Ice Ice Baby

New York has had its first snow and it’s caused massive delays as we struggle to work out transportation alternatives – namely, what do we wear on our feet as we try to go about our normal lives? This morning, the TV news attempted to help, suggesting that boots were a must. Hey, you don’t have to tell me twice! After already taking a tumble last night on the packed-down snow and seeing all the salt on the sidewalk and picturing the damage that can do to soft leather, that was a given.

So.. wear boots to keep your feet dry and warm in the snow and to prevent an embarrassing (and painful) skid on the ice. Okay. That choice is easy.

But, as always, the challenge is how you make it look good. My friend Christina told me last night that she is trying to figure out how to go from work to evening on wintry sidewalks without too many awkward shoe changes and without destroying your normal shoes (and having to walk in those mincing little geisha steps that are so frustrating to the people walking behind you). Do you pretend like there’s no snow and hope you can cab it the whole way, or do you plan for the high probability that you’re going to be on foot?

I think the solution is to accept reality and embrace the ski lounge look as much as possible. A cozy sweater and skinny pants or leggings tucked into boots offsets the clompiness of practical snow boots and is a seasonally-appropriate (and comfortable!!) look, I think. For work, I think the easiest footwear transition is with similar clothes – skinny pants or tights tuck into boots easily and, once at the office, you can slip on a pair of heels.

Still, the biggest struggle – and a topic of discussion among most of my friends – is what boots? I mentioned above that I love the après ski look (probably because I love après ski!), so fluffy ski bunny boots are appealing to me – but the last thing I want to do is to look like Mariah Carey in Aspen. (would you?)














I searched and searched three years ago and settled on these boots (in photo).. I like the fluffiness and dark color (practical for city snow!), but they’re not nearly as waterproof as I’d like, so I’ll either keep searching or try to find some waterproofing solution.. Btw, this is NOT my après ski look (that look is helmet flattened braids, red cheeks, and ski clothes).. I consider this look more citified ski lodge and hopefully not furry woodland creature or Lord of the Rings character.. (Another awful photo, I know.. BUT, please note, different pose and a smile! I listen!)














As I was walking back to my office around lunchtime today, I ran into my friend Emily who had a great pair of boots – lace-ups that are fluffy at the top and rubber at the bottom – sort of après meets LL Bean’s duck boots.. a little feminine without looking drag queen .. and practical! (and silly me – I forgot to ask her who made them!!) Looking at what friends have suggested/tried: Michele mentioned some of the new Timberlands, Simi had Moon Boots (very cute, though white needed maintenance), and Lovey had wedge heeled Gucci boots (look great, not waterproof).

I found a few other pairs on-line, but the choices are really limited: super sporty (fine, but uninspiring), UGGS (not waterproof and hideous if you pick the wrong style, though I will admit that my boots are UGGS), fur boots (not practical, think wet dog on your feet), and moccasins (think wet cow..?). Here are a few I found that have an appealling style/practicality ratio. (The grey patent Stella McCartney boots with the wedge would be great in the rain, I bet.. not snow so much, though..)


But really, I think I'm just going to buy a can of Scotchguard...

Supersize Deluxe

Is the fashion industry trying to pull a frog in boiling water trick on us? I'd sort of suspected that prices were rising gradually over the past few years. I even remember a few years ago my friend Janice asking "remember when we thought that $800 was really expensive for a bag?" Well, $800 IS actually really expensive for a bag - but you are not going to find anything designer under $1,000 nowadays - even in a recession!! And probably not even on sale!!! What's going on here? Are they offering us more for our money? Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes all have moved some of their manufacturing to China, India, and Mauritius where labor is cheaper, so what's the deal?

Well, in my unscientific study, surveying my own purchases made over the years, I can say: yes, they are offering us more. We're being supersized! Bags have noticeably grown bigger - what used to be my work bag size is now my going out bag size (bag on left)


















.. and has anyone noticed heel height? I think that they are rising in step with prices.

I picked a few shoes to illustrate this argument.. they are arranged in chronological order of purchase, from left to right. Amusingly, I had thought that shoes on the left (Sigerson Morrison sling backs) were the perfect pair of heels - today, I consider them flats! And, aside from the two strappy pairs, I purchased them with work wardrobe in mind (though I admit that the furthest right pair has occasionally defeated me and I now bring a back-up pair of shoes when I wear them.)






Where can we go from here? How much higher can we get? My nephew, Soren, told me over the summer that the pair of wedge heel sandals that I was wearing were heels not shoes, since they are 80% heel. Can we go to 90%? 95%??

Well, here's one suggestion for the next direction from my sister-in-law, Erika (and Soren's mom).. They're Alexander McQueen's "lobster claw" heels.



