Cardigan Empire

Salt Lake City Fashion Stylist

Fashion Multi-Tasking: Styling with 31 Bits

I love multi-tasking.  
I consume audio books while washing dishes, I catch-up with girlfriends while running, and I benefit women in Northern Uganda while I accessorize.  
The last act is performed with the assistance of 31 Bits.  Who “uses fashion and design to empower women to rise above poverty.” 
What started with 5 college junior philanthropistis and 6 Ugandan beneficiaries has grown to over 170 beneficiaries and has been featured in Harpers Bazaar, People Style Watch, and Martha Stewart.
It starts with the beads. They’re made by women in Northern Uganda from recycled paper: unused posters, advertisements, old text book pages.  They’re cut into long strips, rolled tightly. and coated in a water-based varnish.  99% of the materials are sourced in Eastern Africa.

Every purchase helps these women earn an income, provide for their family, further the local economy, and find empowerment. 
I tell people all the time that fashion is more than superficial vanity. This is tangible proof.

Style Notes: 31 Bits necklace (fall + winter 2014 collection) / Frances clutch (available in store now) / Embroidered Top / Tapestry Pencil Skirt / Link Bracelet / Geometric Bracelet (old, similar here)

Photography by Kym Ventola

Be sure to visit Summer Bellessa, Alex Evjen, Lauren Kelp, Lindsay Letters, Style Tutor, Confessions of a Hairstylist, and Sea Salt to see how they styled their bits!

Feed me fashionably fresh

How to Pick the Best Swimsuit for Your Bottom

I am basically a lower figured, triple threat: fleshy hips, swimsuit munching bottom, and full thighs.  The latter is probably my strongest feature.  And while I’ve heard and even witnessed glory and wonder attributed to the leg-lengthening high-cut legline, I personally appreciate a bit more coverage.  Today I’m going to compare four low-leg, high coverage options.

shop the video:

Albion Fit Wait Until Dark Swimsuit
Nanette Lepore Amalfi Floral Goddess One Piece
Shabby Apple Striped Ocean Park Swimsuit
Hapari Tankini Swimdress
Boden Tie Front Swimsuit

Let’s start with my favorite iteration: the retro leg, exemplified by Nanette Lepore’s Almalfi Floral Goddess Maliot.  I love how the rise cuts across the widest part of my hips, thereby dividing them into two smaller sections, without wrestling with my afore-mentioned thigh meat.

Next, we take the rise a bit lower with a full boy short.  The Shabby Apple Ocean Park Swimsuit is a cellulite sentinel, shielding the seat and thighs from over exposure.  And if your body harbors curves exclusively around the hips and or seat, this might be the suit for you.  But the lower line creates a rather unwelcome “v” between my legs and highlight the ample circumference of my thighs.

Hapari Tankini Swimdress

The most conservative option within our set is also the most flexible.  This Retro Fashion Seaside Tankini and Swimdress by Hapari can be pulled low for seaside strolling or ruched up for swimming mobility, exposing the leg-legthening higher rise swim bottoms.

Boden Tie Front Swimsuit

Our final option, Boden Tie Front One Piece, is surprisingly similar to our first option with one important exception: the width of the crotch.  It’s not uncommon for a retro leg to be accompanied by a wide crotch line.  If your thighs tend to gap, this might be your perfect fit, but my friendly thighs resisted and wrestled again this constriction with unflattering results.

For the best options for your bust and belly, link to these episodes.

I wouldn’t have trusted just anyone to capture my swimsuit clad figure on film. I thank the trustworthy Breanne of Red Poppy Photo for posing me, photographing me, and giving me the courage to put my real body into a swimsuit for educational purposes.   Her camera is just as kind as the operator behind it. Check her out.