Sandwiched

At last, I got to wear my fabulous new dress! The folded neckline is what really sold me on this one, and the shape and pattern are classic enough that I'll be able to wear it for years to come.

I tend to have a difficult time with springtime fashions, mainly because soft pastels don't look so great against my skin tone. This dress solves the problem by putting the deep midnight blue up near the face and right at the hem, and keeping the softer shades sandwiched in the middle. Once it warms up a little I think this dress is going to look great with bare legs or nude fishnets.

The cute teal clutch doesn't get a ton of use, so I was glad to realize after buying the dress that it would be just the thing. I love how it plays off the lighter shades in the floral pattern and keeps the outfit bright.

Dress: Karen Millen
Clutch: Tracy Reese
Pumps: Paolo

San Francisco: Bring A Sweater!

I've been doing a bit of shopping lately; it began in preparation for my trip to France, which I will actually be just returning from by the time this post goes live. At some point it got very hot in San Francisco (ok, "hot" being 85F), and I realized I was going to be traveling somewhere even hotter and didn't own even one pair of shorts that wasn't either 'working-around-the-house' or 'Burning Man.' And come to think of it, I also didn't own very many lightweight, short-sleeved tops that were suitable to wear without a cardigan or some other upper layer. After all, I live in a city where our motto could be, "San Francisco: Bring A Sweater!"

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with this beachy, sun-drenched t-shirt once it starts to get cold again (which is probably 2 weeks from now), but fuck it. Layering it up with a denim jacket and scarf doesn't look so bad, now does it?

Scarf: Ralph Lauren
Shirt: Chris & Carol
Jacket: Tulle (thrifted)
Pants: Michael Kors
Shoes: Steve Madden

Strategies

Spring is always a tough season to dress for here in San Francisco, and this year is especially difficult. After a gloriously mild winter with many sunny, warm days, the rain and cold temperatures set in just as the rest of the country seems to be breaking out their sandals and sundresses. My solution has been to employ bright colors as much as possible, even though as you can see I'm still having to wear thick tights and sweaters to stay warm.

I leave tomorrow for my trip abroad, but I've got some posts scheduled for while I'm away. My first stop is Lisbon for 5 nights, on to Strasbourg for work for the next 4 nights, then a long weekend in Paris before wrapping up in Boston at a conference. In total it's a 2-week trip with several different types of activities and potentially a couple different climates. Packing for this trip is therefore going to be a particular challenge, so if I'm successful I'll share my strategies after I get back.

Cardigan: Cynthia Rowley
Top: a gift from Sal
Skirt: Skunkfunk
Boots: from Scoop in Copenhagen

Relics

I assembled this outfit in my head one morning while I was in the shower. I've noticed that I do a lot of my best thinking in there; there's just something about the steam and the hot water that gets my brain going. If I could do my job entirely from the shower I'd be one hell of an employee, though I guess in that case I wouldn't need any snazzy outfits.

Have you tried outfit planning in the shower? It's quite a time-saver, since you otherwise can't really multi-task while getting clean. It also beats standing there shivering in my robe for 10 minutes while I stare at my wardrobe.

I love all the silver details in this outfit -- the zippers and eyelets on the vest, the buttons on the skirt hem, and the studs on the boots. The skirt, which I've had for ages, looks like it was made to go with the vest. The sweater is also many years old, so it's great that the vest breathed some new life into a couple of closet relics.

Vest: Cot�lac
Skirt: Banana Republic
Boots: All Black
Ring: Metal Pointu

Statement-Making

How's this for a well accessorized outfit? Or rather it was until I had to go to work and leave these two charming canines at home. I can't say I'd get a whole lot of work done if I could take them with me, cute as they are.

A few months ago something rare happened; I fell hard for a pair of designer sunglasses, and decided to take the risk and buy them, even though I do tend to be hard on my sunnies. I'd seen several other bloggers wearing the Prada 'Baroque' round style and thought they were fabulous, but round glasses don't really work for my face and I gave no thought to buying any until I saw the related cat eye style.

