now that summer is upon us it's time to talk summer trends - some to try, others maybe not so much.  so here's some fashion food for thought :)

distressed denim - in all forms: boyfriend jeans, cutoffs, white, black, tight - i love them all

it's super easy to turn those old jeans into distressed denim or cut-offs yourself.  you can update an old pair of ankle length leggings by just adding a cut to each knee - the trick is to just cut a small slit on the knee with scissors (just wide enough to fit a butter knife into) and then use the butter knife to form the rest of the cut with the perfect jagged edge. 

or take an older pair of baggy boot-cut jeans and turn them into boyfriend jeans without the saggy butt! this is a great tutorial that i followed to make my own distressed denim

all you really need is a sand paper block, tweezers, butter knife, and scissors. to get those great big patches of stringy pieces you just cut two horizontal slits parallel to each other and use your tweezers to pull the vertically running WHITE threads out - it sounds crazy but really works! 

if that's all a bit too much work for you -  i found these great BF jeans at american eagle for under $30!!!!

in the same vane as distressed denim is another summer staple - distressed denim shorts. 

i'm so glad that cutoffs are back and hopefully here to stay.  making them yourself is another super simple DIY - just watch these handy videos below about how to cut and distress for different looks.

for me the trick with denim shorts is always to go ONE to TWO sizes BIGGER than i wear in jeans - there is nothing worse than a skin-tight jean short in my opinion.  the slouchier the better!  you can make these yourself as well using old baggy jeans.  when buying these shorts i always look for something that says "midi" in the name - anything shorter than that and i feel like a 15 year old!

two other summer trends that i've been seeing everywhere are birkenstocks and overalls (not necessarily together). 

i'm convinced that i need birkenstocks back in my life - but the jury's still out on the overalls.  if it's something you want to try - i say do it - but don't spend a lot of $$ on it.  

for more summer style inspo check out my Pinterest board - summer lovin'

\\  VRV