How To Decorate A Glam-Inspired Christmas Tree
It's something about Christmas that I truly love. One of those things is trimming the Christmas tree! I mean – what's Christmas without a Christmas tree?!
I remember growing up, my great-grandmother made sure she put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. She had a small tree but propped it on a wooden table, so from the window outside looking in, it literally looked about 6 ft tall (haha). The tree had colorful lights that blinked on and off to the sound of Christmas tunes, colorful ornaments that would break –if you held it to tight, and mad silver tinsel EVERYWHERE! On the wooden table around the tree, there would be more tinsel garland, baby Jesus in the manger, and other biblical figurines that she proudly displayed. Spray snow was placed around the window seals for a frosty look (that wouldn't later come off for nothing), more colorful lights, and electric candlesticks in just about every window in the front of the house. Not many gifts under the tree, but the VIBE of love and the season of giving was PRICELESS. Man, those were the good ol' days! But I digress.
I feel like the Christmas tree is the foundation of Christmas. Once it's up, and decorated beautifully, you get a sense of the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year! I'm not going to be giving out tips on how to achieve my great-grandmother's tree, but I will be dishing out 7 steps on how to decorate/trim your Christmas tree Vogue-style!
Choose A Theme.
To make styling your tree a little easier, I would suggest for you to come up with a theme. Maybe you love black and white and want to create a Chanel inspired Christmas tree. Whatever it is, DO IT! Make sure your theme is cohesive with the colors you choose. My theme for my tree this year is The Vogue Room-inspired. Yes, my actual business and brand! (Is that vain??) I wanted my Christmas tree to exude GLAM! I am loving blush/champagne tones, along with silver and a hint of gold. Therefore, I thought those would be the perfect colors to incorporate on the tree as well.
Set Up Your Tree.
I suggest you go with a flocked or colored (maybe white, or even silver) tree to achieve the super glam look. However, if you have a green Christmas tree, that will work too. Moreover, make sure you setup your tree and fluff the branches! I typically start to fluff at the bottom, and work my way up. I suggest you put on a good Christmas music playlist, for entertainment purposes and TAKE YOUR TIME! You should fluff one branch at a time, so your tree will look full!
Step 2a: If you don't have a pre-lit tree, after you fluff your branches out completely, add lights to your tree. I like to wrap the lights around the branches and in between the sprigs.
For Added GLAM:my tree is pre-lit, BUT because I'm extra, I added more lights for MORE TWINKLE and you should too!
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
Add Faux Fur Or Ribbon.
When I think of faux fur, immediately my mind says GLAM! Therefore, we are going to add faux fur, ribbon or whatever material you choose to wrap around your tree. You can use a few techniques below:
Faux Fur Method:
This can be done with faux fur garland, a faux fur rug (you can always cut it into rectangles), or if you want to save a few coins, you can use white dusters! Yes, you read it correctly, DUSTERS! Starting at the top, I placed the fur between the branches and went all the way around the tree. Therefore when I finished, it created a "spiral" look around the tree.
I do understand everyone may not want to use faux fur and if that's the case, you can use some old faithful ribbon. There are at least three ways to wrap ribbon around the tree:
- The Spiral: some people start at the top and wrap it around the tree like a maze or spiral.
- The Waterfall: start at the top on each side of the tree and create a cascading look, which causes a waterfall look.
- Random: I like to go with the "random" approach. I start at the top and simply tuck the ribbon in and out of the tree. Essentially, I do this all throughout the tree in different random sections with different ribbon lengths. Trust me, it's going to look good!
Add dusters as faux fur to complete this spiral look.
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
Add "Chic" Large Ornaments.
This step is pretty straightforward. Starting with the largest ornaments, place each ornament on the tree in different spots. I like to start at the top of the tree and work my way down (but whatever works best for you). Remember – try to put a decent amount of space between each ornament.
For Added GLAM: make sure your ornaments are SUPER chic. Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, and At Home stores are my top places to go to for nice glam ornaments. I normally select ornaments of varies sizes, shapes, textures, and of course, BLING!
These ornaments are from Hobby Lobby and if you look closely, they have added bling to them.
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
Add Florals & Sprays.
Besides getting very nice ornaments, this step has to be my favorite! Florals and sprays are a good way to add definition and dimension to your tree. These elements are great fillers that takes your tree from average to POPPIN'! There isn't a specific technique I use for this step. Once again, I like to get my sprays and florals from Hobby Lobby and At Home. They come in the form of glittery feathers, fluffy feathers, glittery sticks, antlers, etc. Simply, stick them in the tree and even on the garland. Make sure it's secured, and there you have it! The more sprays and florals, the better!
