A closeup of these extraordinary Cydwoqs, and also of my Tova agate pendant necklace.
A few of you may remember the drawn-out drama of acquiring these MaxMara 'Amelie Rio' stockings. I first saw them in the window of the MaxMara at South Coast Plaza, and subsequently tracked them down at the Moxie boutique in Boston. In the past two years, I think I've maybe worn them twice. Until now.
Do I regret the purchase? Not in the least. Did they have the life-changing effect I thought they would have on me? Not exactly - at least not the way most people would define 'life changing.' But it was significant, the first real item of luxury I bought for myself. And in that way, they were a bit of a gateway drug; they allowed me to consider things heretofore outrageous, to be within my scope of acquisition. They allowed me to pamper myself, which I'd never really done much before. And they are, quite simply, gorgeous, and I enjoy their beautiful craftsmanship and general loveliness every time I think about them.
So I guess in that way, yes, they were life-changing after all. I had a heck of a time finding something in my wardrobe that would work with them, and all the people who told me that they would fall down were absolutely right - I had to buy a garter belt just to hold them up. And I kind of laugh because the bottom half of this outfit is very expensive, but the top half cost barely anything at all. After all, the stockings were worth it - and this love story had a happy ending.
This dress has been sitting in my closet for like 6 months. I originally ordered it custom-made from Liza Rietz on etsy, but had to send it back because it was way too large on top. When she sent it back to me, it was still huge (and unflattering... I was swimming in it!). I thought it was a lost cause until I found a dressmaker in LA who really knows what she's doing. For $10 (the original dress cost $210 on sale), she figured out that at least 2-3 inches needed to be taken from the back, and voila. She also shortened the runner that goes down the middle; it was comically long originally.
This outfit is from Saturday, when I was home doing some grocery shopping with my mom at the local Asian market. I got the knit crocheted top from my gramma and the necklace from my mom.
Got this skirt on sale on the site and built the outfit around it. Found it a bit challenging to mitigate the risque-ness of the skirt and not sure if I totally succeeded, but did my best by contrasting with a top that Garry describes as 'a doily.' Also liked the harder edge the studs add.
Thanks to my new sister-in-law Christine for the kickass bag!
Yes, this is a real Girl Scouts shirt that has belonged to me since the fifth grade, when I was a Junior level Girl Scout. I remember it was really big on me back then, but it fits pretty well now. Several years ago I dug it up in a spare room at my parents' place, and have been trying to make it work into my wardrobe ever since, because let's face it, it's pretty darn awesome. I had a lot of trouble figuring it out and kept trying to pair it with jeans, wearing it open.
Yesterday I was struck by a bit of inspiration and thought maybe it would work tucked into a high waisted skirt. I thought first of using a pencil skirt, but then came across this really full, oldschool kind of skirt in my closet that I bought, no joke, just because it had pockets. I LOVE skirts with pockets! And it happened to be perfect with the shirt. A lot of this outfit is very experimental; I felt there was something missing at the neckline and thought maybe a scarf would do really well there (this shirt is intended to be worn with a neckerchief of sorts), but I just didn't have one in the right weight and color. I had just bought this giant flower necklace from ModCloth and thought, heck, why not try it out?
The two belts I added because the skirt has two belt loops. I experimented with a few different ones in different colors and decided it was probably best to keep things simple. Same went for footwear - I toyed with red pumps and electric blue loafers, which worked, okay, but I think the studded black sandals bring a bit of edge to an otherwise conservative look.
Inspired by Netta's play on patterns yesterday, I tried pairing this strikingly polka-dotty dress with some polka-dotted tights. I'd originally been disappointed that the dress came in navy blue spots, rather than black, but when I played it up I think it worked out well.
Also took some shots of my coworkers, Shanti (our awesome 'librarian chic' office manager) and Netta of ninja fame.
On Shanti:
On Netta:
I'm trying something new - now that I'm working for the most fantastic online indie retail site evarr (yay SEO backlinks!), it's high time I start documenting my daily outfits. It's been hard to be creative when so many other things are taking priority, but I have to try. To make things easier, my coworker Netta and I decided to help each other take photos so we don't feel so silly using self-timers in our (my) badly lit apartments. I still felt rather sheepish ducking into a conference room and posing for Netta's iPhone. Oh well, I'm sure we'll get used to it.
When it comes to clothing, guys are pickier than you would think. But what we're looking for is not so much color and style per se, but more about comfort. Now that is a loaded term, so let me name three characteristics of comfortable clothing:
