It was really only a matter of time before I started digging up older outfits, swapping in a couple of items such as these fab new boots and jewelry, and calling it a whole new look. I've actually done this quite a bit lately, partly because I'm at a new job and nobody has seen any of my past outfits anyway, so why not recycle the best ones? And partly because as crazy as it sounds, I actually want to get to work in the mornings and therefore don't linger as long over what I'm going to wear. One of the real benefits of maintaining a daily wear blog for so long is that I can search the archives if I'm pressed for time and come up with an outfit in a snap.
And hey, if you haven't already done so, please consider becoming a backer for fabulous designer Stacy Lomman's fall line. After successfully funding her last Kickstarter campaign, Stacy put on a great runway show for her spring "Biohazard" line, and has since been named a finalist in the 2012 Rising Star Awards. Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, Stacy immediately set to work creating her next collection, called Modern World. Being a huge fan of mod myself, I simply cannot wait to see the new line. The project is more than halfway funded, and every little bit will help Stacy to reach the finish line.
Dress: Aryeh Jacket: B. Bella Boots: Brako Jewelry: Metal Pointu
Spencer is becoming quite the handsome dog, is he not? He's also more than twice the size he was when we brought him home. At about 8 months, he now weighs 65 pounds and is a couple inches taller than Georgie. Since his knee injury is still a problem and we can't yet have surgery performed on it (and would rather avoid it entirely if we can), he's now having regular sessions of therapeutic swimming in a heated pool. Seriously, if I had wanted children, they would've turned out to be the most spoiled assholes the world has ever known. It's a good thing for everyone that my nurturing impulses are focused on dogs.
A couple of weekends ago I went on a shopping excursion with a friend of mine who's also Mark's ex-girlfriend (yeah, you read that right). We ostensibly went shopping specifically to find her an outfit for her birthday party, but along the way I made a few purchases of my own. You know how it is.
This coral cardigan and teal pants were two of the spoils from our excursion. My friend and I spotted the pants right away, but in bright orange. When we got over to the rack however, I found that the teal pair was a lot prettier. They're a micro-corduroy fabric with a good amount of stretch, and are crazy comfortable. I've already worn them a few times and they've proven to fit in really well with my quick-conversion, walking to work dressing strategy.
Cardigan, pants: Anthropologie Top: Express, a gift Shoes: Fly London
Recently I had the honor of being featured by the fabulous Sarah Von on her blog Yes and Yes. If you haven't done so already, go check it out!
Looking at these photos, which are now several weeks old, makes me realize how badly I need a haircut. Usually when I get my hair done I make my next appointment then and there, so as not to forget and let too much time slip by before the next cut and color. But for some reason the last time I forgot, and the other morning I realized that my hair has begun to look like Janet from Three's Company. Which was cute... in 1982.
Not exactly the look I'm going for in 2011, though.
Of course making the appointment has been on my to-do list for the last week and a half, but somehow I just haven't managed to remember to call during business hours. I'm hopeful that this is the week I'll actually make it happen.
My aunt gave me this cute top, which has a panel of sequins that show subtly through a layer of sheer chiffon. I like how the soft neutral color looks contrasted against the black shrug.
Top: Express Shrug: Cenit Necklace: from a glass shop in Venice Skirt: Noa Noa Leggings: Black Market Baby Boots: All Black
Here's my Bastille Day outfit; this was right before I got sick (going out that night might have dealt me the fatal blow, in fact). My friends and I attended a Jazz Age Paris-themed literary event featuring local authors reading excerpts from 1920's books, an absinthe bar, accordion music, and a couple of really talented belly dancers who choreographed their numbers to 1920's songs. Upstairs was a tiny cinema where they were showing "blue" films from 1920's France. Whoa. Those were the days before waxing, for sure.
I put together the most 20's looking outfit I could assemble, using this old standby of a cocktail dress that I've had for years. It has a sheer, beaded black layer over a rich red lining. I even created the "bee stung" 1920's lips, but you can't really tell when I'm smiling, or smirking, or whatever I'm doing here. In all the photos where I attempted a serious, femme fatale face, I ended up looking like I was about to throw up, so I didn't post any of those.
Yesterday my mystery illness (Is it a cold or a flu? It has elements of both.) reached a climax, so I stayed home sick. That turned out to be a good call because I actually feel a lot better today after spending the day relaxing. Being home during the day is always interesting: yesterday I heard and saw San Francisco's famous parrots (their flight path seems to go right over our house); I observed first hand the staggering number of hours that Georgie sleeps during the day (16 hours is my ballpark estimate); I watched numerous hummingbirds jockeying for position at the hummingbird feeder; I also realized just how preposterously incorrect our weather forecasts are. At around 11 am I checked two different weather apps on my phone; both said it was currently 60 degrees, with a high of 66 expected. At the time our outdoor thermometer was reading 82 degrees. Do not ever believe weather forecasts for San Francisco. They can err wildly in either direction, but they're rarely ever correct.
Dress: Sue Wong Necklace: from Nordstrom ages ago (it was actually a multi-strand necklace that I took apart and reassembled into one long strand) Shoes: John Fluevog
I wore this outfit for the last day of conferencing, because as soon as the conference was over I was going directly to meet Laura in the Tenderloin neighborhood, which is close to the conference venue, for drinks and a show. Since it was the last day of the conference I didn't mind dressing on the casual side, and I needed something that was comfortable enough to wear all day and into the night. My sequin blazer gave the outfit a touch of glam while still being easy to wear.
