Playing at the beach this weekend in 80 degree fantasy weather, wearing Stone Cold Fox Drifter top (love this brand!), little creamy lace shorts I picked up in Tokyo, Jeffrey Campbell Nation Hi boots, Karen Walker sunglasses, and Topshop clutch that makes my phone and cash look encased in ancient sap. Fun to put things that glow in it.

And some random shots from this past week between LA and San Diego…

xo

(vintage suede coat, J Brand Martini Flare jeans, Forever 21 sunglasses, Topshop clutch, Tristan Blair wedges)

Never cold in my heaviest coat..this thing weighs about 25 pounds thanks to the most painstaking shearling lining and quilting job I’ve ever seen. You’d think I would take it when traveling anywhere cold but I can never commit to wearing it in the plane since I just picture everyone blandly staring at me as I hop around madly trying to smash it into an overhead compartment. So wintry beach it is. While we were taking these some dude walked by and slowly and somewhat drunkenly drawled “I really like the color of your..sweater”. Yes. Sweater. Thanks dude.

(Topshop dress, Egoiste necklace, Fiorentini and Baker suede fold over boots)

The only place that it wasn’t pouring last weekend- Palm Springs. Reason enough to drive out, so Colin and I packed up the car (or I took up every inch with shoes and coats I didn’t end up wearing) to stay at the Viceroy for a couple nights. I think around now is the most dead it gets out there, and the empty overcast gloom was creepily awesome juxtaposed against the time capsule of a town. I got this dress from the lovely people at Topshop Shinjuku who gave me free rein to choose three pieces to take home with me. Kid in a candy store experience. This dress (from Kate Moss’ last collection with them, so sad!) resembles a giant necklace/spiderweb and has some pretty good bell sleeves so it checks a lot of boxes for me. Could make a pretty good New Year’s Eve dress too but San Francisco is going to be a lot more unfriendly temperature-wise.

And I swear I can jump higher than that but the creepy mattress was just as sad as it looks…. it had zero give. Nice butterfly print though.

(RP Encore headpiece, Topshop velvet dress, Jeffrey Campbell Climber boots, vintage wool poncho)

Some people love to wear new things immediately..I am the opposite (to a fault), I have to wait to feel like I’m in the exact mood to wear something. Colin had been egging me on to break this headpiece out for a few months and we finally came upon the perfect place to shoot it while running around one of the canyons by our place in San Diego. Although arguably a happened upon tepee is the perfect place to take pictures of anything. RP Encore is a fascinating label, as in one of those sites you click on that makes you stop and stare to figure out exactly what is going on. The idea behind designer Reid Peppard’s designs reminds me of American Beauty’s Ricky Fitts’ take on ordinary or grisly sights taking your breath away if you just take the time to see them right (I’m sure everyone remembers the plastic bag scene):

Ricky Fitts: I was filming this dead bird.
Angela Hayes: Why?
Ricky Fitts: Because it’s beautiful.

That scene pretty much inspired the entirety of my interest in photography, and is probably why I take way too many shots of like, the ground and broken things. Anyway, Reid uses animals that have already suffered their fates and transforms them into everything from cufflinks to necklaces. This is of course visually upsetting to some people and some of the pieces may be hard to translate into daily wear, possibly including this headpiece she sent me, as much as I may love it. But the final message I get from her work is the possibility of finding and creating beauty from unlikely sources. Check out this Huffington post article here if you remain curious.