"I Like Your Dress."

That's what a six year old girl walking down the street said to me today. I am not one to play semantics, so I took the compliment and ran with it.

Blouse - Escada (thrifted)

Sweater - Theory

Skirt - Lanvin

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

I've Realized Something

This is the window above the tub in my bathroom. This is where the dinosaurs live.

This morning in the shower I came to the realization that my dinosaurs - which I have had for well over a year - are all plant eaters. I asked myself why, and the only reason I could come up with is because they're more mellow and less threatening and I guess I don't want to stare at open-mouthed flesh eating lizards first thing in the morning as I am emerging from the fog of sleep. I think it's good not to have to ponder being eaten alive in the first few minutes of one's day. That's just me; that's just a decor choice that I made.

Amazing Feets

Yesterday, when Erin of Cali Vintage asked (via her twitter) what fall footwear was on our minds, I knew right away what my answer was. Prada's patent loafers: bright, shiny, and candy-colored, with a dash of chrome and a thick stacked heel.

Some folks aren't such fans of these shoes, poo-pooing that they look like something a dowdy English nanny would wear, things to stuff her tired feet into before taking the brats for a spin in the pram. I disagree. I mean, first of all, they're saying that like it's a bad thing.

Months ago, many an editorial featured the socks with heels look, but I wasn't entirely sold. It was all delicate flimsy pastel scrunched up anklets with dainty open toe heels, either a peep toe or straight up strappy sandal. Things were shifting to this direction, but I wasn't sure I'd buy into it and wear it myself.

The socks and shoes seem safer and more accessible this way. For me, it's the closed toe that seals the deal. The way I dress is pretty middle of the road, not too flashy but certainly not majorly plain jane boring either. The boxy toe is undoubtedly more comfortable, and the heel is sturdy and easier to walk in. Add a knee sock with the thickness of any winter sweater, and I feel armed and ready to take on the world, or at least confidently stomp down the street.

Keep it cozy and chic and the rest takes care of itself.

Prada has done a variation on the tall sock and heel for fall before. Recall if you will 2007, with their Sfmuta degrede heel and color block footless knee socks!

Photos via style.com

The P&C Questionnaire

I recently had the honor of being part of the lovely Poetic&Chic's new weekly feature, The P&C Questionnaire, a modified version of the famous Proust Questionnaire with a slant toward those who blog about style for a living.

It was a lot of fun to answer Annie's questions: I got to talk about TV reruns, treasures unearthed in Austin Texas, and the one thing in fashion I'd really like to see disappear. Click here to check it out!

Photo by JT Paradox

Links a la Mode!

More than a Fashion Blogger

Edited by: Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista

Whatever your thoughts are about fashion bloggers, this week's links a'la mode reads were quite evocative. Hardly does an article leave me questioning my own thoughts or ideals, especially when talking fashion. I may be moved to buy, but deeper? (sans any type of societal injustice) These bloggers brought more to the table, as Vogue Gone Rogue did with her declaration of the coexistence of feminism and fashion. Yet, I was proud to be an entrepreneur after glimpsing into the world of a bridal consultants leap into fashion design.In a world where a new fashion blog is born everyday and everyone is a critic. Confessions of a Fashion Editor interviews an outspoken blogger critic while The Vintages ponders if we should even care what others say. Whether you read because of the pretty pictures, fun reads, or fashion tips, know your authors are more than fashion bloggers.

• 365 Fashion Rehab- The Cost/Quality Conundrum. Three tops in three different price ranges: How do you really know if the quality of a garment matches its price tag?
• A La Modest- Thrifting Down the Mainstream: "With this new wave rave for vintage, even Goodwill is raising their prices because the more affluent kids are ransacking their racks for one-of-a-kind retro rompers and sixties sandals."
• Bachmans Sparrow- Transform your basic tanks into beautiful, statement pieces with just a little lace. Check it out in my easy DIY tutorial!
• Bobbins And Bombshells: Who's That Behind Those Foster Grants? Part fashion history part give away!
• Confessions of a Fashion Editor- Nati Hell, of 'Fashion Bloggers Why?!' Answers Back
• Cuffington- The Tale of the Tape- A chance encounter with an old handmade mix tape cover (crafted nine years ago from a page torn from an issue of W) takes me back to the very moment when I truly became interested in fashion, and what fashion was capable of.
• Denim Debutante: Paula's Denim Dear John Letter
• Eva Lu- Tame those Bangs! 3 ways to keep your hair looking pretty while cycling through the city.
• Fashionizehaus- Style vs. Fashion: Tips on Developing the Fomer
• French Leaving- Lovely Clusters of Beige: A collage of selected Etsy/Lovely Clusters picks of beige items.
• Hello Beauty Blog- Bobbi gets a little rock 'n roll with her latest collection, Denim & Rose.
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: When Words Attack Bloggers
• Living Embellished- Unmask Italia: Learn of the wonders that lay in the Venetian Masks
• Miss Jones and Me- Binary Opposition: Applying the device to my life and my wardrobe
• Parker and Muse- Balancing my day job as a bridal consultant/photo editor with starting a fashion line: The economics of pursuing my passion.
• Style it You- Condé Nast recently rejected Mario Epaya's proposal for Vogue Africa. Will fashion ever embrace diversity in beauty?
• The Curvy Fashionista- Christian Siriano for Payless for Fall 2010: From Runway to Realway?
• The Haute Hoosier- Supermodels are Dead: Introducing the Catwalk Queens You've Never Heard Of- A round up of some of today's hottest catwalk queens.
• The Vintages Contemplations on caring about public opinion and considering the potential success of the typical blog - one with a blogger who is not particularly glamorous, rich, or thrifty, only average, as most of us are.
• Vogue and Vintage When the day is going bad just hop on your bike and ride out into the sunset. Your worry's will melt away as the sun sets! Let the wind blow all the cares away! And do it in style of course!
• Vogue gone Rogue- A closer take on feminism and fashion.