I don't typically put a whole lot of thought into the sunglasses I buy, but something that Peter said when Sal and I met up with him in New York has stuck with me. I was trying on sunglasses and found a pair that was... fine. They would have worked. But Peter looked at them and said something to the effect of, "They aren't really bold enough for your style." And that comment just about knocked me over, because it was so right on the money -- here I put all this effort into creating statement-making outfits, and the accessory that's right there on my face is typically ho-hum and boring.

When I saw this pair, I knew they were the kind of sunglasses that can turn even a jeans and t-shirt outfit into something statement-making. And yes I have to be extra vigilant with them, but they make me feel so glamorous that they're well worth the effort. Thanks to Peter's chance comment, I now feel like I have a pair of sunglasses that can stand up the the boldest of my outfits.

Dress: eShakti
Cardigan: American Eagle Outfitters
Leggings: Black Market Baby
Boots: All Black
Sunglasses: Prada

Light of Day

This dress hasn't seen the light of day in awhile. It's a bit difficult to style because it's really more of a tunic length, so usually when I wear it I layer a skirt underneath. These ponte knit pants are a great alternative, not to mention they're superbly comfy. I'm getting a lot of use out of them lately because they're as easy to style as jeans but have a somewhat dressier look. This was a great day-to-evening outfit; for evening I simply swapped out the denim jacket for my cropped black leather one.


Dress: All Saints
Jacket: Tulle
Belt: Red Dress Shoppe
Necklace: Wendy Brandes
Pants: Club Monaco
Boots: All Black

Burgundy and Blue

Burgundy and blue has become one of my favorite color combos this year; for other ways I've combined these shades, check out this post, and this one.

In other news, Spencer is quickly picking up habits from his big sister Georgie. This is his first foray into posing for pictures with me. Here you can see that he started out sitting like a little gentleman...

...before he quickly got bored and started being a goofball.

I love how it looks like he's making a gagging face. Clearly the dog has no appreciation for a good pair of shoes.

Dress: Red Dress Shoppe
Cardigan: American Eagle Outfitters
Shoes: John Fluevog
Bracelet: a gift from Mom

Cuteness Overload

Wow, new puppies are a HANDFUL. Our little guy is curious about everything, and we have to be ever vigilant to make sure he's not chewing on random items or jumping up and knocking things over. But he is one sweet, gentle boy alright, and very eager to learn and to please. We found out that San Francisco Animal Control was about to put him down, because they deemed him too "mouthy." Uh hello, ALL puppies are mouthy until they get some training. It just goes to show that the bias against pitties is staggering, even here in San Francisco where they're a very prevalent breed and we have so many great breed ambassadors. Hats off to Grateful Dogs Rescue, who stepped in just in time to save our pup!

The outfit is from last week. I'd been wanting to wear this top/cardigan combo again, but had struggled with how to make the outfit look different from the first time I paired them. The maxi skirt offered the perfect solution, though to be honest I think I still prefer the original outfit, and would probably wear it again verbatim. Hard to believe the original outfit is nearly 2 years old.

Cardigan: H&M
Top: Red Dress Shoppe
Skirt: Anthropologie
Shoes: Born
Bracelets: Cost Plus World Market

Mark and I are suffering from cuteness overload these days.

Writer's Block

For this outfit, I simply swapped out the bottom half of this outfit and tied the scarf in a shorter configuration. I just love how this cropped shirt makes even a casual outfit like this one look interesting. This is the last of my outfits from before I took a week off to spend with family and friends.

I'll be honest with you; since being back from my time off I haven't been terribly inspired by my wardrobe. For one thing I've been sick, which has left me feeling lethargic and decidedly unimaginative in the mornings. I've also been exceedingly stressed out at work, which hasn't helped. I've photographed only half of the work outfits I've worn since my break, because the rest were just too boring. I think I have the sartorial equivalent of writer's block.

Tank: layering tank
Cropped shirt: Asos
Scarf: Express
Jeans: Joe's
Bracelet: Nicole Miller
Bag: Michael Kors
Shoes: Born

Happy Bastille Day

Whoops, I completely forgot to write a blog post today. Here's an outfit from before my time off. And that's pretty much all I have to say about it, because I'm off to celebrate Bastille Day. As we do in San Francisco. Vive la France!