The blazer has a shrunken appearance and is cropped short in the back, giving it a tailored look even though the fabric underneath the sequins is a stretchy jersey. My only gripe is that it buttons a little high for my long torso; I think the next time I go to my dry cleaner/tailor I might have them add a lower buttonhole and move the single button down a few inches so that I can button it closer to my natural waist.
The show was terrible, by the way. The band featured local hero Mike Patton, who Laura and I have seen in all of his incarnations every time he plays in town, starting waaaay back in the 90's when he was the front man for Faith No More. This permutation was mostly screaming and atonal banging on the piano, which was frustrating because the man has an incredible singing voice that he simply opted not to use. Maybe 10 years from now I'll get what he was trying to do, but here in 2011 we just left early and called it a night.
Jacket: B. Bella Top: Max Studio Jeans: Joe's Boots: Bronx Necklace: Manu Lizarralde (Argentina)
It's a long weekend here in the States, so I'll be taking the day off on Monday. To get your weekend started right, let me leave you with a catchy tune from great artist I've recently discovered, from France by way of Japan. Last year some close friends went home to Lyon for the summer and brought me back a mix CD of French hits. My favorite track by far was called Je Veux by gypsy-jazz artist Zaz. Fast forward to last month, when Laura returned from a trip to Osaka bringing me a great CD she had found at the listening station at Tower Records (yes, they still exist in Japan!). You guessed it, Zaz.
I couldn't embed the official video for Je Veux, so
click the photo of Zaz to go to the YouTube link.
I would never make any comparison to Edith Piaf lightly, but Zaz really earns that distinction. I'd actually describe her voice as a cross between Edith Piaf's plaintive vibrato and Eartha Kitt's sultry purr. She's also no neophyte, having been a singer for many years and just recently finding more widespread success in her 30's. Je Veux was her big hit last summer, but another of my favorite songs from the CD is Prends Garde à Ta Langue; I couldn't find an official video for it, but click below to listen. Happy weekend, everyone!
I spotted this sequined blazer in the window of a local boutique while I was riding the bus, and knew it needed to be mine. I've looked at many a black sequined blazer over the last year or so, but they've all been a bit too cabaret for my comfort level; somehow the dark silver sequins work better for me as part of a daytime ensemble.
For this outfit I left the blazer open for a more casual look. It fastens at the center with a single button, which makes the front tails drape down softly to a single point in the middle. I think the relaxed structure of the blazer, which drapes rather than having any structured or boxy tailoring, also adds to its casual vibe.
Blazer: B. Bella Dress: Aryeh Leggings: Foot Traffic Shoes: Pour la Victoire
This is the last outfit from before the trip, when it suddenly got really warm and sunny in SF. This outfit felt springy while still giving me enough skin coverage for the chilly temps that tend to set in at dusk. Because my feet have a hard time with peep toe shoes, I added some little half socks to keep my toes from being chafed.
If you only look at the detail shot, this outfit looks pretty glam with all the sequins and sparkly jewelry. But notice how the addition of leggings and flats brings the outfit down a couple notches in terms of dressiness. If I swapped out the leggings for black nylons and the flats for pumps, I'd have a perfectly good outfit for going out.
I have several outfits from the end of December that I'm still trying to get caught up on posting, so I figured I'd group a few of the more casual ones together in one post. You can tell these are older because my hair was still blond; if you look at the photos from when Mark and I got married, you'll see that I've gone back to red since then.
Cardigan: thrifted... Dress: local boutique Ruby... Socks: handmade in Latvia... Boots: Bata
This outfit is similar to something I put together over the weekend for thrift shopping. It's the perfect outfit for such an activity, because the short dress over leggings allowed me to try on skirts right in the aisle rather than having to wait for a changing room. The dress is also thin enough that I can try on tops right over it. And a lightweight cardigan is much easier to deal with than a coat when I'm wandering the aisles carrying an armload of clothes.
Top and scarf: Forever 21... Cardigan: thrifted... Jeans: Joe's... Boots: Bronx
This outfit isn't too exciting except for the double sequin action of the top and the scarf. I never would have paired two sequined pieces together had it not been for the fact that the items are distinctly different colors, and the sequins are different sizes -- the top has the regular size and those on the scarf are the tiny ones.
I'm very excited about this sweater, which I picked up at Goodwill last weekend for $4.49. I'd been wanting a boyfriend-style slouchy cardigan, but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to pay new-clothes prices for an article of clothing that essentially looks like it's too big for me. So instead I thrifted this sweater which actually IS a couple sizes too big for me; it has the extra-long sleeves and the slightly baggy look I wanted, while still looking like it's designed for a woman's figure. Plus the cable pattern is just so pretty, and being 100% cotton the sweater is also extremely soft. Thrifting for trends is something that Sal has posted about quite a bit, but this was really the first time I've actively (as opposed to accidentally) done it myself. Check out Sal's advice on thrifting for trends here, and here.
This outfit, with the teal and gray skirt combo, is the one I alluded to on Monday, and I was really happy with it when I walked out the door. By the end of the day though, I got the sneaking suspicion that I should've gone with a long silver necklace instead of the scarf, or else lost the hat. Something about the scarf combined with the long skirts, drapey cardigan, and turban-esque hat made me feel very gypsy fortune teller, which I'm not so sure is such a good thing. But boy, this outfit sure was comfy and warm, and who knows, maybe I could've made some easy cash reading palms in the cafeteria?
"Origami" Hat: Alternative Design Studio Scarf: Urban Outfitters T-shirt: H&M Gray skirt: S Teal skirt: LA Made Cardigan: thrifted Belt: Red Dress Shoppe Tights: Noa Noa Boots: All Black
Dress: Aryeh
