THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact
  • shop
Tag:

what i wore

favorite outfits from 2016

by Kaylah Stroup December 22, 2016
the dainty squid
 mad for plaid // pink glasses // polka dots stripes + a snail // a pop of color
the dainty squid, kaylah doolan, fashion blog, cleveland blogger
covered in cactus
the dainty squid, kaylah doolan, cleveland fashion blog
a new favorite // on the right track // blue tennis shoes // overalls, again
 five years later
what we wore,
two years!

Every year, at the end of the year, I make a list of my favorite
outfits that I shared on the blog. It’s a fun way to look back and see
all the outfits I put together, and the different hairstyles, and colors
I had. (Or in the case of this year how much my hair grew and what a strange thing it was for me to keep the same hair color! Who am I?) 

At the beginning of this year I made a goal to take lots of outfit photos since I wasn’t so great at it the previous year. There’s always room for improvement but I think I did pretty darn well. I took a lot more than in 2015, and there was a huge number that I considered my favorite so even whittling it down to this number was difficult. It’s actually killing me that I couldn’t take any this week and probably won’t next week since the majority of my clothes are packed up. I’d definitely like to continue my “more outfit posts!” goal into the new year because despite the fact that sometimes I have no idea what to write alongside the photos, I really do love taking them, and looking back on them after some time.

In 2016 I wore lots of stripes, fell in love with oversized cardigans, and of course, wore the heck out of my jean jacket. (That thing has to be one of the all time best thrift finds!) I relied on what has become my signature post (lookin’ to the right. What can I say, it’s my good side!!), and scoped out a handful of new little nooks around the city to sneakily take photos of myself. I talked about beauty and lovin’ your very weird self. All in all, it was a pretty solid year for outfit posts!
xoxo


See past years favorite outfits : 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 + 2015.
And of course, you can find more outfits under the “what I wore” tag.

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : mad for plaid

by Kaylah Stroup December 13, 2016
kaylah doolan, fashion blog, green hair
pins, enamel pin, flair, peopleiveloved, honus honus
kaylah doolan, the dainty squid, green hair, saddle shoes
camera bag, harbourside,
plaid coat, the dainty squid, cleveland blogger, fashion blog
cleveland, fashion, blog, saddle shoes, wiw, ootd, the dainty squid

 

details 
glasses – Louise via Warby Parker
plugs – Omerica Organic 
 (use rep code “daintysq” for 20% off!)
coat – Kensie Plaid Coat via Nordstrom
(also on Amazon for $99!)
gloves – H&M (last year. sorry!)
pins – things will work out + crescent moon c/o Moorea Seal,
tooth by Hooptedoodle, Honus Honus pin from the man himself.
shirt – TJ Maxx
camera bag – Harbourside c/o Jo Totes
leggings – Modcloth
shoes – Saddle Shoes via Funtasma
(also on Modcloth!)

Sooo many thing I want to talk about in this post! For starters, these glasses! If you recall I actually posted about them in my Friday Favorites a few weeks ago. At the time I had just ordered them in my home try-on kit (which is free + you should totally do it!) but the second I tried them on I knew they had to be mine. I had purchased two other pairs from another company the week previous but these are like the pair to rule them all. I feel like they just suit my face perfectly. I was kind of waiting on Warby Parker to have some sort of holiday sale but when Cyber Monday came and went without a sale I decided they were worth it no matter what. I’m still really pumped on that decision. I haven’t touched another pair since. Now I just need to get a pair of prescription sunglasses (…or ten) and I’ll be all set!

And this coat!!! Last month I posted about Octer (see here!) Well, they recently emailed me again to introduce me to their new company, Woznow, which is essentially the same thing except with sales! You can search across a whole bunch of different sites and only see items on sale. I knew immediately that I wanted to find a jacket that was warm, but still nice enough to wear with dresses. I have two winter coats but neither are very fancy looking. Luckily Woznow has everything broken down into neat little sections so I just chose the category “coats” and got to browsing! I ended up finding this one, which was marked down 40%! It’s kind of perfect! It’s exactly what I was looking for plus it’s black and white. Even more than that it has SO much room for lapel pins. Hah! Seriously though, it took a lot of self control for me to stop at four. I basically wanted to put all my b+w ones on.