Prepare yourselves!

Blurring the high/low line

Excuse me, but is this Jimmy Choo for H&M or Jimmy Choo at Saks? Believe it or not, these boots are still priced at ca $700. Do discount bins appeal to luxury goods shoppers? Give me 80% off and I'll pick through a bin. 30% doesn't justify making the boots look sad.

I actually prefer H&M's environment - I stopped by the 5th Ave store Monday after the Jimmy Choo launch at 10am and it was fun. Granted, the lines hadn't started yet (my friend Lovey told me that the line to get a wristband to get in the store started at 4am the day of the launch) but it felt like an event. I didn't get anything (I need more shoes like a hole in the head) and the quality definitely wasn't comparable to regular Jimmy Choo's, but at $90-100, the trade-off seems fair.

The Struggle to Look Effortless

It's one of life's ironies that the "thrown together" look is anything but. It's the result of research, contemplation, and unflinching critical analysis. A t-shirt and jeans may seem so easy - it's the global uniform, right? But what t-shirt? Which jeans? Getting it right takes some thought, but it makes all the difference between looking like you don't care but are so effortlessly chic you make even the basics look like a million bucks, and looking like you've just given up.

Aside from a couple Hache t-shirts I got last year, I haven't really bought new t-shirts, so when I went through what I have, I realized how much proportions have changed. My shirts all seem too fitted, too short, too high necked.. great for the boot cut jeans I used to wear, but skinny jeans call for a longer shirt with a drapier cut. The Hache ones are great - but they're white, I can't wear them ALL the time.

So, I did a surgical strike at Saks and tried on every t-shirt on the 5th ("Contemporary") floor. 3 winners: all from Alexander Wang's bridge line (T) and not on sale (naturally). But they weren't expensive to start with and now I don't have to search anymore, so a relative bargain!

Here's my outfit - with and without the jacket. (and no smile, sorry, those photos came out blurry)

That necklace, by the way, was from one of the designers at the Edge NYC designer market on Bleecker St. It's closing at the end of December and the designers told me there would be big sales, so might be worth checking out.

To see if I could recommend another t-shirt source to you all, I took a little detour today by J Crew, Banana Republic, and Urban Outfitters. Urban Outfitters had a tank top for $14, which could be a real steal (I didn't try it on, so can't comment on fit), and J Crew had these "Art Tees", which were kind of a very girly update to Christmas Sweaters, which I'd thought were on the endangered list. (See blog post from last year). Not extinct, just evolved, I guess. But not the attitude I was looking for. I've had luck at American Apparel, but didn't make it this time.

And here's my organized drawer. Just for fun, I'll show you my sock drawer too. Yes, it's come to this. I'm not only organizing my sock drawer, but also writing about it... :)



And on a completely different topic... separated at birth?

The fall of the Berlin Wall (and why you should wear a hat)

When it's cold outside and you are at world-changing events (such as at the Berlin Wall on Nov 9, 1989 after it was announced that East Germans could travel freely and no one knew what was going to happen, but at the Wall it was a massive happy party and you met all kinds of people), wear a good hat.

Sure you should also bring a camera and, if you're going to climb around much, avoid a pencil skirt, but a good hat is important. You'll stand out in the crowd (my friend Annie and I met loads of people because of our hats) and you will be photographed (as you can see), and your head will be warm. And wouldn't it have been tragic if I were wearing a crummy old baseball hat and bad clothes? Instead, I wore a nice coat and a hat that I'd bought from a cute little shop in Charlottenburg, Berlin, and I was quite happy. If you can count, you'll also notice that I was a very precocious 9 year old... ;)

I spent a lot of time at Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate after the November 9 announcement, and took a bunch of photos. It still is one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had, seeing the symbolic removal of the wall dividing the two parts of Berlin (though the election and reunification were still a year or so away). The East German soldiers seemed intimidating at first, but they gave us pieces of the wall from their side. In case you're interested in some other photos from that period, I've attached a few more...

Going flat out.. (Going out flat?)

Style and comfort are not always incompatible, it just requires some forethought to get them both right.. and maybe a looser definition of comfort.

One of the things that stumps me most in trying to get the style/comfort ratio right is shoes. I wear heels most of the time since I think most outfits look better with heels. And I've loosened my definition of comfort enough so I can wear them at a 12-18 hour stretch and can avoid this quandary most of the time. But, just as I shouldn't eat really spicy food at every meal, I also shouldn't always wear heels. Sometimes your body needs a break from pain. Even if it tastes good..or looks good.