Shirt: Promod
Skirt: Asos
Shoes: Michael Kors

Getting Caught Up

I'm still getting caught up after my busy weekend, but I thought I'd better get some of these older outfits posted. For this one I reused the blue/burgundy color combo that caught my eye in the Christian Dior Fall line.

This necklace is tough to wear, because it requires a very wide open neckline, much wider than I typically wear. But I liked the way it looked with the blue color and the crane pattern, so I decided not to care that it overlapped the top in sort of a funky way.


Dress: Max Studio
Top: French Connection
Necklace: Rapsodia (Argentina)
Tights: Wolford
Bag: Foley + Corinna
Bracelet: Leslie Danzis
Shoes: Tsubo

Bettye

I fell in love with these shoes several months ago when I saw them on Endless, but I steadfastly refused to buy them until they went down in price. I didn't think they were overpriced necessarily, but the original price was more than I wanted to pay for another pair of espadrilles at the moment. I waited and stalked them and finally they went down by about 20%, and I figured that was good enough, especially since by then there were only a couple pairs left in my size.


Anyhow, I absolutely LOVE the shoes. Like the other pair of Bettyes I posted yesterday, they have cute vintage styling and are really well made. I like how most of the wedge heel is covered in leather rather than the jute rope; this gives them a distinctly different look from my canvas espadrilles. The extra wide straps across the top of the foot make them comfortable and also hold them securely to the foot. I'm glad I waited for a lower price, but I'd have been really bummed if I'd waited too long and missed out. That's always a risk you take when you hold out for a bargain.

Dress: eShakti
Necklace/Bracelets: Cost Plus
Jacket: Tulle
Shoes: Bettye Muller

Stealth Layering

Here's an outfit that looks deceptively summery; hidden underneath the dress are a pair of long cotton pettipants and a slip to keep my thighs warm, and under the boots are long socks to insulate my feet and calves. Had it been colder I could've even added a long-sleeved tee under the dress and kept it hidden with the lightweight denim jacket. I'm becoming quite adept at stealth layering during this remarkably chilly season.

Jacket: Tulle
Dress: Noa Noa
Scarf: Banana Republic
Harness: Audra Jean
Boots: Scoop (Copenhagen)

Assemble a Rainbow

Indiscriminately mixing coral, navy and red? Why the hell not? I've mixed this particular coral t-shirt with teal, bright yellow, pink, lime green -- you name it. Usually in the same outfit. Since this was a work outfit I kept it to just the three shades, but had this been a weekend look I probably would've gone with a teal scarf, and perhaps I'd even have chosen a yellow bag. There's just something about coral that makes me want to assemble a rainbow of colors and throw them into the same outfit.


Striped shirt: Target
Coral shirt: Michael Stars
Jacket: Banana Republic (via eBay)
Scarf: vintage
Jeans: Acne
Shoes: Faryl Robin
Bag: Michael Kors

Evolution

This dress is so adorable, and yet so hard to wear. It occurred to me the other day that the full, bubble-hem skirt is most likely the reason, so I'm thinking of modifying it to give it a standard hem; I've previously done this with a bubble skirt and was very happy with the results. I think the dress will also be lengthened by an inch or two in the process, which should make it easier to wear with heels; right now it's just a smidge short for my comfort.

There's no denying that our weather lately has sucked; we've had wind, rain, clouds, and cold temperatures (OK, 50's and 60's, but still -- it's June, dammit!). Dressing in a non-wintry way has therefore been somewhat of a challenge. I'm glad this springy yellow cardigan made it into my wardrobe, because it's brightened up more than one layered-up, warm ensemble.

There was really no way around wearing tights with this outfit, it was just that cold and wet. I tried lighter colored tights, but somehow they didn't work, so I resorted to my  dark and somewhat gloomy argyles. And since the dress is short and exposes a lot of leg, the boots were really the only way to temper all that pattern. If the dress were a little longer I feel like I could've worn this outfit with pumps or flats. Hopefully the next stage of this dress's evolution will allow me to wear it in a more summery way.