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
Add More "Blingy" Ornaments.
You thought I forgot about the rest of those cute ornaments – of course not! Evaluate your tree, take a step back, and see where you may have gaps and spaces that need to be filled. We want to add the rest of your medium to smaller size ornaments here. I like to place a variety of ornaments on the tree. For smaller sizes, I like to place them deeper inside the tree and some on the outside branches.
For Added Glam: The "blingy-er" the ornaments, the better! Glitter, disco balls, and sequins are just a few of my favorite types of ornaments to style with.
Top It Off With Something Visually Interesting.
Add something super interesting to the tree for VISUAL interest. Whether, it's between the branches or an over-the-top topper to set off your tree. You need something interesting that will seal the deal to your overall theme. In my case, I added a few Vogue pictures I had in frames on the wall to the tree. Because my tree is The Vogue Room-inspired, I thought these pictures would be visually interesting and would give my tree the right "pop" I was going for! Mission accomplished!
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
Ebony Staten/The Vogue Room
And there you have it! You have successfully decorated and styled your GLAM Christmas tree, in true VOGUE style! I hope this was helpful and let me know, how your Christmas Tree turn out on Instagram. Happy Holidays!!
Originally published on The Vogue Room.
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Ebony Staten is a chic geek & interior stylist/ founder of The Vogue Room. After a few storied hiccups, Ebony finally settled on her true passion for design. She believes that one's killer sense of fashion style should match their living space. Her ultimate goal is to help you design a home that's a true reflection of your personal style.
From Heartbreak To Healing: The Multifaceted Journey Of Nazanin Mandi
Nazanin Mandi is never out of options.
About a year ago, the 37-year-old life coach and actress was navigating life after divorce and determined to experience homeownership for the first time as a single woman. She’d been married to the R&B singer Miguel for three years, following a long-term relationship that started when she was 18 years old. But, in 2022, she filed for divorce. It was certainly the most public change she made but, in reality, it was just one of many decisions to refocus and reach her full potential in recent years.
“During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been,” she says in an xoNecole exclusive.
Still, as Mandi worked to get to know herself and her needs during this new phase of life, she realized the home she’d purchased wasn’t a good fit. Overwhelmed by the echoing of her voice in the spacious home, she had a breakdown and called her cousin, who immediately suggested she lease the home and live somewhere else. “I woke up in my house, and I was like, ‘This is not it for me,” she says. “All those years, I had been accustomed to living a certain way [and] in a certain house, so I bought myself a house like [my old home]. But my family was not the same. Waking up in that house by myself, it highlighted the divorce. I was like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do this. This is not it.’ My life has changed, so my choices need to change.” At that moment, Mandi became open to the idea that there wasn’t one set way to achieve ownership on her own.
“I feel so much better. I’m in a smaller place. My best friend lives a minute from me and I can walk to her house,” she tells me during a Zoom interview from her home one recent afternoon in early February. In the past two years, she hasn’t just been advising other people on varying circumstances, she’s also been healing herself.
"During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been."
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If supporters began following Nazanin Mandi because of her conventional beauty or the contagious, bright, white smile she often wears in many of her photos, that’s likely not the reason they’ve stuck around. Instead, she’s amassed a following based on her transparency about her own anxiety and depression, along with the encouraging messages of self-acceptance, gratitude, ambition, and humility that are often sprinkled into her social media posts.
In an era where looking at Instagram photos of models can often lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity, Nazanin Mandi is determined to be more than eye candy. She’s food for her follower’s souls, too.
Since being recruited to model while dining at an In-N-Out at 10 years old, Mandi has worked in many areas of entertainment. The Valencia, California native has modeled for brands such as Olay, Savage X Fenty, and Good American. As a teen, she sang at Carnegie Hall and auditioned for season 1 of American Idol, making it all the way to Hollywood before producers disqualified her for lying about her age. (Mandi was 15 at the time, and contestants had to be at least 16 years old.) Mandi has acted, too, including appearing on Disney’s That’s So Raven as a teenager and on the BET+ series Games People Play and the Prime series Á La Carte in more recent years.
In recent years, though, she’s also expanded her professional goals outside of entertainment, too. After becoming a certified life coach in 2020, Mandi launched the membership platform You Bloome in 2022 with the hopes of providing wellness services to others, including her self-published gratitude journal. “I wish I had access to something like You Bloome earlier in my own life,” she writes on the company’s website. The actress, who has been forthcoming about her struggles with anxiety and depression, has never had a life coach, but credits therapy as a tool that “really, really saved me and it laid the foundation to who I am becoming.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
"I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself."
