Shorts Suit

I wore this outfit to the after-work welcome party that my new group took me out for. Which means I waited 3 whole days before hitting them with a shorts suit that shows off my tattooed arms. I'm sure no one cares; our VP, who I worked with at a previous job, only asked, "Are those new?" Biotech is certainly one of the least conservative of the professional fields.

It occurs to me that I might update the look of this jacket by removing the cap sleeves and turning it into a vest. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? On the one hand the cap sleeves give me a little more shoulder width, which is flattering. On the other hand they're sort of puffy and only look good with just the right top. Would removing the sleeves make this piece more versatile, or is it cuter the way it is?

Jacket: BCBG Max Azria
Top: Max Studio
Brooch: Trifari (vintage)
Shorts: White House Black Market
Shoes: Bettye Muller

Not for the Faint of heart

Here's that pretty silk chiffon dress again, as promised. This time I gave it a more relaxed look by leaving the ties loosely hanging rather than tying them up in a bow. Since the dress is sheer and needs something underneath, I chose my burgundy suede shorts; they brought in a little color and were an unexpected twist.

My initial thought was to grab one of my pairs of tall, chunky boots, such as my Jeffrey Campbell Clinics or X-Rays. But in the end I decided that they would've been a rather obvious choice to pair with shorts, so I opted for these well-worn cowboy boots instead. The giant wedge boots are so ubiquitous these days that I feel the need to deploy them sparingly, and then only when it's least expected.

This outfit also features the new bag that I brought home from Century 21 in New York; the store is home to some amazing deals on designer goods but is not for the faint of heart. Getting trampled in the mad frenzy, or at the very least jostled and shoved,  is a very real possibility. I narrowly escaped with my life! -- and this infinitely versatile bag. I've decided that soft gray is the perfect shade for a bag; it can go with browns, it can go with black, it can go with color. And I might have been exaggerating just a little when I implied that I risked my life to buy it.


Dress: Fremont
Shrug: All Saints
Necklace: Wendy Brandes
Bag: L.A.M.B.
Shorts: thrifted and shortened (from pants)
Boots: vintage Morgan

Sandwiched

Our long weekend was wonderful, and the city was just as quiet and uncrowded as I expected it would be (of course, we stayed well away from Union Square). On Thanksgiving Mark and I met some friends for dinner at one of our favorite comfort food restaurants, Home. On Saturday we saw the fantastic Yard Dogs Road Show, which is sort of a vaudevillian revue with music, dancers, magic, and burlesque. If you're in Los Angeles, the Yard Dogs will be playing on New Year's Eve at the Edison, which I'm sure will be an incredible show.

It certainly isn't warm enough for shorts and bare arms this week, but thankfully I made the most of it when it was. Funny that I had to wait until late November to wear some of my summertime outfits, but such is the bizarro weather in San Francisco. 

With this outfit I used one of my loose, open knit vests as a shirt, securing it with a fitted waistcoat as a top layer. To my surprise, the vest stayed put all day with no readjustment necessary; I think having the tank top underneath made the difference, because the vest was then sandwiched between two non-slippery layers of fabric.


Tank: American Eagle
Knit vest: F21
Waistcoat: Promod
Shorts: White House Black Market
Shoes: MIA

Suede Shorts

After many months of looking longingly at different pairs of leather shorts online, I finally followed Sal's lead and a pair myself. These started out as suede pants, which I picked up at Goodwill; a couple of snips with the scissors, a little folding, pressing, and sewing, et voila! Suede shorts, for $16. The best part is that Mark saved the rest of the pretty burgundy suede, which hopefully he'll turn into something amazing.

My first thought in creating an outfit with these shorts was to pair them with something unstructured on top, so that the outfit wouldn't be too risque for work. This sheer, leather-trimmed tank was actually something I selected in my head before I even started playing around with the actual clothes.When I got to my closet and started poking around, I thought at first glance that the tank would be too long, but after several fruitless attempts with other pairings, I gave it a shot and found it was just right.

The loose tank and asymmetrical cardigan keep the top half of the outfit interesting while still letting my legs be the star. I felt like anything fitted on top might push this outfit into the realm of office-inappropriate (although who knows, I might wear it that way anyway). Adding the socks kept my legs warm and somehow gave me the feeling of being less exposed.


Cardigan: All Saints
Tank: Black Market Baby
Bracelet: Leslie Danzis
Shorts: Wilson's Leather
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: MIA

Rightful Place

By this time it had gotten so hot and sunny in our apartment that I had to move one of the photos out of the window, lest it start to buckle and bleach out in the sun. The photo is of my mom in high school -- she's normally just over my right shoulder, but now you can just barely see her peeking through the bookcase door behind my left elbow. Don't worry mom, you'll be back in your rightful place soon!

