{My Version of} Life in Looks

I decided to take a look back at some of my more memorable, or let’s say, questionable, looks from the past. Looks I loved, looks I can’t believe I wore, all of it. I’m giving you some style details, a few tips, and plenty of behind-the-scenes details on these outfits that I’ve never shared before. Scroll down to see 7 looks from my past.

Look 1

Event: Marshalls Show

I was in my early style expert days, when I thought style meant you should wear all trends at once, and the more random, the cooler. The funny part is, I’m hosting an event for Marshalls as a style expert where I am supposed to tell other people how to dress. If you saw this girl walk into a room, would you like her tell you how to dress? Hell no! At least I’m owning it and doing a cute pose. The hair color is atrocious. Why did nobody fix this for me? Where were my friends?

That is a sleeveless mustard yellow pussy bow blouse. Just saying what I’m wearing is bad enough, looking at the image is even worse. Then I’m wearing Blue Theory shorts that were part of a suit. I don’t know why I thought a pussy bow blouse would look cute with suit shorts.

The most offensive part of this, besides my hair color, are those leopard ankle booties by Elizabeth James. They were expensive and sometimes I made the mistake (again, early style expert days) of thinking that just because something is expensive, means it’s cool. They were not. They might have been cool with a different outfit, but not with this. And am I wearing a long necklace under my pussy bow? What is that?

Look 2

Event: VMAs at Radio City Music Hall

She bang, she bang! This is one of the first award shows I covered for the TODAY Show. I wanted to look fire and major, my stylist had done a pull from KCD in Paris for Beaumont for another shoot. I could never afford this dress and KCD and Beaumont probably would never loaned it to me, but it didn’t fit the model and so I asked my stylist, “Wait…if it fits me, can I wear it?” And she said, “Yea, just don’t tag KCD and don’t tag Beaumont.” Done and done!

This is Beaumont off the runway, and it probably cost my rent in New York, so I definitely couldn’t afford it. It had bigger shoulder pads, but because I’m so petite, we sliced and tucked it under so it wasn’t so dramatic. I loved this dress. And you know what I love even more? I paired it with a $20 H&M belt. Yes, my friends, I’m a cheap chica through and through.

I’ve never worn bangs before, and my stylist Mika from Salon AKS suggested a clip-in bang, I feel like it could be major. I trust her, so let’s do it! I really liked this because it was up and gave me a very different vibe than I normally do for red carpets. I think it’s a little dark because we didn’t have time to color match it to my hair, but other than that, I would repeat that bang again. I love clip in hair and changing it up.

The makeup is fire. Danielle, one of my makeup artists in New York, is so good and killed it on every one of my red carpet looks. The earrings, the dress, the shoes, the pink carpet, I loved it. I felt really good in this. It was the beginning of my red carpet career, this was very early on and I felt really confident. 

It just goes to show you how much clothes contribute to feeling really good about yourself in a  high stress situation. Clothes are pure confidence.

Look 3

Event: Back stage shower on the set of E! Pop

I loved 99% of my maternity looks. I didn’t play by the rules, I wore crop tops, high waisted denim, all of it. This is one of the situations where I might have pushed it too far here. I’m wearing a jumpsuit from ZARA. This is one of my least favorite maternity looks because the way the top tied on top of the high waisted bump isn’t something I love. 

I don’t regret a lot of the looks I wore when I was pregnant, but this might be one of them. If I remember correctly, it did not look good on television. I give this a 2/10, despite how cute I am pregnant with Santi in this picture.

Look 4

Event: Superbowl party in Miami

I love this photo. I wore this dress at a party during the 2020 Superbowl. I can’t tell you who played, but that was Shakira and JLo’s Superbowl. I’m wearing a gold metallic lame dress from the House of CB. I told myself if there was ever a time to wear this dress, it was in Miami for Superbowl weekend. 

It wasn’t too hot, so the long sleeves were okay. But it was really humid that night, so I pulled my hair back and did it myself. I hardly ever pull my hair back because I just feel more confident with it down. I had a makeup artist do my makeup and it took her 2 ½ hours because it was all kinda of wrong the first time we did it, so we had to start over.

I clearly was feeling myself in the dress. It was short, tight, and I loved it. The bag was borrowed from MCM for their earlier red carpet and they very generously let me keep that bag which I still love to this day, it’s stunning and gorgeous. The clear, strappy heels are from Charlotte Russe. I love a good shoe deal and they have the best.

I love this outfit. I give it a strong 8/10. Also, where is this dress? It’s a great LA dress and I would absolutely wear it here.

Look 5

Event: VMAs in New Jersey

I love this Ronny Kobo dress. We hemmed it ultra short, because I love a mini, but I was nervous because there’s a fine line between vulgar and sexy. This dress was perfect. The reason this dress was really special to me is because I don’t normally love black and white on a carpet, I love color. But when I saw this dress, it was the only dress that fit me that mt stylist pulled, but I love the shape, the bow, and that it’s a modern tuxedo style.

My hairstylist made the suggestion that the look would be great with a colorful earring, but only if my hair was straight and tucked behind my ears…which I also never do. But I really like my hair straight, so we put a whole pack of extensions in and my hair was down to my butt that night.

This is one of those moments where I feel like the hair, the makeup, the dress, it all worked. This is one of my favorite looks. It was very me, and I felt really comfortable in my own skin. I give it an 8/10.

Look 6

Event: Tommy Hilfiger show in Harlem, collab with Zendaya

I didn’t have access to all my vintage Tommy gear, it was in Texas at my mom’s, so I went to Urban Outfitters and found a Tommy Hilfiger bra and thought, “My abs are good, why don’t I wear this with an H&M blazer?” So that’s what I did. I added a pair of denim jeans from Pistola. I was feeling super stylish and tied my Lulus sandal straps around the denims, because that’s what was happening in fashion at the time, I think it was 2019.

It’s a cute look, 7/10, but the real question is whose car is that and why am I leaning against it? Was I in a car photo shoot? I’m going to change it to a 5/10 because that’s trying too hard to look cool.

Look 7

Event/Location: American Music Awards in Los Angeles

This is not a good look for me. I look like an American ballet theater reject. Real talk: Pulling and borrowing clothes when you’re an entertainment TV show correspondent is tough. Nobody wants to lend you clothes, you don’t make enough money to buy nice clothes, so you have to borrow what is given to you. Luckily I have amazing designers that have given me some really great stuff. 

This is a romper by Hailey Paige and it just didn’t fit me. The arms were all wrong, the back was a hot mess filled with safety pins, the shorts don’t fit, and we had to self-alter. TIP: Don’t borrow clothes that don’t fit and try to make them work.

Why did I do my hair like that? Oh wait, it was raining. But why am I so pale? Couldn’t somebody get me a spray tan or self-tanner. I’m blaming it on the crappy red carpet lighting. But I do like my makeup. 3/10.

___________________________________________________

That was super fun! If you have looks of mine that you want to get the backstory on or maybe want to know what the hell I was thinking, send them my way at @the_lv_guide on Instagram.