My Style // What You See Is What You Get

Oh look, it's another outfit post with Melissa wearing a black, boho-style dress! Shocker! I'll admit it, I haven't made the most adventurous fashion choices lately, at least in terms of straying from my everyday style. (I was asked once in an interview to define my personal style in two words. I said 'minimalist bohemian.' I'm not even sure what that means, but those were my two words, and I'm sticking to them.) Despite the lack of variety in my outfits these days, these are the looks that I like to wear. This is me. This is how I dress. What you see is what you get.

I'm not a fashion blogger, and even if I was, I don't think I'd be one to get dressed up just for shoots for the blog. Even in past posts where I've showcased styles that didn't necessarily fall into my everyday wardrobe, I've always either already had the outfit on for the day, or was getting ready to wear the outfit somewhere. Maybe I'm just lazy. Really though, I've always been the most drawn to personal style blogs where the bloggers seem really authentic in their outfit choices, even if the outfits aren't especially innovative. This doesn't mean I prefer fashion bloggers who are defined by only one style, as I actually relate more to those who don't fit into any single style mold. It just means that I tend to follow style bloggers who wear outfits on their blogs that they also wear in real life. For me, this means casual, comfortable (but hopefully not frumpy) dresses, oversized tops, leggings/jeans, boots or moccs, and some sort of jewelry that most often consists of natural elements. A friend recently told me that I dress like I'm "going to a music festival, but without all the excess." I told her that as far as style descriptions go, I'll take it.

Slight shifting of topic, but yesterday I posted about my almost daily walks around the neighborhood with Essley after I finish work. A couple of nights ago we were going to grab dinner close to our favorite park (which might look familiar - we've been shooting lots of outfit posts there lately), so we took our evening stroll there instead. The sun was very close to setting and the bugs were out of control so we just snapped a few quick shots then took a short walk. We weren't there for very long, but it was so nice to just take a few minutes to enjoy nature at the end of the day. Even though I will always hold a place in my heart for the days when I lived deep in the Colorado mountains and later the Oregon forest, I feel grateful to have little pieces of nature like this to visit so close to where I live now.

Speaking of living in Oregon, the dress I'm wearing here (and have worn more times than I care to admit in the past couple of weeks) actually reminds me of my favorite dress that I got at a little hippie shop during my time in Oregon. I don't know what happened to it, but I was thrilled to find one so similar, so many years later. Like the dress, these earrings have been a consistent wear around here. They were made by my friend Jade, who owns a gorgeous line of handcrafted, earth-inspired jewelry called Jade Stone. We met back in 2009, when she modeled for my eco-clothing line in a fashion show that I produced at Rothbury Music Festival (now Electric Forest Festival) in Michigan. She actually gave me a necklace there that I still wear all the time (including in a recent outfit post). I'm so impressed by how far her work has come. She's a truly talented artisan, and a really rad person in general.

Earrings: c/o Jade Stone Jewelry // Dress: F21 // Shoes: c/o Minnetonka
Hat: Target // Bracelets: handmade c/o Lisa Leonard Rings: F21 my grandmother's // Necklace: c/o Little Nostalgia

For those of you who read fashion blogs, do you prefer those where the bloggers post outfits that represent their real, day-to-day style, or do you like reading those with more innovative, less 'everyday' outfit choices? If you're a style blogger, what type of looks do you post?

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