Create28: Plaid

Did you know that today is Plaidurday?  Are you wearing your plaid?

I received this cozy buffalo plaid jacket in one of my Le Tote deliveries in early September.  For weeks it was too warm to even think about wearing a jacket, but I kept my Le Tote anyways because I just had to wear the jacket before I returned my goods and received another special delivery.

While I awaited the cool, crisp morning that meant I could break-out this jacket, I thought through so many outfit options.  I ultimately decided that pairing buffalo plaid with stripes is a perfect combination of classic yet creative.

What is your favorite way to wear plaid?  With stripes and booties like me?  As a scarf?  Perhaps a plaid shirtdress?  Maybe you've checked-out Adam Lippes for Target?  In any case, show us what you've got on Insta (#Create28FallLooks) and make sure to link-up on Monday.  Here are some more plaid looks that I'm loving for fall!

Follow Whitney à la mode's board Plaid on Pinterest.

I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see how Casey styles a fall tunic!

What I'm Wearing:

Shirt: LOFT (exact)

Jacket: Le Tote (exact)

Jeans: American Eagle (exact)

Booties: DSW (exact)

Where I'm linking-up!

Create28: Pinned It & Did It

Carrie, Casey and I have something fun in store for you today for Create28: Summer Looks!  Each one of us has put together a "Pinned It & Did It" look from Pinterest.  When you're finished here, head over to A Lovely Little Wardrobe and A Little Bit of Cheer to see how my beautiful friends interpreted their pinned inspiration!

I use Pinterest for style inspiration in a couple of different ways.  First of all, I have a "Style Inspiration" board for any look that I find that I love.  I glance through this board when I'm in a rut, when thinking about what holes I have to fill in my closet and when trying to define my personal style.

I also have boards for "Cool Weather Clothes" and "What to Wear when it's Warm."  In order for a pin to make the cut for these boards, the look has to feature items that are similar to what I have in my closet.  In other words, I can already recreate these looks with what I have.

I often add to the latter two boards when I purchase a new item of clothing.  For example, I recently added this J.Crew Factory olive skirt to my closet.  I had been searching for olive jeans without much luck when I happened upon the skirt instead.  Olive makes for a great neutral so I turned to Pinterest for some outfit inspiration!

Pin #1 Source / Pin #2 Source

I incorporated elements from both of these pinned looks into my final creation.  The first pin showed me that black and white stripes pair beautifully with olive and the second pin convinced me to throw-in some leopard print!

Pardon the wrinkles, I took these photos at the end of the day!

Don't forget to visit Carrie and Casey today to see their "Pinned It and Did It" looks!  And we want to see yours, too.  Show us on Insta (#create28summer looks) and in the link-up below!  Please link-up all of your Create28 looks from the past week!

Here are our favorite looks from last week: My Closet Catalogue and Style Attitude.

And our most clicked links from Charming Lucy and Marty's Musings!

Finally, you only have a couple more days left to snab that $75 gift card to your choice of Gap Brand Stores, LOFT, Nordstrom or Target!  Enter below!

What I'm Wearing:

Shirt: Banana Republic (similar, similar)

Skirt: J.Crew Factory (exact)

Belt: Charming Charlie (similar, similar)

Flats: DSW (exact)

Entry-Form

An InLinkz Link-up

My First Le Tote Experience

From clothing to jewelry to make-up and even snacks, subscription services are all the rage lately!  In the past I've tried Stitch Fix and Rocks Box and have really enjoyed my experiences.  There's something so fun about receiving a box in the mail filled with surprise goodies to wear!  

I've been curious about Le Tote for quite awhile now, and given that it's my birthday month, I decided to splurge a little and see what it's all about!

The details:

• Subscribing to Le Tote costs $49 per month.
• Le Tote sends you a box filled with five clothing and jewelry items.
• You get to wear the pieces as much as you want, then send them back when you're done!
• As soon as you send your box back, Le Tote will send you a new one (yes, that means unlimited boxes each month)!
• If you like an item, you can purchase it at a discounted rate!

Now obviously there are pros and cons when you compare Le Tote to Stitch Fix.  Le Tote is definitely more expensive compared to Stitch Fix's $20 boxes.  However, with SF, you only wear what you decide to keep and pay for, there's no taking the rest of the pieces for a trial run.  And not only do you get to wear all of your LT items, you can receive multiple boxes a month for the $49 whereas with SF, it's a one time deal.

Now on to my first Le Tote delivery!  Here are the items I received:

To be honest, I was a little bit disappointed with my first "tote."  There are a few items that I liked but I'm a bit underwhelmed overall.  However, I think there are a few things I can do differently to ensure that I like my next delivery even better!

• Striped Shirt: This is my favorite item from my first tote.  I had already "added it to my closet" to help my stylist understand my taste in clothing.  If you've spent any amount of time reading Whitney à la mode, you know that I love stripes.  So stripes going in different directions?  Sign me up!  I had fun wearing this shirt but the fit just wasn't perfect (too short sleeves) so I will be sending it back.
• Blue Dress: Holy cling!  This dress is made from a thick, knit, clingy material.  So lumps and bumps, you could see them all!  Let's not even get started on the size of my behind in this dress.  I won't even show you a picture.  Yep, that bad.
• Cable-Knit Sweater: Umm, have you checked the weather in Alexandria lately?  Clearly my stylist did not.  It's been in the 80s here so I could barely convince myself to try this sweater on.   Aside from that, I wasn't a fan of the zipper or the color or the fit.
• Pink Earrings:  I also placed these earrings in my closet, so I was excited to receive them.  I'm going to get one good wear out of them and then send them back so I can receive my next tote.
• Necklace: It's pretty and I'll wear it, I'm just not in love with it.

So there are a few things that I'm going to do to (hopefully) improve my next box.  I wrongly assumed that the LT stylists take the weather into account when choosing your items.  Since that isn't the case, I went back to my "Style Profile" and requested that I do not receive sweaters.  If I'm still doing LT when the cooler weather rolls around, I'll go back and change that.  I also realized that I wasn't excited to receive jewelry...probably because I love my Rocks Box subscription.  I also went back and requested only clothing.

So please forgive this lengthy post, I just wanted to share my experience with you in case you've been considering Le Tote as well!  If you are at all curious, I would greatly appreciate if you sign-up using my code.  We each get $25 out of the deal!

As you can see, I really did enjoy wearing that striped top!

What I'm Wearing:

Shirt: Le Tote (similar, similar)

Shorts: Anthropologie (similar, similar)

Flats: LOFT (similar, similar)

Purse: Nine West Outlet (similar, similar)

Linking-Up:

Fizz and Frosting- Mix It Mondays

I do DeClaire- Confident Twosdays

Pink Sole and ChaCha the Fashion Genius- #HowISpring