Summer's End

On this last full day of summer I wanted to wear some transitory pieces, things that can ease oneself into the new impending season.

For more of this outfit and the party it went to, go over here.  It's where most of the fun is these days anyway!

Sweater - Prada

Necklace - vintage { 1980s }

Brooches - vintage { 1950s }

Skirt - vintage { 1950s }

Belt - vintage { 1950s }

Bag - vintage { 1940s }

Earrings - my godmother

Ring - House of Harlow

Shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo

I Just Can't With The Turtlenecks

I don't know when the point in time arrived when I couldn't stand to have a turtleneck on my person.  I was fairly neutral when it came to how they looked on me, but one day it felt very wrong to have fabric around my neck that wasn't a scarf, that wasn't something I couldn't immediately yank away if necessary.  I suddenly felt very claustrophobic having something around my neck like that.  Turtlenecks have known that I am not the one ever since and we have kept our distance from one another.

I mean, even when I got this Celine sweater I was not about to do the look from the runway with a white turtleneck underneath.  For one thing, I think it's pretty uninteresting to just blindly copy from the runway. And another: it's a turtleneck, and by now you know how I feel about those things.

These bitches! I can feel their judgements regarding my non-turtleneckness.  But it's cool.  They look really cute and not at all uncomfortably claustrophobic.  That's really the key, I think.  Comfort for me involves nothing around my neck, unless it's, you know, a necklace.

All photos by me except for the Celine runway photo, which is via style.com

Blending Lipsticks

I tend to not stray too far from my daily makeup routine. I always wear black liquid liner and mascara. Some days I wear a base/foundation (I didn't today). I have one red lipstick and one bright pink lipstick. The pink is a little too trendy and bright to wear to my office job, and while I love my classic red, it's nice to mix things up now and again.

I recently started doing something really simple.  See, I'm pretty much at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to beauty/makeup skills.  When I want to add a little variation to my lippie, I put red on my top lip and pink on the bottom, smoosh them together, and end up with a new color.  Here's me with red on my top lip and no lipstick at all on the bottom:

When I was an undergraduate I took a figure drawing class. The best thing I learned the whole semester was this trick with a human's upper and lower lip: the upper lip always exists in shadow. Go on and look at famous portraits - whether it's a charcoal sketch or enormous oil painting, the upper lip enshrouded in darkness is something you can count on. This is why, if you play around with this lipstick idea that I'm postulating, you should put your darker color on your upper lip.

Maybe you don't even have to blend it. Maybe you could walk around all two-toned and see where that gets you.

I opted for smooshing them together, of course. Here's me and my best sessy face.

Et voila! Just in time for school picture day.

Wrapped Up

All this hoopla about Missoni and Target reminded me of this scarf that I have not worn in quite a long time. Today was the day to pull it out of hibernation.

Sweater - vintage { 1950s }

Trousers - Theyskens Theory

Scarf - Missoni

Bag - Chloe

Shoes - Jimmy Choo

It's Storytime with the Bergdorf Catalogue!

Gather round, childrens. Yesterday the mailman left me a special treat. It's Bergdorf Goodman's Fall/Winter 2011 shoe catalogue, and it tells many beautiful tales.  Would you like to join me on a magical journey before bedtime?

I won't spoil you with every single thing, so here's a Cliff's notes version with my own personal highlight reel of deep, moody color, opulent textures and heels of all heights.

Were truer words ever spoken?

A is for Alaïa. Crimson suede and nail head studs!

Kate Spade bronze satin with sparkly heels and bows.

These Ash boots have faux shearling and chocolate brown leather.

Pretty Oscar de la Renta suede party shoe with a lower heel than most you see these days.

Two-tone Chloé snakeskin pumps with a sturdy heel.  Goodnight and sweet dreams!

I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues

Sweater - Prada

Necklace - Marni

Skirt - vintage Levi's { 1970s orange tab }

Shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo

Fashion's (Afternoon & Night) Out, Twenty-Eleven

Last Thursday was the third annual (I think we can call it annual at this point) Fashion's Night Out, an evening dedicated to injecting extra doses of mirth and merriment into what might have otherwise been average retail experiences.  There are no hard-and-fast rules in which things work, which is part of what makes it so fun.

I came directly from my day job (no, not my store, my other other job) so I loafed around all late afternoon and night in what I had worn all damn day.  It was wonderfully comfortable, a far cry from the get-up I wore at the first Fashion's Night Out in 2009 but a bit more chic than last year's ensemble.

{Theyskens Theory trousers, Miu Miu sweater, Marni necklace, Jimmy Choo flats, Chloe bag}

The evening kicked off with a private champagne reception up in the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus.  It was lovely to see familiar faces as well as meet new folks, something I am sometimes shy about doing.  Thanks so much to Lindsay Stevens and Caitlin Flemming for making that happen!

Camel capes are everywhere this season, everywhere, I tell you! Quick, look in your sock drawer, there's probably one lurking about right now, waiting to pounce.

After the bubbly and good times at Neiman Marcus, I hoofed it across the square for um, bubbly and good times at Saks.

That deep-in-my-gut feeling of pride and a desire to support American designers that was so present when I was at NYFW last year came flooding back to me.  So much in fact that I felt compelled to photograph this table of Rag & Bone jeans for that very reason.  It was either that or begin singing My Country 'Tis of Thee right there on the fifth floor of Saks.

By the way, Tom Ford's new fragrance, Violet Blonde? Thumbs up.  The photos directly above and below were plucked from my Instagram account.  Yeah, I finally got one, at long last. My name on there is Dronning - come at me, bro!

I then journeyed back to my old neighborhood, Pacific Heights.  My friend Annie was hosting an event at Jonathan Adler.  I plopped down on a footstool with a little, uh, to-go cup that I acquired at some point during that voyage out of downtown.

Being in Jonathan Adler always puts me in the best of spirits.  

It's kind of like being in Willy Wonka's factory - everything is bright, colorful, cheeky, and good enough to eat. It was great to chat with Annie, her cool boss Jamie, and everyone else who made their way through the door.  I concluded my evening by hopping into a taxi with a new squirrel friend similar to the candleholder in the above photo.  I'll get a photo of that little guy up here soon.

Seattle Photos

This past weekend Ted and I took a long jaunt up to the Seattle area. Below are a few photos, but you can see a whole lot more here.

Simplicity

Sweater - Celine

Trousers - Helmut Lang

Shoes - Christian Louboutin