Western wear re-assessed

I have a shoe problem. I'm working on it. Well not really, but I know it's out there. I had long ago set an eBay saved search for my Nine West shoes and when these white ones came up I clicked through the Buy It Now immediately and robotically, no thought involved. And, well, I love them just as dearly as I do my blue ones, which have definitely seen better days at this point. I saw that you clever readers perhaps did the same, spotting that 7.5 on eBay! Best of luck to those bidding.

Today also marks the debut of this totally crazy suede fringe jacket. I was going to sell it in my store, but now I'm thinking I might hold onto it for a while. The fringe even extends across the back and it's a little too much to take, in the best way possible. 80s product that it is, I had to do a little shoulder pad surgery but now I can whip people in the face with my tassels to my heart's desire. Only by accident, of course.

Less outerwear specifically, there's a change in plans for this week...sadly, my boyfriend has managed to tear a tendon in his knee while doing manly things and is gimpily crutching about as we speak (type?), which means that I'll be flying down to San Diego to help him on Friday and driving up to LA on Tuesday. There was definitely a lot of ticket re-negotiating but I think it's all figured out now. It was agreed upon that it might be hard to drag a suitcase around the airport with said crutches in use. Blogging, of course, will continue throughout! Well, when I'm not assisting Caldwell in every way I can, of course. And eating fish tacos and writhing about on the beach.

Meanwhile, IN PARIS WITHOUT ME, my mother is toying with the notion of purchasing a yellow Balenciaga. Interesting.

Note: to anyone that is bidding on auctions that end tomorrow night or has won anything this week, PLEASE make payment by tomorrow night if you want your item sent out on Friday. Otherwise I will do so a week later when I am back. And you know you want your awesome stuff sooner.

Note II: Dearest Catpower, I added a chain strap bag to the store like you requested! This one's pretty cute too.

Dress, Urban Outfitters. Jacket, vintage. Wedges, Nine West. Headband, Forever21

Les chaussures Chloé

As much as I love my massive collection of vintage boots, I'm kind of a heel whore and when this morning I languidly searched for the Chloe motorcycle heels on my favorite comprehensive shopping search engine for no other reason than to shamelessly ogle, I came across these on amazing discount heaven Yoox, which I have coveted madly since first setting sight on them in that Spring '07 collection. Let's just say I hope these run true to size, Chloe footwear neophyte that I am....and not to play the devil's advocate here or anything, but they have a bunch more in different colors and styles...

Pardon the French title, my mom is in Paris this week and I am dyyyyyyyyyying of insane, impossible to contain jealousy. I told her to bring me stuff.

Source

Highlight it

I always think it's such a waste to reserve items for specific occasions. So even though this dress is blindingly chartreuse and sequin inclusive, I feel it deserves to see the light of day every now and then. A little obscuring of the glitz with tatty denim and the addition of my sturdiest vintage boots renders it almost passable for day, but then again since when have I cared about staring strangers?

Dress, FCUK. Jacket, Union Bay. Bag and boots, vintage.

Rogan jeans

I made sure to check out the Rogan line at Target this weekend..but..already highly combed over. I know, what?! Must have been released days earlier judging from the lack of selection/sizes. I did get to check this thing out..just as crazy as it looks online. Anyway, I moped on over to the dressing rooms with a couple measly items, including these jeans just for the heck of it. I've never liked any of the other GO International collaboration's denim but they seemed at least mildly promising on the rack. They, surprisingly, fit amazingly well, hugging the ankles tightly and practically screaming that they wanted to be friends with my Marc Jacobs boots. Or perhaps not so surprising, isn't denim what Rogan mainly does in the first place? Oh yeah.

I didn't really wear this since it was blazingly hot, so I just put together a simple look to photograph. Just saying.

Note: this is really hard to photograph and almost just as hard to see in real life too, but they have this weird/kinda cool/kinda don't know what to think about it leopard patterning on the sides. I like how invisible this is, and I suppose it doesn't really detract. Just...random.



T, Urban Outfitters from last spring. Jeans, Rogan for Target. Heels, Nine West. Clutch, vintage.