Sneaker Pimps

Recall if you will my first run-in with Christian Louboutin high tops earlier this spring.  Well, it seems as though Mr. Louboutin's foray into this sort of footwear did not end with just those studded shoes. Here are some new offerings from the maestro. The studs are gone and have been replaced with, well, you'll see...

What do you think? For me, it's really not my taste.  As I said a few months ago I think it's interesting when higher end fashion houses (or just plain old cream of the crop shoemakers, like Mr. Loutboutin surely is) dabble in streetwear.  It's charming, a breath of fresh air and all of that, but it's not something I'd spend my money on.  Maybe if I was super into sneakers I'd think otherwise.  And mind you I'd have to really be into sneakers because these start at around $680.

Do you think they have red rubber soles? The ones I tried on in April did.

Images via Harvey Nichols via Bryanboy

The Tale of the Tape

This weekend at The Moms' house I was presented with a shoebox. I could hear a whole lot of plasticy things clanking around inside, and when I lifted the lid, I saw every mixed tape that I had made in college, or that had been made for me.

This brought a flood of emotions to the surface, and after the initial wave of nostalgia went back out to sea, I was left with the unsettling realization that there was no way I could listen to any of these tapes.  I have neither owned nor had access to a tape player in many years.

My attention then shifted to the artwork. A few covers for these tapes were crafted from photographs, but the majority came from magazine pages. Many of those images were clipped from music magazines, with one glaring exception. And I only say this because I remember it with a level of detail that only could have remained intact because, for me, it was such a pivotal moment in my life.

It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but let me explain. At the very bottom of the photo of this jumble of tapes is one that I made for myself.  The photo was snipped from a page of the August 2001 issue of W magazine, from an editorial called Broken Dolls.  I bought it on my lunch break at a Safeway in Novato, California. I was working at an indie video store at the time that has since gone out of business.

So. Broken Dolls. Although it was published years before I became interested in fashion at the level that I am today, there was something about the whole look that dove into the deepest depths of my imagination.  Up until that point, when I thought of photoshoots in magazines, to me they seemed to be little more than dressed up versions of something you'd find in the JC Penney catalogue, but there was something about this story that was just different.

The makeup was theatrical and dramatic, mixing pastels and bloody rusty reds.  The clothing, even though it was all new, was styled in a way that made it look simultaneously gothic prom queen and grandmotherly, like a tarnished chandelier draped in cobwebs.  Even the way the models posed seemed new to me. Some sat on the floor, not even facing the camera. It seems like every rule had been broken, and everything that I previously thought I knew about fashion was wrong.

Something shifted inside my brain that day. I kept the magazine for months, finally tearing out each page carefully and posting them on the closet door of my room.  You have to understand that I was not the kind of person who put pictures from magazines on her wall, especially images from fashion magazines.  There were at least a dozen images in the Broken Dolls story. I have no idea what became of any of them, save for the one tiny rectangle currently encased in plastic, used as cover art for a mixed tape I made almost a decade ago.

As I combed the internet this afternoon for information about this long-lost editorial that is now nine years old, I came across some surprising information. The photographer was Michael Thompson, Ellis Faas was the make up artist, and Joe Zee was the stylist. I also unearthed an interview with Mr. Zee, conducted in 2001, about the process behind this very shoot. He had just recently become fashion director at W after three and a half years at Allure. It's a marvelous capsule of a specific point in time. Watch how he waxes poetic on Helmut Lang, Gisele, Tom Ford working his magic at Gucci, and a new model on the scene named Erin Wasson. After all the editorials I've seen over the years, I will never forget Broken Dolls and the impact it had on me, how it shaped not just the way I approached dressing but how I saw fashion and how fashion could be presented to the world.  It smashed open a world of possibilities, and for me inspired a whole lot more than just the cover for a mixed tape.

Broken Dolls scans from here

The Fashion of Troop Beverly Hills

In elementary school I had this really over the top girly-girl friend named Lisa.  Ten year old Lisa lived and breathed glamour. She had a queen sized water bed, a closet stuffed with pastel leggings, and the only music I ever remember us listening to was Madonna. Lisa was into Madonna at a level I did not know existed, and one I never saw again until I moved to Chicago and met my friend Miguel. Lisa was even Madonna for Halloween one year, which her parents happily co-signed.

