Sheriff

I found these adorable espadrilles on sale at DSW; they fulfilled my quest for a pair of espadrilles and also for a pair of olive green shoes. Two wardrobe holes filled with a single item! And yes, I paired them with my obi belt, with its perfectly matched olive fabric AND brown leather. And of course I mixed all that with the perfectly matched olive and brown necklace, and the perfectly matched olive dress and brown blazer. Because although Sal is still the undisputed mayor of Matchy-Matchytown, I've declared myself the sheriff. Let me know if you wish to be deputized.

Dress: Red Dress Shoppe
Necklace: Foxy
Blazer: La Redoute
Belt: Audra Jean
Espadrilles: DSW brand

Cropping Up

Well, I warned you that these cropped pants would be, er, cropping up again soon. A weekend had intervened after the last wearing of them, I was at a different conference, and since aside from me there was virtually no overlap in attendance among my colleagues, I figured no one would be the wiser if I wore them again. This time I paired them with an equestrian styled blazer and leopard print blouse. The open-top shoes with bare feet proved to be the absolute wrong thing to wear for the soggy day it turned out to be, but other than that it was a great semi-professional outfit to wear on the first day of a conference.

I feel like red shoes would've looked better with this outfit, but I was lacking the correct red shoes to do the job, so I stuck with taupe. I did go with red earrings though.

Top: Forever 21
Blazer: Karen Millen
Pants: Cynthia Steffe
Shoes: John Fluevog

Giddy

For day 2 of conferencing I figured I couldn't go wrong with my Helmut Lang blazer. Originally I intended to wear this blazer with the All Saints dress I posted yesterday, but sadly the proportions aren't right; the blazer is just a little too long in front for the dress. Thankfully these cropped pants had just arrived via Gilt, and the sunny weather that day offered the perfect chance to try them out. They're really comfortable, and the pale beige color means they match my skin tone and thus don't shorten my legs. Expect to see a lot more of these pants -- and surprisingly soon, too.

If I look extra happy here, it's for two reasons: Jess was in town, and I was spending my workday in San Francisco. If it isn't already obvious, let me just state for the record that I am giddy with love for the city I live in. It never gets old for me; all the interesting things to do, amazing restaurants to try out, beautiful scenery, and most of all the people. Not a day goes by that I'm not filled with pride and gratitude to be a part of this unique and special place. I love it SO MUCH!!




Ahem. As I was saying... After I got home from the conference, I dressed the outfit down by swapping out my jacket, shoes, and necklace. Georgie was there to supervise.





Black blazer: Helmut Lang
Top: Ann Taylor
Pants: Cynthia Steffe
Sandals: Kors Michael Kors
Military jacket: French Kiss
Flats: Fly London

Sandals Week

If only the weather still looked like this; it's gotten cold and rainy since these photos were taken. But as you can see from the last several outfits, I took full advantage of the stretch of warm weather and bared my legs, arms and feet. It was Sandals Week in the Bay Area.

In keeping with my new seasonally-appropriate dressing policy, my plan for this spring and summer is to wear the crap out of all my sandals, even on days where it might be a little on the chilly side. Then when the weather turns colder I'll pack them up in a box and store them out of sight, just as I recently did with all my heavy sweaters, woolen items, and insulated boots. That way I won't have to spend half the year looking wistfully at all those pretty shoes and being sorry I can't wear them.

Dress: Forla Paris
Scarf: Duke et Duchesse
Vest: Forever 21
Harness: Audra Jean
Shoes: Joy Chen

Formula

This outfit is sort of a repeat, as I've worn this dress/tights/shoes combo a couple times before, but the colors just go so well together that whenever I pull this dress out I'm stumped to come up with a better formula. Sometimes there's just no messing with a good thing.

Since the middle panel of this dress is a see-through lace mesh, I always need to cover the midriff in order to wear it to work. This time I used the blazer to cover most of it, and filled in the rest with the scarf. It was fairly cool that day, so the velvet blazer and tights kept me warm, while the sandals and bright colors made it seasonally appropriate.