Denim again and again

Mmmm...medium wash denim..I guess I'm pretty into it right now. I was feeling an urge to wear this geeky dad shirt today, along with this Moroccan belt that overstayed it's welcome back in '04. I'd found it in my closet in a bag along with 15 other belts I forgot I had and wondered if it could be made new again. Which, of course, meant that floaty dresses and skinny jeans were out of the question. Luckily, bandage skirts seem to solve most of my fashion problems these days.

Oh and I know I have some terrifying roots going on..I'm trying to figure out what to do about it/not really caring. Plus, my brother informed me that he "always thought roots looked kind of cool". Yeah.

Watch cuff and belt, vintage. Shirt, secondhand. Skirt, Forever21. Bag, Old Navy. Sandals, Urban Outfitters from a couple summers ago.

Sheathed in denim

To the readers that have asked about these heels, I deem them comfortable, shiny, and running a half size big. Hope that helps!

Dress, thrifted '90s Guess. Heels, Aldo. Clutch, vintage.

Auction time!

The store is packed with summer goodies..everything you see here is available in store..right now. Awesome.

Summer lovin'

Sources: foto decadent, TFS (scans by a.t., rox_yr_sox, mojopin)

Tales of travel

With the surge of bohemian dresses in the store, I decided to get it on the floaty paisley action. This dress is so summer perfect it's almost sickening. The semisheer material definitely requires doubling up with an (also vintage) slip, and I gave it that extra roundhouse kick into modernity with my shiniest stud-heavy heels. How is it that electric blue sort of goes with everything lately?

I know I made annoyingly vague allusions to exciting fashiontoast news a couple weeks ago, and well now I am going to annoyingly just say I'm flying down to LA after Memorial Day in relation to said news, which I'm SO EXCITED about. I'm going to be staying with one of my best friends from college and do LA things like...well I'm sure we'll figure it out. Yay for spontaneously arranged travel!

Dress, vintage. Heels, Bebe. Bag, vintage Bally.

Back to basics

Ahh everyone's favorite top...simple but brilliant. And perfect for constructing a look when it's @#$*&)@#* too hot to think. I love that it can dress down mostly anything (in this case monumental mirrored heels), and it's a favorite with my first love, denim shorts. This is definitely an outfit that's so simple it can be tinkered with in numerous ways and still be quite fun...Chucks, oversized vintage clutch, woven wedges, tights, studded anything, annoying hat, duh white tshirt, etc. I love basics.

And, my friends, it is a fateful day for me, I have scored a place on the homepage of The Fashion Spot. I'm more than a little stunned to see myself in the cover story flash animation alongside such internet giants as Susie Bubble. I've been lurking and posting there since..2004 or some crazy year, and sort of feel life would not be worth living without it. My frequent forum action has even caused fights with my boyfriend. Kind of sick. Not sure if I mean that in the good way or the bad way. So anyway, THANK YOU TFS!

Top and skirt, American Apparel. Bag, Lucky. Heels, Nine West. Necklace/headband, Banana Republic.

Dandyhorse

I do my fair share of internet roving and thought that I had peered at about every Paris fashion street style documentation that there was to be had, so when I stumbled across Dandyhorse I was rather delighted at being able to ogle more angles and immaculately disheveled looks. Though it's kind of making me sick to look at all these photos of tights and jeans when it's 90 degrees out, these are too good to not share. Now if only the site was updated more often...



Julia von Boehm is an eternal favorite..what a fabulous way to wear all black. Love how comfortable she looks in this gear.



This is sort of a fun interpretation of the motorcycle jacket/skinny jean/fierce heel combination which is pretty much the 07/08 uniform.



Gray is one of the few (only?) colors that I feel right mixing tones in. Those pants could have been so bad but they're..not.



I think those were the ones I wanted. Hmph.



This is so Diane Kruger's doing. At my high school there was this guy that everyone called Pacey because they thought he looked like this character. It was pretty annoying.



Julia Restoin-Roitfeld is one of those people where I just want ALL THEIR SHOES. I bet she's a 7.5 too....



I always enjoy concentrated coolness.

Today's inspiration

Sources: dandyhorse, tfs, foto decadent

5-15

Dress, Topshop. Bag, vintage. Heels, Forever21.

