let’s go shopping

i have to admit something. if i could, i might wear this plaid top with this cashmere cardigan and a pair of skinny jeans every day. something about the colder weather and the end of the semester has got me a little down, and it just makes me feel like being lazy and wearing some glorified version of pajamas all the time. since that isn’t quite acceptable, i can always fall back on this simple combination. then if i have to go out, i can swap out the jeans for a little skirt, some patterned tights and heels, and i’m ready to go!

yesterday was just one of those occasions. i got an incredibly late start after an evening of talking with friends and inadvertently drinking almost an entire bottle of wine, and i kinda just rolled out of bed and threw on the ol’ uniform to go out to breakfast. then i remembered that i had plans to go shopping in san francisco with the lovely jennie of going west. fortunately, i managed to pull myself together in time to hit a few shops with her and to do a little impromptu photo shoot on the roof before the sun set entirely. jennie took my photos for this post, and isn’t it silly how nervous i look? i’m so accustomed to getting photographed by my boyfriend that i get camera shy around almost everyone else.

anyway, it was good times! we went to the vintage shops on haight st. and i found an adorable cream blouse with lace details and a peter pan collar (which i am wearing today) while jennie found the most amazing lace blazer ever. then we went to the north beach/china town area where jennie took me to a cute little vegan restaurant before meeting up with shannon at indie industries, where i got a cool pair of patterned tights, which i am also wearing today. not bad.



wearing:
vintage plaid shirt, thrifted
cashmere cardigan, j.crew
polyester micro-fiber tulip skirt, american apparel
little heart tights, tabio
platform ankle boots, payless
vintage coach purse, thrifted

all photos by jennie of going west.

the cool bus

one of the things about blogging is that we do it from the comfort of our own homes, quietly typing away at our computers and merrily clicking away. it’s easy to imagine that all of us bloggers just sit indoors all day sans interaction with another soul, lest we happen to awkwardly pause as strangers pass by while we’re snapping self-portraits in front of a tripod. alright, maybe that’s just me i’m talking about, i don’t know. but what i can say is that we don’t get to interact with other bloggers all that often, so you can imagine how happy i am to have had the opportunity to meet mickey of darling darling!they actually came over last week and we enjoyed a nice afternoon talking shop and drinking a few pumpkin beers in a rose garden by my house, and we kinda sorta didn’t take any pictures. but i was lucky enough to get another visit from them today while they got their hair cut by mr. shannon dean, who is also my very own hair stylist. he worked his magic on their asymmetrical cut and they look just as cute as can be.

afterward, we decided that we wouldn’t be good bloggers unless we did a little photo shoot, so shannon took us to a silly spot to see the “cool bus” which has also been featured in this post by his equally awesome girlfriend, jennie of going west. and then i almost had a heart attack after we left and i realized that i had left my camera hanging on a chain link fence near said bus. don’t worry, it was still there when we ran back. phew!

so here we are trying to look cool, sharing stories about trains, and nervously laughing in front of the camera.





more pictures from the shoot are at my flickr. all photographs by shannon dean who also furnished us with the bad, bad cigarettes. they’re bad.

calivintage on american apparel

oh, such small pleasures! if you check out the american apparel polyester micro-fiber tulip skirt, there’s a little section titled “seen on bloggers” with a teeny tiny picture of yours truly wearing said mini skirt. what a delightful little discovery! anyway, the picture is small but it does link back to the original post here. but i figured i would show you the outfit again anyway!

wearing:
vintage pink blouse, ebay
mauve sash, american apparel
polyester microfiber tulip skirt, american apparel
sheer flower tights, tabio
blimey oxfords, seychelles

fun in the sun

i just can’t get over this adorable video showcasing the lewis nyc spring 2010 collection. over here in the bay area, it’s a gloomy drizzly day, but i kinda can’t stand the idea of wearing boots and jeans and a thick sweater today. so i’ll escape into this cute video and dream about sunny springtime.

and i think it’s great inspiration for making a video of my own! i recently received a flip cam from the weardrobe conference and i’m excited to start making little videos for my blog! i’m a little overwhelmed at the prospect of embarking on a video project, but i think it will be fun. any suggestions?

oh, and here are a few images from the lookbook. oh, it puts me in just the right mood.

advanced style

i know it’s been a while since then, but during a conversation with some of the bloggers at the weardrobe conference, rebecca of the clothes horse called a certain website to my attention after i hinted that i occasionally take fashion tips from little old ladies riding the bus. yes, that’s right, sometimes i look to the geriatric for style inspiration, and i’m not ashamed. it’s where i first discovered the hat scarf (or snood, if you will. that’s a scarf with a hood, my friends) and it’s why i’ll always be very fond of a comfy cozy cardigan. in fact, these sophisticated older ladies and gentleman are the ones hoarding all that awesome vintage in their closets that us greedy vintage bloggers just can’t wait to get our hands on!

so since i didn’t exactly get dressed today, i decided to share with you some inspiration of the advanced style. which happens to be the name of a pretty cool blog with a nice collection of street style pictures from a more sophisticated age set. while browsing through the images on said blog, i noticed that a lot of images were taken from mister mort. so for the sake of giving the proper credit, all images from column a were pulled from advanced style, while the images on column b were taken from mister mort. here’s to dressing stylishly for many years to come!

