Designer Crush: Charlotte Olympia

Ever since I wrote my post on clutches, I've been thinking about those gorgeous clutches designed by Charlotte Olympia. I seriously cannot get her designs out of my head - both shoes and bags. She definitely knows how to have fun with designs while still making them luxurious and wearable. 

Anyway, I'm supposed to be studying but instead I'm going to share with you 10 of my favorite Charlotte Olympia shoe designs. God knows it's so hard to choose. 

Images from Farfetch and Charlotte Olympia's website. 

She draws her inspiration for her brand from the 1940's and up. I love the inspiration she took from Lucky Strike cigarettes for the "lucky girl" clutch. 

Who is your designer crush right now? 

Designer Lust: Missoni

While browsing the internet this morning, I came across a Missoni maxi dress that really caught my eye. I did some more browsing and became obsessed with the bold colors and prints. So perfect for summer. So out of my price range. 

Still, nice to lust after. 

What designers are you lusting after? 

Local Designer: JLINSNIDER

When you hear South Carolina, you might invision nice country folk that wear camo, drink beer and moonshine, and hunt whenever they get a chance.

When you hear Charleston, you might invision Lilly Pilitzer/Vineyard Vines/Polo/Jack Rogers/Sperry-wearing people with a dash of southern charm. I'm not hating I promise! 

But the beautiful thing, or at least one of the beautiful things, is the ever growing number of local designers; designers you'd never guess came out of Charleston. 

I'm starting a local designer series, starting with JLINSNIDER. 

Designed and created by Jamie Lin Snider, JLINSNIDER features one of a kind modernized vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories. And when I say one of a kind, take it literally. If you buy a something from her, it IS the ONLY one. It's all wearable vintage and very, very unique. A little hidden gem in the Charleston scene.

Jamie Lin Snider grew up in Anderson, South Carolina and went to school in Las Vegas. She moved back to Charleston in 2011 and founded her store on upper King Street. Upper King used to be a area you wouldn't really want to visit, it could be dangerous and sketchy. Now it's a must visit if you're into the fashion scene, or even if you're not. Upper King now is "up and coming", I guess would be the correct term for it. Mostly college kids and all the cool kids. Just kidding, kind of. But really, she started out with her Etsy store and it blew up and now she has all of this! 

That's our girl right there! She is such a sweetheart, I've talked to her twice and both times she was so kind and cheerful and very passionate about what she does.

Here are some images from Charleston Fashion Week runway from years 2011 through 2014

all images from JLS runway portfolio

There are some dresses in there that I cannot for the life of me figure out what kind of fabric she used. You can probably guess which ones, let me know if you figure it out. I'm so curious. 

As far as I know, the only places you can buy her clothes right now is at Holy City Consignment, King Dusko, or her Etsy page. 

Her clothes are pretty expensive, as expected. Somehow, the stars aligned for me perfectly and I was able to get my hands on three shirts I wanted. I was walking down King Street on a Tuesday or some random day like that, full paycheck, and decided to walk in because I had never been in before. This was a year or two ago when she had her own retail store. She happened to be having a huge sale on everything in the store if I remember correctly. I was surprised that there weren't more people in the store, but one of the girls working there said that Jamie Lin would randomly decided to have unannounced sales. 

Outfit posts with said shirts will come later this week. 

Here are some cool photos from her portfolio: 

And last but not least, some awards she's won:

Best of Charleston 2011- Best Risk Taking Designer 

Charleston's 50 Most Progressive People, 2012

Best of Charleston 2012- Best Designer Boutique 

Best of Charleston 2014- Best Place For Leopard Print Suspenders (really random and specific award?)

Best of Charleston 2014- Best Local Designer

I wish there had been some mens clothing on the runway for fashion week. I don't really remember seeing any mens clothing when I went in the store, but that might just be because I was too excited about the sale to look. 

Like I said, I'll do outfit posts later this weekend/week with the shirts that I got. 

Also don't forget- I'm doing a giveaway soon! 

What do you think? Do you like vintage clothing or do you prefer more modern clothes? Would you wear any of these risk taking designs? Let me know what you think! 

Have a good weekend loves! 

Summer Lust List Part 1: Shoes

Since I don't really have any spare spending money right now, I'm just going to gawk at things that I want. Maybe a secret Santa (Easter Bunny?) will see this and leave some at my door. A girl can dream.

Target

Target never fails to have the cutest clothes and shoes at reasonable prices. I need some shoes other than flats to wear this spring/summer and these are just perfect. I LOVE the gladiator look, so I'll also be looking for some gladiator flats. These look super comfortable, but looks can be deceiving. They also come in black, yay!

Target

Also from Target. I LOVE the beaded style on these. I could see myself wearing these with my black maxi dress. It shrunk a little so you can just barely see the shoes I'm wearing with it, especially when I sit. But really you could wear these with anything, I'd probably go with a flowy dress or skirt. 

Target

Last one from Target, I swear (though I could probably do an entire blog post on just Target shoes). I only have one pair of flats suitable for summer, because the rest are beyond dirty or falling apart. These are cute, casual, and you can wear them with almost anything. They also come in white, leopard print, a few different neutral colors, and a light snakeskin. 

Aldo

Picasso much? I tend to lean towards blacks and dark blues, so my goal for the summer is to add as much color as possible. Pretty simple, but I like the geometric shape. They also come in a dark blue/light blue combination, but like I said, color is key this summer. 

Nine West

Nine West also never fails me, but they are also a lot more expensive than Target. I LOVE this purple color, they give a little height and have a peep toe. Like I said, I'm trying my hardest to stay away from black. Also comes in black, green, and neutral. 

Aldo

I just need new rain boots. I'm ok with black in this case because I will need to be able to wear them with literally anything if the skies open up. They also come in grey and red. 

Giuseppe Zanoti

Look at them! Do I need to explain? This is high up on my lust list, probably just because of the price. They are Giuseppe Zanotti shoes but you can buy them on Bluefly for a lot less. True for most designer shoes, actually. Ah well, I'll dream of these tonight. 

I could go on and on with just shoes, but I'll stop here. More lust lists to come. Feel free to send in pictures of your favorite spring and summer shoes, I'm hoping to do a post on that as well. 

What shoes are you lusting after right now? Are you leaning towards colors or neutrals? Flats or heels? Let me know, have a great day! 

*click on the link under the pictures if you want to go to the website and purchase them (which I will be insanely jealous of).