Tell us a bit about yourself!

I am a girl from the southeast, Saint Augustine, Florida to be exact...where the spanish moss dangles over the marsh. I have a love for the East Coast low-country ever enduring, but grew up with a curiosity for the mountains. That curiosity was given legs when I attended Covenant College in Chattanooga, Tennessee to receive a degree in art. Now living in Charlotte, North Carolina, I feel I’ve really had the lay of the land in this beautiful part of the country and consider the lot of it my favorite place in the world.

Ever since I could dress myself I have been experimenting with my personal style. It all began with a gold purse I bought when I was about seven. My grandfather had seen a fashion ad in the paper that gold was “in” and simply kept telling me my gold purse was such. I couldn’t have agreed more. There is even a photo of me at that age, purse proudly on my shoulder, in the middle of a hike through the woods. A bit about me? I would still wear a gold purse on a hike. 

Carly wears the Yvette Convertible™ Midi Dress 

I first discovered you on TikTok when you were recapping your wedding! Tell us a little bit about your aesthetic and how that appeared throughout your wedding weekend. 

My style is heavily inspired by my life growing up in the southeast, by the coast. Low country is near and dear to my heart and therefore wound into my taste. My wedding style was very much reflective of this, not only in the riverfront venue beneath the grande, live oaks, but also the color scheme and the florals. Each choice felt very personal, down to my decision to wear my mother’s wedding gown. I like to think it was a recipe of both heart and vision, using my personal nostalgia to inform aesthetic choices. In this way, I had always known I would do pink and green...my favorite colors as a child, this scheme felt the most complimentary to the landscape, allowing the gardens and architecture of the venue to be enhanced. I chose my life-long favorite flowers as well, pink and white hydrangeas and rich greenery for the bouquets and floral arrangements. Also in warm pinks and greens, the bridal party dressed in mixed floral patterns, enhancing the antique feel of the property, and reflecting my love of feminine, vintage fashion. Overall, my wedding could be called low country chic, coastal, or grand-millennial I suppose, but knowing all of it felt so personal that it’s hard to give it a generic name. I like to refer to it as simply me.

Photo Credit: Shandi Lynn

What is your best advice for future brides? 

My advice for future brides is make a schedule for yourself so you don’t become overwhelmed. If you’re working with a planner, this might be something they give you, but even so, have one written out that allows you to focus on one thing at a time. No one prepares you for the tiny details a wedding entails, so please, give yourself an outline. I would add something in my notes app every time I thought of it - running through the day from start to finish in my head. Once I wrote it down, I knew I wouldn’t forget it, and that helped with the stress.

And don’t you worry about someone else’s opinions! Having a beautiful, personal wedding will mean making choices others are not comfortable making - whether it be attire, decor, or venue. Those that are able to dream with you - those are the only ones who can truly help you make it happen.

If you were styling one of your friend’s for their upcoming wedding events, what would you choose from Mestiza’s new Bridal Collection for them to wear, and why?

I think the Carmen Mini Dress in Morning Dew is darling for a welcome luncheon or dressy bridal shower. Something about the pearlescent ivory mixed with delicate florals exudes elegance. Inviting a bit of color and pattern into my wedding wardrobe was something I enjoyed doing. I wore an ivory midi with green florals to my bridesmaids brunch and rehearsal which really set the tone for all the green and pink patterns to come on the wedding day. For the same reason I think the Stephanie Bow Dress would be stunning for a rehearsal dinner or reception gown, if your theme is blue and white.

Shop the Stephanie Bow Dress in porcelain blue

Your favorite color combo is blue & white (ours too!), how do you incorporate this pallet into your home and closet? 

For as long as I can remember blue and white has felt classy and ‘old soul’ to me. Perhaps because they are heavily reminiscent of my grandmother’s wardrobe and interior style, which I always felt, exuded class. So naturally, when I first had a space of my own I began with blue and white...and well, it took over!

Creating a blue and white interior that works is all about shade and pattern mixing. You don’t want to end up with an overly matchy, prissy, space with no personality. My tip here is having a third color, albeit one that you almost don’t notice at first, to break up the contrast of the blue and white. Green and pink (shocker) each work great as subtle third colors. I also love pattern mixing when doing blue and white in order to avoid plainness. Floral wallpaper behind a rattan headboard, a striped duvet beneath a patchwork quilt, chinoiserie beside a wide brush stroke painting.

Follow Carly on Instagram at @carlyvandyke_

What are some of your favorite destinations to travel to, and why? 

Truth be told, the Carolinas are my favorite place to be. Whether it’s a small coastal town or a mountain one, I feel very connected to the culture and landscape here. We take trips back and fourth from the beach to the mountains sometimes twice a month, but usually at least once, and I feel I’ll never tire of Carolina beauty. A recent favorite has been Palmetto Bluff, just between Bluffton and Savannah, sequestered on a bed of gorgeous marsh beside the May River. Whether we’re biking through the live oaks or sipping coffee while watching the egrets fish, Seth and I have fallen in love with being on that little spot of earth. 

How would you pack for your next trip, styling Mestiza’s latest Summer Collection?

Everything in the summer collection is stunning to say the least, but i certainly have my eye on the Havana Mini for date nights on vacation. As a beautiful yet versatile daytime look I would choose the Baja Convertible Top and Baja Drawstring Short set, perfect for an easy yet lovely lunching and exploring look. I’ve found that pretty sets like this are what I gravitate towards for trips - for maximum ease and elegance. The Spritz Smocked Midi is a great pick for vacation as well, especially a seaside getaway.

What are some ways you live stylishly inside and out? 

Living stylishly on the inside, for me, is about embracing the parts of my personality that are most unique and sometimes even emphasizing them. I have found that there is no changing my sense of humor, taste in beauty, or preference of environment. There is certainly no manufacturing of these things in order to present yourself a certain way to others. The most stylish thing you can do is fully dive into your identity, and share it unbridled. It has certainly spurred me on and set me free to be as stylish, in my own way, as I have ever been.

As for the outside, I live stylishly by embracing my personal aesthetic preference rather than what is most universally appealing. For example, I love a pair of sunnies that, to quote a video of mine, “do not particularly look good on your face”. Obstructing an otherwise “matchy” look with a brightly colored purse, or necklace is another way I like to do this. I also think, I spent a lot of time choosing clothes simply based off of what other people might find cool, and not what I actually like to be wearing. Nowadays, I think much more about how I will feel in a certain piece, and how it will bring joy into my lifestyle rather than the impression others will receive from my wearing it. 

What do you love most about the Mestiza brand? 

I love that although Mestiza designs such a variety of beautiful silhouettes, they are all strong ones. No outline is uninteresting or flat, and no detail uncared for. The patterns and colors are always perfectly placed on a garment to have the most satisfying effect. Each is so different from the next, yet undeniably Mestiza.

How does wearing Mestiza make you feel? 

Sophisticated and feminine at the same time. The fabrics are so vibrant and purposeful that each piece is like wearing a work of art. I think it’s the juxtaposition a lot of the pieces have where the pattern is quite feminine and the cut is simple and structured. This combination is something timeless.