From a fashion perspective, I don’t think I’ve ever felt cooler than I did when I was in grade school. Not that it was totally justified - I was short and scrawny, i had an untamed perm, i put together outfits that would make the Man Repeller cringe. Yet despite the fact that I was a little weirdo and I knew it, Ijust did not give a shit. I reveled in my sartorial fearlessness, and looking back on it now, I realize just how awesome that was.
I’ve been thinking of nine-year-old me a lot tonight, as I’ve been doing some online window shopping for summer. I realized that, completely unintentionally, a lot of the things I’m obsessing over are things that I used to wear incessantly back in the day.
Take, for example, ankle bracelets. I am absolutely going to be following Song of Style’s lead and piling them on this summer, just like I used to do with the sloppy friendship bracelets I used to make at day camp:
Then, there’s the one-piece swimsuit - something I haven’t worn since my age reached double digits, yet which I am absolutely flipping over thanks to Australian brand Zimmermann (it helps that this would also look equally rad with one of my many pairs of vintage high-waisted shorts & a boyfriend blazer on top):
And finally, high-tops. Not since my L.A. Gear days have I been this inexplicably into sneakers, but nevertheless, I have a feeling this pony hair pair from All Saints are going to replace Rachel Comey wingtips as my go-to flats in the very near future.
A few little things that make the countdown to Monday morning feel slightly less dire:
Spending Friday and Saturday in Salt Lake City for a work trip & seeing the Rocky mountains for the first time (obviously I didn’t take this picture - Travel & Leisure did)…
Listening to Lou and Nico as I cleaned my apartment this evening…
Making this divine stuffed acorn squash for dinner tonight (Recipe and photo from the ever fabulous Could I Have That… although I modified the recipe quite a bit, substituting brown rice, rosemary, goat cheese and hazelnuts for the stuffing ingredients she used)…
And stocking up on new candles & reading materials (can you tell I’m in a domestic mood? Ha.)
It’s Coachella Lineup Announcement Day! That means pretty soon, we’ll start to be bombarded with the usual barrage of cliched festival fashion stories. While I have nothing against daisy chains and faux-vintage Rolling Stones tees, my favorite brand of concert-going style comes courtesy of the endlessly inspiring documentary “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” which was filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. Although the entire movie is beautifully shot, this Anita O’Day scene is the one I always come back to. Just give me a pair of cat eye sunglasses and some bright orange lipstick and I’m ready for a weekend of of non-stop booty shaking.
I first discovered (and freaked out over) Caitlin Holcomb’s fringe banners at the Renegade Craft Fair in LA last July.
I love anything that reminds me of an ’80s high school dance, and these are basically straight out of a John Hughes movie.
I’ve been tempted to order the “Wild Heart” one above (hello Stevie Nicks), but haven’t yet been able to figure out where to put it in my apartment. So in the meantime, I’ll probably end up getting one of the holiday-themed banners to hold me over. I mean let’s be honest… it’ll be an improvement on the decorating I did last year (which was zero).
I really like rainy days… if and only if I am able to spend them in sweatpants, on my couch with my kitty and a hot toddy. Today was not one of those days (as evidenced by the pair of waterlogged Frye boots air drying by my door). Although my day was actually a lot of fun, I envision my next rainy Sunday to go a little more like this:
First, I’m going to make like Marilyn and throw on a big fluffy sweater.
Then, it’s coffee and papers in bed.
After that, I’m lighting a fire…
…taking a bath…
…and reading some books.
Since I won’t feel like leaving the house to work out, I’ll burn off some energy by building a fort.
I’ll hang out in there for the rest of the night, calling friends on the phone…
It’s no secret that I adore a bit of shimmer. So naturally, I went a little bit nuts when I discovered Beatrice Wood’s pottery, which is the subject of a show at the Santa Monica Museum of Art through March 3, 2012.
Ms. Wood’s story is truly fascinating - she got her start during the Dada movement, and then worked across just across every medium you could imagine through her almost 70-year career.
Oh, you know… just chilling with Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia at Coney Island. NBD!
But getting back to the pottery… I’m fantasizing about one day having a big old cluster of these iridescent beauties on my mantlepiece. (For full kooky grandma effect, I will also need to get a white Persian cat and some crystals).
It’s L.A. market week, and part of my job involves walking the trade show floors and scoping out the new spring clothes and accessories…I know, life is hard. Here are a few of my personal faves:
I’m totally mad about new L.A. designer Emily Factor’s digitally manipulated photo prints of succulents… can you believe this is only her second season solo? (She graduated from Central Saint Martin’s in London and worked under Zandra Rhodes for a bit, so she’s obviously been trained well).
She was wearing these bracelets from ’70s jewelry label Alex and Lee… they accessorized her presentation last week (which I sadly missed). Lucky girl!
The perfect weekender, courtesy of new bag brand Allibelle… the two designers used to work for Calvin Klein, so it’s not really surprising they should have the effortlessly sleek thing down.
I also really dug their bucket bag in grey and tan leather.
All of that fluorescent tubing? It glows in the dark, my friends! The designer is Gilda Grey from Echo Park, and I will most definitely be picking up a few of these before next year’s Coachella.
Brooklyn-based designer Lisa Levine has returned to jewelrymaking after taking a few seasons off to study alternative healing. Her sales rep says this new collection is intended to encourage creative energy in the person that wears it… Um, yes please.
Can’t go wrong with a big stack of diamond bands from Gabriela Artigas… now with black diamonds!
And finally… perhaps my favorite thing from the shows was this doorknocker pendant by All For the Mountain. Everything at their booth was exquisite, but this one just really spoke to me. Although the more that I look at it, the more it’s making me think of the CBS logo…
