Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Two Pieces// Four Ways: Serene Sky Boutique Accessories

What an exciting year it's been for Midwest Style Bloggers! We've been able to grow our little network and connect more bloggers- we can only hope 2014 will be full of even more events, giveaways & blogger features and networking. 

We are wrapping up 2014 with a two pieces // four ways post with Serene Sky Boutique! Maya and Samantha are both styling the Geometric Triangle Deco Necklace & Lauren and Katelyn are both wearing the Horse Shoe with White Braided Bracelet

 photo onelook-fourwaysserenesky_zps2a341013.jpg
Get the Look: Samantha at The Brunette One // Lauren at La Petite Fashionista 
 Katelyn at Katalina Girl // Maya at Charmingly Styled

Check out the Serene Sky Boutique for more trendy + unique accessories!

As for 2014, we'd love to hear what you'd like to see more of on Midwest Style Bloggers- more local midwest business features? guest posts? blogging tips? travel guides? guide to events?

Follow us on pinterest // facebook  // twitter for more from Midwest Style Bloggers!

Have a very Happy & Stylish New Year!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Guest Blogger: Curlybyrdie Chirps

Check out our guest blogger of the day, Mary of Curlybyrdie Chirps.

I think every woman should have a red dress during the holiday season and this H&M dress is priced just right. I loved taking pictures in this dress. I almost felt like Mariah Carey on her Christmas special—so festive. My lovely daughter was my photographer today and we made a day of it. At 15 this girl is wise beyond her years! Im a proud Mama.


This dress is one of my Sunday Scores. This dress is that perfect red and this dress is priced at $20...how could I not? My other score is also from H&M. It is this beautiful jacket with gold chain on the sleeve. I am obsessed with this jacket. It was originally $59 and I ended up getting it for $22...now that’s a score. I will be featuring this jacket on my next 2 blog post styled in different ways. I think its the perfect holiday find. I hope you fashionistas had an awesome weekend. 



Thursday, December 19, 2013

Guest Blogger: Black & White Affaire

We so excited to have Jenna of Black & White Affaire here today sharing a few last minute gift guides!

There's only 5 days until Christmas! If you’re struggling to find the perfect gift minute holiday gift guide. I’ve curated three separate sets for you to shop based on your friend’s and family’s interests. Weather you’re looking for a gift under $50 or a high-end item, there are plenty of options to fit your budget, all of which are chic and of course, fabulous! Who knows, you may even find a little something for yourself.







Happy shopping!
XOXO Jenna




Wednesday, December 18, 2013

One Piece Four Ways - Style Revel


We're excited to share one of our favorite brands, Style Revel to the blog today! Our four founders styled this gorgeous tweed jacket different ways for winter {both indoors and out} thanks to the lovely ladies over at Style Revel. See their full looks by clicking on the links above!

 If you haven't discovered Style Revel yet, it's bound to be one of your new favorite online boutiques. They offer tons of affordable and trendy pieces {from boho chic to cocktail dresses} for any season and occasion. We're a big fan of their funky sweaters during this chilly Midwest winter we've been having so far. 

Friday, December 13, 2013

Midwest Blogger Holiday Style

All Midwest fashion bloggers know it's no simple task to be cozy and warm for the winter AND dressed stylishly! We've rounded up a showcase of the fun holiday looks worn by our network of bloggers from across the Midwest (where we've all been suffering in the cold the last few weeks)!

These are great inspiration for looking festive, but not staying warm with faux fur, colorful coats, patterned tights & cute cold weather accessories!


Blogger Holiday Style via

Be sure to check out their blog posts to find out more about their outfits and check out more of their style!

What are your favorite ways to stary warm and get dressed up for the holidays? Be sure to leave links to your holiday style posts to feature in our next roundup!

Brand to Know: Hood Clothing

We love introducing you to cool new brand, so naturally we were excited when Ryan from Hood Clothing contacted us. Check out Hood Clothing! 



Hood Clothing Inc. is an underground brand inspired by the works of famous graffiti and street artist, Rene Gagnon.  In 2008, Gagnon was attempting to create a concept for a solo art show at a local gallery. As he was leaving his studio one night, Gagnon noticed two hooded silhouette figures walking towards him. As the two hooded figures approached, they had taken their hoods off to unveil that  they were two young, innocent women underneath, who were going to visit someone in the same building that Gagnon was leaving. The experience of being unable to see the women’s faces initially as they approached struck Rene Gagnon’s artistic senses in a mysterious way. He began to expand his vision by starting to observe and question his experience with the two hooded figures, and proceeded to correlate this experience with others and how they would react if it were them. Rene Gagnon put this concept in motion for his solo show with the use of the people whom portrayed the image of innocence, and then masked their appearances with hoods to recreate the sense of mystery. As he continued to work further with his original concept, Gagnon began to look into the deeper meaning behind the word “hood”, and other words which consisted of it, such as “neighborhood”, “brotherhood”, “sisterhood” and the actions associated with being deemed as a “hood.”