One summer weekend Lisa's family invited me to go on a camping trip with them. I didn't really like camping but I didn't want to miss out on a fun weekend at the lake with Lisa. So I packed my duffel and off we went. Camping with Lisa, as it turned out, was a totally different experience than the whole sleeping on the ground in a tent thing, which was how my family did it. In Lisa's world, "camping" meant stretching out in her parents' luxurious RV, eating Fruit by the Foot and watching video tapes. Now this was camping. It was during this magical weekend that I was introduced to the 1989 cult classic 'Troop Beverly Hills.'

I'm not saying it's a great movie. I'm not even saying that it's all that good. I am saying that it is a Shelly Long vehicle celebrating the materialistic exploits of tween girls and their parents wherein everyone grows a heart of gold at the end. Kind of like a super terrible prequel to Clueless. And the costumes are really something. That is what this (obs pic-heavy) post is all about.

Meet Vicki, Shelly Long's character's best friend. She is a best-selling romance novelist, and for some reason she always wears leopard or cheetah prints. To underscore her overflowing sexual nature? I can't be sure about that. Vicki is my favorite character, probably because she's a writer and is constantly narrating into a hand held tape-recorder. She often growls things like "rising manhood" into her recorder. In a PG movie aimed at kids! Amazing.

I'm not even going to post every outfit that Shelly long wears, there are far too many. In this scene she is at Cartier, kissing a frog made of diamonds.

She wears a lot of hats. Oh yeah, and she smokes throughout the movie. There is no "I quit smoking" lesson learned at the end here. She just smokes, via a long skinny red cigarette holder. That's it.  It was the late eighties, so everyone kind of gets a pass, on smoking and hats too.

The costumes for this film were designed by none other than Theadora van Runkle, whose credits also include The Godfather Part II, Mame, and Bonnie and Clyde.

Yes! Here's Vickie again whipping out her trusty recorder while wearing animal prints.

Oh, I should probably tell you what this movie's about. Shelly Long plays Phyllis, a Beverly Hills wife who takes over her daughter's Girl Scout-like troop. She has the uniforms altered by her tailor to make it more fashionable.

Phyliss's candy apple red manicured nails on her jewel-encrusted fingers are hard to miss.

I think an old Barbie doll of mine had an outfit like this.  I imagine those pants would be really hard to walk in should the slightest breeze occur. Think of the drag it would create.

Speaking of taking drags, here Phyllis salutes while holding her ciggie and Louis Vuitton day planner in one hand.

Phyllis in court.

Phyllis at home.

Miu Miu S/S '10 inspiration, I presume?

This bitch! Here's Vicki again doing what she does best.

We are nearing the end so here's a few more of Vicki being gorgeous.

You get one guess as to what she's doing in that last photo (other than being glamourous). Don't think too hard.

This was always my favorite dress. Phyllis looks like a half melted double scoop of sherbet and bubblebum ice cream. Delicious.

Now if you'll excuse me, for some reason I am craving cigarettes and hats.

Miss Bergdorf

I found this pristine jacket at a thrift store. It's really cropped and a snug fit.

I can wear it open or closed.

Then I looked at the label and was surprised by what I saw.

After some Googling I learned that Miss Bergdorf was an in-house line started for children by Bergdorf Goodman in the 1920s. It was eventually phased out by the late 1980s after waning sales. No wonder the jacket is so tiny!

Blouse - H&M

Jacket - vintage Miss Bergdorf

Trousers - Banana Republic

Shoes - Chrisitian Louboutin

Happy Home

My new place is not nearly all the way set up yet, but here are a few photos of how things are coming along. Take note of a new neighbor at the end, who sometimes comes and visits me on the fire escape. UPDATE: the first photo was selected for the 'Show Your Style' section on JonathanAdler.com - take a look!

Coat of Many Colors

Shirt - thrifted

Jeans - vintage Wranglers

Belt and buckle - vintage
Boots - Frye

Hilarious.

From modelburnbook

Look Ma, No Hands!

For real, where'd they go?

Blouse (that's actually a dress) - Rag & Bone

Skirt - thrifted

Earrings - my godmother

Tie - vintage

Shoes - Pour la Victoire

All Boxed In

Okay, so remember my mess of a closet, shoe boxes strewn all about and those couple dozen photographs I took?

Add some glue and you get the best space solution I could come up with.  I must have seen this in a magazine years ago and I know the idea has been widely shared, so I'm not about to take full credit for it.  Still, this is what it looks like in the real world.  

I recently learned a little bit about kaizen, the Japanese concept of constant, on-going improvement. Often implemented as a workplace managerial philosophy, time and again I apply it to the place where I live in terms of storage and decoration.  I'm never satisfied, and I'm always looking for a way to store and keep things in a more efficient manner.

There is still SO much more to do.