I wanted to share a blog post of women bloggers that I find interesting. Even though at Sir Byron Laurent Style Consulting we focus on men’s fashion, I have had the opportunity to meet many women who have successful fashion, style, beauty and hair blogs. All are special and unique and I wanted to introduce some of them to you.

For the latest on trendsetting styles, check out Catherine Horgan of Closet of Style, Folake Kuye Huntoon of Style Pantry and Dina Fierro of Eye4Style.

Check out these  young ladies who have been making a lot of noise in the natural hair blog world if you have not done so already; Alexandra Smith of The Good Hair Blog, Ashley Ellis of FabEllis, and Elle Alexander of lipstixnaturalchica.com. 

Representing the style and fashion industry for curvy ladies are Kiah Torres with From the Rez to the City, Kimberlee Postell of Naturally Fashionable and Shea P with Curves and Confidence.  Awesome blogs!!!

These next ladies are not afraid to be different and they really do an amazing job! Visit Karla Maria with Shoe Signature, Mattie James of Mattieologie, Prissy with Rush Our Fashion (looking forward to your return!) and Jennifer Malone of My Fashionable Affair.

There are many more ladies with elegant, classy and just plain cool style. Please visit again as I highlight another group of amazing ladies!

The Gentlemen’s Styling Guide: Color, Fabrics, and Patterns!

When it comes to being fashionable it’s the small details that separate the average person from the stylish and fashion forward person. Paying attention to and mixing the right colors, fabrics, and patterns keep you from blending with your environment.

COLOR: Color combinations can make either make the statement, “Look I bought this off the rack” or “I am a style connoisseur”. The first mistake people generally make is thinking the word “coordinate” means to match colors exactly. This isn’t exactly the case. I provided below a color wheel as a reference for how to group colors together. You will see black and white is not represented on the wheel. That is because black is the presence of all the colors and white is the absence of all color. They are considered shades and not colors.

FABRICS: This can be a little tricky, but simply mix two to three types of fabrics (textiles) together. Combine wools with cotton (or cotton blends) and silks (only ties and hankies NOT shirts, lol). Mix and match. This creates a contrast, thus giving your look depth and layers. Below gives a great example of this mix and match of fabrics.

PATTERNS: When it comes to patterns there is a fine line between looking unique and looking “eccentric”. Mix up your look by matching two to three patterns. Done correctly, gingham and paisley combined look great. Matching hounds tooth with strips creates a classic look. A pattern such as plaid on the other hand generally needs to be paired with solid colors because it is such a dominating pattern; for example a plaid blazer or suit with a solid shirt (you can pick up another pattern in the tie). These are just examples, please feel free to explore and mix and match patterns. Take a look at the items below.

Next time you are looking in your closet or in the store to pull an amazing outfit together, use these simple tips to break out beyond the crowd and be the best dressed gentleman you can be!   

The Southern Gentlemen's Style Council #SGSCStyleSeries Soiree

What happens when some of the most style gentlemen and ladies come together and socialize with the "Gents" of  the Southern Gentlemen's Style Council? You get style and fashion overload! That's what happened Thursday July 26th at the Mosaic Lounge in Raleigh, NC.

(Left to right and rear to front)

Stephon, Geoffrey, Marcus, Andre, Demetris, Jay

Caleb, Terrell, Lawrence, Shanard, William, Shavar 

It's Pocket Square Time!! lol

The #SGSCStyleSeries Soiree is an event that all of use with the Southern Gentlemen's Style Council look forward to, and we were excited to have this one at the Mosaic Lounge in Raleigh. Business owners, fashion bloggers and simply just stylish people made this event amazing. 

Big thanks to fellow Gent Shanard Smith (@DaBestDressed) for coming from the SGSC Charlotte District to support the local Raleigh District.

Shavar (@Veezy_F_Swayze) and John owners of The Session Magazine (@TheSessionMag) stopped by to be in the place. You might recognize the magazine name, I had a men's fashion contribution to their May/June issue. Also thank you to the very fashionable Dinah (@iamdmari) for stopping by.

I know everyone knows these two awesome ladies, Kimberly (@TNFashionista) and Ashely (@missfabellis). Two amazing natural hair and fashion bloggers, oh did I mention both are where awarded Essence's Top 100 Naturalistas on Instagram?! 

William (@emergenco) owner of EmergeNC is socializing with Andre, who by the way is an awesome thrift and consignment shopper. He also has his own online store to sell his amazing finds.

Dee (@ThereGoesDEE) and my lovely wife Latonya came out to socialize with everyone. My wife is killing it in the orange dress!!

   Big Shout out to Caleb (@clwtrademark) owner/stylist of CLW Trademark for making his way all the way from Jacksonville, FL. Is this handshake solidifying the Southern Gentlemen's Style Council Florida District? You will have to just wait and find out! ;-) 

Another big shout out goes to Demetris (@Cre8tv4u) Designer at Creative TOUCH Designs was in the building, love those blue wingtips man! 

Here are some additional pictures of this awesome soiree....

Jay (@JayMo704) was clean and that lapel flower, nice touch sir!

From all the way across the pond, Geoffrey brought Raleigh and little European style with his perfectly tailored suit!

Shanard with Stephon our newest addition to the Southern Gentlemen Style Council Charlotte District .

Feeling like Barack and Michelle Obama in this picture, President Flow!

Marcus of Natty Neckware stopped by to socialize, these gentlemen looked very dapper! (Really the orange slacks, don't hurt'em out there!)

Thanks Donnie of IC Beauty for stopping by!

Shavar and Andre 

Ani and William 

The Mosaic takeover!

The event was amazing and we had a ton a fun! If you wasn't  in the building then you  simply just missed out!! lol
Huge thank you to the Mosaic Lounge (http://www.mosaicwinelounge.com/) and to Stan (@SCJPhotography)
with Stan Chambers Photography (http://stanchambersjr.com/)for capturing the moments.

Of course we couldn't forget the ladies who came out to socialize, thank you for all your support!!


(Left to right and rear to front)
Dinah (far right rear)
Danielle,
Dee, Ani, Latonya, Kimberlee, Ashley