I wrote a few weeks ago that I didn't like brogues. My friend Doreen asked how I could not like that classic Katherine Hepburn menswear look? Well, that's a fair question and this post comes from my thinking about it. I do like that Hepburn/Marlene Dietrich look and oxfords are so much better than so many of the other flat shoes I see women wearing (running shoes, UGG boots, crocs, slippers, yes, slippers!!..on Park Ave!!! I mean, is life that bad that you've just given up?) But anyhow, I still think that those long loose trousers look so much better with a high heel..your legs look endless. And, as any good tailor will tell you, you can't hem a pair of pants for both a flat shoe and a 4" heel. You either walk on the hem or look like you're preparing for a flood. So, do you want to tell the tailor to hem short and commit to stumpy wide legs when you can have willowy long ones? Not me.. (By the way, I do think that there is a fantastic opportunity for a new kind of adjustable cuff so you can wear the same pants with heels or flats. Does this exist? It should!!)

I do think that oxfords look cute with short skirts, maybe even with a menswear styled jacket with strong shoulders too.. Wait a minute, I have worn that exact outfit! That was one of my first work outfits I bought myself after college.. ummm.. must have been 5 years ago.. yeah, that's riiight... So here we have another instance of the "no trend left behind" trend. It must be so easy to be a trend setter. Well, folks - short-sleeved turtlenecks, A-line mini skirts, and square toed, lace-up chunky heels. Think "early Friends". Buy them now and wear them first. I don't know.. Maybe in 2 weeks, I'll have a "Eureka!" moment when I visualize that oxfords are the missing element from my wardrobe and I'll run out and buy them in some obsessive frenzy. But for the moment, I'm letting that trend pass.

But, as I said, I do feel like my body needs a break from heels now and then. Since I find ballerinas torture to walk in for more than a couple hours and I'm just not a sneaker kind of girl unless I'm doing a sport, my solution is boots. So, here are two examples below. Both totally comfortable solutions that will let me run around all day Saturday to do whatever I need to do and look presentable enough to meet for early drinks. Or even stay out all night if the momentum is there...


oh, and I'm smiling, as per reader request... :)

That's pants

This year when I was looking through magazines and at fashion shows, one of the looks I was really drawn to was high waisted, somewhat bell-shaped trousers. I've seen that silhouette in skirts and dresses for a few seasons, but the pants were something new. A bit more relaxed, modern, more something...So I was really excited to see that my friend Jane had some great ones at her sample sale.

But what I noticed as I was getting dressed for work one morning this week is that the proportions are so different from what I've been wearing recently, I had to rethink what to wear on top. For skinny pants (esp really skinny ones), loose and long is my way to go, but that doesn't work if the narrow waist is the only thing that prevents you from looking fat. Don't want to cover that up! And for the paper bag waist pants, anything with much detail just looked too busy and fussy. I might get more adventurous as I work my way through my closet and I've seen some great looks in magazines that might influence me. But for real life, for me now, I am keeping things simple. White shirt, long cardigan and sparkly necklace (and heels), so i don't look too much like Madonna in the "Who's that girl" era.

For me, this cut of pants works best if I keep it feminine (keep the waist uncluttered and wear heels). Otherwise, it's Charlie Chaplin, or just a dumpy pantsuit. The volume around the hips does make them tricky - but they're super-comfortable, and if you get it right, there's a very careless "now" vibe that reads as slouchy , not schlumpy. Well, the trousers in the middle photo are not slouchy at all, but they're a play on that bell shape so the proportions are similar.

But it's not just new trousers that I'm excited about. I've been going on about tights and I really like the contrast of a military style jacket and short skirt. And I still think short skirts and dresses look so great with short swingy coats - or a cape. Capes are really comfortable over jackets, actually, as there's a bit more room in the arm, but I find that the fabric gets a bit caught up if you're wearing a purse with a shorter strap. So I like the longer, cross the body kind of strap. I like that anyway, especially as, no matter how many times I try to unload non-essentials from my purse, it still seems to weigh a ton.



Btw, I bet it is not hard for you to guess which photos are from right after my haircut! :) Still amateur photography, but at least my hair looks good! Thanks Ellen!

Extremities

I think that the best way to deal with temptation is to give in just a little bit. If you don't have a pressure valve to let off steam, then it will keep building until it explodes. But just a little bit of giving into temptation isn't really giving in, it's just keeping things healthy.

At the moment, I am very tempted to go shopping for cold weather clothes. But I am trying not to buy any fall stuff until my friend Jane's sale. Her sale is second only to Christmas in the thrill and anticipation that I feel when I walk into her showroom. And it's twice a year!! And coming up soon!!! (btw, let me know if you want to go.) And I don't want to feel constrained by having bought full priced clothes which have already cut into my budget.

