Polyvore Contest Winners!

After a long deliberation and looking through tons of cute Polyvore sets, I have chosen the winners of the contest. Thanks to everyone who entered and played along. We had over 100 people join the group and 266 sets were made! Just because the contest is over does not mean that I don’t still love to look at the outfits you are making using Naughty Secretary Club and Hot Pink Pistol Goodies.

First Place - $100 Worth of Free Jewelry (FYI she chose the Pastel Pines Necklace, Diamonds and Foil Ring, Don’t Run With This Necklace, Pinecone Sparrow Bracelet and Hearty Ring) – and the winner is….. Monica Burnett!

Not only did my favorite set by Monica use 2 pieces of Naughty Secretary Club Jewelry (Coral Curvature Necklace and Spring Breeze Earrings) it also used a Hot Pink Pistol Purse. Most importantly this outfit resonated with me. I love the colors and quirky style and feel like this is something I would love to wear. I have actually met Monica a couple of times as she was a guest crafter on Craft Lab a few years ago. Monica has a very unique and eclectic look that I was quite smitten on from the first time we crossed paths. Monica also runs her own Indie business making the most adorable crocheted hats and head bands called Monica Burnett Hats. I am the proud owner of 2 of her headbands. They have that very hard to achieve nothing truly matches therefore it’s not matching makes it somehow work perfectly look. I am never without compliments when I where my Monica Burnett headband out on the town, which is often. Knowing that Monica has a great sense of personal style coupled with the fact that she made my favorite outfit on Polyvore (I swear it was my fave, before I realized someone I knew made it) I decided an interview with Monica about fashion and style might be fun to accompany this blog post. Read on to learn about this Portland resident who is not only crafty and creative when it comes to her work, but in her wardrobe as well. The rest of the winners are also below!

I see that you learned to knit and crochet from your mother as a little girl. When did you start using your needle skills for the betterment of the fashion community?

My first crafty web shop was full of a crazy mixture of things, and my crocheted hats sold the best, by far! So I decided to revamp. I launched monicaburnetthats.com in 2005

What are you best sellers? I am partial to the headbands and love the custom one you made me, but I have noticed that loose crocheted berets have been all the rage so I bet they sell like hot cakes for you!

It's always changing, but right now the "cadet" hats with the little button flaps are hot, but I would have to say my headbands are usually the favorite.

What are your favorite fashion magazines or blogs? Any that you subscribe to or have to read regularly?

Adorn (rip), teen vogue, nylon, paper, Japanese magazines, bits and bobbins, n.e.e.t, face hunter, and of course I read your blog for brilliant business advice!

What are some trends you are seeing in the fashion world right now? Anything you are loving or hating? Any fashion predictions?

I have a theory…when we are kids the teenagers have the BEST style, we envy it, we can't wait till we are teens to wear it, we just want it.

Of course when we become teens, there is a whole new set of rules, and we wear what's current.

When we branch off and become "grown ups" we are still engrained with that bizarre yearning for the teenage fashions of our childhood... and THAT'S why fashion is cyclical.

For example, when I was a little bird, the teens were hitting grunge, hard.

Now I make slouchy hats, obsess over plaid, and live for my doc martens.

What piece of clothing and or accessory do you find yourself wearing all the time?

I'm a skirt or dress kind of girl. I have maybe 2 pairs of pants and they only get worn on laundry day. Oh and tights! I love tights, I have maybe 8 pairs, mustard yellow, purple, bright blue, white…


You recently moved from the Los Angeles area to Portland. Have you noticed any major differences in street style? For a big city Los Angeles always seems subdued in their fashion to me. I hear Portland is a sister city to Austin and if that rings true in the fashion community I am assuming there is a pretty eclectic sense of style there.

I had always heard that Portland was 2 steps back fashion wise and I'm about 2 steps sideways, so I get a lot of looks when I walk outside...

Portland is not as trendy as LA/Orange County. The kids love their vintage, I see lots of jeans, sweatshirts, there is a distinct lack of makeup (a welcome change). I would imagine "do you have this in green?" is a question the sales people hear often. Portland loves its nature colors.


Who are some of your style icons? Any favorite designers, rockers, Etsy sellers – who's style or wares you admire?

I love the personal style of: Vivianne Westwood, Jean Seberg, cast of gossip girl, Heath Ledger, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Johnny Depp, Betsey Johnson, Frida Kahlo, my sister. Some of my favorite designers are: Anna Sui, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Luella, Missoni, Karen Walker, Kenzo.

I see that your bio says you are a Sex and the City fan. Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think of the outfits? Sarah Jessica Parker sports a sequined beret in one scene!

Ooooh yes I saw the movie. My buddie and I bought tickets in advance, got dressed up, did the whole thing.

I dug the outfits. My only beef is that Carrie seemed to ditch her love for vintage. Like what, now you are "successful" and you can afford real clothes…so I suppose she only shopped vintage because it's what she could afford at the time? I like to think of her being a little more creative then that.

I know that your headbands have been featured on shows like Your LA and iCarly and in print places like Adorn and Metro Pop Magazine. How does one get their headbands into the hot little hands of say the stylist for Zoey 101 like you did?

Actually she found me! I was a vendor at Felt Club and she was a shopper. Of course she did not introduce herself, she just bought a headband and scampered away as stylists do. Later she purchased another headband off my website and the shipping address was the Zoey 101 set, that kind of tipped me off.

She called me a while later to do a custom hat for iCarly, you can actually see my hat in the opening credits of the show! You have to look pretty hard…but its there

On a scale of 1-10 how addicted to Polyvore are you? Are you on any other fashion related websites like This Next, Style Hive or Iqons? Which is your favorite.

I would say a solid 8, my favorite thing is when people use my hats to create outfits, I live for that.

Yes I believe I am on all those other sites as well, I don't really understand how to use those sites though, I don't check them too often, just for marketing purposes.

Polyvore is definitely my favorite!


Second Place - $50 Worth of Free Jewelry - Mackenzie Taylor!
MacKenzie made a slew of cute outfits that made my decescion making process quite tricky. She and Monica were pretty much neck and neck because she had a little outfit called Eccentrically Naughty which also used the Coral Curvature Necklace as well as the Circles and Squares Bracelet. I also loved the colors and the fact that she threw in Simon Doonan’s book Eccentric Glamour. I actually just read a little interview with Simon in Glamour Magazine about woman’s personal style that resonated with me so much I decided to scan it in and share it with you! Congrats Mackenzie I LOVED your outfits!



Third Place - $25 Worth of Free Jewelry - Hotel Hell
According to her Live Journal she goes by Pansy Slapass (which makes me giggle), all I know is that this little lady knows how to put together a cute outfit. She entered several outfits in the contest that I marked as a favorite choosing just this one to show you was quite a task. I am after all a born and raised Texan (and yes I do have cowboy boots) so maybe that is why this one tugged at my heart strings more than the others.


Fourth Place - Naughty Secretary Club T-shirt - Rachelz
If you just glance at Rachelz Etsy Store Ever So Clothing you can see this gal has cute fashion sense. There was something about the Hot Pink Pistol Tupac Dress, meets boxing gloves meets bunnies that I was drawn to. Really can you blame me?

Fifth Place - Copy of Bead Simple by Susan Beal - Sparkgurl18
I think I have a crush on the Kayne West mini blind sunglasses and that might be why I chose this set. I also think it has a very sailboats in the summer of 1984 look about it which I enjoy. Um ya you kinda can’t go wrong with E.T. and Nagel.

If you see your name above please email me at info@naughtysecretaryclub.com to claim your prize. Thanks again to everyone who entered!