Plaid to the Bone

Blouse, sweater & skirt - vintage

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Miu Miu

Marie's Handkerchief

Remember my post about my grandmother?

For many years I have had a hand-embroidered handkerchief that belonged to her mother, Marie.

Marie is where my middle name comes from.

The detailing is just superb.  Embroidered handkerchiefs were a normal thing back then but to carry around (and use them) today is quite unusual. 

As you can tell from the single photo above, Marie also had a thing for hats.  I'll post more about her at a later point in time.

You Don't Bring Me Flowers

This is a rayon dress from the 1940s with clear plastic buttons.  I've been reading up on different materials and fabric (even zipper brands) and when they were popular during various decades.  It can be helpful in dating vintage clothing.  Rayon was super popular during World War II because silk was being used for other things.

Dress - handmade vintage

Bracelet - H&M

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Jimmy Choo

Far From Heaven

Have you seen that movie?  It's a winner.  It also inspired my outfit today.

Sweater - vintage

Skirt - vintage

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

Vintage Day Off

I didn't go my office job today because of the holiday, so I ran a bunch of errands and had a great time outside dodging rain clouds. My outfit looks pretty heavy on the vintage side today, but in fact it is not.

Sweater - Moschino Cheap & Chic

Skirt - vintage

Necklace - vintage Bakelite

Earrings - my godmother

Ring - House of Harlow 1960

Bag - Kate Spade

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

Head Trip

I recently discovered the made-to-measure millinery Yestadt via Calivintage.  You can take a gander at their S/S '11 lookbook here, which features this beautiful turban-like hat that I find positively gorgeous.  They are based in Williamsburg and do custom fittings, and so I am already dreaming of paying them a visit when I go there this coming September. (Yeah, I am seriously planning for fashion week in NYC again later this fall).

Black Swan

Walking past the San Francisco Ballet today, we stopped and snapped a photo.  I'd like to think this is what I'd be wearing if I were at New York fashion week this week, creeping around Lincoln Center.

Cardigan - James Perse

T-shirt - American Apparel

Jeans - Proenza Schouler + J Brand

Necklace - H&M

Ring - Burberry

Bag - Chloe

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

Rodarte for Opening Ceremony

For what seems like years now I've wanted a classic scribble-scrabble yarny knit cardigan from Rodarte.  You can find them in certain stores now and then (and sometimes on eBay), but right now online all that is really available is this, at Opening Ceremony:

Which is totally perfect and pretty much exactly what I have in mind, except it is $2,760.  This little bit of sticker shock made me re-think my strategy completely.  Although a cardigan like this is the ultimate, Rodarte has a ton of stuff special just for Opening Ceremony on the other end of the spectrum that are just as engaging and cute, but for very different reasons.

I love the flat out tongue-in-cheekery of this sweatshirt.  And although it rests of the very low end of the three digit mark as far as price point goes, just think of all the icky velour tracksuits or cashmere blend sweatshirts that people shell out way more for than what this sweatshirt costs.  What's more, the slight heather blend, beachy pink color, and play on the word 'rad' gives me a Dogtown and Z-Boys vibe.  It's Endless Summer. It's Rodarte.  It's both.

I don't personally go for sheer or see-through pieces, but these white lace trousers seem almost demure despite having a peek-a-boo quality to them.  It would all depend on what you wore it with, and just imagine how ventilated you'd feel on a hot summer day.

There was also this cute coin purse.

Apparently this collection took much inspiration from the laid-back vibes California exudes.  It makes perfect sense then, that the "postmark" embossed on the other side of this coin purse says 'Los Angeles.'

Outtake

Sometimes Ted takes my outfit photos.  Sometimes, I take them with a self timer.  Today was a self-timer day.

I think Ted does a much better job.  It took me like eight tries to get a decent shot.  At one point some girl totally photobombed my set-up.  She was walking toward me head-on and I had to jump out of her way, so by the time the shutter clicked at the last second, I only had time to make a silly/exasperated face. Et voila:

Have a great weekend, everybody!