To portray his concepts, Rene Gagnon started to take photos of innocent girls in hoods acting like they were doing mischievous things, such as spray painting or putting up wheat pastes on the side of buildings, to include photography in his artwork. He noticed that the girls were all wearing different brands and wanted to change this in order to keep his work extremely original and unique. In order to do so, Rene Gagnon started to digitize the branding out of the photographs, which is ultimately where the first branding idea of Hood Clothing Inc. originated.

Once the brand had been developed, Samantha Gagnon, Rene Gagnon’s daughter and co-founder of Hood Clothing Inc., began to create the Hood Clothing Inc. movement by incorporating the people closest to her. Samantha approached a few of her college friends and questioned them as to whether or not they liked the concepts and would rep the clothing. Through their love and support, Hood Clothing Inc. began to grow from that point forward.


Hood Clothing Inc. officially dropped its first line in November 2011. Hood Clothing Inc. offers a quality product and prides itself on being 100% Made In America. All of Hood Clothing Inc.’s garments are adorned with customized embroidery, a reversible hang tag, and packaged to perfection with original hand sprayed graffiti boxes. Hood Clothing Inc. offers its consumers a wide variety of t-shirts, 3/4 sleeved t-shirts, zip-up sweatshirts, crew neck sweatshirts, leggings, tank tops, and accessories that are all inspired by the works of Rene Gagnon.

In order to help inspire others to reach their potential, Hood Clothing Inc.’s team is always looking for up and coming music artists, athletes, and entrepreneurs to sponsor. They currently sponsor several music artists, Cesar Luciano, Marvin Divine, YG Hootie and Raven Sorvino as well as a plethora of Major League Baseball players, and Sean Crowley, an amateur snowboarder. As well as sponsoring others, Hood Clothing Inc. has an ever-evolving group of Street Reps. They welcome all those who are interested in learning more and becoming apart of the Hood Clothing Inc. family to email samantha@hoodclothinginc.com with any inquiries.

Hood Clothing Inc. is currently featured on select web retailers, Karmaloop’s Underground Web ‘Kazbah’ (www.kazbah.com) and  Celeb-N-Couture (www.celebncouture.com); as well as select store retailers, such as Underground Culture (Tiverton, RI) and Mass Cartel (Fall River, MA).


Hood Clothing Inc. has been previously featured at the Dunkxchange (Boston, MA), The Ultimate Trunk Show (Manhattan, NY), and URI Welcome Back Party (Kingston, RI). Hood Clothing Inc. has also been feature in No Swag Ent: Movin On Up Magazine - November 2013 Issue, The Herald News “Family Threads” (front page), Fashdom.com Exclusive Video Interview, and FreshNation.com “Hype & Fashion”, as well as in previous store retailer Urban Skate (Milford, MA).

As far as the future is concerned,  Hood Clothing Inc. will be at the Dunkxchange event in New York City on December 21, 2013 at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 W 18th St, New York, NY 10011). Hood Clothing Inc. will also have several product features and reviews in the February 2014 issue of The Blue Print Magazine featuring Jennifer Lopez.  Rene Gagnon will also be hosting his first ever large scale solo gallery show on January 11, 2014 at the Mecca Gallery Bushwick in Brooklyn, NY.


Through the amazing efforts and contributions of Rene and Samantha Gagnon, along with the rest of the Hood Clothing Inc. team, they have formed and incredible clothing brand which is not only producing high quality products, but has created the birth of a new movement. Be sure to check out HoodClothingInc.com and follow them on Twitter & Instagram: '@HoodClothingInc’.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Win a $75 Tieks Gift Card!

With Christmas right around the corner, you could use a little treat too! We've teamed up with Tieks to giveaway one $75 gift card to their boutiek. Give your shopping feet a rest with the most comfortable leather flats in a pretty array of colors! 

Enter with the Rafflecopter widget below and good luck! 

xx, MSB

Monday, December 9, 2013

Blogger Resource: How to Use PR Newswire for Journalists Part 2

After walking through the 10 steps to customizing a fashion and style news feed on Friday, I’m back with part 2 on how to use PR Newswire for Journalists.

Today’s tips focus on using ProfNet to connect with brands and the PR Newswire Photo Archive to find free images you can use in blog posts.

A ProfNet opportunity is a request to review products or interview subject matter experts. When you log into http://media.prnewswire.com, click the “ProfNet Experts” tab at the top of the page. This will take you to the Create Opportunity form:



1)    In the “Opportunity subject” field, detail what you’re blogging about and looking for. Try to be as specific as possible.
2)    The “Nature of expertise you seek” field allows you to provide more information – be concise and follow the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when and why).
3)    Beneath your contact information, select what your “Deadline for responses” is.
4)    You can also narrow down the types of organizations and geographic regions your opportunity should be sent to:



5)   You can find more tips and an example of a  ProfNet opportunity on the blog Tales from the Nursery, and here are our guidelines for bloggers requesting products.