The outdoor location is the patio just off our dining room (which really isn't a dining room so much as a hatmaking studio). You've actually seen this location before, but it was with the ugly blue building next door in the background. I much prefer this angle.

Dress: Betsey Johnson
Scarf: vintage
Blazer: Victoria M. Ortiz
Tights: Foot Traffic
Sandals: John Fluevog

In Full Swing

Over the weekend I put together a few days' worth of outfits and recruited Mark to take some photos outside, just to mix things up a little. As you can see, spring is in full swing according to most of the plants, although the bougainvillea seems to disagree; it's half-heartedly putting forth a few small leaves, but seems content to hibernate a little longer until it warms up. I can't really say that I blame it.

For this outfit I kept it springy with the pale pink and off-white skirts, even though with all the layering it was designed with cool weather in mind. It was also the perfect vehicle for this fab new harness that Mark made. Actually I 'ordered' it from him; he had this very pretty caramel-colored, smooth leather in his stash and I thought it would look great for spring and summer in a lightweight harness style. This harness is the basic "Jane Doe" style, with straps that are thinner than the original. This strikes me as being a great option if you've been wanting to try out the harness trend, but don't want to look too edgy or bondage-y. The color reminds me of some of the leather accessories seen in Lanvin's SS11 RTW line.

Tank Top, pink skirt: Anthropologie
Jacket: French Kiss, thrifted
Harness: Audra Jean
Tulle skirt: Noa Noa
Tights: Hue
Shoes: John Fluevog

Death Throes

These cords have maybe one or two more wears left in them, and then they'll have to go; the nap is starting to look worn. If you've been reading this blog for awhile you might recall the tale of the Elie Tahari cords and my embarrassing blue butt experience. That sounds like a great premise for a children's story, doesn't it? Elie Tahari and the Blue-Butted Blogger. Believe me, that story did not have a happy ending. I'll chuck this pair before they ever get that bad.

What's interesting though is that I've had these cords for several years now and they suddenly look very current again, because of the flared legs. Which just goes to show that some clothes can survive the ups and downs of different trends; I wore them even through the skinny-jean trend, but now they fit in perfectly with the styles that are in the stores. And that actually kind of sucks, considering they're in their final death throes just as flared legs are coming back into style. Perhaps I should've shelved them during the skinny jean years. Come to think of it, I'd probably still have those Elie Taharis too, if I hadn't rendered them unwearable by overuse.




Cream shirt: All Saints
Yellow cardigan: Solemio
Scarf: vintage, from Red Light
Cords: Marlowe
Belt: Audra Jean
Shoes: Saks Fifth Avenue

Pièce de Résistance

The image that sparked the creation of this outfit is this one from the Prabal Gurung collection, which was part of my Fashion Week roundup post last week. And yes, I realize the two outfits really look nothing alike, but the kernel of the idea was simply to wear my furry vest over my long cream cardigan, not necessarily to recreate the whole outfit (though I still want to try that too). After that I just got carried away, grabbing as many white, cream, and beige items as I could find and throwing them all together.

The pièce de résistance was this cream harness that I snagged out of Mark's workshop; I thought it integrated really well with the other pieces and gave some geometry and structure to the outfit. I showed it here without the vest just so you could get a better look at it, but I did wear the vest all day at work so that the harness just barely peeked out.

Vest: Adrienne Landau
Harness: Audra Jean
Shirt: Michael Stars
Dress: Anthropologie
Cardigan: Max Studio
Skirt: Noa Noa
Boots: Apepazza

Mixing Grays

Lately I find myself drawn to mixed-neutral color schemes, especially when the weather turns rainy and cold as it has been here for the past couple of weeks. So this crochet-trimmed cardigan and black knit dress were quite timely presents from my family; the cardigan is from my mom, and the dress is from my aunt. They always seem to do a great job picking out clothes for me.

