Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Sky Ferreira Wears Audra Jean on Stylecaster!

Stylecaster has a feature on teen electropop artist Sky Ferreira today, and they've styled her up in Valentino, Alberta Ferretti, Jean Paul Gaultier.... and Audra Jean!



In the editorial the leather accessories are fairly difficult to see, but in the behind-the-scenes shots you can get a better idea of which items she's wearing.




The photos are just beautiful, and gorgeous Sky wears the leather items so well. I like how the stylist actually turned some of the pieces backwards or upside down, showing that these harnesses and belts can be worn in different ways. The images are much larger on Stylecaster, so go check it out!

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Friday, June 17, 2011

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)

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Friday, June 3, 2011

A Match Made in Heaven


Here's the third of the new bags purchased this year; the first was the taupe-gray L.A.M.B. bag I got in New York, and the second was the Michael Kors bag I showed you a couple days ago. I snapped up this beauty via Gilt after seeing Sal's review of it and admiring how its capacious tote form coverts to a compact cross-body style. This is a great bag for San Francisco, as it is large enough to carry the compulsory sweater or light jacket that is a necessity even on the most seemingly summery of days. The bag itself is also light enough that filling it up doesn't push it into the realm of unmanageable -- unless you fill it with bricks, I suppose. It could actually hold quite a few, should the need arise.

I didn't even realize until I started writing this post that Sal also inspired the purchase of this scarf. While we were in New York in February we stopped at Saks for Sal to pick out her McQueen skull scarf, and while we were looking at all the options I tried on a red and black one. I've thought about it ever since, so I finally tracked one down on eBay, and boy am I glad I did. My $20 knock-off version doesn't hold a candle to the real thing; the difference in the quality and feel of the fabric is immediately apparent, and the skull pattern is perfectly crisp and clear on this one, whereas it's smeary and irregular on the knockoff.

And finally, here are the opaque-but-skintight ponte knit pants paired with the nearly-butt-baring dress; as I suspected, a match made in heaven!

Dress: Asos
Harness: Audra Jean
Pants: Club Monaco
Bag: Foley + Corinna
Jacket: Skin Graft
Scarf: Alexander McQueen
Shoes: BCBGirls

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Sandals Week



If only the weather still looked like this; it's gotten cold and rainy since these photos were taken. But as you can see from the last several outfits, I took full advantage of the stretch of warm weather and bared my legs, arms and feet. It was Sandals Week in the Bay Area.

In keeping with my new seasonally-appropriate dressing policy, my plan for this spring and summer is to wear the crap out of all my sandals, even on days where it might be a little on the chilly side. Then when the weather turns colder I'll pack them up in a box and store them out of sight, just as I recently did with all my heavy sweaters, woolen items, and insulated boots. That way I won't have to spend half the year looking wistfully at all those pretty shoes and being sorry I can't wear them.

Dress: Forla Paris
Scarf: Duke et Duchesse
Vest: Forever 21
Harness: Audra Jean
Shoes: Joy Chen

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Thursday, April 28, 2011

In Full Swing


Over the weekend I put together a few days' worth of outfits and recruited Mark to take some photos outside, just to mix things up a little. As you can see, spring is in full swing according to most of the plants, although the bougainvillea seems to disagree; it's half-heartedly putting forth a few small leaves, but seems content to hibernate a little longer until it warms up. I can't really say that I blame it.


For this outfit I kept it springy with the pale pink and off-white skirts, even though with all the layering it was designed with cool weather in mind. It was also the perfect vehicle for this fab new harness that Mark made. Actually I 'ordered' it from him; he had this very pretty caramel-colored, smooth leather in his stash and I thought it would look great for spring and summer in a lightweight harness style. This harness is the basic "Jane Doe" style, with straps that are thinner than the original. This strikes me as being a great option if you've been wanting to try out the harness trend, but don't want to look too edgy or bondage-y. The color reminds me of some of the leather accessories seen in Lanvin's SS11 RTW line.



Tank Top, pink skirt: Anthropologie
Jacket: French Kiss, thrifted
Harness: Audra Jean
Tulle skirt: Noa Noa
Tights: Hue
Shoes: John Fluevog

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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pi�ce de R�sistance



The image that sparked the creation of this outfit is this one from the Prabal Gurung collection, which was part of my Fashion Week roundup post last week. And yes, I realize the two outfits really look nothing alike, but the kernel of the idea was simply to wear my furry vest over my long cream cardigan, not necessarily to recreate the whole outfit (though I still want to try that too). After that I just got carried away, grabbing as many white, cream, and beige items as I could find and throwing them all together.