The doctor's in

So. The Doc Martens, yes? It seems there was much wonderment as to what I was going to wear them with, and I was admittedly perplexed upon receiving them. They're so..ugly. I mean in a cool way but still they're almost scarier than Uggs, and I will venture to say less flattering than the furry beasts too. But no matter! I was determined to figure out a way to wear them. Noting how unexplored this territory was, I went fleeing back to my favorites: floral, fringe, and light denim. I'll leave wild experimentation to another day.

Experiment #1 involved that infamous Kate for Topshop dress since my favorite vintage black floral was drying in the sun, and a secondhand jacket turned vest..thing. Sort of '90s grunge princess minus the tiara and glitter eyeshadow. I figured the colorful pansies would prettify.







Experiment #2 was embarked upon after feeling the first look was too era-specific. I decided that if anything could make a little black fringe dress work for day, it would be the boots in question. I inappropriately threw in a vintage rosary and the same vest. I feel like this is more me, though I definitely don't feel like I've got my mind wrapped around the DMs yet.

Bring it back

Low slung belting has been pretty tossed to the roadside since the post-Sienna backlash, but seeing it so gorgeously done on Lulu and Louise inspired me to pull out my best light-as-air billowy vintage dress and give it a go again. Today was the perfect day to do so too, with almost 90 degree temperatures making it finally feel like summer might have officially arrived. This dress is pure love to me, though kind of awkward since it alllllmost looks like a nightgown. As my mother is always eager to point out. I think the belt serves to at least mitigate that effect though. And yup I ordered the Aldo heels in gray last week, I figure curved wooden mirrored heels that are this comfortable should be scooped up in all available colors, especially when on sale. I will note they seem more of a cement/eggshell/completely weird hue but I figure unidentifiable colors are more Marc Jacobs-y anyway.

PS completely made my day when I discovered that Louise reads my blog, I am honored to infinity. I recommend reading Geraldine of Cafe Mode's sweet interview with her immediately. And yes Louise you must start a blog, the fashion world is begging you!

Check out a vintage purple dress like hers that I'm having a rather hard time letting go here.

Dress and belt, vintage. Heels, Aldo.

The Hills

Still not in order yet...after we got my oil changed it was so gorgeous we decided to head for the hills for a quasi-hike. And miraculously, I was wearing the right shoes. Though I suppose if I was wearing the four and a half inchers we would have opted for alternative activities.

Lamé bandeau and triblend tank, American Apparel. Forever21 shorts and sunglasses. Vintage boots.

Saturday hijinks

And my pretty photographer:



I love hotels. Things like unlimited quantities of ice, shiny revolving doors, card keys, and $10 trail mix make me happy. So when my beloved Caldwell booked a room for the weekend I was ecstatic and excitedly packed way more annoying accessories than I could ever manage to wear in such a short time. But man did I try. After a mimosa toast, we frolicked irresponsibly, indulged in bacon wrapped scallops (my newest ridiculous addiction), took millions of photos for no reason, and ended up at the drugstore buying more junk food than we could ever explain purchasing. Best weekend in recent history.

First set: H&M playsuit, Nine West wedges, Forever21 sunglasses.

Second set: Forever21 dress, Ralph Lauren blazer, Marc by Marc Jacobs boots, Target socks, Balenciaga bag.

Lazy hazy

I'm going to be posting these out of order for a little bit but I suppose that's of little consequence. This is the morning after a drunken Saturday night, and I attempted to resolve a lack of good conditioner problem at our hotel by mushing lotion into my hair. It sort of worked, and my boyfriend observed that it looked like I had dreadlocks in the back of my head, in a good way. Hmmm suspicious. And this is why I feel leery about posting hair/beauty tips like some of you have requested.

Lamé leggings, American Apparel. Shirt, Forever21 men's. Bag, Balenciaga. Sunglasses, Ray-ban. Heels, Nine West.

Flat shoes!

Blazer, Ralph Lauren. Shorts, vintage. Boots, Minnetonka. Bag, Balenciaga.

Lot more photos coming your way...crazy weekend..

5-9

Ahh so sorry for my flighty blushiness to the adorable readers I ran into today!! But thank you so much for saying hi :)

Blazer, Ralph Lauren. Shirt and skirt, Forever21. Scarf, Target. Bag, Balenciaga. Boots, vintage.

A study in black and white

I thought Daria was sailing around the world? Anyway, love her. From Vogue Brazil May.

scanned by xPedro @ TFS

In My Bubble

I received a certain anonymous request for this Armani Exchange dress, and being one of my favorite dresses ever (and the one in my profile photo!), I happily dug it out of my closet. When I bought it a year ago, I goaded myself into handing over the credit card by rationalizing that I could make it work for the day too. Though it does feel a little dressy even through it's cotton composition, there are certain measures that can be taken against this. A vintage leather vest is the perfect wtf piece to make it seem less frou frou-y, along with my favorite and most comfortable ankle boots. Then there's this Forever21 bag that a co-worker pointed out to me a couple weeks ago online...I decided to give it a shot and though I was disappointed that the color isn't so melon-like in real life and I sort of really wish it had a long strap option (how much is it begging to be folded over and slung across the body??), it's kind of fun and a cheap way to give orange patent a try. So there's my overly wordy analysis of this outfit. I'm going to switch out the vest for a black leather jacket to go out tonight but, you know, same idea.

Anyway, all of this obviously begs the question...do I need this? Please help, I can't decide.



OH and if the anon. requester is the same girl that is interested in the vintage knit cuff boots, they are going up tonight! Along with a few other pairs.

Dress, Armani Exchange. Vest, vintage. Bag, Forever21. Boots, Jessica Simpson.

Notations

So yes I am wearing the same shirt as I did yesterday. Actually, I slept in it so have been wearing it for over 24 hours! Such is the appeal of the boyfriend shirt. Or pretend boyfriend shirt. I am thinking I should clarify in response to recent comments that this is not the "OOH look at my new ____ blog" or the avant garde reference guide (don't get me wrong I love those blogs too but that's just not who I am), but instead one where vintage is modernized, the same items are worn over and over again in different ways, and I pose at random in my backyard. And who knows, I might be saving up for the bag purchase of a lifetime. Ooh and Caldwell is coming to town on Friday! Like Santa! Which always means more exciting outfits, one of which will probably be one of the sweetest vintage cutout dresses ever. Think mock neck, full skirt, skintight bodice...mmmm...

AND auctions ending in hours! Click!

Furthermore, today I received the MOST INSANE EMAIL EVER, which if it's not a crazy joke, might be the coolest thing to ever happen to me. STOKED.

Shirt, Forever21. Lamé bra, American Apparel. Skirt, made by the darling Camille. Bag and sunglasses, vintage. Heels, Aldo.

Side note: nail polish ID to those who asked, it's OPI's Chihuahua Bites but I diluted it with some sheer pink stuff a little bit. I know, I'm such a mad scientist.

Doctor doctor

Somewhere between Daisy's languid air kicks, the general ridiculousness of white boots, and a 20% off email from Shoebuy I caved. Expect analysis upon receipt.

Texas Tuxedo Version 2.0

I received a smattering of random items from Forever21 this morning, including this men's shirt that I loved an unexpected amount. I always have a general leeriness towards my orders from there, since the quality is so all over the place -I usually end up buying in semi-bulk and sending a good amount of things back. Which is why I can definitely see why it might an exercise in frustration to purchase internationally from them. But back to the shirt, it's striped in a sort of opaque white/sheer white combination, and the henley style looks exactly how I wanted it to unbuttoned, plus I think it's long enough to wear tunic-like with the trusty lamé leggings. Also purchased were these fierccccce rings. Can you tell I like to wear new things immediately upon receipt? But, of course, my staples of fringe bag and gladiator heels were in full force. I actually first put this all together to shoot a pair of Levi's for my store and ended up liking it enough to frolic about in the rest of the day.







But for the sake of experimentation, I tried it with this secondhand converted jacket/vest, and the whole thing is kind of an eyesore and I probably wouldn't wear it in real life but am kind of drawn to the double denim horror. Or maybe I'm just smoking the crack pipe. Are we recoiling?





