watercolor is the new ombré.

ombré? that is so last month.

now it's all about watercolor prints, as shown by alice + olivia, oscar de la renta in the 2013 resort line, and even by my friend and co-worker, cassady, at sunfest recently.

i'm hearting watercolor-inspired designs lately too. today i pulled one of last year's anthropologie dresses out from the back of the closet to showcase the trend. the artistic colors are great, as is the sexy yet classy open back, but i always have to suck it up about the crazy cowl-neck it has going on. 

what are some of your favorite watercolor-inspired products? there are a few fun iphone and macbook skins i've been swooning over, but we certainly welcome more ideas. post links to your picks in the comments below.

red sole special.

about three or four years i ago mistakenly/regretfully/shamefully - however you want to put it - missed the opportunity of a lifetime to by picking up a pair of $245, size 7, neon yellow christian louboutins off the metal sale rack at saks fifth avenue at the gardens mall...and then setting.them.down.

i have no idea what i was thinking...that $245 was too much? that would have been the purchase of a lifetime. i went back right away the next day, but it was too late. well i may have gotten a second chance today. ok, not exactly. or even close to exactly, but i was able to find a similar pair...without the red soles. 

it was the first time since that day that i've seen a pair of neon yellow pumps for less than $600 since then (or the first pair that did not look like they should sold by a discount bikini and t-shirt vendor on the jersey shore, anyway). while browsing the buy one, get one 50 percent off promotion at nine west today i spotted the love fury heels in neon yellow patent leather (they also come in neon pink and orange)! 

i've held on to the $100 gift card i received for my birthday for quite a while now, and felt that it was finally time to cash it in. i got these and another pair from the sale section to total just a little more than my gift card. 

only problem...they don't ship until july 16. i just hope the neon look isn't out by then.

weekend digs.

look all over the blogosphere, pinterest and magazine spreads and you'll see that mixing neon and neutral is the hot topic. i'm typically a neutral-only type of girl, but have been trying to vary it up this spring, and my weekend outfit didn't stray far from this trend.

i had to make a somewhat unexpected trip to see family in sarasota across the state today, so i recycled this outfit to wear for my drive time...and found out it also worked soaked in salt water during an impromptu kayak trip to the sandbar off long boat key with the cousins i hadn't seen in close to 15 years. my new, practically fluorescent pink, boyfriend roll-up shorts from gap paired nicely with an old gray and white plaid tank by forever 21's heritage 1981 for a relaxed look.

want to see other more interesting views of the outfit? check out the blog's instagram roll to see it - and me - in action looking like a fool on the kayak.

prêt-à-porter palm beach on 'links à la mode'

it's our first week being part of independent fashion bloggers (which provides awesome ideas for all of us girls and guys who love to write and shop but may not be so good at running a website), and prêt-à-porter palm beach made it to ifb's weekly roundup, "links à la mode", with the festival fashions blog post about street style spotted around sunfest. if you haven't read ours yet i hope you'll do so, but be sure to check out the artistically fashioned posts from other fantastic fashion bloggers below.

art at the heart

for many of this week's submissions, art was the center theme. from diy projects to festivals, museum exhibits and dramatic runway sets - there are so many ways that art manifests itself in the world of fashion, not just in the clothes we wear. we create it, it moves us, it changes our mood and makes our world a more beautiful and magical place. i loved reading posts about the costume institute's new exhibit, chanel's crystal runway set - and even how to make a glitzy pair of mui mui-inspired sunnies.
edited by taylor davies

links à la mode: the ifb weekly round up: may 17th

• a casa da va: 10 ways to achieve bohemian bliss
• beauty x pose: colorblock your shoes
• bleu06: sh*t guys should know about fashion #7
• bugwear: royal mail issues great british fashion stamps collection
• crystal eyes: white out
• dress code: high fashion:
• fashionista's diary: crazy for crystals
• finely made: diy glitter mui mui catwalk noir sunglasses
• fly songbird: orange lips love
• get fierce style: the freedom in loving your body
• meredith & gwyneth, the new yorkie: diy no sew feather dress
• pink pineapple: internship essentials
• pret-a-porter palm beach: festival fashions
• real girl glam: how to wear a denim jacket
• spy girl: blog essentials: designing a memorable business card
• the curatorial: duchamp, pop art & the rodnik band - art as fashion
• this is a yes: frieze art fair new york
• toronto shopaholic blog: 3 fun uses for a multi-tasking barette
• tse parfait: anthropologie summer '12 fashin show
• votre garcon: schiaparelli & prada: impossible conversations

sponsor:
skirt sale at shopbop: dkny, a.wang skirts, helmut lang, minis, jean skirts, splendid, jenni kayne, ag skirts, tibi, cacharel, alc, pencil & hervé skirts

please read if you would like to participate
if you would like to submit your link for next week’s links à la mode, please register first, then post your links here. the html code for this week will be found in the links a la mode group will be published later today. ~jennine

stop for directions.

