i had a lot of fun today in my vintage-inspired outfit! what i find so great about these pieces is that they are all new items, but they were all inspired by styles from the past. the nice thing about vintage reproductions and vintage-inspired styles, is that you’ll always be able to find your size! oh, how many times i have found the perfect vintage dress or the most amazing vintage shoes, only to discover that they will not fit! or else the condition is such that i can only reserve those special pieces to be worn on the rarest of occasions. this dress is particularly nice because it is made of a sturdy 100% cotton, so it’s something that i can wash and wear over and over again. and the pretty puff sleeves and sweet floral and cherry print on this dress remind me of styles from the 1940’s, so i thought it would be fun to pair it with my reproduction 1940’s platform heels. and of course, the best way to top off such a cheerful outfit is with the cherry on top: my favorite bright red boater hat.

and in other news, i am excited to announce that this time tomorrow, i will be in new york! i’m only going to be around for wednesday and thursday, but if you want to meet up, let me know! or if you want to give me any recommendations, i’m all ears! i read the forecast and apparently it’s going to be 80 degrees with thunderstorms. i have yet to figure out exactly how to dress for such weather, but i’ll do my best!

hat: the last straw hat in ruby
dress: with flying florals dress courtesy of modcloth
it’s currently out of stock, but you can sign up to be notified when they get more!
shoes: remix vintage shoes ‘rita’ reproduction 1940’s platforms

yesterday was one of those perfect days where i kinda just rolled out of bed and threw on something comfortable to go for a drive up north to hang out in point reyes with brendan. we were partially motivated by a request from my mom to go collect some kelp for an art project. unfortunately, we didn’t bring anything back for her on this particular trip because we decided to go to a beach that didn’t have many sea plants washed ashore. in fact, the beach was practically deserted in general, probably because it’s not the type of place where people go to lay out and get a tan or go swimming. point reyes is a cape located 30 miles north of san francisco. since the point reaches out so far into the ocean, it’s almost always foggy, and several degrees colder than the surrounding area. with all of the fair weather we’ve been having in the bay area, you’d think we would try to go somewhere sunny, but the beauty of point reyes always brings us back for day trips, hikes, bike rides, and camping trips.

on this particular day, we took the short hike to kehoe beach and laid out on the sand enjoying turkey and swiss on a baguette, and mapping out a short story that we’re writing together. well, brendan is doing most of the writing, but i helped him out with character development and plot! i’m really excited about this latest project and hope we’ll be able to find a suitable place to get it published in a lit mag or journal or something (if you have any tips or hints, let me know)! then we napped a bit before hiking back and exploring an historic dairy ranch in the area nearby. and you’ll have to excuse me, because we had so much taking pictures that this post is going to be packed full!

and since this is still a bit of an outfit post…
jacket: gap belted utility jacket
sweater: american apparel sailor strip pullover
jeans: j brand 210 the oslo
shoes: vintage anne klein flats from pineapple mint
sunglasses: karen walker

today i’m taking out the calivintage dress for another spin! i thought it would be the perfect dress for a simple outfit where i really wanted just a few pieces to do all the talking. see, yesterday i got my jessica simpson dany platforms in the mail! for those of you who aren’t familiar with them, they’re a knock off of the charles anastase platforms from spring 2009 (i’m still slightly obsessed with that collection!), only without the insane price tag. they came out last year some time and quickly sold out before people started listing them on ebay for like $200 and up. at which point, i regretted that i didn’t purchase them when i first saw them. so when they were re-released this month, i went ahead and indulged myself. i’ve been wanting a suuuper tall pair of heels for a long while now and these are so fun to wear! and in all honesty, they’re not hard to walk in and are actually one of the more comfortable pairs of heels i own. because of the huge platform in front, they aren’t steep at all. my only concern is that if i were to trip on something, i would probably take a nasty spill. fortunately for me, i’m not very accident prone, so i’ll gladly take the marginal risk.

anyway, knock-offs seem to always be a hot topic within the fashion industry. i remember a while back leproust vintage wrote a post asking her readers for their thoughts on the subject. it reminded me of a video i saw by johanna blakley, lessons from fashion’s free culture. while i don’t agree with everything she has to say, she did make an interesting point that the people who are buying knockoffs aren’t taking any business away from the designers who make the high end pieces because they simply can’t afford those insane price tags. then, for an almost perfect coincidence, this morning there was a post on threadbared about some of the social and cultural judgments made against women who buy cheap clothes. certainly something to think about. and there is certainly much more to the equation that i’m not even getting into. in the meantime, i am having oh so much fun prancing around in my new shoes!

dress: the modcloth calivintage dress
shoes: jessica simpson dany platforms
sunglasses: karen walker
clutch: thrifted vintage woven straw clutch

as promised, today i am sharing a few pictures from my weekend at the russian river. as usual, i brought my camera with high hopes of getting excellent coverage of the weekend and sort of imagined myself documenting things meticulously right down to each meal we ate. but unfortunately, i hardly remembered to pick up the camera! the one time that i did bring my camera was on a canoe trip down the russian river, which in hindsight, was probably the least opportune time to bring it. i’m sure you can imagine my angst at the idea of capsizing and losing it, or my utter horror when i discovered that the people on the shores make a pasttime of shooting passers by in canoes with giant water cannons. it was definitely nice considering the sweltering heat, but after a certain point, i had to wrap my camera in a towel and bury it in a moderately water proof bag for the duration. live and learn!

anyway, we spent our time staying at a cabin in forestville and enjoyed a long and leisurely canoe trip down the russian river. we were all so exhausted from all of the rowing and heat of the sun that we barely had enough energy for an evening bbq! the next day we went on an expedition to one of my favorite bakeries, wild flour, for delicious fougasse, and then did some wandering around sebastopol, guerneville, and healdsburg before finishing up the evening watching the local fireworks show. all in all, it was a nice, relaxing weekend.

view of the front of the canoe.

view of the back of the canoe.

i think cheap beer is mandatory on the river.

almost every single shore was filled with people.

the bus ride back. heat exhaustion!

guerneville.

healdsburg.