So, I opened my pressure valve a teeny bit and about $40 escaped (I meant it to be about $10, but my pressure valve isn't very subtle). And for that $40, I got 5 new bottles of nail polish in new colors - purple, mauve, brown-ish, matte brown/gray, and sparkly blue. (more '90s!! remember Hard Candy? And yet, here I am doing it again...but I like it!)

I like all of them, actually, and am really inspired right now to play around with color, pattern and texture in tights, nail polish - and maybe soon gloves and hats, which I find myself more interested in this year. I think it's because designers are producing more creative ideas for extremities (legs, fingers, hands, well, ok, your head is not an extremity) because these accessories are cheap(er) ways of getting a new look. Nail polish definitely is, anyway.

So, there you go. All bought yesterday, so available in stores, in case you like any of them.

Btw, the other best way to deal with temptation is to give in and fully enjoy it.

Last Emperor Strikes Back

The first day there's a bit of chill in the air, my heart rate picks up a beat and I get this back to school feeling of wanting to step up my energy level, get into a new routine (take lessons in something, exercise more)... I finally get to wear my new boots, my skinny jeans, and to play around with colored and patterned tights and scarves that are too hot and too much bother in the summertime...
(photos - how I make a summer wool suit work for fall, and one of my Copenhagen purchases - two-toned tights from Sneaky Fox worn with summer wool black dress).


And then my stomach drops like I just hit a dip in the road that I hadn't expected and I realize.. gulp.. time for the seasonal closet rehaul. I know it sounds like nothing, but there's something a bit accusatory when your doorman tells you there's too much dry cleaning for you to take up in the elevator with you in 6 trips. All those clothes - my clothes - hidden away for the season have now come back home, reminding me that.. yep.. there are a lot of them. And it's a feat of engineering and some sacrifice to fit them back into my closet. It's hard to face. The big bill doesn't help, either.. Gulp.

Despite all my gulping as I paid that bill this evening, I still was hungry, so I made dinner and watched Valentino, the Last Emperor, a movie I'd missed in theaters because I was having too much fun at happy hour with Michelle to make it. It's one of those great movies where you laugh at the outsized personalities and "out of touch-ness" of prima donnas (or primo huomos?). (Example: hating an entire museum because of one stair rail that reminds him of Macy's).. But it pulled me away from feeling a little self destructive guilt (self destructive because I'm not going to change the behavior that leads to the guilt because the rest of the time that behavior makes me really happy). And the movie reminded me again of why I have all those clothes in the first place. Because it's my creative outlet and because they're beautiful (or at least, I think they are) and if I have a choice, I want my life to be beautiful too. There may be more important things in life, but not THAT many, really. Aesthetics are far too underrated.

So, as a tribute to the reminder that Valentino gave me, I am accepting the fact that I have a whole lot of purses hanging in my foyer and am now considering that my decor (and I added a tiny little Valentino clutch). Rationalization is another of my creative outlets...

I'm alive (and so's the blog)

I have a bunch of ideas that I want to write about, but they pretty much all require my photos as illustration and I'm getting a bit tired of editing the wonkiness out of my bathroom mirror. (You friends who've been in my apartment know what I mean - you can make your face look like Eric Stoltz in The Mask then like a Steve Madden ad depending on the angle. Kind of cool analog effect, but not appropriate for this blog, really.. )

Anyhow, I'm writing with other photo illustrations while I work that angle out, and because I don't have a theme will be a bit more random than usual...

So, since I have lots of things I'm dying to show that I like, I'm going to write about things I don't like from NY fashion week, Oktoberfest and other stuff I've done in between. But also wanted to mention some things that I do like very much! (that doesn't require any of my photography - all images from style.com, btw...)

First show, first model - bowl cut. I don't like it (though the clothes were very nice). Maybe models, because they look like the skinniest 10 year old boys you've ever seen, can kind of pull it off, but no, I don't see this working in the mainstream. And because it's so obviously now, it also seems a bit lemming-ish and not very reflective of an individual style to me. Maybe I just don't get it, but I don't. So there you go...

Men's brogue-style shoes for women. Well, naturally, they don't have high heels, so it's like a foreign language to me, but they add further support to my suspicion that there's a "no trend left behind" campaign going on, because dig through old Vogue/Elle/Bazaars from 15 years ago and what you haven't seen people promoting as cool yet, you will. I'm still waiting for full-on Laura Ashley floral & petticoat to come back topped by a silly hat - I've already seen the high necked Victorian blouse in NY and Copenhagen (and have to say, it looked pretty cool the way I saw it worn - with high waisted, bell-shaped trousers.) But if the original 90210 (cropped t-shirt and paper bag waists and all) is being promoted as a fashion source (which I have read), guard your wallets.. A fool and his/her money, etc etc...

