Two parties, two outfits, and nothing to wear

So here's what happened. Last Tuesday I had two completely different parties to go to. First was a cocktail party at Henri Bendel, second, a b-day party at tenjune. With no time to come home and change in between, I had to choose an outfit that would work for both. The two options were either a baby-doll cut little black dress with black tight and gray patent leather and suede T-strap shoes, or, black jeans with a black tank and a long gold sequined top with patent leather booties (hot gold sequined top, not trashy looking, shiny gold sequined top). I chose the little black dress.

The problem started when at the cocktail party, at least ten other girls were wearing the exact same outfit - with various styles of black dresses. Call it classy, call it lack of originality or call it nothing else to wear, but I was seriously regretting my wardrobe decision that evening, and it was only 9:30pm. Fast forward to the club, what do we see as soon as we settled down at our table? Not one, not two, but four girls dressed in tight jeans and sequined tops. And a half an hour later another girl showed up in the exact same outfit. Talk about being happy about what I was not wearing! It's one thing to be in a little black dress at a cocktail party, but being in the same outfit as five other girls at a small and still trendy club! It hurts to even think about it! (For the record, all of their tops were tacky with shiny sequins.)

Bottom line is that I was going to whine and rant about how there's no more originality left in fashion and how everything is exactly the same and everyone dresses exactly alike (I still love you H&M). But no! I refuse to believe that. I'll just have to work harder next time and put more thought into what I wear. Because feeling tired and lazy when getting dressed is just no excuse for looking average. And so what if the outfit is just a little bit forced. At least you'll be the only one in the room wearing that gold taffeta skirt, blue polka dot top and pink shoes (sometime originality and creativity closely border tackiness and what-the-hell-was-she-thinking, but that's a whole different blog).

Hey this almost works:





top from target.com, skirt from jcrew.com, shoes bcbg from zappos.com

France 2

I'm back in New York! France was amazing! Beautiful, charming, stylish and so so very tasty, it was everything I expected it to be and more! And as for the fashion, it was every where! On people of all ages, in large towns, the tiniest little villages, kids, and sometimes even dogs!There were so many adorable boutiques that I seriously think I almost got whiplash from staring at all the window displays for too long. I loved that girls did not wear sneakers unless they were actually exercising. Guys didn't wear sneakers too often either. Everyone looked comfortable but dressed to impress at the same time - cute jeans, flats, a nice shirt and a tailored jacket, jewlery, makeup - easy, effortless, but very clearly pulled together and oh so cheek. Dark colors ruled, on the streets and in stores it was black and grey only. And I loved that H&M and Zara were everywhere, talk about universal style! These stores are so popular that in Monte Carlo, Zara was literally around the corner from YSL...go figure. But my favorite part, the absolute and total fashion love of my vacation was this coat from Custo Barcelona:

It's a little hard to see in the picture, the website images are better: http://www.custo-barcelona-store.com/index_flash.php?idioma=ING&tienda=85 but this coat is just so beautiful and unique! The red and grey fabric will let you stand out in any crowd, the cut makes it very girly but the fur sleeves give it a sophisticated edge! Just like everything else on that website, this coat is really one of a kind, and inspired the fashion part of my vacation!