After the last time I wore these shoes, I stretched them a little more and they got even more comfortable. In between wearings, I plan on keeping the stretchers in there until the shoes are fully broken in with their new wider width, otherwise I fear they might shrink back a little. I definitely noticed the difference between the first round of stretching and the second, so if you're planning on doing any significant amount of stretching on your shoes, keep in mind that it may take more than one try. Another trick is to apply the stretching spray before you wear the shoes, as the heat from your feet will also stretch them a little as you wear them; the spray will help them conform to the shape of your foot.

I love oxfords and am very glad I bought this pair, but to me it sometimes seems that they're only ever used to create very sweet and somewhat twee outfits, so I added the harness to toughen up the look and give it an edge.  

Shirt: a gift from mom
Harness: Audra Jean
Shorts: White House Black Market
Shoes: All Saints

Suffer for Fashion

The original kernel of inspiration for this outfit was, "shorts with an oversized blazer," which ended up being a great starting point for building this look. I'm sure I got the idea from somebody's blog but at the moment my head is too wrapped up in other things to remember which one, so if it was yours, please stop in and take credit.

I love the fact that you could pretty much swap this whole outfit (maybe minus the tights) onto a boy and it would look equally good. And while we're on the subject, why can't boys wear tights, anyway? If they want to wear shorts on cooler days they just have to freeze, and that hardly seems fair. Oftentimes for the men photographed by the Sartorialist, even socks seem to be out of the question. Those poor guys, with their frozen legs and blistered, sweaty feet. And people say that women suffer for fashion.

Jacket: Nanette Lepore, thrifted

Shirt: J. Crew, thrifted

Waistcoat: Last Kiss

Shorts: Mango

Tights: Falke

Boots: Doc Martens



Stretching Shoes

At last I got to wear my adorable new All Saints oxfords, which languished in my closet for several months while I tried to decide whether to stretch them or send them back. Obviously I decided to stretch them, and although they could still use a little more work, they're already vastly more wearable than they were at first.

The problem with these shoes was the width, which I increased using FootFitter Pro stretchers and stretching spray. From the reviews I read on several of the different models of shoe stretchers, I deduced that the issue with the plastic-threaded ones is that they can strip when you tighten them. However, the models with metal threads are more than twice as expensive, and I wanted to be able to buy two so that I could stretch both shoes at once (I'm not exactly known for my patience). So I went with the plastic-threaded model and proceeded with caution, at first turning the width adjustment until it was just tight, and increasing the tension about 3/4 of a turn per day, preceded by a thorough soaking with the stretching spray.

In the end it took me about a week to complete the stretching, using the spray, tighten, wait overnight, and repeat technique. It worked so well that I've already got several other pairs in mind for some size adjustment. Considering that it costs around $12 per pair to have shoes stretched professionally, it will take less than 3 pairs for these stretchers to totally pay for themselves. And if I end up with shoes that are more comfortable, the cost really becomes negligible.

All in all I'd highly recommend getting your own set of shoe stretchers if you're like me and struggle with the comfort of your shoes, and also if you have several pairs that need length and/or width adjustment. Not only can you make initial adjustments to new shoes, but you can go back and readjust older shoes that may have become tighter during months of not being worn (this is a particular concern for people who live in areas of temperature extremes, where you have entire seasons where certain shoes cannot be worn). Note that the stretchers I've discussed here do not work on boots; boots require a special kind of stretcher that is typically a lot more expensive. If anyone has a model of boot stretcher they can recommend, I'd love to hear about it.  

Cardigan, shoes: All Saints
Shirt: Tulle
Belt: Lazaro
Shorts: White House Black Market

I Cut Down Trees, I Wear High Heels

OK, here it is: the fourth installment in the Wear-These-Shorts-To-Death series. Making their debut is this wonderful pair of vintage suspenders that I bought 2 years ago for a Burning Man outfit and haven't worn since, mainly because I don't have too many (ok, zero) pairs of pants with the extra buttons for suspenders. So for this outfit I grabbed some black buttons, sewed them onto the shorts, and voila! My outfit idea became a reality. I fussed with the suspenders both up and down, and finally decided that for this outfit they looked better down.

This top looks really cute tied at the neck, but for this outfit I preferred the relaxed look of leaving the ties hanging loose. I also tried this outfit with a number of different pairs of boots, but they all pushed the ensemble much too far into lumberjack-land for my liking. However, for the rest of the day I was humming Monty Python's Lumberjack Song to myself.