I saw all kinds of horrible new acid/stone wash jeans treatments in Germany, but that's such an easy target. I also saw a leopard print dirndl, which is just bad bad.. to paraphrase something I read a while ago, sometimes you don't want a variation on the theme, you want the theme. Guys get this right - I saw no '80s hair band influenced lederhosen. Just suede like it ought to be. Way to go, guys!!

Well, I hate to end on a negative note, so will mention something that I realized I like a lot as I was watching the fashion shows (aside from Matthew Ames' show, from which I've already mentally purchased about 4 things). Pants. Or trousers, but you know what I mean. I've seen some flowy pants and there's something about that look that just draws my eye. Maybe because there are so many dresses, shorts, minis, etc, in the show (and in my closet as well)... I don't know, but I like it.

My adventures in cool COS and descent into Top Shop hell

I was in London for a few days and had lunch with a friend near Oxford Street. Lunch was wonderful, it was great to catch up, the sun was shining.. so, feeling happy and with a couple hours to wander around before meeting my next group of wonderful friends, I wandered around the neighborhood and into one of my favorite London stores, Liberty.

Sadly I missed the sale, but I found a shiny purple Stella McCartney shoulder bag that was a whole lot lighter than the leather bag that was currently wearing a groove into my shoulder. It wasn't my bag's fault, really, I had a desert trek ration of water, 8 lipsticks, a kindle, 2 phones (work & play), not to mention the 20 pounds in my wallet (and by that, I mean the physical weight of those coins, not their value!!), plus the random stuff that just sits in the bottom of bags. Unfortunately, however, this bag was GBP 430 or so, which translates to ca US$10,000 (roughly) and that just seemed a bit too expensive for a vinyl bag that was essentially a more '80s chic version of a le Sports Sac. (Stella doesn't do leather, as I'm sure you all know, so neither do her bags).

That didn't mean I didn't want it, though. I picked it up a few times, did the math again, and decided to run out of the store (I left it there! - no Winona Ryder, me!).

After I stopped running, I found myself right at a store called COS. They don't have this brand in NY, but I'd just read H&M's annual report (yes, I really did.. ) and was curious to see what H&M's more upscale sister was about. I also thought there might be a cheaper vinyl bag there for a fraction of the Stella bag's cost.

No such luck, but there were plenty of other things that caught my eye...I couldn't handle the structured wool dresses (too scratchy - I was a bit sunburned from the extended sunny pub afternoon the day before).. But there were some very chic basic pieces that looked much more expensive than the price tag would suggest. I was pleased - especially as there is no COS in New York, so I won't see many other people wearing the same stuff. I picked up a couple things for myself (see photo) and for others, too... (btw, the shirt is pretty simple, but not quite as plain as it looks in this terrible photo.) The skirt looks good with my boots, too..


Inspired by my success at a moderately priced fashion store, I decided I'd brave Top Shop. Now, I have been a Top Shop skeptic. I don't believe the hype - and it escalated to pretty high craziness levels when they opened a branch in New York.

Sure, it's fine if you're in high school and want to spend the change you made waiting tables on a new shirt, but magazines, blogs, etc, are trying to make this out as real fashion. To my eye, the clothes look cheap, the racks are a disaster, and, if you survive the endless lines to the fitting room and then again at the cash register, and actually make it out of the store with you and your purchase intact, then congratulations!! you now look like every other tragic fashion victim in London (and now NY). No thanks!!

But, as I said, I was willing to concede I'd been wrong - especially if they had a cool bag along the lines of that Stella one or some good cheap t-shirts with a bit of an edge.

Uh.. no... What I did find, however, was great photographic documentation of why I was right about Top Shop in the first place. Which I present to you now...

Exhibit 1: (main photo above)

Exhibit 2: fitting room line


Exhibit 3: for clothes like this


Exhibit 4: And this


Now, in my view, this jacket looked like one of those cheap tops made originally to be sold for $30 in some street market stall and that you can now pick up at Goodwill for $5. Why pay $250 for that?? In my eyes, it was proof of the "Top Shop is fashion" hoax..

And yet.. 2 days after my Top Shop visit, a daily fashion blog (Refinery 29) featured it as one of their "Top 5 trends to take home".


Are they kidding?? or are they part of the hoax? Did they not see it in person? Do you have to promote Top Shop to get any advertiser who uses Kate Moss? Am I just missing something really big here? I don't get it, i just really don't get it...

If one of you is a Top Shop expert and wants to show me how it works, I'll give it a try. But I'm not going back on my own...