To download product and event photos, as well as graphics and logos from PR Newswire clients, click the “Photo/Logos” tab at the top of the page:

1)    Once the Photo Archive opens up in a separate tab or window, click “Login” in the top left corner. If it prompts you to re-login, use your PR Newswire for Journalists username and password.
2)    To search for fashion and style images, type “fashion” in the keyword field at the top-left of the page, which will provide you with thumbnails of recent images.  Clicking a thumbnail will take you to that image's page.



3)    Some images will have a download dropdown at the top-center of the page. You can also download the image by clicking the “View Larger Photo" link beneath the photo (see the below screenshot for both options).
4)    Any images from the PR Newswire Photo Archive can be used on your blog for free if credit is included. The photo credit is located within parenthesis at the end of the caption. For example, the photo credit in the below example is PRNewsFoto/Gap, Inc.



Hopefully, these walkthroughs have given you ideas on how to use PR Newswire for Journalists. You can find more PR Newswire blogging resources and info on our Blogs We Love badge at http://www.prnewswire.com/bloggers.

If you have any questions or would like me to create an account for your blog, email me at Media.Relations@prnewswire.com or register directly at http://media.prnewswire.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Blogger Resource: How to Use PR Newswire for Journalists Part 1

The MSB team is so excited to have Amanda from PR Newswire here to talk about how you can utilize this resource! A big thank you to Amanda for putting this together for us! There are 2 parts to this so enjoy part 1 today and part 2 on Monday! 


Hi, Midwest Style Bloggers! My name’s Amanda; I spend my evenings and weekends blogging over at Clue Into Cleveland and my days helping members of the media on PR Newswire for Journalists.

Don’t let the name PR Newswire for Journalists dissuade you, though. We welcome all members of the media.


As someone who’s found the site very helpful on my own blog, I’m thrilled to guest post today about how to make the most of PR Newswire for Journalists.

The site is free for all members of the media and can help you:
  • Track fashion industry news as soon as it’s announced
  • Connect with brands for upcoming blog post
  • Find free photos to use on your blogs 


In this two-part series, I’ll show you how fashion and style bloggers can use each feature.  Then, if you’re interested, email me at Media.Relations@prnewswire.com, and I will set up your account. You can also register directly at here.

For part 1, I’m going to focus on PR Newswire for Journalists’ custom news feeds.

If you’re interested in news about fashion designers, cosmetic companies, Fashion Week, or style trends, you can customize a feed that will send you information when you want it.

Here’s how:

1)   When you register on PR Newswire for Journalists, log in and click the “My PR  Newswire” tab at the top of the page.
2)   If this is your first time creating a news profile, the page will look like the below screenshot. It will instruct you to enter the name of your profile and click Go.  For this example, I’ve entered “Fashion/Style” as the profile name.



3)   When you click Go, you’ll be taken to the Profile Criteria page. Here you’ll be able to narrow down the type of news you want to receive by typing in keyword phrases, focusing on particular industries and subjects, limiting your results to a specific geographic region or language, and more.
4)   Criteria groups (Keywords, Industries, Subjects, etc.) work together in an “and” relationship. If you select the “Fashion” industry and “New Products” subject, you will only receive new product announcements from the fashion industry. 
5)   Within each criteria group, you can make multiple selections which will work together in an “or” relationship. Selecting the “Fashion” and “Cosmetics” industries and the “Product Recalls” subject will send you product recall news from both the fashion and cosmetics industries.
6)   In the example below, I’ve selected a combination of industries and subjects that I found work well for style bloggers. These selections are only suggestions and can be mixed and matched in whatever way you prefer.


7)   In the Industries group, I highlighted “Cosmetics and Personal Care,” “Fashion,” “Jewelry,” and “Textiles” from the “Pick From” column on the left. After selecting an industry, I clicked the Add button in the center to move it to the “Current Selection” column on the right.
8)   Similarly, I selected “New Products/Services,” “Product Recalls”, “Surveys, Polls and Research” (a common category for trend reports), and “Women-related News” from the list of Subjects.
9)   If you only want to receive fashion news about the Midwest, scroll to the Geographical Relevance section beneath Subjects. As shown in the example below, you’ll select “North America” from the left-hand dropdown, the “Midwest” region from the center dropdown, states from the right-hand column if needed, and click Add.


10)  Once you save your search criteria, the last step is to click the blue “Modify email options” button at the top of the page. On the Email Options page, turn on emails by clicking “On”, then “Yes” next to your email address. Set up email digests by clicking “Headlines” for your delivery option, the custom schedule button, and selecting the days of the week and hours of the day you want to receive emails. The image below is set to email a digest on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings:



After a news feed is created, you’ll be able to view your news releases from the previous seven days on the My PR Newswire tab:



I hope this guide to customizing your Fashion and Style news feed was helpful. I’ll be back in part 2 with a few tips on how to use the Photo Archive to find free images and the ProfNet database to connect with brands.