FashionHap: Mid-May '16 - Pounding Pavement

The Bellas spent a good bit of May pounding the pavement in promotion of Total Bellas..and giving us some fabulous fashion in the process! Kicking off this FH is a modern professional look from Nikki, as she works from home. Her crop top would only be appropriate for a home office or a very narrow genre of workplace environments, but it's still classically chic and inspirational. This fiery red makes an iconic combo with navy, especially in this wide-leg silhouette. I love how modern, yet sophisticated this look is! You could easily give it a broader application by going with a longer top (perhaps a peplum silhouette), or buttoning a jacket or cardi over it. Note Nikki's striped white jacket in the background? Something along those lines would do perfectly, as would plain white linen, a navy pinstriped cotton, or (for a more dressed down look) a denim blazer. Nikki is back in blue as she picks this ruffled Alice and Olivia dress (also worn at the & O fashion show) for the Total Bellas promo tour. If you guessed I'd be wild over how she accessorized it with bright yellow sandals, you guessed right! Both the swirly, strappy details and the amazing neon lemon color immediately caught my eye. Beautiful sandals like this are a summer staple and can spike everything from pretty colored dresses to neutral shorts.  Which reminds me..it's time to dig a few of mine out of the recesses of my (spidered, cobwebbed, gothic castle walled, definitely out of GPS-range ;) ) closet.OK, maybe not quite that bad....but I will def need a flashlight. Nikki pairs those same  crave-worthy sandals with an oversized-floral printed maxi. The floral done on the whispy georgette is light and ripply and just flawlessly warm-weather beautiful. The deep-v also makes it super-sexy! A tiny pendant provides the simplest of accents. Meanwhile, Brie went for a modern look in all-neutrals, pairing this bodycon dress with sand platform sandals. I love the way the ruffled flounce at the bottom both gives the piece movement and adds a slightly mermaid-ish feel to the silhouette, giving it a vintage vibe. A choker necklace in black gives a 90's throwback spin to the look, which is bolstered by her platform heels. The clean-lined softness of this look works wonderfully; it's pretty and feminine...but with a tiny edge. If bright color is your thing, Nikki's fourth look is going to rock your world. This beaded dress is eye-catching and dramatic with it's tribal vibe. The  sun-drenched colors are intriguing! Nikki gets huge props from me for not playing the look safe and finishing with a neutral or dark shoe. On the contrary, she's reinforced the color by going with lemon pointy-toe pumps, which look fantastic! And she doesn't stop there with the risk-taking: orange lips carry the color upward and reiterate the daring color statement. The way this look comes together is glorious! When risk-taking works, this is what it looks like!

As a change from all the bright colors and light neutrals, Brie also tossed out this look - a black palm-print dress done as a sheer overlay on a white sheath background. The overall look comes off as a black dress, but the additional textures created by the layering add interest and depth. She completed the look with black pointy-toe pumps, and added a single pop of color: her cranberry lip color. I love the way that one flush of color enlivens the whole look! After a Bella-filled FashionHap, we're throwing a twist of Maryse into our fashion lives. For this tv look, she matched her lace trench and cutout OTKs with lacy stockings and a copper bodysuit. While I love the gothic feel of her nude make-up and deep burgundy nails, I'm not sure how I feel about the combo of copper and black. I love seeing her switch to something other than black, gold or gray...but the gray with earthy red-brown really surprises me as a pairing and makes me stop to consider the aesthetic implications of those two colors in such close proximity. Hmmm. Who knew fashion required such deep intellectual gymnastics? :)  Help me make up my mind - what do you think of this color combo?