Fashion for everyone

the last few days have been a frantic flurry of getting ready to leave new york for the holiday season: finishing jewelry orders, shipping gifts, and tying up a year's worth of loose ends. the payoff for this mania will be nearly three lovely weeks off ~ during which i'll be checking in from texas, new mexico, and who knows where else along the way?

anyway, i've got to finish packing now {warmer weather wear, yay!}, but here's what i've been wearing nearly every day for the last week:

vintage sunnies, coat, belt & gloves; h+m tights; coach boots

i got caught dashing out the door today, en route to drop off the dry cleaning {look closely and you'll see yesterday's dress peaking out of my tote bag} and pick up some groceries. as such, i wasn't properly 'costumed' ~ just clad in whatever could be quickly clutched from my closet.

i know i'm not the only one that has 'those days' when you can't be bothered to think about what you're wearing, right?!



this skirt is pretty much my uniform for non-dress-up days; it's like my version of a love-worn blue jean. somehow, over the years, i've convinced myself it goes with everything. don't even try to tell me otherwise.

the boots i bought on a whim last winter, to save a fancier suede pair from a sudden, unexpected rainstorm. i figured they'd last a month ~ tops ~ but somehow their rubber has proved impressively indestructible. they remain a solid option for kicking around casual-town.

the type-printed nylon tote goes everywhere i go. it folds into an itty-bitty little square when empty, so i always have it on me to carry whatever collects in the course of a day. i can't even fathom how many plastic bags it has kept out of landfills.

come to think of it, this whole haphazard look has been heavily recycled in some way or another. hurray for sustainable chic!


wearing: custom sunnies, joie leather bomber, vintage flannel shirt, F21 skirt + tights, the glamourai for shrimpton couture rock candy ring, rogan tote bag, coach purse, patricia field for payless boots

as hinted by the new kingdom of hearts collection, i'm on a bit of an alice in wonderland kick this week!

it could have something to do with wanting to inject a little march hare into my november mood. maybe it's because thanksgiving is coming this thursday, which means there will be lots of little temptations entreating 'eat me!' and 'drink me!' perhaps it's the fact that, in my family, playing croquet is as intrinsic to the holiday as turkey. either way, this outfit felt appropriately like one part alice + two parts mad hatter ~ all with an obligatory nod to the queen of hearts of course!

wearing: custom sunnies, self-designed velvet heart necklace, vintage escada jacket, vintage dress

i believe the key to making the most of drizzly days is keeping a collection of cute ubrelleries ~ and today's costume would not have been its best without this roundel of rosy sunshine!




wearing: vintage umbrella, self-designed necklace, rag + bone jacket, natori shirtdress, rings from the glamporium, random lace-stripe tights, topshop boots

today begins my week of guest blogging for lucky magazine, and i'm pretty amped about it. so stoked, in fact, that i did a little happy dance!!!

wearing: self-designed earrings, rachel by rachel roy jacket & blouse, vintage skirt, lanvin brooch (at waist), h+m tights, bebe booties


as soon as you're done laughing at me with me, CLICK HERE to read my first post!

as far as i'm concerned, paris fashion week might as well begin & end with the dries van noten show. it's not one for grand, cerebral, theological clothes ~ just a delightful and straightforward master's lesson in the art of daily dress.

van noten is unrivaled in his control over prints and proportion. individual looks incorporate a minimum of 3 disparate patterns, but manage to remain immediately wear-ready ~ straight off the catwalk. boxy jackets are finished just at the waist, allowing room for an equally boxy bottom without losing sight of the woman's figure below:



people often ask me how i am able to look at a piece of vintage and visualize the ways it could be updated. i say: see dries! watch how one polka-dot print can be lovely as a long coat, but younger when shortened into a jaunty jacket, and fresher still when the extra yardage is refashioned as shorts or a skirt:



similarly, i am asked how i learned to mix prints. again, see dries!