Next one will be about the fairy tale shopping in wonderful Copenhagen.

Packin' Heat

I bet that if you were to ask most people to list things they disliked to do, right up there with public speaking and cleaning, would be packing.

I have seen friends absolutely dread packing and put it off as late as they can and others who take 10 minutes to throw stuff in a bag for a 2 week trip (grrrr), but I start to plan at least a week ahead, analyzing the potential weather at my destination, possible activities and the clothes they would require; what will wrinkle, what will travel well, and what I'll simply feel like wearing.

On Thursday, (tonight, in fact, I wrote this earlier this week), I'm leaving for London, then Copenhagen for about 10 days and, aside from the boots I just bought and wrote about, haven't yet worked out what I'll bring. You'd think it would be easy. After all, I live in New York, couldn't I just wear the same thing I wear here?? And the answer is "yes", but since my choices will be limited to what I can carry, I want to think it through and wear the RIGHT same thing I wear here.

So, I decided to come up with a system for the perfect packing wardrobe - in this case, for stylish cities in Northern Europe in late summer. Breaking down a wardrobe to basic elements should be useful for me for this trip and hopefully for future packing as well. (As an FYI, I plan to check in my bag. When I flew to Germany a month ago, I was told that the weight limit for carry on is 7kg. Translated into packing terms, that's a suitcase, a pair of shoes, and toothpaste. So I'm not even going to pretend!)

So, the elements of my wardrobe...

4 daytime tops: something cool, stylish, comfortable and versatile, so not basic t-shirts, but nothing overdone, either... white's a little risky for travel, but I like them and it is summer after all... Actually, it IS summer, so make that 5 or 6 tops - to be fresher..

2 layers (jacket & sweater)

1 belt to make the tops more interesting and give more wardrobe options.

2 scarves (1 pashmina, which is nicer than an airplane blanket for the flight, 1 lighter scarf)

4 bottoms: 2 pairs of skinny pants (one black, one probably jeans), mini skirt, dressy shorts, plus a pair of leggings to fly in (since they allow me to do contortions in the seat so I can sleep comfortably..ish).

1 day dress (or two)

2 dressier night time options: a top that will go with the pants/skirt/shorts I've packed and a dress, or maybe a jumpsuit, or both.

4 pairs of shoes: my boots, high heels, flat sandals I can walk around in, and another pair of flats, probably my sneaker/ballerinas. Also a blister stick - they are amazing!!

Bathing suit? Well, it doesn't take up much room and I just read you can swim in Copenhagen. Will I? don't know, doubt it, but definitely sunscreen and sunglasses, in any case..

Pyjamas, underwear, toiletries (I have a pre-packed bag of mini sizes of pretty much everything), a hairdryer, adaptor cords, chargers (for iphone/ipod, work phone, kindle, camera.. when are they going to do universal adaptors again???), noise reduction earphones, spare toothbrush/paste, lip balm and moisturizer to carry on as it's an overnight flight there, passport and left over foreign currency from my last trip, and I'm good to go! Whew!! If I were staying in a hotel, I'd also bring my portable ipod speakers and a couple decks of cards, but no need if I'm staying at a friend's place.

So, here are my dressed-up and dressed-down combinations of these pieces. (And yes, a lot of what's different is shoes.. but shoes are important!!)

Dressed up:

and yes.. I realize I am looking tired and my hair is a mess! At some point, I may learn Photoshop and then not a hair will be out of place! hah - right!!)

Dressed down (some are a little dressy):

























PS: Update.. As I mentioned above, I wrote this a few days ago and I'm about to leave for the airport in a few minutes. So, did this systematic planning work? Well, mostly. Packing was really easy because I already knew what I wanted to bring. But I did leave a couple key things at home (the new boots and iPod - rats! system derailed because I didn't have a carry-on plan!!) so I dashed back during lunch to get them. Everything fits nicely into my bags - but they weigh a darn ton!!!)

Obsessed Until Possessed

Rapid onset obsession:

I don't know how it happened, exactly. I was at work, reading research and earnings reports, chatting to clients and colleagues, but my mind kept going back to those boots. And as I kept trying to focus my mind back on work, each time this little feeling built: "I HAVE to have those boots!". Everything about them was so right and all the other boots just weren't. Nothing else was going to equal them.

Hours later, I'm emailing photos to a friend, then taking a detour on the way home through Saks "just to look", and finally changing course and walking to 8th Ave for the subway down to Iris, the shop that emailed me about those boots in the first place.