While she’s always had a nurturing personality, Mandi says her interest in becoming a life coach was inspired by the women who would message her for advice on social media. “I would answer them back. It really sparked a fire within myself to help people,” she says.
You Bloome currently has three membership tiers, ranging in price from $2.99 to $39.99 per month. The highest tier offers a motivational text message twice a week, two live, group coaching sessions per month, and more. “We get emotional. We cry. We laugh. It’s really beautiful. I’ve built close relationships with my members through this. It’s been inspiring both ways,” Mandi says of the sessions. Still, the founder says she hopes to take on more motivational and keynote speaking opportunities in the future with the hopes of impacting as many people as possible.
And, she’s hoping to do all of this while continuing to explore a career as an entertainer.
At this point in her life, Mandi says she’s gained enough perspective on modeling, music, and acting to realize what she wants to prioritize moving forward. “We are going full force with acting,” she says, noting her goal is “to book a series regular or a film that impacts my career and the world.” She plans to continue to model, too, but has no desire to pursue music.
“I don’t want any part of that because I know what that life entails,” she says. “I don’t want to tour. I don’t want to do any of that. That is not where my heart is at.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If you ask Mandi, she’ll tell you she feels most comfortable in front of a camera, but she’ll also admit that she’s recently experienced a lot of imposter syndrome when thinking about her acting career. “I think it’s a fear of not succeeding,” she says. If anything, she adds, she’s harder on herself now than she’s ever been. “There were distractions before. There’s no distractions now,” she says. “I’m putting pressure on myself for no reason.”
This is where the life coach’s own personal healing comes into play. Mandi says she’s learning recently that “slow progress is still big progress at the end of the day.”
“Currently, I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself,” she adds.
Still, one of Mandi’s strengths is that she doesn’t feel the pressure to limit herself to just one passion. From working as a life coach to pursuing acting, she has given herself grace to explore all other dreams.
“We can be allowed to be many different things in this lifetime,” she says. “As people, our identities are allowed to expand. Don’t put us in a fucking box. I cannot live that way anymore.”
For more of Nazanin, follow her on Instagram @nazaninmandi.
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Featured image by Solmaz Saberi
'Raising Kanan''s Hailey Kilgore Talks Seeing Herself In Jukebox & Broadway Background
Hailey Kilgore, who has brought the character Jukebox to life on Power Book III: Raising Kanan for the past three seasons, was working hard in show business long before landing the role on coveted Starz franchise. She's already a Tony- and Grammy-nominated talent whose credits include the Jennifer Hudson-led Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and the Tony-winning revival of Once on This Island.
Hailey may play a teen on the Mekai Curtis-centered series but she's been training in singing, acting, and performance since the tender age of 9—that's 16 years now. If you take a look at her social media profiles, it will almost make you do a double take as her real personality couldn't be further from what's depicted on the show—proving just how talented she really is. The Broadway veteran, who is gearing up to release her first album, is what many would describe a girl's girl wearing loads of sequins, gowns, and serving face!
This will prompt you to dig a little deeper to find out more about the girl who is a multi-hyphenate and earned two major nominations before even making it on the big screen.
Getty Images
xoNecole caught up Hailey as season 3 came to an end and was surprised to learn that although they may be completely different people, her real life is mirroring what's going on with Jukebox in Raising Kanan. "I really made the epiphany season 3." She continued, "[Jukebox] just wants to be seen. She works so hard, she's a really sweet girl. She has a beautiful spirit and she just wants people to see her—to see how hard she works. I feel that right now. I'm like, please just see me. I know you love Jukebox...but there's a super cool girl in here and she's got a lot to say. A lot to contribute to the world artistically."
She even delved more into her background, telling us about the extensive training and hard work she's put in to get to this point. "I started training when I was 9. I trained in acting, singing, and performance." She further explained, "I did my first job when I was 12, so I've been doing this for awhile. Performing is what I love. I've always said I wanted to be Beyoncé when I grew up...I'm really blessed to have the resume and the background that I do."
The latest season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan has come to a close but in true fashion, Hailey is still hard at work. Her first single "Drama Queen" is out now and her debut album will be released on May 3. It's safe to say that Hailey is having her moment. One can't deny that she's worked hard for it and we can't wait to see what's next!
Watch the full interview below.
Hailey Kilgore AKA Jukebox on 'Raising Kanan' Talks Broadway Background
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Featured image by Getty Images