this is a collection that, every season, manages to look completely relevant but never terribly trendy. the older i get, the more i realize how valuable this quality is in one's wardrobe. once we get past puberty, and our bodies have more or less settled into their adult shape, it's natural to begin thinking a bit more seriously about building a base camp of beautiful clothes that can evolve with you (and with fashion) over the years.

thankfully, van noten seems to understand that timeless mustn't ever mean tedious:



still, sometimes it's fun to flirt with a few fads. thanks to the house of chanel, shades of malachite and jade are having a major moment. ever on-point, dries delivered this trend his way: quirky, classic, and completely covetable!



i want every single piece.

when i debuted this getup yesterday morning, my flatmate and sometime blog photographer (hi DL!) happily hissed: "you are totally giving me anna wintour with that jacket!" (note: it may also have had something to do with the bob, glasses, and the fact that i'm notoriously grouchy in the a.m.)

anyway, his observation was oddly intuitive, as she's THE uber-editor, and i was cheekily channeling that old joke: 'what's black & white & read all over? (the newspaper!)' with my smudgy, desaturated prints and pops of red accessories:



wearing: drugstore sunnies, rag+bone tweed & leather jacket, lanvin beetle brooch, F21 dress, the glamourai rings (coming monday to the glamporium!), hobo clutch, random lace-stripe tights, bebe booties

though it's hard to make out in these photos, i am also *finally* wearing chanel jade on my fingertips (loyal readers will know i've waited months for this moment). big thanks to joelle of the owls are not what they seem, who picked it up for me at the chanel shop in soho during fashion's night out! it is everything i dreamed it would be.

since it's a luxuriously rainy sunday here in new york, i thought i'd share some of my favorite lounging-in-my-lavish-boudoir inspirational images:


(biba poster by james wedge / c.1974)


(photograph by irina ionesco / c.1970s)


(maggie gyllenhaal for miu miu by terry richardson / fall 2004)

i hope you're curled up somewhere equally moodily glam, with a hot toddy and a tall stack of fashion mags...

(image source)

after i tackled my closet cleansing, the blog was next in line for a bit of seasonary improvery. what say you of the changes?

yesterday's post was a real palette cleanser for me ~ i was feeling overwhelmed by too many trends, and looking back at the fall 2009 shows genuinely helped me recalculate what i really really love.

and what is it i truly adore, you might ask? saturated jewel tones! jangling jewelry! blublocker sunnies! leopard! paisley! palazzo pants! prints so bold they could cure blindness! silky, drapey, crazy old lady clothes!

phew, it feels good to get that out.

so. in celebration of my epiphany, i'm wearing an amalgamation of all my favorite things today. it's a glamourai smorgasbord, and everyone's invited to the feast!!!

yesterday involved running around town in too-tall shoes, doing fun fashiony events with coach and super-cool girls like emily, lulu, and krystal, consuming only cupcakes and champagne, girl-crushing on gwen stefani at L.A.M.B., and roaming the halls of barney's for fashion's night out.

good thing elle.com's 'street chic' was around to document a (very windy) bit of it:

yesterday i shared some summery suggestions for summoning your inner gypset.

while the post illustrates how i'm attempting to cope with the never-ending heat, i fervently hope that the weather will cool off soon, as that haute hippie vibe works especially well for early fall:

i realize we're all pretty excited for the coming fall, but until it arrives, why don't you enjoy the ease of the gypsy, combined with the eternal-summer sophistication of the jet-set? just don some printed chiffon and unleash your inner gypset!

"excellence can be obtained if you...

...care more than others think is wise;

...risk more than others think is safe;

...dream more than others think is practical;

...expect more than others think is possible."

for the last week or so, as i've been flitting about the beach, and dreaming of future decadence, this blog has devolved into an orgy of super saturation!

now that i'm back in new york, i'm trying not to let that summer spirit soften ~ so i'm committed to continuing with color. let's prolong the polychromatic party!

this vintage scarf dress is sublime in the summer, as it allows me to maintain my layer-loving look, without actually piling on pieces. by this time of year i can only bear to build up on bling!