Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Who is TheDiva

Who is TheDiva?

Well I am an Interior Designer in her mid 30's who has have a love and passion for style and design.  I grew up in WI and always loved reading fashion magazines as a kid and dressing up my Barbie dolls.

In the mid 90's I moved to MN to study Interior Design at the University of Minnesota.  I have many great memories reading my sorority sister's InStyle magazine instead of studying on Friday nights and looking through the J Crew catalog wishing one day I could dress as nice as the models in the adds.  I used to dress like a boy.  Wearing boys jeans, big sweatshirts and round toe boots.

Thankfully I met Gil in college and he took me to Uptown and showed me how to dress better and he showed me women's shoes.  Below is a picture of my spring break my junior year in collage. (love the short blond hair!)  Thank you Gil for helping me find my true self!!!

Well after some hard work burning off the college weight, watching What not to Wear (both US & BBC America) and reading Vogue, Self and InStyle I found my own style.  It took years of understanding my body type, what colors looked best on me and how wonderful nice heels make an outfit.  I show post old pictures of me where large chunky shoes and boy clothes.

I know it is hard to understand what goes together, what colors work together and how to put your own style together.  I am still working on my but now it is just lots of fun.

Some of my friends and co-workers email, text and ask questions regarding style and interior design.  One of my co-workers had an idea to start a blog answering style and design questions.  I love helping people out like Gil helped me out.

Style Guide Books & Style TV shows
I have read lots of books about style, how to wear color and what clothes works on what body shape.  Below is a list of books I found very helpful and I will use in future posts.

  • Tim Gunn - A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style (he is my style mentor!!!)
  • Tim Gunn - Gunn's Golden Rules
  • InStyle - instant style
  • InStyle - The New Secrets of Style
  • The Lucky shopping manual
  • The Lucky guide to mastering any style
  • Nina Garcia's Look Book (fun read but most recommendations don't apply to normal life style.)
I am always looking for new books about style since I find it so interesting to read.  I have a new book coming this week written by the 2 original What Not to Wear hosts in the UK Trinny & Susannah.  I love Stacey and Clinton from the US What Not to Wear but the two Brits are so funny.  

So as you guess I also love watching style shows for ideas and inspiration.  Below are my favorites that I would recommend:
  • What not to wear (BBC America)
  • What not to wear (TLC)
  • Tim Gunn's Guide to Style (TLC)
  • Project Runway (I can't get enough of Tim!!!)
  • Sex in the City 
I know Sex and the City has been off the air for years but I still watch it for fashion tips and life tips.  I can relate to all 4 of the ladies and I wish I had Carrie's shoe collection.  I had a hostess tell me this year I looked like Carrie Bradshaw.  It was the sweetest thing!

Magazine Inspirations
As many of you guess that I look forward to my monthly fashion magazines.  I read Vogue and InStyle and Dwell for modern design inspiration for my home.

I will make sure to post what the main trends are that I see for each month since the Spring lines are coming out which means COLOR, COLOR & more COLOR!!!!

Stores I shop
I learned from my Mother how to shop and love heading to the mall and shop online very day.  I don't buy things everyday but I am always looking at my favorite sites for promotions, sales, and new trends.
Here are my favorite shops:
I am thinking about sharing any sales, promotions on the blog so you all can get the best deal and still look good.  I try to buy all of my clothes on sale since there is always some promotion or sale going on.

I will cover off more on Interior Design inspiration and what are the difference on design styles since it is confusing in future posts. There is a lot to cover and I think it might even work well in sharing some of the basic design principles I learned in college.

I hope you all will enjoy this blog and please send me questions/ideas on what you might be interested in reading about or info I can research for you about style and design.


Send all questions and ideas to kms.designs@hotmail.com