Outfit: 90% Target

I'm heading out for some bargain shopping as usual, followed by a BBQ.  The change of seasons has kicked my butt this year, so it's time to start dressing for cool weather.  I had a plan to wear this shirtdress with an ever-so-slightly visible Spanx slip underneath, an idea I saw on another blog (which I'd credit if I remembered the link...sorry!).  But I'm feeling chilly today and did jeggings instead.

If you would have asked me a year ago whether I could pull off jeggings, or even skinny jeans, I would have just about died laughing.  Never in my life did I think that my booty and I could make them work, but it's all about finding the right fit.  And knowing how to wear them.  To me, there's a very distinct difference between leggings/jeggings and pants (skinny or otherwise).  With leggings, the mega-booty must be covered by my top at all times.

Side note: I was actually Googling the difference between tights and leggings the other day.  Technically my rule for leggings (that the top should cover the booty) actually applies to tights rather than leggings, and it's acceptable to wear leggings that aren't covered up, but I can't swing it.

This year, I became a teeeensy bit more adventurous in my clothing choices and bought some dresses with hemlines that hit (*gasp*) above the knee...which is blasphemy for me!  But they were too cute to pass up and didn't come in tall sizes, so I decided to wear them as tunic tops, and into the leggings world I ventured.  Of course, the first place I went to was Target.  Xhilaration is their juniors line, and they make a lot of super-cute leggings, so I bought a few and love them!  However, be forewarned that if you're curvy or basically older than 12, you should size up...a LOT.  I'm usually a small in Target clothing and had to wear a large in the Xhilaration leggings and jeggings.  Also, the jeggings aren't real denim, but just regular legging material with a denim print.  They don't have pockets, faux or otherwise.  So if you're looking for something that mimics actual jeans better, these aren't it.  That said, I love these and found them cute, comfortable, and somehow relatively flattering.

This outfit is almost 100% Target, and I bet with some effort I could get it to 100%.  But I liked this uber-soft Chico's cami so much, I had to include it.  You can't really see it in the pic, but it's black with just a hint of lace detailing at the top.  Styling tip: To create a sleeker look, tuck a cami into your leggings or pants rather than leaving it out.  Similarly, if you wear socks (I'm not), tuck your leggings into them to avoid having the bottoms of the leggings ride up and out of the boots.

Here's the breakdown:

Shirtdress: 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target
Bag: 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target
Leggings: Target/Xhilaration Jeggings
Booties: Dolce Vita for Target (I missed this collab but luckily found these on ebay!)
Cami: Chico's Platinum
Belt: White House/Black Market perforated patent bow belt