Well, I’m off. I’ve been fighting a cold for nearly a week now. For a few days it was basically just me without a voice but it finally succeed in making my whole body feel icky. This is the first time in at least four years I’ve gotten sick so it’s not all bad. Just need to relax so I’m all better to finish packing and move! Hope you’re having a lovely week!
xoxo

Disclaimer – I received free product (the coat) for the purpose of this review. That said, strange style choices + opinions are my own!
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : five years later

by Kaylah Stroup November 10, 2016
green hair, cleveland fashion blog, blogger, ohio, ootd
cleveland blogger, green hair, autumn fashion, the dainty squid
ootd details
punky colours, jerome russell, green hair, ootd, wiw, cleveland blogger

 

details 
sweater – Coraline Cardigan c/o Moorea Seal
dress – Modcloth (many years ago)
glasses – Bevy c/o Classic Specs
pin – crescent moon c/o Moorea Seal
belt – Modcloth
tights – Target
shoes – Suits You to a T-Strap Flat c/o Modcloth

Last Sunday we threw a surprise party for grandpa’s 85th birthday.  I drove out early in the morning (after speed cleaning my apartment because my landlord texted me to say she’d be coming by), made a few pit stops to shoot foggy photos, helped my parents set up, partied, ate too much, helped them tear down, blah blah blah. It was a super busy day. I really really wanted to squeeze in outfit photos though.

Five years ago we actually threw my grandpa surprise party for this 80th. Before going I took outfit photos that I considered some of my favorites for a long time. See them here! I liked the outfit, the photos were pretty and I felt like I looked really good. I even thought this the other day while glancing back at the post. Even though I don’t own those clothes anymore, I like any excuse to draw parallels between different times, events, blog posts, etc. The thing that would connect these two would be that they were both taken on the day we threw a surprise party for my grandpa. So I was really excited when the sun stayed in the sky long enough for me to grab a few quick shots.

It wasn’t until I got through editing these photos that I realized how sad I looked in that last post. I’m not saying that not smiling in photos makes you look sad. I actually really hate that notion. I just feel like in the photos from last weekend my happiness is contagious. I found myself grinning while editing them. Even if there was a huge stain on my dress that I didn’t notice until now. I have nothing more to elaborate on, just wanted to say life is good. (Oh, and holy cow, I LOVE MY LONG HAIR like a lot a lot a lot!)
xoxo

“Mom! We’re at Grandma’s house. I wanna run, not sit for photos!”

 

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore: overalls, again!

by Kaylah Stroup November 1, 2016

 

details
glasses – Bevy c/o Classic Specs
top – striped turtleneck via Macy’s
sweater – cardigan via JcPenney
pins – ghoul by Two Ghouls Press, black cat by Valley Cruise Press
overalls – Blue Spice overalls via JcPenney
boots – Palladium Boots

Recently I was contacted by Octer, a website that makes it super easy to find whatever you’re looking for while shopping online. They instantly compare thousands of items from a bunch of different websites so you don’t have to do a ton of legwork when it comes to finding say… the perfect overalls? Yep, when they reached out to ask if I’d like to try them, that’s exactly the direction I went! A Kaylah classic, you know, like I wore when I was the cover of Cleveland Magazine earlier this year. Still can’t believe that was real life!!! Except paired with a cozy oversized cardigan, and striped turtleneck, both found through Octer as well, which is perrrrfect for fall! I’ve actually been wearing this same outfit for most of the week. Don’t you dare judge me, it’s comfy!

On Octer you can browse through categories which they’ve conveniently broken down fairly specifically. For example different styles of dresses like mini, midi, maxi, work, party, beach and so on. I found it easiest just to use the search bar though. If I didn’t, I may have ended up browsing everything for hours and hours! I love window shopping! Its fun because you can compare between different stores of your choice if you already have favorites or just view products from all available stores. I even ended up stumbling upon a few new websites this way! I think my biggest tip is to make sure to utilize the “max price” filter after searching or else you run the risk of falling in love with things way outside your budget. Hello $274 bra.

If we’re being completely real here, I do think that some of the search results aren’t super great. Maybe some of my searches were a little too specific ahem, beetle dress but I’d rather see one result that is exactly what I was looking for than one hundred results with only one of them being relevant. Does that make sense? I guess I did find one whole perfect outfit in no time at all so I’ve got no room to complain!

