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I don’t think people nowadays wear enough hats. I’m not talking baseball hats or f-ing urban outfitters fedoras, I’m talking real hats. Hats that people wore to church. Hats people wore to luncheons and Macy’s sales and trips to the Cape.
I’m lucky enough to have cultivated a small wardrobe of vintage headcoverings, but sadly, I don’t wear them nearly often enough! Planning to correctify that soon though, since the windy season is beginning to die down and I will no longer have the fear that my beloved chapeau will be blown off my head, landing directly in a gutter filled with questionable substances.
But until I have that opportunity, I’m satisfied with chapeau-centric photoshoots.
I have a favorite jacket. A Ralph Lauren little boy suit jacket from the early 90s that belonged to my little brother. He only wore it once (and I’m almost positive it was for a funeral), but I still like to give my mom a hard time that Justin was rockin’ Ralph Lauren as a young’un, whilst I was perpetually draped in terrycloth.
Somehow I got over my sartorial envy and discovered that this little baby is shrunken in all the right places and completely flattering! I have a hard time finding things with sleeves that are long enough (my arms are freakishly long), so a few years ago, I decided to embrace my monkey arms and go to the extreme opposite… shrunken city, population me!
I wear this thing sooo often – I’ve actually put a pretty substantial hole through the right elbow! It’s a bit absurd that I’ve never posted any pictures of it! So here goes… the maiden (digital) voyage of my beloved boys’ Ralph Lauren…
Spent a magical afternoon in the Haight with my good pal, Cory, with every intention of helping him deplete his bank account down to a level we’re both more comfortable with. Unfortunately, an amazing green tartan cape called out to me from the 25% off rack.
It’s the perfect length.
It’s in perfect condition.
And oh yes, it’s reversible.
I’m in love! And it’s totally cape season here in SF! I put this baby on and I’m instantly a non-creepy, non-tiny Christina Ricci circa The Ice Storm. Hooray!
I used to thrift… a lot. Practically every weekend I was scouring the Goodwills & Salvation Armys & Value Villages of the DC metro area. Then I moved to NYC where thrift stores are overpriced and completely picked over by fashion insiders. Now I live in San Francisco where there are great thrift stores with great prices, but I have no money. So I’m forced to go digging in the back of my closet to find things I don’t wear often in order to satisy my ever present desire for new clothes.
Today, my closet digging resulted in the re-discovery of one of my favorite thrifty finds – this giant orangey red wool kilty type thing that looks like it wouldn’t be out of place during Axl Rose’s unfortunate (yet kinda hot) foray into kilts in the early 90s:
Had another show last night, with super mod 60s styling (piccies soon, hopefully!)… we’re talking opaque tights, miniskirts, crocheted jumpers and teased bouffants as far as the heavily kohled eye can see. Due to the massive amounts of industrial strength hairspray that my stylist, Brandi doused on my locks, I am currently still sporting a very, VERY teased crown.
So of course, I couldn’t help but attempt to bring out my inner Bardot. Kept everything simple, so as to not take away too much from the hair – an easy cropped vintage sweater from Beacon’s Closet in Brooklyn (snottiest hipsters ever work there, but occasionally you’ll find some good stuff!) and that ubiquitous American Apparel tube skirt. Rounded things out with my new dream boots that I got at Goodwill the other day. I adore the fit and the soft broken in leather of these babies… if only they didn’t have that ridiculous Janeane-Garofolo-circa-1992 chunky heel! I plan on taking them to a shoe guy to see if they can swap them out for something a little more demure.
Behold, my Bardotism:
By some strange twist of events, it appears that I will be attending the Grammy’s at the end of the month. Let’s take a moment…
!!!
Now that that’s taken care of, I have a very serious decision to make. What the F am I going to wear?!!??!! There is absolutely no way that I can compete with the $20,000 gowns of the rich and/or famous. So I just need to make what I have work. Luckily, whenever I’ve had an event or party to attend in the past three or so years, I’ve purchased a dress. Thus, I have a cornucopia of dresses in my closet to choose from.
Initially, I was thinking of going vintage; it’s easy for me… comfortable, familiar territory. And I have this vision of heading down to L.A. carrying a single (vintage) suitcase of fabulous vintage dresses and nothing else. But then I had a possible change of heart.
Perhaps I should go elegant… make them think I’m rolling in green and frequent prestigious Hollywood events because it’s just what I do when I have free time.
Or maybe I should aim for fun. Just a fun-lovin’ gal who likes parties.
Oh the decisions… won’t you help me?
Here are the top three contenders so far and a little about each:
The other Rodarte for Target dress I got is a lot simpler… just a basic, pullover sheathy-type thing with an elasticized waistband… and I love it! It’s made of polyester (it IS made for Target), but the material feels like crepey silk and it has a subtle sheen that makes it look a lot more expensive than it actually is. Like practically everyone else in the world who got this dress, I also wish that it was actually overlayed in lace, rather than just being a printed lace pattern, but it’s still a gorgeous piece!
I accidentally styled this one a little hipstery, but it’s so versatile that I’m sure I’ll come up with something good soon! It’ll probably look great with long cardigans and/or skinny belts and the color options for accessories is practically endless due to the neutral color of the dress. Speaking of the color, this beigey situation is definitely a departure for me; usually I steer clear of “nudes” because those shades are practically never flattering to my skin tone. And I always end up looking muddy and uncomfortable. Not so with this dress! I think the black tempers the beige and makes it more universal. Yay!
Check it:
