Forcing what you wear

This morning while doing my usual routine of pulling random clothes out of the closet and somehow turning them into a wearable, office-appropriate outfit, my sister, who stayed over at my apartment the night before, turned around, looked at me in slight amazement, and said
- you always look so good when you dress for work, do you plan your outfits? It's so hard for me to get dressed, I always have to try things on the night before to make sure that the outfit works.

Now obviously I didn't have a tape recorder so I'm paraphrasing. And obviously I have my bad work-outfit days too. And although I don't try clothes on at night, I do think about what I want to wear the next day. And I also have plenty of days when I'm running out of my apartment at 8:50 screaming "I'm late" because I couldn't think of what to wear or because the outfit that I planned on wearing just didn't work. But the point is that the comment made me think about how long it takes me to get dressed and whether the time I spend getting dressed has an impact on the outcome of my outfit (very scientific, I know, but w/e, I'm bored at work).

And here's what I came up with: in general, the less time I spend on an outfit, the better it looks. It comes together naturally, showing my own unique style. On the other hand, when I spend two hours putting together a 'look', it becomes exactly that, a 'look' rather then something that's really me. It might look good, or even fabulous, but it's forced, and that always shows. The extra piece of jewelry, the over-the-top shoes, the scarves, belts, whatever it is, if you see a girl or a guy with just a little too much on, you know that they spent way too much time getting dressed before leaving the house and their outfit is forced.

Unfortunately amazing outfits don't always happen in 5 minutes and sometimes making something work takes forever, but here's the deal - after you're finally fully dressed and ready to go, get rid of as many accessories as possible, or at least take off the very last thing that you put on. Because after all, less is more!

One of my favorite shoes

I always thought that fashion exists on the Upper West Side. After all, just because you have to look for it doesn't mean that it's not there. I was once again proved right yesterday. While out shopping for a b-day present, I couldn't help doing a serious double take when I saw a girl wearing these Tashkent by Cheyenne platform wedges:

I've been in love with these shoes since the first time I saw them last April. The style is so unique and funky, the holes in the back add a little bit of edge and the variety of colors (they come in grey, black, burgundy, and deep blue) means that there's a pair for any one's wardrobe. My personal fave is the grey. The girl I saw was wearing them with a Burberry-ish plaid mini-dress, but these can be worn with jeans, leggings, shorts, skirts, or whatever else comes to mind. With shoes like this, you just can't go wrong!

Image and details from shopbop.com

France!!!

It's that time! I've been waiting and planning and now it's almost here, in one week and one day, or next Friday, I'm off on my first trip to France! Woo hoo! And now it's time for my favorite part of planning for vacation - packing! My previous trips were all to places where I'd be at the beach all the time, very active/adventurous vacations that required rough clothes, or at one place the whole time, like resorts or cruises, so I wouldn't have to carry my stuff around all the time. But this vacation is different. I'll be in one of the most fashionable countries in the world, traveling from place to place every day. Bringing a big suit case will be really inconvenient, and I will be site seeing and walking around all day long. And of course going out and partying at night. So I need a wardrobe that will be comfortable, France-worthy stylish, can easily go from day to night, and can fit into one small suitcase! This is not going to be easy.

But after looking at some packing lists designed for backpackers (http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/womenpacking.htm, http://www.backpackeurope.com/packing/tips.html, http://www.reidsguides.com/t_pa/t_pa_packing_list.html), I think I have a good start:

1. two pairs of jeans - fitted grey and blue jeans
2. leggings
3. a few long sleeved t-shits that I can layer or wear separately
4. two or 3 sweaters
5. two dresses that won't wrinkle, one of them black so I can layer it with the t-shirts and legging during the day or wear out at night.
6. flat boots, sneakers, and maybe if I have room, a pair of black heels
7. and of course all the accessories and toiletries and small necessary stuff like a hat and tons of scarves.

I'm sure I'll rework this list a thousand times and change it all completely when I actually start packing next week, but I'm excited just thinking about it, and I think I'm of to a pretty good start!

Guess what I saw today?...S&tC Spoilers

Here are a mere 3 of the gazillions of images posted on the web of the wedding scene in the upcoming S&tC movie. But guess what I saw today - a stretch limo pulls up to a town car out side the Bryant Park Grill, Big steps out of the car, Carrie runs out of the limo towards Big and starts hitting her with her bouquet screaming "I knew it, I knew you'd do this to me!" Miranda and Charlotte run out after her, try restraining her and eventually lead her away with a hysterical Carrie collapsing in their arms!

Ooh, the drama! I can't wait to find out what actually happened!! And all in one lunch break!

I have to say though, I love the Zac Possen dresses on Miranda, Carrie and Samantha. The wedding dress on Carrie is absolutely stunning but WTF's with that blue feather. I know you're supposed to have something blue but I'd want to see the bride's face, not parts of dead chickens!

Meat packing on a Wednesday night

Last night was great - art exhibit opening at the Soho House, dinner at Paradou and an In Style party at Tenjune. I say pretty good for a Wednesday night. Of course I was checking out every girl that walked by me. Soho House was great, the typical, gorgeous "I don't care what I look like, I'm fabulous no matter what" crowd. The only thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was a girl wearing a tiered skin colored mini-dress with the layers starting right below her chest. Tiered dresses don't work for anyone except uber skinny tall girls (models), and skin colored dresses only work on girls who don't have that skin color! But anyway, skipping dinner and moving on to the In Style party, it was great, but after a while i was looking around and thinking how many girls can wear the exact same outfit! It was either tight mini-dresses with flab sticking out, baggy dresses on skinny girls making them look preggers or the leggings look...will we ever get over the '80's??? It was like all the girls called each other before leaving home to make sure that they're wearing the 'right' outfit. Boring! Just in case you're wandering, I was wearing a high-waist brown pencil skirt!

I'm trying to find some good pics online, our camera broke.

A runway show I actually like

Transitioning from structured and sophisticated to delicate and feminine to fun and flirty, from super glamorous to just super weird in one collection Alexander McQueen created yet another unique and vibrant show. Some pieces are genuinely weird and I can't imagine anyone wearing them, but others, like the pink to purple chiffon dress with black butterflies are absolutely gorgeous. I want that dress...

The structured:

The sophisticated:

Delicate:

Feminine:

Fun:

Flirty:

Glamorous:

Weird:

Yee-haw! ...huh?

Way back when before dust masks men would tie hanker chiefs around their nose to protect themselves from breathing in dust, or if you're into the occasional cowboy flick, to keep their identity hidden while robbing banks. While taking those much needed breaks from herding animals (or robbing banks) they would pull the hanker chief down and let it hang around their necks, creating a cowboy-cool look repeated in every Western movie ever made. This is a great look for the wild, wild west, or those occasional horse back riding excursions - after all, you have to have the right look at all times for all occasions. But lately I've been wandering, what is it doing on the streets of New York?

I've been seeing girls sporting scarves styled as cowboy kerchiefs all over the City lately - during brunch in the East Village, on the subway after work, around the West Village and Meat Packing while out at night. I know New York can be wild and dusty and in the heat of summer rather smelly, but turning a gorgeous Hermes or de la Renta scarf into a cowboy kerchief is unacceptable. After all, no matter how many different kinds of 'animals' we have here, you're not about to go herding them. Or start robbing banks, I hope. Bottom line is that the cowboy boot style was bad enough, let's leave the scarves alone!

Here are some images of how scarves should be worn from BergdorfGoodman.com:

Color me purple

Getting dressed Thursday morning I noticed that for 4 days in a row this week I wore something purple. Purple tights with black pencil skirt, sweater and round-toe pumps on Monday; purple shoes with a brown button-down dress and brown tights on Tuesday; black flared pants with a purple jersey fabric top on Wednesday; and brown pants, white top and beige shoes with purple flowers on them on Thursday. By Friday I had enough. I decided to go with more subtle blues and grays instead. But what do I get in by in-box on the one day that I wanted to skip this color? A shopbop.com trend alert screaming that Purple Rules! I guess it's nice to know that I'm wearing the trends before they even announce them :) But it got me thinking about what this color means and why I was so drawn to it this week. I did some googling, and here are some attributes of purple:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.


http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/purple.htm
Royalty and Spirituality: Purple is royalty. A mysterious color, purple is associated with both nobility and spirituality. The opposites of hot red and cool blue combine to create this intriguing color.

Nature of Purple: Purple has a special, almost sacred place in nature: lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are often delicate and considered precious. Because purple is derived from the mixing of a strong warm and strong cool color it has both warm and cool properties. A purple room can boost a child's imagination or an artist's creativity. Too much purple, like blue, could result in moodiness.

Culture of Purple: The color of mourning for widows in Thailand, purple was the favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra. It has been traditionally associated with royalty in many cultures. Purple robes were worn by royalty and people of authority or high rank. The Purple Heart is a U.S. Military decoration given to soldiers wounded in battle.

Using Purple: Deep or bright purples suggest riches while lighter purples are more romantic and delicate. Use redder purples for a warmer color scheme or the bluer purples to cool down.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_psychology
Envy, Sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, enlightenment, arrogance, flamboyance, gaudiness, mourning, profanity, exaggeration, confusion, homosexuality, pride, Scorpio (violet, star sign), May, November, riches, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple).Purple is the color of mourning for widows in Thailand, favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra, and the purple heart - given to soldiers who have been wounded during warfare.


Hmm...I guess I was feeling powerful, yet spiritual. With a special connection with nature. You an find more websites like the ones I mention by googling color 'meanings'. Meanwhile, here are some purple goodies from my favorite online store, shopbop.com:

My rule of 4

As much as we would all like it to, the right look doesn't always happen. The right combination of edginess and style is difficult and combines aspects that have to be put together very carefully. Today I saw a man wearing a navy pinstriped suit, white and blue checkered shirt and a fuchsia tie and hanker chief. The suit was traditional, with very thin grey pinstripes and the shirt, a basic navy and white check. With a plain tie it would have looked nice, but bland. The fuchsia tie and hanker chief brought the combination to an entirely different level of style. The look worked because the colors and patterns were limited and carefully put together. If another color or pattern was added, the result would be overwhelming and messy (shoes don't count, men don't have as many options as women).

Unfortunately other attempts don't work nearly as well. A few minutes after getting out of the subway I noticed a girl wearing what should have been a trendy and basic outfit. Dark skirt, jacket, tights and boots. Simple right? And yet, it just didn't work. After a few seconds I realized what was off - there were too many colors. One color less would have been perfect but with 5, it was too much. Thinking about it, I figured out the the ideal color strategy - no more then 4. If you have more, change something. So basically, white shirt, navy jacket, black skirt, green tights and brown boots = too much. On the other hand, a white shirt, navy jacket, black skirt, black tights and brown boots = street style hot. And yes black, brown, and grey count for colors. After all girls' shoes are part of the outfit, not a necessity.


Check out these color combinations from shopbop.com: