outfit: dittos

calivintage: dittos

as much as i’m influenced by everything 1960s, sometimes i just can’t help but fast forward a decade or two and get all decked out in ’70s and even ’80s-inspired looks. in particular, i just can’t seem to resist a good pair of high-rise flares. so when dittos denim contacted me and asked if i’d like to put together an outfit featuring a pair of their iconic jeans, it was pretty much a no-brainer. they’ve recently revived a number of styles from their vintage archives, and this particular pair was perfect for pulling on with a soft and stretchy vintage t-shirt and my beloved kork-ease wedges for an easy, retro look. i mean, i’m essentially wearing a t-shirt and jeans, but adding in those vintage elements really help to add interest to a simple outfit. the perfect way to embrace the summer without a ton of fuss.

to see more of my outfits featuring denim, you can click here.

top: vintage t-shirt from mars vintage
pants: high rise bell bottom jeans courtesy of dittos denim
shoes: kork ease bette wedge
bag: vintage woven jute tote
sunglasses: karen walker von trapp

calivintage: dittos
calivintage: dittos
calivintage: dittos
calivintage: dittos
calivintage: dittos

outfit: action slacks

calivintage: action slacks

just a few snaps from a walk around my neighborhood on a particularly sunny day. this is another one of those outfits that i wear pretty often, but don’t usually photograph. i could live in these jeans if i could get away with it because they’re super soft and stretchy with a perfect high rise. i remember when i was in high school, i used to have this pair of men’s action slacks. they were comfort jeans for old men that had a tab waist with stretch denim. i was a skinny kid and they were regular men’s sizes, so wore them slung awkwardly at my hips, but i just loved them because they were this perfect baby blue. now i just like to refer to all of my stretch jeans as action slacks, though i suppose these are slightly more fashionable…

top: equipment sailor blouse
jeans: j brand maria
shoes: thrifted vintage loafers
sunglasses: ray-ban round wayfarer
lipstick: nars heat wave

calivintage: action slacks
calivintage: action slacks
calivintage: action slacks
calivintage: action slacks

outfit: polaroid

calivintage: instamatic

i’ve had so much fun snapping photos with instagram these days, that i recently found myself reminiscing about those pre-digital camera days of my youth when we took pictures of birthday parties and vacations with a silly little 35mm point-and-shoot camera and our trusty polaroid instamatic. the latter of which i actually kept well into adulthood until it fatefully exploded in the hot trunk of my car. and then polaroid cameras sort of disappeared for a little while, and then reappeared on the market when i wasn’t looking. not sure how long they’ve been around now, but i just picked up a polaroid 300. it snaps these tiny little pictures similar to the fuji instax, and i’ve been carrying it around with me in my backpack, only to keep it there because i’m somehow stingy about paying over $1 per photo when i can take pictures with my iphone for “free.” this is especially funny since i’ve been known to blow obscene amounts of cash on photo booths…

anyway, i finally stocked up on film and decided i might as well have some fun with it.

top: jackson t courtesy of stylemint
pants: j brand jeans
shoes: kork ease bette wedges
belt: target

calivintage: instamatic
calivintage: instamatic

outfit: sepia tones

calivintage: sepia tones

today i stayed home sick from work. it’s just a cold, but it seriously won’t quit! so i thought i might share one of my more casual and cozy looks appropriate for those days when you’re feeling just slightly under the weather, but not completely out of commission. it also happens to be the outfit i wore on the plane ride home from nyc, which is probably where i contracted this nasty little bug.

in other news, i’ve been obsessed with these sepia tones lately. these pants are pretty much the perfect color. almost the same as my favorite color in the jumbo box of crayola colors: burnt sienna. i kid you not, that was my favorite crayon as a kid.

top: j.crew silk crepe blouse
sweater: madewell
jeans: j brand high rise maria
shoes: bass wayfarers
bag: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
lipstick: ysl rouge pur in le rouge
necklace: toujours toi stables necklace

calivintage: sepia tones
calivintage: sepia tones
calivintage: sepia tones
calivintage: sepia tones

outfit: casual

calivintage: casual

i’m sure you’ve heard me talk a lot about uniforms. i usually fall into a pattern of dressing in a handful of different combinations at any given point. this fall, it’s been all about the button-up shirt. either layered beneath a sweater and a jacket with jeans or a skirt, or worn beneath a little pinafore or jumper with tights and a coat. the look i’m sharing today is definitely an old standby for me. i just switch out the pieces for different colors, patterns, and textures. case in point: this look which is almost identical but with slightly different proportions and patterns. i think it’s kinda funny how i swing back and forth between these almost boyish casual looks and very cute and feminine ’60s-inspired mini dresses. but i suppose those are just the two moods i feel the most!

anyway, this is what i wore on sunday to drive down the peninsula to visit brendan’s family for a belated birthday party. we went shopping at the stanford mall (where i found an awesome pair of high rise jeans in a beautiful terra cotta color), and enjoyed home-made ice cream cake and chocolate coffee to celebrate!

top: equipment earl polka dot blouse
sweater: alexa chung for madewell mohair sweater
jeans: j brand high rise maria
shoes: vintage donna karen ankle boots
coat: apc short trench
baf: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
sunglasses: karen walker von trapp
brooch: vintage sterling silver calla lily pin (a valentine’s day gift from brendan last year)

calivintage: casual
calivintage: casual
calivintage: casual
calivintage: casual
calivintage: casual

outfit: fall

calivintage: fall

dude. is anyone else super stoked about the fact that tomorrow is basically a day that you get off work so you can eat a bunch and chill out? i know i am. it’s been a super stressful past couple of weeks for me, and i need to decompress! badly. i seriously just want to lay around in my pajamas for like a week straight and just drink hot cocoa and take naps and read a book or something. i’m sure you know the feeling!

top: j.crew blythe blouse in silk
pants: j brand city year denim
shoes: vintage, gift from my pal annie
bag: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
coat: ralph lauren denim & supply pea coat
sunglasses: norma kamali square cat eye zyl sunglasses

calivintage: fall
calivintage: fall
calivintage: fall
calivintage: fall
calivintage: fall
calivintage: fall

outfit: weekend wear

calivintage: weekend wear

a few weeks back, i mentioned that my fall uniform had already taken shape in the form of endless combinations of pinafores and jumpers with an assortment of different blouses. while i have been sporting that particular look quite frequently, this combination of jeans with a button up shirt, sweater, and coat, has also become an important standby in my wardrobe, especially as the weather gets chilly. i’m certainly not giving up on my habit of collecting cute little dresses, but this type of look is just so classic and easy to wear that i can already see myself coming back to it on lazy weekend days or during the week when i get a late start and don’t feel like going to the trouble of getting ‘all dolled up.’

in other news, i finally got my hairs trimmed! not sure if you noticed, but my bangs were starting to obstruct my view, so i finally got off my lazy ass and made a visit to see shannon at revamp salon in sf. he undercut the bob to add a bit of texture, which is especially nice because my hair is so pin straight that it’s usually kinda hard to get it to do anything other than lay completely flat. so yay for bed-head and lazy weekend days!

top: j.crew boy shirt
sweater: h&m
jeans: j brand maria
coat: bb dakota trench
shoes: bass wayfarer
bag: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
sunglasses: rayban rounded wayfarer
lipstick: ysl rouge pur couture in le rouge

photos by brendan.

calivintage: weekend wear
calivintage: weekend wear
calivintage: weekend wear
calivintage: weekend wear
calivintage: weekend wear

enter to win a pair of swedish hasbeens!

calivintage: swedish hasbeens

oh, so many fun things to share today! first i will address the obvious: look who is making his first full-fledged appearance on the blog! it’s my partner in crime and patient photographer, brendan. he is actually quite the fashionable male, but generally prefers to stay out of the limelight over here at calivintage. but when swedish hasbeens contacted me to share the news about their new contest, the mister got excited and offered to model his very own pair of unisex swedish hasbeens from their fall 2011 collection.

and now onto the part where you can win stuff: swedish hasbeens is hosting a fun contest to celebrate their new unisex collection, and to support the idea of equality between men and women. simply snap a creative photo of you and a friend (could be your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your brother, whoever) that represents your version of unisex and you’ll be entered to win a pair of swedish hasbeens from their fall 2011 collection for yourself and your friend! one winner will be chosen based on the number of votes they receive and another winner will be chosen by the swedish hasbeens team based on creativity! you can enter and read all of the rules here! so get to it!

i’m wearing
shoes: swedish hasbeens tassel loafer sky high
blouse: j. crew
shirt: edith r. miller
jeans: j brand
bag: j.w. hulme
sunglasses: raybans

and on brendan
shoes: swedish hasbeens unisex chelsea boot
shirt: vintage reyn spooner
cardigan: pendleton
jeans: levi’s 513
watch: timex for j.crew military watch
glasses: warby parker

calivintage: swedish hasbeens
calivintage: swedish hasbeens
calivintage: swedish hasbeens

calivintage: swedish hasbeens

calivintage: swedish hasbeens

pink pants party

calivintage: pink pants

i was especially busy this weekend shooting street style at the outside lands festival, but before all the madness began, this is one of the outfits i wore to go out for breakfast with the boy. and i’m wearing pink pants! they make me feel like beck from his album midnight vultures. an awesome album, for sure, but when you open the cd there is a glorious photo of beck in a pair of bright pink pants that made my teenage heart melt. so when j brand recently contacted me and asked if i’d like to pick a pair of jeans from their haute hues collection, you had better bet i went straight for the 811 in fuchsia!

when i first got them in the mail, i was a little uncertain if i’d be able to pull off such a bright pair of pants, but i’ve actually already worn them several times. the go to outfit usually includes a breton stripe shirt, simple pumps, and a pair of cat eye glasses. but today i thought i’d add a bit more color with this mustard cardigan, and i anchored it together with a cream shirt and simple brown accessories. definitely an eye catching color combination that’s fun to wear on a sunny afternoon.

shirt: thrifted vintage silk blouse
sweater: j.crew dream cardigan
pants: j brand 811 in fuchsia
shoes: kork ease bette wedges
bag: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
sunglasses: karen walker number six

calivintage: pink pants
calivintage: pink pants
calivintage: pink pants
calivintage: pink pants
calivintage: pink pants

the basics

calivintage: the basics

a couple weeks ago, i realized that i didn’t have a classic white button front shirt. i kinda don’t know how i went for so long without one in my wardrobe, though i have a sneaking suspicion that it’s leftover from the days when i had a job that required me to wear light colored dress shirts and slacks everyday. i guess i just found myself averse to the idea of business attire. it’s funny how a uniform can affect the way you dress when you’re off work. the same thing happened when i worked as a cake decorator in a bakery… i would spend all of my time in beat up jeans and t-shirts, so when i got off work, i would immediately run to the closet to throw on a fancy dress. and you know what? now that i think of it, i don’t have a good basic t-shirt in my wardrobe either! perhaps it’s time to stock up on some more basics…

top: gap
sweater: anthropologie
jeans: j brand maria
shoes: swedish hasbeens braided sky high
coat: asos
bag: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
sunglasses: tom ford nikita

calivintage: the basics