PaperCut Cotton Tee by Whitney Manney

Hello again and I hope everyone’s week went smoothly. I know it went quickly because they all seem to. At least we start a three-day weekend (if you are in the states). Will that slow things down? I doubt it. But it does give us some extra time to spend with friends and family. This year we are heading south to Joplin, Missouri, for our son-in-law’s great smoked barbecue.

There has been a lot of graphic tee shirts on Instagram and fashion blogs during this past spring and summer. It has been hard to miss that they have been very popular.

This popularity left me unscathed. My purchase of any type of tee shirt during the last five years has been just one (it had to do with dog rescue). I just stopped buying them. Back in the day when we would go somewhere, we had to buy tee shirts. I have Smithsonian, St. Louis Zoo, Monticello, Florida and sheep show tee shirts. The list could go on and on. However, they would just languish in drawers. It finally dawned on me that I really just don’t wear tee shirts.

OK, our school’s Parent Teacher Organization would give us teachers a free Adrian Blackhawk staff tee shirt every year and I would wear those. I still covet my NEA “Read Across America” Dr. Seuss Tee shirt (that I still have).

However, I knew about a month ago, I was going to fall off the “no buy” tee shirt wagon. Whitney Manney, an up and coming Kansas City designer, came out with her Paper Cut Tee Shirts. I had to have one. The designs in the shirts are exactly what they say: paper collages. My term for them is Graphic Art Tee Shirts, because I feel like I am wearing original art. The design I chose here is All Dressed.

A good friend from North Carolina often insists: “Southern women wear pearls with their flip flops.” Well, this is my answer. This mid-western woman wears pearls with her tee shirts.

I picked a size that fit my bust because I figured I would tailor the shirt for the rest of my body, as I do most everything else. I am going to hold off on that because, right now, I like the blousey look and especially like the sleeves rolled up. Eventually, I may take it to the sewing machine but not this summer.

Now, back to the pearls. When I was fifty-five, I decided I wanted to wear pearls. The first ones that I bought were the classic Jackie O/Barbara Bush three-stranded style but, for me, they are the hardest to wear. To begin with, they are heavy! I have my 18″ ones on today and also have a set that is 24″.

Besides my pearls, I chose shoes and bag of a pale leaning toward neutral pink. The shoes are Ellen Tracy and the bag is by Big (both from TJ Maxx but at different occasions). The bag and shoes have been on here before when I did a challenge for Sylvia’s 40+ group.

Of course, the most important accessory in these pictures is Sophia, my miniature apricot poodle. I adopted her seven years ago come this October 1st, when she was about 3-5 years. She is one of the best things I have ever done. I took a ragamuffin who looked so bad that the rescue named her Fraggle and turned her into a queen (well, in my eyes).

I wanted everyone to have a closer look at the graphics. For me, between the chandelier, makeup brush, clock and that incredible red dress, it’s like Cinderella meets the 60’s.

While editing the photos for this post, I realize that this has been as close as I have gotten to Pantone’s “colors” of the year. I say close, because I know that my pink is very neutralized, but this is probably as close as I will get.

The Polished Accessory

I had to have a pink polish for this and picked a color by Orly, another one of my favorite polish brands. This is Pink Waterfall from their 2013 Surreal Collection. It is a pink creme but with an underlying blue that gives it extra depth.

Orly doesn’t have this color in their current offerings, which I think is a shame. But, with Amazon and eBay around, it can always be had. I have three colors from the Surreal collection (including one named Pink Poodle) and have to say this collection is one of my all time favorites.

Sophia is going to get some face-time today. She is wearing a pink pearl necklace with a pink rhinestone drop that I made just for this shoot. Sophia is also wearing a Tiara Bow with Swarovsky crystals. I designed these and make them in all colors for her.

For me, Poodles and fashion always go together. Check HERE and HERE for my posts on classic fashion photos with Poodles. While I am on the subject, here are some very famous people who owned Poodles HERE and HERE. OK, that’s enough Poodle!

Whitney Manney

As I previously mentioned, Whitney Manney is a Kansas City designer, a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute (2012) and one of five recipients of a Rightfully Sewn’s scholarship for the FactTrac (Kauffman Foundation) program.

Whitney is in her twenties and creates energetic street wear. She designs for the young urban and I appreciate what she does. My youngest is drooling over a pair of her leggings. I was so happy when I saw the PaperCut shirts because I think they are a design for all ages and all sizes.

Here are the designs that she offers.

All Dressed also comes in grey

The Think About Love comes in pink and white.

The Power Shirt comes in burgundy and dark olive.

I had to include the PrimaRebelle Printcess Skater Dress. This digital print is now it is on sale for $95 and I can so see it on my youngest daughter, Rachelle. Both prints are amazing.

I wore my tee shirt Saturday to a Pop Up shop event featuring some of my favorite Kansas City designers. I am just showing Michael my next bag! It’s a Dolyn Bag by Ami Beck.

That is enough for today, so I will bid adieu until next week. In the meantime, Happy Styling!

This week, I am linking up with Patti’s Not Dead Yet Style’s Visible Monday HERE, Cherie’s Style Nudge’s Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine’s Not Dressed As Lamb’s I will Wear What I like HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine’s Style Perspectives HERE, High Altitude Style’s Link-Up HERE, Fashion Should Be Fun’s Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE, Shelbee’s Edge of the Week Link Up HERE, Nancy’s Fancy Friday HERE and Sydney’s Fashion Hunter.