Tag Archives: clothes

Swishing Things Up A Little

October 28, 2015Clothes SwapsBlogger, clothes, community, dc, Periscope, secondhand, shopping, Style Lottery, stylist, swap, swishTimiKomo

This season, we’ve upgraded the Style Lottery shopping experience. The first thing most people noticed was that we changed the name of our events.

So why a swish instead of a swap? It’s because swapping is simply about exchanging clothes while swishes are about creating community. Having lived in three cities in the last three years, I know from experience that meeting new people can be somewhat intimidating. Style Lottery brings people together and creates a sense of community around fashion. Our swish events happen on 3 levels (college, city, and community). Our events are our way of making our communities feel more intimate and our impact more evident.

For this event, we teamed up with a local creative collective called goDesignDC to create a unique shopping experience for our guests. The creative geniuses behind the collective (Obi and Amanda) gave us the boutique look we were going for. Here are a few highlights from the event.

A thoughtful & sustainably designed space

Style Lottery is serious about sustainability, so teaming up with goDesignDC was a match made in Heaven. The team build the ceiling fixtures and racks from locally sourced and recycled materials. If you want to see more of their design vision, check out their Instagram page.

The chance to meet new people in your community

We love when our social circles overlap and our friends meet each other. Friends can turn into style soulmates in a matter of minutes. We witnessed it happen several times throughout the event. A style soulmate is someone who wears a similar size in clothing. Although you didn’t intend to, you end up picking up most of the things she brought to the swish. Once you find her, you decide you have too much in common not to be friends in real life. You exchange numbers and decide to go on a roadtrip to Philly together. That last part actually did happened at our last event. We couldn’t have made it up if we tried.

A curated boutique experience

Our guests’ favorite part about our events is our ever-changing inventory. As the swish goes on, new items are brought out onto the floor. We had blogger and stylist, Buki Peters of Style With Buki, in the building helping guests style their swish finds. For guests at home missing out on the action, Buki also did a LIVE style session on Periscope.

The option to recycle clothes

For this swish event, we were fortunate to partner with a local H&M store. The leftover clothing was donated to the store’s recycling program. Most people don’t know that H&M will give you a 15% off coupon for recycling with them. To reward the ladies for lowering their carbon footprints, we made sure that each woman received a 15% off coupon for her contributions.

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Thank you to everyone who made it to our first ever City Swish in DC. We’re always looking to improve your shopping experience for our guests. The feedback we received from our guests has been fantastic! If you’ve ever been to one of our events, we’d love to hear from you. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey.

   Photo cred: Obi Okolo (goDesignDC)

The Intern’s Closet

July 11, 2014Fashion, What Are You Wearingblouse, business casual, cheap, clothes, dress code, fashion, internship, OOTD, statement necklace, style, tipsTimiKomo

I recently got an internship at an office in Washington, D.C. As I was packing and preparing myself for my life as intern, I took a look at my closet to see what I had that could work for an intern’s closet. My internship has a “business casual” dress code, so I knew I already had some items in my closet that could fit the bill. I didn’t want to buy and entirely knew wardrobe but I wanted versatility, so I was looking to add a few pieces that I could dress up and dress down. I scoured the internet for clues on what most professionals considered business casual. I stumbled upon this photo: Here are the recommendations from the post,:

Pants (solid colors are best), Skirts (length that lands at or above the knee), Tailored dress Tailored shirts, blouses, knits, sweaters and cardigans, Blazers and jackets, Both closed toed and open toed heels are appropriate, Jewelry and accessories (such as belts, scarves, watches) should be classic and conservative

One of my biggest problems with D.C. professionals is that they look great at work, but everywhere else they look a little…interesting. I often tuck my heels (if I wear any at all) into my bag and wear cute, sensible flats on the train. I think more brands in the DC area need to invest in comfortable flats, because the market out here is serious! There are women in beautiful skirt and blouse ensembles with neon Nike sneakers on and men in well cut suits with New Balances on. For me, comfort is paramount. I enjoy getting dressed for my internship and I also enjoy the fact that I can leave work and go meet up with friends without having to change. I am comfortable and I look put together. My office seemed to be pretty casual, which explains why my wardrobe leans more on the casual side. Here are a few of my outfits and some tips for the first few weeks at an internship with a business casual dress code.

Tip #1: Show some personality with some color.

Screen Shot 2014-07-11 at 3.13.03 PM — I find most traditional black boring so I opted for a pair of cobalt blue skinny pants from F21

Tip #2: Wear a sleeveless top and bring along a sweater or jacket to adjust for the weather.

Screen Shot 2014-07-11 at 3.13.39 PM — I used online shopping websites to introduce cute inexpensive tops to my closet.

Tip #3: Use statement necklaces to make your outfits a little more interesting

Screen Shot 2014-07-11 at 3.14.22 PM — Statement necklaces tend to dress up outfits and make them appear more thought out

Tip #4: Invest in a bag is both cute and functional

Screen Shot 2014-07-11 at 3.14.33 PM — This bag is sturdy and spacious to hold my work, heels, and my lunch kit.

Tip #5: Pair solids with patterns to break up the monotony of an outfit

Screen Shot 2014-07-11 at 3.14.42 PM — My houndstooth skirt

Tip 6: Substitute uncomfortable slack for jeggings

Screen Shot 2014-07-11 at 3.14.09 PM — I’ve worn these wine skinny pants into the office multiple times and no one has realized they’re jeggings!

My favorite tip is the last one. I never would have thought I’d be wearing jeggings to work, but after the first day I realized my desk job requires me sitting for hours! I realized, I might as well be comfortable while I sit and work. When I decided to wear jeggings, I made sure they were the type that actually looked like regular pants (with a zipper, button, back pocket, etc.). I also both them a size up, so they wouldn’t be inappropriately tight. There is a wide variety of jeggings online and most of them are inexpensive. I know that there will come a day when I have to become a real person and buy an entire wardrobe of designer pants, but for now I am just a humble intern who wears stylish jeggings to work. Those are my tips for dressing to impress as an intern. Are there any other interns out there? What do you all wear to work?

Presenting My Non-Profit, Style Lottery

December 6, 2013Life, Style Lotteryclothes, Clothes Swaps, donate, Nominate, Non-profit, Style Lottery, Syracuse, VolunteerTimiKomo

Check out my organization, Style Lottery! Style Lottery is a social enterprise dedicated to sustainable fashion and fashion philanthropy. with the desire to uplift young women in the community. Style Lottery, through nominations from community members, selects hardworking women and men from low-income communities and gives them the gift of a free clothing.

Visit the site at stylelottery.org