How did I end up from being (relatively) good about saving money to spending a chunk on one pair of boots on the hottest day of the summer? What happened in my head, my chemistry that changed me from being completely satisfied with what I have at home (even thinking it's too much) to being distracted, really almost obsessed, and giving in to that little tantrum-throwing 3 year old in my head until I walked out the store with them, tried them on at home and thought: "yup, these are AWESOME!!"..?

I wish I knew. I could make a fortune bottling it...

The boots, by the way, are biker boots. And I think the biker-ness of them has something to do with the timing of this fixation (if not the fixation itself) since motorcycles have come up in a number of conversations recently. I don't have a motorcycle, but have always kind of wanted one (in the same way I have always kind of wanted to sky dive). I think Freud called that "Death Wish". But I'm also a little bit accident prone and am not ready to call it a day yet, so this is my compromise that keeps me alive.

In any case, I think my tantrum throwing 3 year old has great taste. These boots are totally my style and, as another indication of mid '90s retro fashion, remind me of the biker boots I used to clomp around in when I first moved to New York (though a lot nicer). If I see you on a day when the temperature is under 70 degrees, you will see me wear them. And this is probably how...

Follow up on Trendy Frogs

A lot of you wrote me back and pointed to some examples of high profile frog design or historical reference. I have to admit - there's much more to this trend than I thought! And some of you even pointed to the next one on the horizon...

Hilary mentioned that the frogs reminded her of the Marc Jacob's bags (they do!) And Janet commented that "Anne Hathaway graced the cover of New York Magazine's Summer Issue with - guess what? - a frog on her shoulder! But this frog was not sporting a crown. (It must have been one of those ordinary "non-trendy" amphibians".

I noticed that Marc Jacobs' bags also did not have crowned frogs, so it could be that the non-crowned frogs are just as cool as the crowned ones in the US, which has never had a monarchy...?



The historical context comes from daphneduke: "Frogs were a big deal about 60 years ago too. Everything is cyclical. E v e r t h i n g .....! And shortly after, after was OWLS. Go figure..."

So, are we in for owls next? Maybe.. I like owls and found a whole owl "look" in Polyvore.com (and I like it!)



















I also like octopuses. They seem to be very popular with jewelry designers, industrial designers (USB ports), and artists, not to mention kids costume makers.. will this trend expand and move to grown-up clothes?




















Or.. Erika (who found the original frog trend poster) suggests maybe that it will be unicorns, especially the "super tough, rainbow-vomiting" variety...

Trend!

What's the hot trend sensation rockin' the nation?

Frogs! Yes, frogs - and I know what you're thinking.. What?? But yes. And it isn't just any old frog - but frogs with crowns!! Yes! Uncrowned frogs are decidedly NOT trendy. Very common. One must keep up the family, you know...

But crowned frogs...!! Now, that's a different story!!

That's an odd choice!, you might say. And how do I know they are trendy?, you may ask.. Well, I know that they are because I read it on a sign - and I even took a picture to prove it. Look!

Now, you may also say that frogs wearing crowns is kind of a silly trend and what nation am I referring to anyway? And I may well agree with you (I do, actually). But I can also tell you that it is, in fact, very much a trend.. a huge one, at least in the part of Germany that I was in. (Ok, you say, Germany explains part of it). Frogs are EVERYWHERE (see the photos...)

And, if I get a bit reflective, I might start to think that maybe there are other trends that make about as much sense as crowned frogs. Tiny hats that won't stay on your head without loads of pins? Headbands with big bows if you're older than 11? Crocs anywhere but in the water? $200+ ripped jeans (Come on..Ripped jeans? really?? again???)

If you read that something is a trend, does that make it so? Is Katie Holmes a style icon just because they tell us she is? Or, for a slightly more updated reference, Emma Watson? Cute and all, but fashion star? hmmm..

Trends are tricky. They'll invariably make us squirm in future years when we see photos of ourselves decked out in some outdated trend du jour, (don't I know it!!!) but we fall for it (not always, but sometimes) because we're told it's so cool and see all these photos of edgy actor/rocker/artist/models/designer/stylists who actually do look cool. So, we stick our toes in the water and very often dive in. Multiple times, some of us.

Some trends stick around for a bit (e.g. shorts for going out, gladiator sandals, thigh high boots, over the knee socks), while some are best left to people who are only of the moment anyway. And sometimes there's nothing.. poof! .. and you just need to realize that .. oops! the emperor really is just naked.

Anti-Flirt

My sister-in-law, Erika, just sent me her photos from Germany (awesome trip, awesome photos) and one of them was of a store called Anti-Flirt, which ironically had a lot of very revealing clothing in the window. If the goal was to be actively NOT flirty, you'd think they'd got it all wrong.

