FASHION OF LIFE (PART 1)

Back to the photo at hand... the girl in the tank top and shorts is killing me with her simple but perfect spring outfit and the dress on the right is either older Lyell or the most perfect vintage dress ever. I even love the tile floor! Then I realized that the pretty silk camisole with the intricate lace is the same one I'd been admiring in this photo. I did a quick Ebay search, thinking "what are the chances I'd find this exact piece for sale?". But much to my surprise, there it was. In my size! For a fraction of the original price! I marked the auction to watch it and planned my strategy for bidding. I had it all worked out but just before the auction ended the seller suddenly pulled the item down and dashed my hopes for finally getting my hands on a piece of Lyell. Oh, well. I guess it wasn't meant to be. Now I'm determined to find something just as delicate and pretty on my next vintage shopping trip. I've added silk blouses and camisoles to my must have list for spring.


You know when people play those "if you were stranded on a desert island" games where you have to decide if you were only going to eat one thing or read one thing or listen to one thing for the rest of your life what would you choose? Well, if I were stranded on a desert island and had to wear one thing for the rest of my life, the answer is a no-brainer. Lyell. I know, I know, it's not exactly desert island appropriate. I'd ruin all the silk the first day, but that's not really the point. Every single detail on these clothes is pitch perfect. I haven't been lucky enough to get my hands on a piece but I have a feeling if I did I'd never want to take it off. I can't wait until their website comes back up so I can see all of their new spring line that's currently in their store and drool over all of their past collections.


A while back when I was hunting for a vintage bathing suit I came across this little cutie and knew it was meant for me. Unfortunately it had other ideas and you can imagine how crestfallen I was when I tried it on and it was all around too big. Determined I could sew it up to make it fit, it came home with me and... sat in my to-be-sewn pile for nearly a year. I dug it up from the bottom of the pile yesterday to get my mind off of the four inches of freshly fallen snow that was keeping me indoors. I thought it would be just the bit of spring fancy to lull me out of my winter doldrums. After looking at it every which way I could think I came to the conclusion that there's just no way for me to alter it and have it successfully fit me. Whah!

In a city of millions it always baffles me that The Sartorialist manages to run into the same people more than once. But, lucky for us, he does. Anyone have any idea who this lovely lady is? I love how she looks like she's just come down from yodeling on the mountain tops - in the best way possible. I really just want to follow her home and raid her closet. That red coat! The little feather in her hat! The colors, the textures, the layers! Well, we can at least keep our fingers crossed that her photo will turn up again since she seems to have caught the eye of Mr. Schuman.

I finally got around to perusing some of the collections and these are a few of the looks that I saved for inspiration. I've tucked them away and for now but I'm sure I'll be excited to look at them come October or so.

 

 

photos by Tom b.

top: floral 50's blouse (trying to inject a little spring into my outfit)
skirt: wool 60's skirt
sweater: wool 50's cardigan
tights: UO (I think)
shoes: Seychelles
belt & beret: vintage


This week when I went vintage shopping for the store I ran across a large collection of pretty wool and velvet skirts. The mustardy-gold one I'm wearing today is one of them. I've got skirts coming out my ears so I'm selling most of them, including the one in the photo. It's just a smidgen too big for me. I guess that's a good thing because otherwise I might be tempted to keep it.

Here are seven random things about me...

• I don't drink any caffeine. No coffee, no Coke, no tea. Ever.
• I love brussels spouts. For lunch I would like to have brussels sprouts with a side of brussels sprouts, please.
• When I was a little girl I collected figurines of unicorns.
• I have what looks like a tiny tattoo on the little finger of my left hand. It's actually a mark left from a time when I was working in an office and was trying to fix a copy machine. My hand got stuck and when I pulled it out, I cut my finger which was covered in powered copy toner. The toner would never come out of the cut, thus the permanent mark.
• I cry very easily. Happy, sad, angry... always equals tears.
• I have dreams about tornadoes all the time. The tornadoes in my dreams are always really tall and skinny and bounce around on the ground.
• I am currently hopeless addicted to 90210 reruns on the Soap Network. I never even realized it was on the air for 10 years. Now I have to know... will Kelly and Dylan ever work things out?!?

Oh, and of all the things in these photos that I’m coveting, the one that I want the most right now are those bare legs. I’m soooo ready to retire my tights for the winter.