my friend teresa invited me to spin class today and since it's been so long since i've worked out seen her, i was all over that. only problem - i was already at work when i noticed the text, and i don't think my below-the-knee thrift store skirt or hippie-chic jessica simpson heels ( < yes, i just said that) would work very well for cycling.

 
lucky for me, my man is into spinning today too, so i asked him to grab some workout clothes for me from home, and it shouldn't be too hard for him to pair up some of my matchy matchy lululemon apparel, and my insanely neon, "highlighter" asics gel-noosa tri sneakers are pretty hard to miss.

his text response? "just send me a map of your closet with directions." 


haha, very funny. i get it, my closet is almost the same size as the bedroom itself...with a lot of clothes shoved in there. but since not exactly everything i want to wear is in my closet, i figured he had a point. so here is my obnoxiously detailed map, complete with color-coded directions per storage location.

 zoom for more detail. extra points if you can tell who's on tv.

vamp it up.

a few months ago i wasn't sure how i felt about lana del rey...or her less than stellar performance on "saturday night live." after this week and her walk down the red carpet at the met gala, however, i'm thinking a bit differently. besides her unbelievable dress and to-die-for cape by joseph altuzarra, her dramatic blood wine-stained lips rounded out one of the costume institute ball's best looks in true vamp fashion, even if it was more fitting for autumn or winter rather than a spring event. check out the full look at vanity fair.

she wasn't the only celeb to purse her plum lips at the gala either (just one of the few to do it right). camilla belle and kate bosworth worked the pre-show photogs in dark lipstick hues, and jessica alba, kate upton and sofia vergara showed off bright reds and pinks. the bold lip was one of the hot trends at the event, next to peplum-skirted dresses and bright yellow and orange gowns.

the bold lip is one of my favorite accessories the past few months, as it instantly transforms a black leather skirt, sundress, colored jeans or cocktail attire into something that's a little more high fashion or formal. and surprisingly it still works on my thin, almost non-existent lips to help pack a punch.

want to pull off lana del rey's deep lip color yourself this weekend? after months of searching for the right red and perfect purple hues and coming up empty, i finally layered the two of these and found a match i think you'll like. here's my secret mix:


first, layer on the sephora rouge cream lipstick in "bewitch me," which is the darkest in the collection...

then add a quick swipe of mac cosmetic's "russian red" and blot. you're all set! it doesn't look like a huge difference in the pics, but trust me, in real life the red helps tone down the purple so it's not so gothicly harsh.

it's pretty long lasting, too. touch-ups are only needed every now and then, even though i don't use a lip liner. besides, even when a bit wipes off, the stain leaves a slight ombre look that's oh-so "in" right now.

the best part? when i'm wearing it i can drink all the pinot noir and cabernet i want with no worries. now i just need to find a cape...

style report: colbert gets fashion lesson

stephen colbert is a nightly guest in our home, maybe not literally, but he may as well be with how often i hear his voice. one thing my husband mistakenly forgot to tell me, however, was that the queen of fashion herself was on the colbert report last night. here's the clip:

The Colbert Report
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i can't wait to watch it from the dvr tonight when i get home so i can see the perfect pairing of anna wintour's watercolor-printed dress, sparkling jewels and iconic bangs in hd. she has cute a cool demeanor and the back-and-forth between her and colbert about gay marriage and the art of fashion is hilarious.

what do you think of ms. vogue's interview?

simply tweet accessories.

last night i dragged myself in the house late after a day of work followed by a dinner meeting with some lovely ladies from the junior league of the palm beaches at cafe sapori. i was ready to crash in bed when i saw my husband left a black box and fedex slip waiting on the stairs for me.

it was the personalized bauble bar necklace i had been waiting for! the little nameplate, or "twitter-plate" as they call it, is just as delightfully sweet as i'd expected it to be in rose gold. it features the account name for both the blog's instagram and twitter handles: @pretaporterpb.

 

want your own? bauble bar makes them in silver and yellow gold, in addition to the blush-colored version for $88. if you're new to bauble bar and want to save $10, you're in luck! just become a member by creating an account and they'll take $10 off your first order of accessories. there's lots of fun promotions and surprises in store as a member, so you won't regret it.

managing more than one account? even though i went with the bauble bar version, i was pretty close to purchasing survival of the hippest's "two-name tweetheart necklace," simply because i've accumulated quite a few twitter handles over the years and thought i might need a second line. if you're in the same boat, you may want to check out their options as well.

now i can't wait until the next tweetup! in the meantime, find me on twitter, instagram and pinterest to keep up with all the travels of this pretty little tweet-plate.