The pi�ce de r�sistance was this cream harness that I snagged out of Mark's workshop; I thought it integrated really well with the other pieces and gave some geometry and structure to the outfit. I showed it here without the vest just so you could get a better look at it, but I did wear the vest all day at work so that the harness just barely peeked out.

Vest: Adrienne Landau
Harness: Audra Jean
Shirt: Michael Stars
Dress: Anthropologie
Cardigan: Max Studio
Skirt: Noa Noa
Boots: Apepazza

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Curses


Has everyone signed the petition for Team Jennine yet? In the event that the scandal that's rocking the blogging world hasn't reached you, Jennine Jacob of the original The Coveted has had her blog name ripped off by... oh, I don't know -- some jackass whose blog I didn't read anyway. And clearly never will now. The whole sordid episode has already been discussed at length by Sister Wolf, Wendy B, Kingdom of Style, Make Do Style, and so many others, so I'll just add my humble contribution to the growing maelstrom of outrage and leave it at that.

In short, I wish all manner of nastiness upon the perpetrators, including (but not limited to): parking tickets, tax audits, a prolonged visit from their in-laws, clogged drains, alarm clocks that inexplicably go off at 4 am, chronic bad breath, and socks that go missing in the dryer. A curse upon you, thieves! Please feel free to heap your ill-wishes upon the scoundrels in the comments.

Oh, and if you buy Wendy B's fabulous swear rings, she will donate part of the proceeds to help Jennine with her legal fees. Which, in truth, will probably prove to be far more useful than the curses you'll find over here. Not that those aren't fun too.  





Jacket: thrifted
Necklace: Manu Lizarralde
Shorts: White House Black Market
Harness: Audra Jean
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: MIA

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Cocoon


Awhile back I decided I should get myself a sweater dress, having seen Sal look great in them as well as a couple of ladies I've spotted at work. But I also decided I would buy one second hand, because I figured the sort of dress I was looking for would cost more than I was willing to pay. So off I went to the thrift shop, and though I didn't find one there, I thankfully stopped in at Crossroads Trading Company, where I snagged this seemingly never-worn one for just $18.

I had some pretty specific requirements for the dress, too, which makes it even more miraculous that I found it. It had to have a cowl neck, long sleeves, be a thick cable knit and not too clingy, and be soft and of good quality. This one is 100% merino wool, and as you can see it clearly satisfies all the other requirements. It feels like wearing a big cocoon; I couldn't be more thrilled with it.

I added the harness to give the boxy dress a little shape, and tied the scarf cowboy-style up under the cowl in order to bring some vibrant color to the outfit. Adding the purple scarf reminded me that it had been awhile since I'd worn these pretty purple boots, which I thought paired well with the edgy harness.

Dress: Banana Republic
Harness: Audra Jean
Scarf: a long-ago gift
Boots: Eject

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Monday, December 20, 2010

Obligations

I almost forgot to post this outfit -- it's what I wore when Mark and I saw the Yard Dogs Road Show last month. I figured that like many San Francisco events, there would be a lot of people dressed up in the typical eccentric styles I've come to expect on such occasions; I was surprised, however, that I could've actually gone a lot more over-the-top than this and fit in perfectly well.

San Francisco is a town that loves to get dressed up, and not only that, but people seem to have an outfit for every occasion. Whether you're going to see a vaudevillian cabaret, attending a Jewish LGBT Hanukkah fundraiser, or making an appearance at your realtor's grand Victorian house for a holiday party, it's important in this town to dress the part. Such are our obligations as San Franciscans. So for the Yard Dogs I mixed up a little steampunk with a strong dose of Burning Man fashion and I was all set.

It's tough to make out here, but I'm actually wearing a short, sequined black skirt underneath the tunic, which is otherwise way too short to wear as a dress. The skirt gave the outfit just the right amount of sparkle and covered up the tops of my long socks. Under the socks I wore leggings for warmth. This is one of my favorite tricks for wearing short skirts in the winter; the dual layers keep my legs warm, but because the bottom layer is leggings, there's still only one layer inside my shoes, ensuring that they aren't too tight.