I’d definitely recommend utilizing Octer next time you feel like treating yo self! You never know what you might find.

xoxo

Disclaimer – I received free product (overalls, top + sweater) for the purpose of this review. That said, strange style choices + opinions are my own! 
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : sweater weather

by Kaylah Stroup October 6, 2016
macys, the dainty squid, kaylah doolan, green hair
green hair, the dainty squid, cleveland blogger
cleveland fashion blog, cleveland blogger, wiw, ootd, the dainty squid

 

details
sweater – marbled cardigan c/o Macy’s
necklace – moon necklace by Black Crystals
pins – hand by Titina Store, Life is Rad by Black Springs
top – leaf print top c/o Macy’s
jeans – Style & Co. skinny jeans c/o Macy’s
boots – Palladium Boots

It’s sweater weather and I now own the coziest sweater… EVER. I actually put together this outfit for an instagram collab with Style&Co, a brand exclusively carried at Macys, but wanted to share it here too! The objective was to put together an outfit for under $100 so I picked up the three main pieces for this outfit; sweater, top + jeans. I’m really happy with how it turned out.  

And seeeriously, this cardigan! It’s so good! I was actually watching American Horror Story last week and one of the main characters wears a lot of slightly oversized cardigans. I was thinking to myself “you need to get yourself some of those!” because she always just looks so comfortable yet still put together and cute. I already owned a handful of long-ish cardigans but nothing that hung on me the way I liked on her. This one does though! I was wearing it yesterday around the house with some light grey polka dot leggings and a loose fitting tank – nailed that cozy look, y’all! I feel like I always find that perfect seasonal piece right before the weather turns so I’m pumped to actually be able to wear this for a few months before having to put it away.

On a completely unrelated subject, looking at these photos I’m reminded of a comment a troll left a while ago. It was on my 7 tips for maintaining bright hair color (but not on my post hosted here, on a link to it on a magazine’s website) and it basically said “If you’re going to photoshop your hair color, at least make it believable.” It made me laugh really, really hard because one time my best friend and I made a video where we claimed that my hair was actually brown and that I just photoshopped my pictures to be cool. Also because I don’t edit my hair color… at all. I’m just diligent about maintaining it, most of the time. So if it looks super bright in photos, it’s because it’s super bright in real life and probably very freshly dyed. Yeah, white tipped nails + fresh green hair isn’t a good choice! Most of the time I don’t really even pay too much attention to it when I’m sorting through photos, as long as my bangs are all connected – that’s my one “thing”. When I scrolled back up through these photos it definitely caught my eye how fake it looked. Looks like I dragged the saturation waaaay up, especially in the photo above. Hah! Just starting the season of “Is that a wig?” and “Is that for Halloween?” strong, I guess.
xoxo

Save

Save

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : on the right track

by Kaylah Stroup September 27, 2016
what I wore, cleveland fashion bloggreen hair, jean jacket and dress
green hair, the dainty squid, kaylah doolan, fashion blog
jean jacket, back patch
the dainty squid, black dress, cleveland, fashion blog, green hair, ootd

 details 

jean jacket – thrifted
glasses – Prism c/o EyeBuyDirectUse code “IFDBDUYWY8” for $10 off your first order

dress – Birdie Dress c/o Unique Vintage
back patch – Valley Cruise Press
shoes – TJ Maxx

This is my dancin’ outfit! Or at least it was the night I wore it. The week before last I went to see Astronautalis (who is still on tour, hitting all fifty states. Go see him and thank me later!) I have very mixed feelings about concerts. Part of me loves them, loves to get sweaty, and dance with lots of strangers buuut the other part of me can’t understand why in the world I would ever think it was a good idea to purchase tickets and commit myself to such activities. I swear, I don’t think there has ever been a concert, even for my favorite band, that I didn’t try to weasel my way out of an hour before the show started. Definitely glad I went though. Not only was Astronautalis awesome, the opening band, Oxymorrons, blew my mind. I seriously LOVED them. I’ve never in my life seen a crowd go so wild for the opener. Their energy was off the charts. You can listen to a bunch of their music on their website but the experience of seeing them live is like nothing you could ever get through a screen.
xoxo

PS Check out the last time I shared this dress here. For once, it’s actually something different than pictured in this post. 😉

 

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : all the stripes

by Kaylah Stroup September 20, 2016
green hair, the dainty squid, kaylah doolanOOTD, Cleveland fashion blog, what I wore, striped maxi skirtthe dainty squid, kaylah doolan, green hair
My jackalope peeking out of clothes will never not be funny to me.

 

details 
crop top – Kohls
skirt – Target
denim jacket –thrifted
pins – Valley Cruise Press, Pintrill, Moorea Seal
glasses – Prism c/o EyeBuyDirect
Use code “IFDBDUYWY8” for $10 off your first order
shoes – Saltwater Sandals

This weather, you guys! Jean jacket weather! Very clearly my favorite. Prepare for nearly all outfit posts this next month and a half to include my jean jacket. I promise not to talk about it all the time but I am just so excited that the weather is finally cooling down. It’s so nice to be able to wear all my favorite clothes again without roasting. I don’t know about you but I feel like I’m at my peak awesomeness in the fall.

