Inspiration: July 4th Holiday

Today’s outfit was inspired by the July 4th holiday. The idea to dress in red, white, and blue for patriotic holidays has been around for a while and is no doubt inspired by the colors of our nation’s flag. The great thing about this color combination is you can go as full on to the true colors as you want, or you can move into different shades and still get a patriotic feel.

For this outfit, I started with a thrifted, gingham, asymmetrical hem skirt. This is a fun piece with it’s unique hem and side button up detail. There was no label in this piece, so not clue where it came from originally.

The color is not a true, bright red, but rather more of a maroon or cranberry.

Since the skirt was red and white, I could have done blue as a top, but I decided to go with a Time & Tru white basic tee from Walmart, and my Christopher and Banks denim vest. Nothing says 4th of July like denim. Here’s a few denim vests from Target.

To keep the look fresh I chose a thrifted, white shoulder bag, that I also use as a cross body bag. This is a brand called Bueno. You can find numerous Bueno bags on ThredUp and Etsy. JC Penny sells a brand called Bueno of California, but I couldn’t find any info on whether these were the same company or not.

I added a few cute pieces of jewelry in red tones to pull in a little extra of the bright color.

I pulled out an old pair of Ked’s sneakers, as they were white and blue. I wish I could wear sandals more, but my veins make me self conscious, so I do wear compression knee highs almost all the time. However, for all of you who still have those beautiful legs, or for those who don’t care, wear the sandals!!

So what are you going to wear for the 4th of July? What do you think of this outfit? Is your Independence Day outfit going to include denim? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Happy 4th of July!

Outfit Inspiration - Independence Day Color

We just celebrated the 4th of July which is a summer holiday filled with fireworks, picnics, and cookouts. For my husband and I it was a day to get things done around our home that we have let go way to long. On Sunday we started cleaning our bedroom. I kid you not when I say, it took us three days, and he still has a bit of tidying up to do on his bookshelf and dresser, but we conquered the dust bunnies!

In addition to cleaning our bedroom, we decided to clean out our chest freezer. We have had our freezer for many years. My husband being a hunter, we bought it expecting that part of its use would be for game. Unfortunately, what seems to happen is that things get lost in there. In fact, the freezer becomes like an ancient tomb, but the finds at the bottom of the burial mound are not very pretty, let alone edible. We threw away a lot of food. It is unfortunate, but it is real life and we are going to try to do better from now on to use what we have, and rotate our stock.

For today’s ultra casual look, I will confess I didn’t even get dressed until late afternoon. I tried on a maxi skirt, but that made me feel too hot. Usually, they are pretty cool, but on a 90 plus day the less material the better. Ha, ha.

This is my regular, summer outfit formula. Rolled up jeans, or cropped pants, a top, sneakers, some sort of jewelry and a topper for air conditioning. My husband and I were heading out for dinner and ice cream. Ice cream was our treat for working so hard the last few days, that and the reward of a clean room and defrosted freezer.

My bright red sleeveless top is perfect for these occasions when red is the color of choice. It is a bright, tomato red and is a brand called Popsugar which I found on clearance a Kohl’s a few years ago. I love the smocking detail on the bodice and the ruffles. It is also flowy, so no worries about the bulges showing. Ha!

These thrifted cropped jeans are Mossimo. They have been seeing quite a bit of wear this summer. I am always on the lookout for jeans when I thrift. I have found some of my most favorite and most worn pairs second hand. Jeans see a long life of wear, if made properly, so getting them at thrift store is a way to find off brands that fit, save money and keep clothes out of the land fills.

My creamy white sweater is another thrift find from a few years ago. I was enamored with the beaded embellishment near the neckline. It also has 3/4 length sleeves, which I don’t wear often, but for summer air conditioning they are the perfect length. It is Christopher and Banks brand.

I went with white for my jewelry. That way, if I did’t have the sweater on, I still wore red, white and blue. The cute daisy pendant necklace was a Christmas gift a few years ago from my spouse. The bracelets were clearance finds.

The Comfortiva red shoes you saw last week, and the blue bag, I added after I finished taking pictures, so I had my hubby snap a couple with the bag. Ha, Ha.

What did you wear for your July 4th? Did you get dressed up, or did you keep it casual? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just leave me some love in the comments.

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Denim Daze 2.0 - Ruffled Chambray Top - Dressy

Before I start today’s post I wanted to let everyone know that my interview with ShopNational is finally on their blog, ifthemuumuufits. Be sure to check that out and thanks again to ShopNational for the opportunity to work with them. You can see the original post here.

I intentionally chose this outfit for today, because it is red, white and blue. Happy 4th of July everyone. I hope that your day will be a good one, whether relaxing at home, because you have a day off from work or spending the day with friends and family celebrating. Our day will be pretty low key. Our kids are busy with their own thing. We used to regularly go see the fireworks, but sometimes we just want to stay home and watch a movie. That’s what we did last night. We watched the first Indiana Jones movie, which is one of our favorites.

Today’s post revolves around the short sleeve chambray top featured on Tuesday, but today will be a dressed up version.

Looking at this picture, I realized how white I am. Ha, ha. I don’t intentionally tan, like I used to when I was a young person, but it would be nice to have a little color. I was using a Mary Kay product for a little while and it was giving me a bit of a glow, but it is a lot of work to keep it up. You have to use the product every day for a week or so and then I am assuming every other day or so to keep it up. I just don’t have the time or discipline. Just like so many things in my life. For real!

Once again, the top is a Liz Claiborne find from JC Penney. This skirt was a recent purchase from Christopher and Banks. I absolutely fell in love with it. To give you a little background, I was watching a show on Netflix called the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Set in the late 1920’s in Melbourne, Australia. It is fun, sassy, sexy and definitely eye candy for the fashion conscious. This skirt would have been a little casual for Miss Fisher, but it could have fit right in. I love the vertical stripes, which help to elongate my legs and the button details on the side.

I decided to tuck the shirt in all the way around, and you can’t even tell because the skirt is thick enough where the color doesn’t show through. I don’t think I would wear back, navy or red underwear, though, just in case.

I added red accessories, to make this outfit a winning patriotic statement.

Believe it or not, this pair of pretty red wedges are Keds. I have had these for a while and when I got on their site, it doesn’t look like they offer anything with a wedge heel any more. I found a few others that are similar and will include those at the end under shopping links.

I hope you enjoyed this outfit and that you will have a wonderful Independence Day here in the good old USA!

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull. Make up Rachel Christensen.

I’ve included a few shopping links. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own.