Tunic, skirt: Forever 21
Socks: Sock Dreams
Boots: All Black
Fascinator: "Francine" style, Audra Jean
Harness: "Ryder" style, Audra Jean

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Oblong Inflated Spheroid


Disclaimer: the rest of the text in this post has nothing at all to do with the outfit. I tried and tried to write something interesting about it, but finally had to call uncle. It was just a casual Friday outfit, after all. Here are the details in case you're pressed for time or are otherwise disinclined to read my random rant of the day:


Tunic: thrifted
Harness: Audra Jean
Bangles: Amrita Singh (via Gilt)
Jeans: Diesel (via Gilt)
Boots: All Black










Over the weekend I realized why I cannot watch American football. I always figured it had mainly to do with the fact that the players spend most of their time just standing around on the sidelines. That, and the way the players' butts look catastrophically bad in those gross shiny pants with the weird seams on either side of the crack. The uniforms look like a skintight, disco version of a union suit.


 Dude, you've got way worse problems than the concussion you're about to get;
pimps in 1975 looked hotter in their spandex pants than you.


But in fact I don't think it's either of those things at all; my general loathing of football comes down to two annoying little occurrences that just plain bug the crap out of me.

One is how the calls are communicated. Now in hockey, when a call is made the referee gives you three important pieces of information: who is being penalized, for how many minutes, and what the penalty is for (usually in one to three words). That's it; no more, no less. "Number 64, 2 minutes for high sticking." Fine, now let's get on with the game. But in football the explanation might take several minutes, and frankly I don't have the patience to hear the entire rationale behind a convoluted call pulled from some obscure rule, whose source can only be found by poring over a tome that's undoubtedly equivalent in mass to the entire Encyclopedia Britannica series.

 Easier to interpret than the rules of football.

What's worse is that the majority of the referee's monologue typically isn't even the call at all, but a recap of what just happened. Look buddy, I just sat here for 10 minutes of deliberation, watching the players wander around spitting and readjusting their crotches; cut to the chase, would you?

The other thing that really gets under my skin is the commentators, who insist on using the word, "football" in their descriptions of the action, as in, "He ran the football into the end zone." Now I may not even begin to understand the intricacies of the game, but even a blockhead like me knows what kind of a ball they're playing with. Obviously if I'm WATCHING FOOTBALL, then the object they're throwing around (when they can be bothered to get out on the field)  is simply the ball. Is that extra syllable really going to fill up a significant amount of airtime when you've got nothing clever to say? I didn't think so.

 
Clearly they were never told that silence is golden.

I understand the desire to spice up the language and make the commentary more interesting, but this is not the way. In hockey they might call the puck a biscuit, or simply the puck, but you'll never hear them say, "Marleau shot the hockey puck from the blue line." Why? Because it sounds stupid, that's why. Get some new words, football announcers; even calling it an 'oblong inflated spheroid' would be better than football.

It's sort of like that annoying sound, faint though it may be, that once perceived is impossible to ignore. A distant barking dog or crying baby, perhaps. And now that I've taken note of the lengthy soliloquies of the refs and the irritating overuse of the word "football," my utter disdain for the entire sport has crystallized. I do, however, occasionally enjoy hearing about how a player's head was "on a swivel." Perhaps there's hope for me yet.

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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Boho


It was Imogen who suggested I wear this dress over skinny jeans, and I kept that suggestion lingering in my head for the next time I decided to wear the dress. Funny how I can't remember what someone told me 10 minutes ago if it relates to work or household stuff, but anything in the way of clothing or style gets filed in some instant-access portion of my brain for easy future reference.

Although the boots covered most of the jeans, I thought they were too perfect a match not to wear. Boho isn't a style I don very often, so I guess when I do I ought to go all out. When I walked you could see the jeans as the dress moved around, which I thought looked great. This outfit was also a perfect opportunity to wear this pretty brass and crystal bracelet I got from Gilt recently.

If you look closely you can see how I tightened the boots at the top by cinching the wraparound strap and securing the excess length by doubling it back through the front top loops; when you see these boots again it will be with that excess length taken up in small brass buckles.