Dress: All Saints
Cardigan: Anthropologie
Belt: Red Dress Shoppe
Necklace: from a vendor in Prague
Tights: Sock Dreams
Boots: All Black
Bag: Michael Kors
Bangles: Amrita Singh

Peggy Bundy

Recently I decided I wanted a pair of thick, ponte knit leggings to wear as pants; this revelation was brought about after I wore regular leggings under a thin and exceedingly short white dress and spent the day feeling somewhat exposed. I tracked these down at Westfield Mall, and they're perfect: they have a zipper and button fly, and real pockets. They are completely, 100% opaque. By any definition they're pants. And yet. That's right, I felt somewhat exposed.

Don't get me wrong, I love the way this outfit looked, and I'd certainly wear it again. But the form-fitting stretchy pants combined with sky-high heels made me feel a bit Peggy Bundy for my current comfort level. That's ok; comfort levels can be adjusted. But until I get used to these, I think I'll stick to wearing them with upper layers that are a little longer. In fact, the short white dress will be just the thing.

Speaking of Peggy Bundy, I have a good story about her. A couple of years ago Mark and I were in a shop on Haight Street looking at steampunk/Burning Man-style clothes; I was trying on a gorgeous but pricey vest and another shopper paused to tell me how great it looked on me. The shopper was none other than Katey Sagal, who of course played Peggy Bundy. Obviously, I bought the vest!

Cardigan, top: Anthropologie
Pants: Club Monaco
Shoes: Pour la Victoire
Bag: Michael Kors

In other news, I walked into the Michael Kors store while I was in the mall and fell head over heels for this gorgeous navy blue bag. Along with yet another bag that'll make its appearance in a couple days, that's 3 new ones this year. Normally I'm much more of a shoe gal than a bag gal, because few bags really move me the way shoes do; in fact, I've sometimes gone 2-3 years without buying a new bag. So when I see one that really rocks my world, I snap it up. 

Covered in Color

Well it's spring, and right now it's also cold. Clearly this makes dressing in a springy way very challenging, so for this outfit I simply deployed as much color as I could possibly pile on. Electric blue legs, green scarf, orange jacket, yellow bag. When you're this covered up, the best you can do is to cover yourself with color. 

Dress: Desigual....  Scarf: Rhapsodia (Argentina)....  Jacket: Tulle....  Bag: Coccinelle....  

Tights: Foot Traffic....  Shoes: MIA

Gift Horse

Sal sent this Karen Kane dress along to me after deciding it didn't work for her figure. And although I'm convinced it would've looked fab on her, I'm also not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. And let me tell you, I absolutely LOVE this dress. Thick, bouncy, double-layered jersey gives this dress a heft and drape that is luxuriously comfortable and also substantial enough to stand up to the windiest Bay Area weather. I can already tell that this dress with a lightweight jacket, bare legs, and sandals is going to be a staple for summer weekends.

I wore the outfit with the jacket all day at work, but I thought I'd also show the dress by itself so you can get a look at the whole thing. Needless to say, the asymmetrical hemline is a big plus for me.

Dress: Karen Kane
Leggings: Black Market Baby on Etsy
Shoes: Bobbi Blu
Bangles: Amrita Singh
Denim jacket: Tulle (thrifted)

Kimono

This blue kimono-style top is another recent purchase from the Asos sale. As soon as I saw it I thought of 1940's style sailor-inspired outfits with wide-legged trousers and wrap tops. So for its first outing I duplicated the look using these wide-legged pants, which are ordinarily more of a winter item but which I thought worked beautifully here. It was one of those cool, rainy spring days with a cloudy sky, which meant that my perfectly coordinated umbrella really came in handy. And no, I didn't buy the top to match the umbrella, but sometimes things just seem to work out that way for me.


Top: French Connection
Pants: Anthropologie
Necklace: Ambiance on Haight Street
Bangles: Amrita Singh
Umbrella: Dav
Shoes: Tsubo