Throwing in some gray is always a great way to blend brown and black together, so I added several items in varying shades of silver-gray. Grays can be tricky to mix, so it's important to pay close attention to whether items are a warm or cool gray; the easiest combinations will always be like with like. In past outfits I've mixed different bluish-grays (here's one example, and here's another), and in others I've gone with warmer grays with brown undertones (such as this outfit). Warm and cool grays can be mixed, as long as there's an intervening color that bridges the gap; in this outfit I mixed a soft taupe-gray with a deep charcoal, using plenty of brown to ease the transition.   

For more on mixing neutrals, click here to read what Sal has to say about it.

Cardigan: Solemio
Scarf: Eileen Fisher
Dress: Max Studio
Skirt: S
Belt: Urban Outfitters
Boots: Bos and Co.



 

Tribute

This is my Wendy B tribute pose; I totally missed out on the contest, but I figured I could still rip off her signature pose and post it over here. Hopefully she doesn't bitch slap me for it when I'm in New York later this week. You don't scare me, Wendy! However your weather does. Don't throw a snowball at me!

Every time I wear this dress someone comments on the bright red color. On my scout's honor this dress is ORANGE. A reddish orange to be sure, but still squarely within the orange family of hues. My camera clearly does not agree.

Cardigan: Anthropologie
Dress: Orla Keily
Belt: a gift from mom
Tights: Foot Traffic
Boots: from Scoop in Copenhagen

Soft

If you live outside of California and are wondering where the sun and all its heat is, well, we seem to be hogging it all over here in the Bay Area. Early last week when I wore this outfit, it was barely making it into the low 50's during the day, but by the weekend it was downright HOT. As in shorts and bare arms kind of hot. As in don't leave the house without your sunscreen hot. Apparently there just isn't enough sun to go around right now; sorry guys. Don't blame me; you can always come to California, you know.

Speaking of the miserable weather in the rest of the country, that's exactly what I'm headed for on Thursday, and I have to admit I'm slightly terrified. First I'm off to New York to meet up with Sal for some Fashion Week events and also to meet a few of my favorite other bloggers; after that I'm headed to Seattle for my friend Lisa's wedding, and from there I'll continue to Oregon to visit my family and attend my sister's wedding. It's the New York bit that really scares me; other than a couple of times in Iceland, the last time I had any serious exposure to snow was in 2000, and believe me I have not missed it. You might even say I've actively avoided it.


Whenever I think about how wimpy I am when it comes to temperature extremes (and by "extremes" I mean anything lower than 50°F or higher than 80°F), I'm reminded of that old song from the 90's, "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)." The line goes, "Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft." Well, if being soft is a crime then lock me up; just don't make me live anywhere it snows.

Sweater dress: Banana Republic
Scarf: Forever 21
Belt: Audra Jean
Tights: MP, via Sock Dreams
Boots: Bata

Height Perception

This little lacy black dress is another one Mark and I use a lot for our Etsy shop photos, but that I rarely wear. I've actually owned it since about 1993, but with this season's resurgence in the lace trend, I figured it was high time I pulled it out again. These days I wouldn't wear it as a dress because it's so short (somehow it seemed ok when I was 24, even though it barely covers my butt), but it makes a great layering piece.

I've noticed  from time to time in the comments that people will assume I'm petite, and I wonder why this is. I'm actually 5'8" in bare feet, and the other day I got to thinking that I must subconsciously assume other bloggers are all roughly the same height I am, because I'm surprised if I find out they're considerably taller or shorter. Do we perceive height differently depending on how tall we are ourselves? I wonder also how much of our own body image plays into it; if someone feels they're too short, for instance, does everyone else automatically get perceived as taller, whereas someone who is comfortable with her height (or simply doesn't care) assumes everyone else is the same size?