Shirt: a gift from Sal
Shorts: White House Black Market
Suspenders: thrifted
Socks: Sock Dreams
Boots: Cydwoq

Redundant

Here's the third wearing of these shorts (see the first two here and here), and the next on my list of ideas for ways to wear them. I've still got one more idea I'm wanting to try, and that's pairing them with suspenders and oxfords (which I still have yet to get stretched to the correct width). You'll see that one soon enough, I'm sure. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do once I've run through all these ideas. Actually that's not entirely true; I still have other ideas for these shorts, but the other items involved in those outfits are too wintry even for this very chilly SF summer.

The goal with this outfit was to wear my polka dot tie. When I put this together I fretted that I've already worn this shirt and tie together several times before, but upon perusing the archives I realized that the tie has most often appeared paired with my Max Studio black V-neck top, and has in fact only been worn with this striped shirt one other time. Whew! I thought my outfits were starting to get redundant.

Shirt: Promod
Tie: thrifted
Shorts: White House Black Market
Boots: Modern Vintage

Gangs of New York Meets Casey Jones

So clearly I'm enamored of these shorts, as it's the second time I've worn them in as many weeks. I have several ideas for these, and I aim to try them all before too long. First I want to try pairing them with my polka dot tie, and then with a pair of suspenders I've had sitting around for a long time unworn and a cute pair of oxfords which I haven't worn yet because they need a bit of stretching first. So many options! Oh right, except for the option of actually wearing them as shorts, with bare legs, because it's too fucking cold here even though it's late July. Not that I'm bitter or anything. You go on and enjoy your summer like normal people do, with exposed skin, barbeques, sprinklers, and the like. I'll be okay, just let me grab a sweater. And maybe a scarf.

For this outfit I used my idea of pairing the shorts with heavy combat boots, a thermal shirt, and a classic, chain-embellished waistcoat for sort of a Gangs of New York meets Casey Jones kind of vibe. Perhaps I should've added an oversized top hat. Not that I need a hat to keep the sun off, mind you!

Shirt: All Saints

Waistcoat: Heathen

Shorts: White House Black Market

Boots: Dr. Marten's

Complexity

This big, soft cardigan is yet another All Saints purchase. Taking Sal's advice on wearing an oversized garment, I kept the rest of the outfit sleek and form fitting so that my shape was not entirely lost. The shorts and leggings showed off the shape of my legs, while underneath the cardigan I wore a tight fitting, stretchy tank tucked into the shorts and belted.


This outfit had a certain level of complexity to it, which surfaced whenever I went to the bathroom. All that adjusting and tucking and buckling was difficult enough, and then there was the constant threat of the long tail of the cardigan and free ends of the scarf dropping into the toilet. Thankfully I was on my game that day and didn't have any mishaps, but there were a couple of near misses. The outfit was really comfortable though, which made up for the hassle.

Cardigan: All Saints
Scarf: local import store
Shorts: Mango
Leggings: Kersh
Boots: Fly London

I thought today I'd show you a picture of our front window view on a day when the skyline isn't obscured by fog. I love the way the rippled Victorian-era glass distorts the buildings, so I included a close-up so you can see it better. The beautiful domed building is City Hall, and behind it is the new-ish Federal Building, which is generally viewed by locals as either an amazing modern creation or a hideous eyesore (I'm of the former camp). If you look closely you can see 2 chairs sitting on the roof of one of the buildings in the center of the frame; one of these days I want to get a photo of the view when there are people sitting out there, because it looks even cooler. These rooftop decks are fairly common around San Francisco and are a great feature of the city.

Among the Living

This outfit was inspired by S. over at Academichic, who has been sporting some really sophisticated looks with shorts recently. Her use of mixed neutral tones and rich scarves gives her shorts ensembles a cosy, winter look; this outfit in particular was what inspired me to pull out my brown wool herringbone shorts and try a look of my own. I especially liked how she used a casual blazer to give the shorts a more 'grown-up' feel, so I borrowed that idea for my outfit.

I knew my beloved Bata boots were not going to give me the contrast I wanted against the black leggings, so I chose my dusty gray cowboy boots instead, which gave the outfit an element of casual playfulness. Not wanting to drown the look in too much black, I then chose a bright silver shirt and charcoal waistcoat, and let the leggings be the only black item in the outfit. Finally, I topped it all off with a brown silk scarf, which kept the washed-out silver color away from my face.

Richly-colored scarves are a great trick this time of year for combating pale winter skin. With my olive undertones, my skin has a tendency to look sallow if I wear too much pale color right next to my face. Even a small amount of bright or saturated color near my face does wonders for keeping me looking like I'm still among the living, and allows me to wear colors that might not otherwise be flattering on me.

Scarf: Banana Republic
Jacket: La Redoute
Shirt: thrifted
Waistcoat: Last Kiss
Shorts: Mango
Boots: eBay