put it in neutral

so you may recall this post about some of my favorite fall inspiration, in which i confessed my infatuation with the lovely alia shawkat dressed in a little witches outfit, my love for those vintage-inspired shorts, and all things gothic. so with halloween winding down, and the festivities behind us, i got to remembering said collection, only to discover that rachel antonoff has released her spring 2010 lookbook on facebook. i discovered this after reading a lovely post about it over at liebemarlene vintage, and i just had to write about it here because i am in love with her latest collection!

as you know, i love simple, wearable pieces with pretty little details in mostly neutral colors. looking back through my past several outfit posts, i noticed that i’ve been wearing a lot of cream, brown, black, and white so this collection is right up my alley! i seriously wish i could have every single piece! and i just love that the collection doesn’t scream spring, so if you were to invest in a few pieces, you could get a lot of wear out of them throughout the seasons.

and i can totally get down with the pretty little ballerina slippers. d.i.y., anyone? they’ve got really inexpensive slippers at payless right now. add a contrasting ribbon and voila!

trick or treat!

…smell my feet! just wanted to pop in quickly to share a few shots of my halloween costume. i’m not one to post party pictures, so i promised myself to actually get some shots of my outfit before i leave. and anyway, this dress is quite old and tattered, so i don’t know how it will survive the evening. based on my research, i’m pretty sure this is a 1950’s official girl scouts brownie uniform complete with the little felt hat.

ok! well happy halloween, folks! have fun and don’t eat too much candy!

wearing:
vintage 1950’s official girl scouts brownie uniform, ebay
brown tights, target
saddle shoes, payless
plastic jack o lantern, longs

p.s. cigarettes are bad, kids. but i hope you can appreciate the juxtaposition! i sorta couldn’t resist.

spooky scary!

boo! are you scared? i definitely feel just a little spooky tonight creeping around on the rooftop in this vintage orange and black 1940’s dress with these silly vintage cat glasses i found on ebay recently. honestly, the first thing i thought when i found this dress on the racks at mercy vintage, i knew i would be wearing it around halloween time. and while i do have a costume, i thought i would wear a festive little outfit tonight and save the actual costume for tomorrow.

so i am off to a little halloween party in san francisco tonight. i’m pretty disappointed that the bay bridge is still closed! i know this might not be relevant to most of you, but it’s been closed for three days since a cable snapped and hit 3 cars! that’s actually pretty spooky. a little bit more frightening than my cat glasses… i hope you can make out the details ok: each eye is a scary cat face with it’s mouth opened wide so i can see through them.

and hey! check it out. i am not a fan of the flash on my camera, but we went out to do a little photo shoot on the roof right at sundown and we had so much fun with it that we took tons of silly pictures. enjoy and have a happy halloween!



wearing:
vintage 1940’s orange and black rayon dress, mercy vintage
vintage cat costume glasses, ebay
sheer black stockings, longs
platform oxfords, seychelles

black and white

phew! for a minute there, i kinda sorta thought i would never do an outfit post ever again! i just got into this funk where i couldn’t think of a new outfit for what seemed like forever. this is pretty ridiculous if you can think of it. imagine me in my underwears, sitting in a giant pile of clothes, lamenting, “oh i have nothing to wear!” my boyfriend thinks this is pretty funny. i told him i used to do the same thing when i was a little kid. my mom sometimes reminds me that most of my childhood involved several wardrobe changes in one day, much to her consternation.

so i’ve basically been like a record on repeat for the past week. i had an outfit the other day and i did a little photo shoot, but i let my perfectionism get in the way and i scrapped the whole set because the photos were too grainy. forgot to change the camera settings… and then suddenly blogging became really daunting when i realized how far behind i am in reading all of my favorite blogs, and it always seems so much nicer to just drink a few glasses of wine and catch up on old episodes of big love. that show is genius. and i’m in love with chloÁ« sevigny.

but that is beside the point, and the point is that i think i got motivated to try something new because i got a little trim for my hairs yesterday. it’s shorter and more severe now, but i really enjoy the change. i almost feel like i might be so bold as to go above the eyebrows on my next cut, now that i’ve got mr. shannon dean as my new stylist. nothing better than a hairstylist who serves you rye whiskey and listens to 90’s gangsta rap and heavy metal.

and i bought this white eyelet dress because what i really want is a certain lace dress from wren. but i have a feeling that my wallet would not approve, and i haven’t seen it for sale anywhere either. not that i’m actively looking. i don’t want to tempt myself, you see. and anyway, i like this dress because it has floral eyelet details which i think go quite well with the pattern on these sheer flower tights. ok, now back to those episodes of big love…

wearing:
vintage white eyelet lace mini dress, ebay
sheer flower tights, courtesy of tabio
woven platform sandals, steve madden
glasses, 3.1 phillip lim

oh, and p.s. i started up a lookbook account again. it’s kinda lonely over there, so if you’re on lookbook, add me as a contact so i can find you!