Dress: vintage
Harness: Audra Jean
Bracelet: Leslie Danzis
Jeans: Joe's
Boots: Apepazza

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Fidel

I got the idea for this outfit when I was shooting some photos for the shop; it was inspired by the way the harness was styled on the male model in our Auxiliary Magazine feature. The model's outfit in the photo shoot had a military vibe to it that made the harness look very rugged and utilitarian. I thought I could approximate the look by wearing this lightweight jacket as a shirt, and then just for fun I added the tie to fill in the neckline.

The harness is another one that I shamelessly stole from Mark's stash; I saw it there in the finished pile and figured I'd better claim it for my own before someone ordered one in that size. This is the Jane Doe style, and is actually the first black harness I've added to my growing collection.

One of my coworkers told me I looked French in this outfit, which disappointed me a little; I thought I was channeling more of a Fidel Castro look.

Hat: ADS Hats
Harness: Audra Jean
Jacket: thrifted
Skirt: thrifted, shortened
Boots: All Black













I'm pretty sure I've never seen Fidel Castro sporting either 
polka dots or a miniskirt, and that's sort of a shame. 
You only live once, Fidel!

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Rightful Place

By this time it had gotten so hot and sunny in our apartment that I had to move one of the photos out of the window, lest it start to buckle and bleach out in the sun. The photo is of my mom in high school -- she's normally just over my right shoulder, but now you can just barely see her peeking through the bookcase door behind my left elbow. Don't worry mom, you'll be back in your rightful place soon!

After the last time I wore these shoes, I stretched them a little more and they got even more comfortable. In between wearings, I plan on keeping the stretchers in there until the shoes are fully broken in with their new wider width, otherwise I fear they might shrink back a little. I definitely noticed the difference between the first round of stretching and the second, so if you're planning on doing any significant amount of stretching on your shoes, keep in mind that it may take more than one try. Another trick is to apply the stretching spray before you wear the shoes, as the heat from your feet will also stretch them a little as you wear them; the spray will help them conform to the shape of your foot.

I love oxfords and am very glad I bought this pair, but to me it sometimes seems that they're only ever used to create very sweet and somewhat twee outfits, so I added the harness to toughen up the look and give it an edge.  

Shirt: a gift from mom
Harness: Audra Jean
Shorts: White House Black Market
Shoes: All Saints

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Anything But Ordinary

I've worn this combination of top and vest a few times now, mainly on weekends when I want a comfy but interesting jeans-based outfit. On weekends I've worn it with more casual indigo jeans and left the vest loose and open, but here I decided to dress it up with black jeans and the gunmetal harness.

Speaking of which, a few people have inquired about this particular harness. As you may recall, I described a few weeks ago how the leather is hard to find and a bit tricky to work with, which is why we don't currently have anything in this leather listed in the shop. But Mark does still have a small amount of it left and can do custom orders on request. The style I'm wearing here is the Ryder, and we've also made the Aria in this finish, but I also think it would look beautiful for a Willow, a Raven, or a Jane Doe. So far we still haven't been able to find any more of this leather, so when it's gone it's gone.

Anyhow, I loved all the striking black and white patterns in this outfit, and how the shoes even have a stripe pattern and silvery jewels that echo the finish of the harness. Which just goes to show that even the classic combination of black and white can be anything but ordinary.

Shirt: Max Studio
Vest: F21
Harness: Audra Jean
Jeans: Diesel (via Gilt)
Shoes: Bobbi Blu

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Socks and Sandals



This outfit was inspired by Sal, who wore a similar blend of muted colors a couple weeks ago. This was one of those days when it was colder and windier in my work city than it was in my home city, or else I would've also copied Sal's cute short socks with my similar pair of brown sandals.

Speaking of socks and sandals, I've realized lately that this combination is ideal for me, because my feet suffer a lot when I go barefoot in shoes. Which sucks really, because on a hot day I just love the feel of the open air on my feet, almost as much as I love the feel of a warm breeze across bare shoulders. But the fact is that with the exception of a few rare pairs (usually flip-flops), my feet generally react to being sockless with rubbing, burning, swelling, and finally blisters. In fact as I type this I'm sitting here after having gone sockless in flats today, my feet covered with Band-Aids from the blisters generated by a short lunchtime walk. So I'm officially in the market for a few pairs of thinner ankle socks for days like today, when it's far too warm for tights.


Cardigan, dress: All Saints
Harness: Audra Jean
Skirt: a gift from Mom
Tights: MP, via Sock Dreams
Sandals: John Fluevog

Gratuitous cute dog photo: Georgie achieving new heights of laziness.

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