T-shirts - American Apparel

Jacket - Helmut Lang
Cardigan - James Perse

Scarf - Missoni

Earrings - H&M

Ring - Burberry

Jeans - J Brand

Bag - Chloe

Shoes - Marni 

A Need for Sleeves

I don't often write about celebrity style, but I am making a prediction.  Miss Kate Middleton, betrothed to Prince William, will get married in a wedding gown with sleeves.

In fact, I think she will wear long lace sleeves and usher in a new age in bridal wear.  For well over a decade, strapless ballgowns with a big poofy skirt and tight bodice were very much a standard, something almost everyone wore.  Well, it's a new decade. It's time to move forward. And celebrity weddings, especially royal ones, tend to have ripple effects.

The way I see it is, Chelsea Clinton's wedding last summer marked the end of the last big wedding ceremony on the public's radar to have the strapless ballgown style.  You can't argue that she looked fantastic.  But in terms of aesthetics, I felt as though a curtain was being closed.

Similarly, there was also Ivanka Trump's wedding.  She had a big poofy full skirt, but do you see the lace sleeve?  The material wrapped around her clavicle area as well (this was Vera Wang couture) and met just above her elbow.  The emergence of a sleeve!

Nicole Richie's Marchesa had very long sleeves.  I think this dress and whatever Kate Middleton ends up wearing will be the sources of inspiration for a new era in bridal gowns.  I don't know why I feel so strongly about this.  Rare is it that I ponder wedding dresses.  Weddings are generally intimate affairs and many of the choices made regarding gowns (bridal, bridesmaid, or otherwise) are very personal.  Still, if you look back over the years, wedding trends emerge with each decade that comes and goes.  Remember in the 1980s, when sitting in high back wicker chairs was a popular thing to do for some reason?  And grooms in head-to-toe white?  When Princess Diana and Prince Charles married in 1981, the style of her gown, with the exaggerated puffy sleeves, inspired countless brides to take that style into consideration for their own special day.  I think what Kate wears will have a similar effect.

I also happen to just plain old like long lace sleeves on wedding gowns.  The coat that Lauren Santo Domingo wore during her wedding ceremony in a beautiful Catholic church in South America was larger than life but still had long sleeves.

It makes a gown look less prom dress-like (probably because wedding gowns may have trickle-down effects on prom gown trends), and lends an air of modesty to a very special occassion.

Beaded Bag

I don't know why I get an Anthropologie catalogue in my mailbox every once in a while because I rarely shop there and certainly never asked to be on a mailing list.  But that's not the point.  Today a bag on page 52 caught my eye and seemed to be a harbinger of spring, with it's beads and bright colors and unstructured roominess.

Speaking of harbingers of spring, somebody didn't see his shadow today so perhaps crocus buds and singing robins are closer than we think.

On Choosing Our Words

What I don't get is when folks comment positively on a fashion blogger's style and somewhere in their compliment, they indicate to the blogger that they are "not gay." Have you noticed this? This is, primarily, females talking to other females.

You know, something like "Your hair is so beautiful in this shot. I'm not a lesbian or anything but I just wanted to tell you that you are so pretty!"

What?

Something that is even more disappointing is that bloggers, if they moderate their comments, will allow this comment to post, and not respond to it at all, or, if they do respond, they will simply thank the poster for their kind compliment and not address the danced-around homophobia that the commenter expressed. My saying this is not meant to call out any particular blogger or commenter - it happens a lot, all over the place.

Of course, at the heart of the matter, this is about a person who is afraid of being thought of as gay, because still, to so many people, being gay = a bad thing. Are you that hung up about it?  It would take a very small-minded person to discern that from an anonymous internet compliment you pay to a person of the same sex, you are a big old queer.  Fashion blogs are the last place on earth I thought I'd see this mindset.  Let's turn these "no homo" moments into teaching moments, and turn things around for the better.