Sometimes you just want to make a statement. Sometimes that statement is a big one. Sometimes it’s a small one, and sometimes it’s just the icing on the cake.
I love cake.
When it comes to style, we all make our own personal statement. Mine is borderline lazy. I need to feel put-together and well-dressed, but I don’t have much time most days. With a business to run, a husband to make out with, and four very cute kids, sometimes I have about half a second to make myself look as good as the kids (whom I spent an hour dressing meticulously…except for Ava. Ava dresses Ava. Please give Ava credit for Ava…I don’t want any of that!).
The secret is simple – own all the Lilly Pulitzer because it’s fun and pretty and feminine and because it takes a half second to throw on a dress and cute shoes. But when I don’t have the kids with me, it’s more of a game on kind of situation. I still like simple. I like monochromatic looks with a pop of color. I like simple ensembles with great accessories. I’m a classic kind of girl, but I love to make a statement.
It’s not always easy to figure that out, but sometimes you can make a big statement and a massive style impact with one item that’s so simple it’s underrated. Trust me – with no time and a great deal of vanity, I know a thing or two about making a statement. That’s why today’s Friday Favorites are all about the simplest ways to make one.
Statement Jewelry
A long strand of pearls knotted at the bottom is one of my favorite ways to make a statement. It’s classic, but it’s also fun and fearless. Since I don’t typically wear much in the way of jewelry, it’s big for me to wear a statement piece. My jewelry all has meaning to me, and I keep it very simple.
You’ll know I’m making a statement when you see me in my pearls or when you see me in big, colorful earrings. The secret with the earrings is I like to keep them cheap. I don’t care if they break, I don’t care if they’re trendy and I never wear them more than once, and I don’t care if they get all kinds of messed up in the ocean or in the pool – but they do make such a fun statement when the rest of my look is simple.
I love Bealls Outlet, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Target for statement jewelry. Let’s face it, the cheaper the better when it comes to things I won’t wear often!
Statement Shoes
Again, I’m a sucker for a classic nude pump, but sometimes I like to make a statement. Anytime I have no time or I don’t feel good in anything (you know that week every month, ladies), I gravitate toward black. Black skinny jeans, a black sweater or tunic, a black top with a black blazer. All black.
But I like to mix it up with these gorgeous sometimes red, sometimes fuchsia, sometimes pink and gold heels I found at Bergdorf’s two or three years ago. They are the one pair of shoes I receive the most compliments on, and I love them.
I love these with all black, and sometimes I love to really make them pop by adding a scarf to the mix. My mother-in-law saw the scarf in the photo a few years ago and decided it was perfect for me – and she was right. It was made for these shoes with the same colors, and pairing them together makes everything stand out.
If you can make a statement, do it by choosing one color on the top and bottom and adding bold accessories. Bright shoes are great. Bright shoes and a secondary bright accessory are everything.
My Manolos in the photo are old, but I am in love with these, these, and these.
Statement Lips
If you know me at all, you know I go nowhere without a bold lip. Statement lips are my serious go-to, and how much easier does it get than throwing on a shade of red or pink or whatever color you prefer? I get so many compliments on my lipstick I’ve had to give out the designer and the color names so many times I can virtually recite the URL to each page on Nordstrom’s site.
People love a bold lip, but I think most people are a little intimidated by it. They want to try it, but they can’t get past the concept that a bold pink or bright red has no place on a Tuesday morning dropping the kids off at school. I beg to differ. A bold lip is everything.
Confidence
Ladies, listen; you can make the biggest statement of all by just being comfortable in your own skin. At the risk of being just a little TMI-ish right now, here I go. When my monthly visitor (to whom I am so appreciative of because the Good Lord knows a fifth baby or another set of twins would actually kill me) is in town, I’m a mess.
I’m emotional. My feelings are easily hurt (read: I’m a big bitch) and I swear I gain 48 pounds of bloat (48, 3, whatever). I feel unattractive, I have zero confidence, and I’m not my best version of my best self). I can put on my favorite outfit anytime this week and feel horrible in it, receive zero compliments, and feel gross.
I can put it on three days after my visitor is gone for another month and hear a half-dozen compliments in one night – and I swear it’s my confidence. I suddenly feel much prettier, much happier, and much more like myself. Maybe it’s because I’m actually smiling and happy and appear to others as a normal human versus an angry dinosaur with an attitude…I don’t know.
All I know is you have to have confidence. If you don’t feel 100% perfect in something, take it off. You’re never going to pull it off without the confidence to rock it. I don’t care how trendy, fashionable, or overly-worn by every single supermodel, celebrity, or Instagram fashion blogger it is. You don’t feel good in it, no one thinks you look good in it.
And that’s all I’ve got for you on this gorgeous Friday. I’m off to get my 95 percent silver hair done, and then it’s a fun-filled weekend with my little (huge) family – and I can’t wait! What are your weekend plans, and what’s your favorite statement piece?
Tiffany Raiford 