Why do people care so much about height anyway, other than difficulty in finding clothes that fit? My only gripe about shopping for my own height is that sleeves are often too short, hence I push them up to my elbows a lot. Other than that I wouldn't say I spend much time thinking about it; until of course someone says I'm petite and gets me ruminating on the subject.

How do you perceive the height of people you see on the internet or on TV? How much do you think your own body image plays into those perceptions?   

Brown dress: from Ruby on Haight Street
Black dress: Betsey Johnson
Necklace: from Ambiance on Haight Street
Belt: Audra Jean
Skirt: thrifted and shortened
Bracelet: Leslie Danzis
Tights: Falke
Shoes: Fly London

At the Crossroads

Yesterday's sweater dress wasn't the only gem I found at the Crossroads Trading Company; when I spotted this blazer I just knew it was going to fit me perfectly. I fell in love with the 40's-style wide lapels and beautiful tailoring in both the front and the back, and at $40 it was an amazing steal for a designer piece that's in perfect condition.

The blue sweater ended up being more hidden than I intended it to be, but the v-neck just left too much skin exposed for as cold as it was, so much of it was by necessity covered by the scarf. The sweater is a basic cashmere one and has been a wardrobe staple for many years; it was nice to bring it out again and layer it under this gorgeous blazer, and I like the way it picks up the subtle blue stripes in the skirt's pattern.

Blazer: Karen Millen England
Scarf: Banana Republic
Sweater: Nordstrom, ages ago
Skirt: La Redoute
Boots: Scoop in Copenhagen

An Abundance of Leather

In my continued effort to make use of all my warmest items before the winter is over, I pulled out this dense, boiled wool tunic and paired it with my leather pants. And oh man, was it comfy and warm. These pants started out pretty tight when I first bought them, but after a few wears they've broken in to a nice, relaxed fit. I'd definitely recommend buying leather pants a bit on the snug side if you're thinking of adding any to your wardrobe.

It did feel a little weird to have my legs encased in such an abundance of leather; I mean, tall leather boots over a layer of leather pants? It felt a bit extravagant, but I got over it.

Shirt: J. Crew
Scarf: Forever 21
Tunic: Promod
Pants: Firetrap
Boots: Bata

Limited Utility

Now here are a couple items you've never seen before.The first is the sweater; I've actually owned it since 2005, but it's another one of those items that requires the absolute coldest days to wear. Since it has been bitterly cold here lately (disclaimer: "bitterly" cold to me is anything below 50°F), it's been a great time to pull out some of these little-used items. I guess I should've realized when I bought it, in Denmark, that it might have limited utility in California. Interestingly I bought it specifically to wear with these very shorts and tights, but as far as I know I haven't worn any of these pieces together since that trip.

The tights you've seen before, but they also have a good story. I purchased them at a shop in Iceland after I changed my travel plans and ended up staying far longer in Iceland than I'd intended, and venturing outside of Reyjavík and into areas that were a lot colder than the city. Like the sweater, they don't get a lot of use here because they're 100% merino wool and are dense enough to wear as pants, but on the coldest days of winter they are delightfully cozy.

The boots are fairly new; I got them just before the holidays (I think I averaged about 2 -3 gifts for myself for every one I bought for someone else. Oops.). According to the description, they were designed as a tribute to Rosie The Riveter and are intentionally distressed, with flaws such as missing eyelets and straps that appear to have been torn off and sewn back on. I love the fact that they're black and brown, because they can truly go with anything. The best part is, I snagged them at 6pm.com for 40% off the retail price. And I don't even have to wait for a bitterly cold day to wear them.



Sweater: from a boutique in Copenhagen
Belt: Lazaro
Necklace: Wendy Brandes Little Woolf (for Sister Wolf)
Shorts: Mango
Tights: Cintamani
Argyle socks: Sock Dreams
Boots: Timberland Boot Company

Casual Outfit Catch-Up

Dress: Skunkfunk...  Belt: Audra Jean...  Tights: Sock Dreams...  Boots: Bata

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.