Shirt, rings, Forever21. Shorts, vintage. Bag, Lucky. Heels, Nine West.

Insp. Board

Sources: foto decadent, French, Italian, and Australian Vogue via thefashionspot

Two-way

Rarely do I like an outfit as much with Chucks as I do with staggering chunky heels but here I think either way makes sense...and yeah I'm totally re-obsessed with these heels. Random note: reversible vest!

I sort of hate red lipstick (on me!) but this is the only reddish lip color I like, L'oreal's Colour Juice Stick in Cherry Freeze. It's more than a stain but less than a lipstick, which makes me not so fearful of it. Plus it's as moisturizing as Lipsmackers and almost as saccharine so my inner 12 year old is appeased.

T, Fruit of the Loom. Vest and Levi's shorts, vintage. Heels, Aldo.

PS adding a few pairs of Levi's shorts like this to the store over the next week.

PPS OMG SERENA!

Get set for summer

5-4

Jacket, Union Bay from the 90s. Tee, Urbn. Leggings, American Apparel. Heels, Aldo. Bag, vintage.

Sock dreams

Since their incorporation into my vast-ish shoe collection, I've been dreaming about pairing these Velcro-rrific heels with dark gray socks, and after a stop by Target (my personal hosiery haven) I eagerly scrambled for the right dress to temper the weirdness. Which led me to this vintage dress that I delusionally imagine to be something Clemence Poesy would wear to..the supermarket..or something. I was in the mood to over-accessorize and threw in this vintage eelskin clutch that I've been debating putting in the store (I have waaay too many clutches) and Lolita sunnies. Yay!


Dress and clutch, vintage. Sunglasses and headband, Forever21. Socks, Target. Heels, Aldo.

When bloggers meet

Inevitable? Perhaps. Actually, Lulu and I have been in surreptitious and sporadic internet contact for like..four years. But decided to finally set up that blind date after a revival of email contact, and I'm thinking it should have probably happened a lot sooner. Lulu is tiny, adorable, and the perfect person to lurk on street corners and strangers' stoops with. After fueling up on potentially deathly soy lattes, we set out to pretentiously and narcissistically frolic in search of ideal photo locations. Luckily, a sweaty jogger happened to glide by and offer to take 50 million photos of us. He only maybe believed that we're big on the internet.





We then had our hand in attempting to Sartorialize each other at an inconveniently busy intersection before pausing to linger on a doorstep to discuss the future and stuff.



I like this photo. That is me being artistic!





The waxing place was closed.







What good creepy internet blogger meet-up would be complete without a run through hipster paradise? We picked out cheese-tastic outfits for each other and giggled about in them until the girl working there told us we couldn't take photos. She did, however, like my boots.

Moral of the story: next time I wear this ridiculous skirt I am tucking my shirt in so as not to dare unflatter me so again.



Edit: Oops - forgot outfit breakdown! Fruit of the Loom T with sleeves cut off, Forever21 skirt (don't see it on the website anymore! probably still in stores?), H&M jacket, Marc Jacobs boots, vintage bag.

It will rain denim shorts

Hahahhaha:



YAY my craving for tacky light denim has been fulfilled. I feel so much better now. Today was awesome in 9000 different ways. It's the first official day that I'm working remotely, which means dressing as randomly as I feel like. I might be wearing denim shorts an unusual amount from now on, largely because I think the hardest thing about going to an office every day was not being able to don them. Just warning you.

I know that most, if not all of you, think that I go and get Mystic Tanned bi-daily or something, but I swear to you, I went to a tanning salon once in my life many years ago and am never going back, because it was scary, and it gave me weird splotchy skin that lasted a month. Sick. I actually wear SPF 45 every day, but something about my Japanese/whiteness makes me conducive to darkening as soon as the temperature goes above 70 degrees. I get tan lines from sitting outside and eating lunch for 20 minutes. It's actually very inexplicable, since both of my parents are pretty pale people, buttt my brother's the same way. Maybe we are secretly not their offspring! Who knows.

Tshirt and sunglasses, Urbn. Shorts and boots, vintage. Jewelry, vintage/Forever 21.