t h e (c h l o e) c o n s p i r a c y: Outfit Of The Day (Bling'a Bling Bling)

{Some of you might have noticed, but I've finally moved to my own domain at http://www.thechloeconspiracy.com - Blogger should redirect you if you still go to my old blogspot address, but I'm noticing some squirrely things happening with that- so please update your bookmarks to the new address!}

{Also, Disqus totally broke my comments.}

{NOT ME, DISQUS. THEY STARTED IT.}

{Is it okay to be ready for a nap at 7:46 AM in the morning? Good. GOOD. GOOD-BYE.}

So as I mentioned yesterday, Ann Taylor sent me a small (surprise!) necklace as a gift for my bloggy efforts here on The Chloe Conspiracy, and can I just say wow? Wow.

Readers, I feel (and I have felt for some time, actually) that fashion bloggers (big or small, popular or just starting out, young or old) are really beginning to have a huge, exciting impact on the fashion scene. I mean, just look at Tavi with Rodarte. Girl is amazing, hm?

While I'm definitely no Tavi (I'm old enough to technically kind-of-sort-of be her mother, if I had had her when I was 15) (and let me just say that doing that math in my head officially has me freaked out this fine Friday morning and looking for the nearest blanket and/or computer desk to hide under while rocking myself back and forth and chanting to myself, "It's all okay Chloe, don't cry, think of something funny, like Jared Leto and his guyliner"), it is really neat to see retailers and designers and magazines (Lucky Mag features a new fashion blogger in print & online every month!) take notice of what's going on here.

Because I'm not anyone. Really- I'm not. I'm one big ol' nobody. I grew up and lived for 22 years in South Dakota, land of The Empire Mall (which at one point boasted itself as being the largest one story mall in North America, a completely asinine and idiotic concept as you find yourself having to walk for fifty-five hours just to get to the food court) (it was also built in 1975 and HASN'T BEEN UPDATED SINCE). I don't work in fashion, I'm not a fashion prodigy- hey, I wore poor fitting thrift store finds and a bad haircut throughout most of highschool:

So I had this bright orange tiger sweater when I was really little, and for whatever reason the relative that made it decided I also needed another one for my totally-not-important formative teenage years. Awesome.

See, I was rocking booties before ya'll even knew what booties were.

Um. Okay. I think I'm done embarrassing myself.

And guys? You guys. I have a big confession- I still stumble a bit when I have to say "Louboutin" out loud, as if my bleak and bland Midwestern tongue simply can't wrap itself (literally) around that pronunciation, and I'm pretty sure Husband thinks the next pair of shoes I'm going to buy are actually called LooboopffftGOD-ohfucks.

So, back to my point here. Simply put- fashion bloggers, for the most part, are just regular people inspiring other regular people to be the best regular people they can be. And I am so proud to be part of that movement. And I am so proud of everyone that is part of that movement- we're most certainly proving that you don't need to be tall, skinny, or rich to rock the heck out of it. Right? Right.

So a big thanks! again to Ann Taylor for sending me something so nice and making me feel like a Little Queen Chloe, and also a big thanks! to White House Black Market, as they also sent me something (a gift card, and I will show you guys what I got with it soon!) and can I just say? Great companies- not in just the clothes, but in the sincerity behind the marketing and PR. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me, and to acknowledge the "power" that fashion bloggers are beginning to wield in the world of fashion.

(I mean, I actually really wanted my "power" to be something badass, like being able to shoot laser beams out of my fingertips, but- sometimes you just have to take whatcha get.)

On to the outfit! The necklace just so happens to match my Botkier Cleo Satchel perfectly, which is just too awesome: