BCBG Black Lace Dress

I love lace dresses, but this is one of my favorite.  The color, cut, and style makes it very versatile.  BCBG fits my body perfectly - even though my top and bottom are two different sizes.  I paired this beautiful dress with a Hmong Silver Necklace and silver NineWest Sandals.  Cinched in the waist with a black obi belt from The Limited.

Same ensemble, but I added a Hmong Leeg Men's Jacket.  Be sure to right-click to enlarge the photo to see the details of the necklace, earrings, and the jacket.  All the pieces are handmade.  

Here, I paired it with a green metallic leather blazer made by one of my all time favorite designer, Dana Buchman.  I really like this blazer because the color, cut, and styling makes it look like a evening jacket - but has the look and fit of a leather jacket.  This could definitely work for a semi-formal event.  I kept the black obi belt on to help define the waistline and add interest.

Here, I wore it with a mint green denim jacket from JCPenny.  I love how denim jackets can make a semi-formal dress like this one look casual enough for dinner out with the ladies... or out on a date.

Here, I wore the lace dress with my Hmong Chinese jacket (shown in an earlier post - breaking down a Hmong outfit).  I am not sure if I like this look, but my husband did.  He actually wanted to take this picture with me.

Minty Green Denim Jacket with BCBG Lace Dress

I love lace dresses, but they are more formal, so I have to get creative and find ways to dress them down. For this, nothing works better than denim jackets. I love this minty one, bought from JC Penny. The dress is by BCBG. The black tank is from Tahari. The shoes are Ninewest.

With purple smokey eye make up and neutral pink lipstick (two different colors so as not to wash me out).  

Hmong Purses From Ebay Seller

I saw this wonderful seller on ebay.  I bought this purse and another one.  They are both gorgeous.  Will need to find time to take a photo of the other one.  This is a wonderful seller to work with.  Easy communication.

Yes, I did wear this outfit to work with this purse.  The dress is a lace-ish from JC Penny.  The leather jacket is from Catherine Malandrino.  And of course, my trusty BORN black mary jane shoes.

Here is the link to the ebay seller.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/141340308122?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

This auction is still going as of August 5, 2014.  

https://www.etsy.com/listing/164330168/hmong-classic-handbag?ref=listing-shop-header-4

https://www.etsy.com/listing/188870520/handmade-vintage-ethnic-hmong-tote?ref=shop_home_active_10

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131082576924?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Total Cost = $125 plus $15 Shipping and Handling.

Vintage Hmong Jackets - Kat's Style

Here is one of my vintage Hmong jacket.  I love these and have several of them.  I wore this one to the beach with my husband and my kids.  The material of these jackets allows lots of circulations so they are ideal for summer weather.  While people reserve these for special occasions, I love them so much, I wear them everywhere -with just about everything.  Anything from causal to fancy events.  The dress here is actually a semi-formal dress, but the fabric and cut was so summery, I could not resist wearing it.  BCBG Lace dress with pink lining - cinched in with black leather belt from The Limited.

Here is the full look, but it was getting dark and the lighting was not as good.

Red Lace Dress

This was the first dress of this style that I fell in love with.  Ebay had it for $150 and I tried to negotiate it down to $125, but was not successful.  We were about to go on a trip to California, so I passed it up, hoping to catch it on the next round.  I waited over two years and this dress was no where to be found.  I finally saw one in a slightly smaller size but I was not going to take any chances so I bought it.  I love everything about this dress.  The fit of the bodice, the fit of the hips, the length on me - right at the knees, the colors, the sleeve... it's LACE!  it's BCBG!  I am ecstatic!!!

You need to "right-click" "open link in new tab" to see the details and beauty of this dress.

Black Lace Dress

I wanted this black lace dress badly.  There were hardly any and the few that ebay had were size small.  When I saw this one in my size, I grabbed it.  The price is a little more that what I normally spent on a dress, but it's BLACK... it's LACE... it's BCBG!  

This is really really bad camera quality, but I promise to re-do this photo when I get my camera back.  I was attending the Jacksonville, Florida Chambers of Commerce 2014 Celebration so I decided to wear my new black BCBG lace dress.  I knew that many of the other ethnicity will be wearing their traditional clothes, but it was still work related so I wanted to play it safe.  The only "Hmong-inspired" piece I added was the Hmong padau belt.  This belt usually have coins attached to it with beads, but I bought this specifically to wear to wear with American clothes so I did not bother to attach the silver coins.  The shoes are my trusty red BORN mary janes.  Yes, I live in BORN shoes.  No sense in killing my feet just to look good.  I topped it off with my new favorite "formal leather jacket."  It's made by Tahari.  I have been wanting a black Tahari leather jacket for a long time.  This one is perfect.  It is in the shape of a blazer and and fits perfectly everywhere. 

My JC Penny Pearl black lace dress.  It is quite short, so I added a Bebe Satin moto trench to balance it out.  finished with nude Guess heels.

Yellow Lace Dress

I can't believe that I have not thought of this combination before.  I have a camouflage long trench jacket like this and a yellow lace dress.  I have been racking my brain on  how to wear jacket.  And I have worn this dress with an olive leather jacket before, with a black button down shirt.  Looks beautiful, but this is so much more casual and summer friendly.

This is my yellow BCBG lace dress.  On me, it hits just an inch above the knees so it is the perfect length for work.  And perfect length for a Hmong wife.  Although I am sure that some thinks that a dress at the knees is too short for a woman over 40.  

Navy Blue Lace/ Eyelet Dress

Blue on blue can be quite beautiful.  I haven't though of pairing these two together but I will now.

White Lace Dress

There are my two base white lace dress.  And then I have a few other white eyelet dresses that would work too.

I  have worn this one several times already.  The lace is extremely soft so I can usually just tuck in the bell sleeve at the wrist.

This is the second one.  It's basically the same dress with different sleeve and neckline.  

The BCBG one-sleeve white lace dress from above.  I paired it with my Hmong Chinese jacket.  NineWest nude and black pump.  Various long pendant cross necklaces.

Back view of the Hmong Chinese jacket.

Close up of the jacket.

This is how I have worn mine in the past.

I have worn mine like this, but with a Hmong padau belt.

I have a brown denim jacket and several brown leather jacket so it should be fairly easy to recreate this look.

I love the casualness of an anorak jacket with a soft lace dress.  This is an awesome combination and something that I can easily recreate.  I have several anorak this color and two that are black... the most beautiful one is the kelly green jacket.

I have a a beautiful cream color leather jacket by Catherine Mandarino that would perfect for creating this outfit.  However, I don't have a pair of grey books.  

I could wear one of my white dress with the Tahari Dove gre jacket.  I has the same shape and feel.