But then I walked by this store window in New York today and thought - well, very revealing clothing might very well be anti-flirty. Aside from the old adage that an air of mystery is seductive, these outfits (after I recovered from the shock and disbelief that someone would actually produce them for sale) would make me want to run!

Sometimes it's very easy to keep your wallet in your pocketbook...

Shoulder pads: Good or Bad?

I've been a bit short of inspiration
being focused on my upcoming vacation.
But today as I headed back home
I decided to write this post as a poem.

To keep from thoughts of cabs crashing
I let my mind wander to fashion,
more specifically if pix of Jacko's jackets,
with his sparkled and spangly epaulets,
might spur mass mania for big shoulders?
Will that look leave people cold, or
will we go even more '80s
and start seeing more linebacker ladies?

I like the return of the legging
but will not take my jeans in for pegging.
My hiking pants are pegged - they look ugly
And so high waisted, they're not even snuggly!
Aargh, '80s, I think I'll avoid it,
that topic is over-exploited!

Ah well, I'd better start packing.
I'd hate to find vital things lacking.
I'm off to a wedding in Deutschland
and want to make sure I'm set for what's planned.
I'm back soon - it's a short time I'm staying.
So adieu, adios, and auf Wiedersehen!

PS, I wrote this in a snap,
I realize the rythm is cr*p...

Yes, but is it art?

I was recently out with a group of friends talking about art. I think it was at the GenArt benefit party which actually had little to do with art, but a lot to do with reality TV. And that, of course, has little to do with reality or art but a lot to do with exaggeration and artificiality. Very Mannerist. Are you bored with my pretentiousness? Well, it's just the first paragraph.. There's more..

We talked about TV, and how distracting all the cameras were, but also about "getting" art and whether appreciation of art was democratic. (I say no and yes: No, because a lot of modern art requires a knowledge of context, theory and other references to appreciate, but Yes, because a lot of that knowledge is available to anyone who makes the time and effort to open their minds and acquire it.) Of course, artistic talent and skill and a work's impact are anything but democratic and you should judge what you like or don't like, but your judgement is more valid if you actually know what you're talking about. I may be biased, as I majored in Art History and like to think it left me with something more than the best looking text books among my friends.

And believe it or not, these thoughts are in my head because of Madonna. And a stranger in pastel green. But I'll start with Madonna.

In my first post (and at least once or twice since then), I quoted Diana Vreeland's preference for bad taste over no taste. I'm pretty sure she didn't mean any old bad taste like Hummers, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey (though I suppose they also reflect a lack of taste). I think she meant bad taste from someone who knowingly takes a leap outside the established boundaries of what is tasteful. And, while this is a very pop culture example, I kind of think Madonna made that leap (hop?) in her maligned Louis Vuitton "rabbit ear" outfit. Personally, I read that look as the girl on Fragonard's "Swing" dressed for a night clubbing (also very Mannerist), but it does unfortunately come a bit close to looking like one of those "Sexy Pirate Wench" costumes you get at Ricky's for Halloween, which is probably why NY Post said she looked like a medieval dominatrix with rabbit ears. (Medieval, though? That's a few centuries off.)

I wouldn't really have paid it more than a couple minute's attention if it hadn't been mentioned in a NY Times article about irony and whether women older than 50 are still allowed to express it in fashion. Silly question really, why shouldn't they? Though I'd prefer expression not to be limited to irony.

But I would like that expression to be thoughtful. Not every step outside good taste has equal merit. Some bad taste challenges stodgy perceptions that deserve it, while other bad taste comes from not really thinking, I believe (i.e., the Mariah Carey, Celine Dion kind of taste). And falling along those lines is the stranger in the pastel green outfit of embroidered stretch pants, shirt and fuzzy cardigan at the bar after GenArt who, despite otherwise looking like she cared about her appearance, chose pastels, sparkles, and fuzziness. My friends and I tried to come up with reasons for why she might have dressed like that: maybe she's a newscaster from a small city and dressed from the wardrobe department? Maybe her inspiration for ironic retro is very recent? Or maybe there was no excuse and she just liked it. And that's fine. It's a free country. People should feel free to like what they like and not have to pretend they don't. After all, Mariah and Celine sell albums. And people say "realitor" and "Wimbleton". But that doesn't mean that's right. And it doesn't mean they can't do better.

(No offense to friends who like Hummers, Mariah, Celine, or pastel green embroidered outfits. I like you, but not them. Everyone has their weaknesses and I'm sure I must have one too...)

I'm joking, of course. The cut and paste I did of Madonna's Louis Vuitton boots onto the Fragonard Swing involved Elmer's glue and an X-acto knife. I probably should learn a little PhotoShop, at least.