Wear It Twice: Turquoise Queen

When you’re an artist, it’s sometimes difficult to get good feedback. You ask your friends and relatives what they think of your latest creation, and they undoubtedly say “It’s great!” or “It’s amazing!”. And while this isn’t necessarily untrue, it’s not quite as detailed a critique as you were hoping for.

The same goes for blogs. If you ask someone you know to check out your blog, chances are they’ll ask you “What’s a blog?”. And even if you can get them there, they’ll most likely say what friends always do. “I like it.” That’s it. So when you get a thumbs up from a place you’d never expect, it’s an exciting thing.

This week I was thrilled to be featured as one of the Style Blogs of the Week on the Be In Style blog at Pocketchange.Become.com. The entire website is an encyclopedia of trends, and features great posts on everything from fashion and beauty to babies and green-living. There’s plenty of information and eye-candy, and they welcome content from guests writers who know their stuff.

Inspirational Beading was featured with some really fun fashion blogs, including a new favorite of mine, And Now I Want It. When I was browsing through posts, I was totally charmed by the author’s use of Polyvore fashion collages. I remember using the tool ages ago and having lots of fun with it. So I immediately logged in and started playing with cut-outs. Polyvore is like a combination of paper dolls and scrap booking, but without the mess.

As I was playing, I thought of a fun new blogging idea: Take a fabulous necklace, then add basics and accessories in a simple color palette to create two very different outfits. It’s like those fashion mag articles that show you how to make 20 outfits from six pieces of clothing. Only way more fun!

The first ever Wear It Twice collage began with a really pretty multi-strand turquoise necklace. Whenever I see turquoise all alone, I think of Ancient Egypt, so I used kohl black, carnelian red and gold as the remainder of my palette.

Turquoise Queen by Mortira featuring RJ Graziano jewelry

For the outfit on the left, I started with a fashion essential - the LBD. The black bandage dress that I found was totally irresistible, and would present a fun dress-up challenge. The retro bubble skirt, paired with the strands of beads, creates a sort of circa 1984 Madonna look. So I finished it with a pair of embellished black ankle boots and golden bobby pins to match. The red clutch adds an extra splash of color and sass.

The second ensemble is much more casual. I started with a black tunic with cropped bell sleeves. This time, instead of gold, I went with cream and added stone-colored bootcut jeans, with a cream and black cloche hat to match. Cute red Oxford flats complete the look.

Both outfits make a great base for a beautiful, blue necklace. And the best part is, you can get these looks, or something like them, on Etsy!

Copyright 2010 Inspirational Beading and Polyvore.com