What I Wore: My Forest Retreat

Our new Thanksgiving tradition is to spend some quality time out in the woods and go on a much needed digital detox. This year we went on our third visit to Forest Retreat, which I've written about many of times both here and other online publications.  During my time in the woods the only tweets I keep up with are from the birds, blogs are replaced with reading  my favorite print magazines cover to cover in one sitting  (National Geographic, Garden & Gun), and schlepping around town turns into leisurely strolls along leaf covered trails. There will be plenty more pictures but I'm trying to savor this vacation mentality for a few more days and lighten my work load just a little bit longer.

Guest Post: Myrna from My Beat Boutique

Hello there NOLA style lovers! I'm Myrna from My Beat Boutique, a blog where I share my personal style  and thrift my way through the wonderful state of Mississippi. While Christy is off spending time in my neck of the woods- Mississippi , I am gonna share with you my first attempt at wearing yellow. I love this color however somehow I have not been able to find the right shade of yellow , until now. Yellow usually doesn't go well with my complexion but I found this great maxi skirt at the wonderfully inexpensive Forever 21. Yellow is always such a tricky color to pair anything with and when I decided to pair it with black I was a little nervous that I would end up looking like a bee so I paired it with this great necklace($2)  and ring (.75) I found at my local Goodwill . I love shopping at Goodwill I always find wonderful treasures there very inexpensive. If you follow me then you already know my love for booties, I bought these Steve Madden booties a couple of weeks ago and they have been a repeat offender the past 2 weeks. What can I say I love booties.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving !

XX- Myrna

Follow me on Twitter -@mybeatboutique / Instagram- @myr_na

Black Friday is not a holiday

Surprise y'all, I'm off on another adventure of the outdoorsy kind. So it goes without saying that I won't be in queue waiting for the Black Friday sales- sheer shopping pandemonium has never been my thing. In fact I'm probably walking barefoot through a creek right now, eating string cheese and talking to my dog.  If you're out buying Xmas presents I highly encourage you to shop local, and it doesn't get more local than art markets. So mark your calendars for a more relaxed, and dare I say fun shopping excursion this holiday season. Handmade objects are much personal than a mass produced scarf you got on sale anyway.

My new Thanksgiving tradition- The Great Outdoors

When I lived in Arizona my husband and I grew accustomed to taking adventurous trips to explore our Southwest surroundings. Since we didn't have very many friends and family out west we took advantage of our time off of work around the holidays to  travel and the tradition has stuck with us even though we've been back in New Orleans for three years. While most people will be with their friends and families tomorrow we will enjoying a cabin in the woods with nothing but the stars, a good book, and our retired racing greyhound to keep us entertained. Even if you aren't the outdoorsy type and consider a scraped up knee an injury versus a badge of honor for a good rock climbing session I think it is important to get outside. Just spend time in your local park and indulge in some greenery at the very least. It's good for the soul.

On the edge at Fringe Fest

How many festivals are there in Louisiana? We've got a festival for just about everything because well, we love to have a good time, simple as that. Besides the big ones like Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest we also have Mirliton Fest, Satchmo Fest, Hell Yes Fest, and the list goes on.  In New Orleans alone I think the exact number of fests is 2,546,767.

What I Wore: Get out of your comfort zone

Let's face it, every single day you have to get dressed, unless you work from home and can get away with wearing pajamas 24/7. Gets tiring after a while right? It's easy to get stuck in a rut and bored with everything you own unless you break out of your comfort zone every now and then. You don't have to start dressing completely different but  trying a new style or simply shopping in a store you normally wouldn't go to can bring a fresh perspective to your look.

Closet Overhaul: How to maximize what you already own

At this time of year it is easy to get in a style rut. It's hot outside, no wait cold, no wait hot again so buying lots of season appropriate clothing is down right confusing and frustrating. I recently worked with a styling client that already owned great clothes but was having trouble putting everything together. Fortunately for the two of us it was really easy to create great looks without spending a dime, which is important when you are on a budget or just not ready to sink a lot of money into your wardrobe.

Revive Your Closet at Revival Outpost

If you are looking for a new place to buy cool, old clothes Revival Outpost on Magazine Street should be your next stop. Located inside a charming old house, you instantly feel welcome in this spacious boutique. There's lots of vintage pieces, from funky 70s flair to retro 90s with a lot of quirky, locally owned indie labels mixed in as well. Love & Penguins (10% of proceeds benefit Autism), Rearrange Us, Le Fox Rouge, Matilda B, I'm Your Present,and Eklektik Ekhos are just a few of the handmade goodies they carry.

What I Wore: One Perfect Saturday

Last weekend I was walking around in a tank top, this week I'm scraping the back of the closet for my sweaters. Go figure. These pictures were from what I wore just a few days ago, funny how the weather can change so dramatically in New Orleans in the course of a few hours, much less a full week. On this particular Saturday I had a Slow Southern Styling wardrobe consultation, hit up the Freret Market ( post coming soon) and finished clearing out the last remaining mannequins from the art show I curated at Du Mois Gallery. I can talk at length about how great Freret Street is (and if you don't believe me read my articles in New Orleans Magazine and Invade NOLA) but I'll let everyone figure it out on their own.

TRASHY DIVA 15th ANNIVERSARY PARTY

I love when fashion and fun collide. Trashy Diva is celebrating their 15th anniversary and they are pulling out all the stops with a fantastic party on November 9th with bands, booze and burlesque.  Festivities include performances by legendary bands Rasputina and Rock City Morgue, as well as burlesque performers Trixie Minx, Roxie Le Rouge and Mina Méchante. Doors open at 8 PM; tickets are $16 in advance and $18 at the door. Stumble into One Eyed Jacks wearing your finest vintage inspired looks, located at 615 Toulouse Street in the French Quarter. 

Interview: Kathryn Wilson left me at the Altar

 Clothing designer Kathryn Wilson contacted me about her clothing line Altar, made here in New Orleans. Each of her designs are named after the streets of New Orleans and are reconstructed primarily from vintage materials. She's offering Slow Southern Style readers 15% off at her Etsy store with coupon code SLOWSOUTHERNSTYLE15. Learn more about Altar clothing by reading the interview below and see what inspires Ryn.

Tapping our way down Frenchman Street

Halloween is exhausting y'all. I love it but I'm always secretly glad when it is over since it is a CRAZY time of year for me at work. Anyone who works in a shop that sells costumes, whether year 'round or seasonally can attest to my tiredness and enjoy a good night's sleep come November 1st. I'm not getting that much of a break though, in the next two weekends alone I've got three wardrobe consultations lined up and I'm getting my butt out to the Freret Market this Saturday since I missed the October one. Oh and I've already got some fabulous Mardi Gras costumes this year. How's that for planning ahead? But back to the present, err recent past our Halloween costumes this year were Broadway performers, for lack of a better description.

When in doubt, the more sparkle the better