It’s official. At some point during the last 24 hours the flip switched. I am officially ready for warmer weather. Perhaps it was the thermometer reading 17 degrees again when I woke up this morning. Perhaps it was the moment I walked outside and the cold wind literally knocked the breath out of me. I don’t know. All I know is I have reached my capacity for tolerance to the cold. I have no more tolerance! Do you hear that groundhog? Do you read me Mother Nature? I want to be this girl again…

 There are few things that I miss about living in Los Angeles: friends, the flea market, an endless array of vegetarian restaurants and, I've just realized, easy access to every international fashion magazine you could think of. It was so easy then to walk right across the street to The Grove and pick up just about any magazine at Barnes and Noble. Now that I'm living in a small town on the east coast I don't think my chances are very good of running across a copy of Lula so instead I'm going to have to make do with the scans that are popping up on the internet. It's not exactly as fun as flipping through the pages myself but as girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

 

 

In my last post, when I asked if I had missed anything exciting, the answer is obviously yes, I was very much out of the loop in January for Fashion Week by Berns. I was missing out on the Tin Man, Robin Hood, Little Red Riding Hood, Charlie Chaplin and much, much more.

 Here are a few of my favorite picks from NY Fashion Week. I must admit that I'm guilty of skimming over the collections and just looking at my usual favorites. Since I'm already thinking about spring, it's a little hard to wrap my head around these looks right now. I'm saving them all in a folder and I'll dig them back out in a few months once fall comes around again. Since I've been lazy about flipping through all of the collections are there any I'm missing out on? Anything new and exciting?

After reorganizing my closet last week and pulling out all of the summer clothes I'd stored away over the cold months, I've been thinking more and more about spring. When I think about my spring wardrobe I mostly think about vintage dresses and sandals. Right now I'm trying to collect pre-war pieces - think 30's day dresses, 20's camisoles and antique leather purses. But a few new pieces have caught my eye that I'd like to throw into the mix.

 I'm often guilty of completely ignoring the men's fashion photos on street style sites. Lately I've been trying to take more notice to see what kind of inspiration I can draw from the images. Inspiration for me doesn't have to be as literal as seeing an outfit and copying it from head to toe. The first guy here reminds me that I really want a bag like his. Really, really want one. The second photo makes me think putting together and orphan-Oliver type outfit would be a lot of fun. I know I have a little boy's denim jacket hiding somewhere in the back of my closet that I need to dig out after seeing the third guy's jacket. And the last photo reminds me how much I love the combination of black, brown and grey.


 I've become a bit addicted (in a good way, I think) to wearing hats and I was kind of wondering what I was going to do with all of my wool berets once the weather warms. After looking at the Lover lookbook the answer seems obvious. I thought finding a similar hat would be just a Google search away but I'm afraid it might be a bit more difficult than that. See, I don't want to end up walking around looking like I just joined a barbershop quartet or (worse) just walked out of a GOP convention. Hopefully they'll be offering the Lover version somewhere online. Otherwise, the treasure hunt begins!


 

blouse: vintage
skirt: vintage
sweater: UO
tights: UO
shoes: Seychelles via UO
belt & purse: vintage
hat: vintage


Funny story about this, my favorite purse. I stopped carrying it for a while because of an incident where I was convinced that it (along with everything in it) was lost forever. I had taken it with me on the bus to visit some thrift stores one cold afternoon. At the end of the day I was piled high with bags of goodies I had bought. Once back on the bus, I tried to get everything organized so that it would be easier to carry on my walk home. I didn’t realize until I had made it all the way to my front door that the purse had fallen under the seat of the bus when I was rearranging my packages. Complete panic set in as I frantically rang the doorbell (I didn’t have my keys!). Tom opened the door to find me on my hands and knees in a pile of thrift store clothes, all dumped from their bags as I desperately hoped that my purse was somewhere buried in the mess. We quickly threw everything in the door and ran down to hop in Tom’s car (him still in his pj’s, bless him) and jetted off to the bus station.

Long story short, a few radio calls later the very, very kind bus driver stopped the bus and searched under the seats until she found my purse… with everything still inside. Whew! I wasn’t sure which I was more upset about: the thought of losing every thing that was in my purse or the purse itself. After that I was terrified I’d somehow manage to lose it again, this time for good. I guess the panic has subsided because I was happy to pull it back out of its hiding place this morning

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