So, remember in my how I style my hair post from last week I mentioned getting a curling wand from NuMe? Well here are the first photos of my hair after using it. I still feel like I have a little bit to learn about it and how to most effectively curl my hair but I’m obsessed! The results last so much longer than when I just use foam rollers. I’m kiiiind of obsessed with my own hair. Like I mentioned in that last hair post, I’ve always really only liked the color so to actually like how it’s styled is a rad feeling! For the first time ever, I don’t have that urge to chop my hair off. I definitely plan on sharing more photos and information on the wand in the coming weeks so stay tuned for that!
xoxo

PS. Here is the last time I shared this outfit back in 2014. Not too much has changed! 😛

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : stripes forever

by Kaylah Stroup September 6, 2016
what I wore, ootd, striped dress, green hair, kaylah doolan
what I wore, fashion blog, striped dress, kaylah doolan, green hair,
green hair, stripes, cleveland blogger
blue and white striped dress, green hair, modcloth
details
glasses – Bevy c/o Classic Specs
dress – Modcloth (a million years ago!)
pins – tooth by Hooptedoodle, eye by CoucouSuzette
belt – Modcloth
sweater – The Dream of the Crop cardigan c/o Modcloth
shoes – Moorea Seal
This dress *might* be one of the oldest things currently in my wardrobe. You can even see it featured in this post from 2012 (which is honestly still one of my favorite outfit posts on here. I sure miss taking photos with my BFF!) I guess four years isn’t really very long to keep something but I tend to get bored of things quickly. Just couldn’t let go of this silly striped dress though. Although I refused to get rid of it, I also really wasn’t wearing it much either. It’s a heavier fabric and after a few washes it was covered in pills. I know it’s not a huge deal but it just looked so messy. It drove me crazy, especially with how bad it was on my hip from my camera bag constantly rubbing.I was organizing a basket full of random things in my laundry room last week when I found a fabric shaver.* I immediately threw on the dress and got to work. Ten minutes later I basically have a brand new dress!! I want to go through every single thing I own and get rid of pills. Off the top of my head, I’m not sure I can think of anything more satisfying than shaving the pills off your clothes.

xoxo

 

*I have this exact model. It’s under ten bucks, and is basically a lifesaver!

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail

what I wore : covered in cactus

by Kaylah Stroup August 23, 2016
green hair, cleveland fashion blog, what I wore, outfit post
modcloth, the dainty squid, green hair, kaylah doolan, cleveland, blogger, fashion
the dainty squid, cactus dress, cleveland fashion blog, cleveland

 

details
sunglasses – TJ Maxx
plugs – Omerica Organic 
PS. Use rep code “daintysq” for 20% off your first order!
dress – The Blogger the Better c/o Modcloth
shoes – Black Sandals via Modcloth

As if I wasn’t going to eventually own this dress! It’s covered in cactus, and y’all know I feel about cactus. Not to mention the fact the name of the dress, The Blogger the Better, is almost like they’re subtly poking fun at the fact that errrry blogger out there is going be posting photos of themselves in it. I’ve got no shame in my cactus game though! Seriously, look at my plants. They’re cute cutest.

Can’t say I wasn’t hesitant because of the mixed reviews and the fact that it was backless. I hate strapless bras, and my girls are too big for me to go without. Just glancing at the product photos I didn’t realize that it had a built in bra. It’s surprisingly structured! There was even a photo from this set where I was like “daaaang girl, looking fiiiiiine!” I didn’t include it though because it was an obviously gratuitous boob photo. Haha! The second I put it on I knew it was a keeper. This dress is amaaaazing. It’s a little late in the season but I found the perfect summer dress.

Hope you’re having a lovely day!
xoxo

0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts

About Me

About Me

Hello!

I'm Kaylah! Renovating a 150-year-old home in Northeast Ohio. Likely found in my garden.

Categories

  • all the posts!
  • animals + nature
  • beauty, fashion + hair
  • explore everywhere
    • abandoned
    • cemeteries
  • plants + gardening
  • reviews
    • books
  • some of my favorite posts
  • stroup mansion
  • window shopping

disclosure

click to drop down
The Dainty Squid is a for profit blog. and we participate in a number of affiliate programs meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase through one of those links. For more details click here

psssst! while you're here, check out my stained glass. Dainty Squid stained glass

copyright 2026 the dainty squid / kaylah stroup. please contact me about photo usage.


Back To Top
THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact
  • shop