disney

Bathing Cute

Isn’t it funny to think that back in the day this is what bathing suits looked like? It’s no wonder people were afraid of getting into the water and drowning! By the time you pick this sopping mess out of the water, most likely, you’re physically spent! But I have to admit, it is super comfy to run around in. I know a lot of people (especially the tall among us) aren’t crazy about rompers (while looking the best in jumpsuits that inevitably coil around my ankles like an unsolicited set of bangles), but I think rompers are the perfect solution to trying to master ease and comfort. They take no thought- like a dress, and at the same time don’t require the constant attention and shall we say poise a dress entails. I can just bungle around wherever I please. 🙂

Lombard Street

Given the nature of the street, this post is going to make a few winding digressions that reflected my morning walk through the area towards Lombard Street and eventually Fisherman’s Wharf:

1. The chocolate motherland. This was both so exciting and totally jarring. Downtown Disney has a matching structure, which I did not realize paid homage to this megalith. Thus, it was like going home getting a sea salt caramel hot chocolate 1,000 miles away, but realizing that Disney and Ghiradelli’s love child was no more than just that, a child, of Ghirardelli Square was a big surprise.

2. With the on-going housing crisis in San Francisco, now is probably not the time to get choosy, but when I saw this place, shadowed by a noble birch (haha I have no idea what kind of tree it is), a modern cousin (and I would argue first cousin) of the tree house tucked at the top of hill. In it I could not help but see my future castle, a dominion unmatched! Too bad I have student loans and an unpaid internship…

3. An outfit reflection: beret in, socks out. Berets have been on the Vogue radar for a bit (trumping beanies). What aren’t on the radar are orthopedic shoes, so I would seriously suggest not wearing off-white socks with off-white platform shoes (what was I thinking). Also, I have never really done a scarf with strapless before, but when tied like a girl scout kerchief, it kind of looks like straps and it can make for a cool silhouette.

My April Eccentric Glamour link-up is open through the 4th here, please drop by and add your link!

Sportif

Fresh out of fashion week, it seems like clothes were continuing with casually baggy elegance. In my opinion, it’s Katherine Hepburn meets the modern era– the longer look, casually sporty, nearly androgynous (just short of Stockholm). To set the mood, I picked “Victory Bar” this 1940’s-esque once-hangout to denizens of sweaty football lovers (or so I imagine) in downtown South Bend. It’s not my most confident pairing, as there’s only so long and flowing you can look at 5’5 without beginning to look like a set of drapes. Then again, with the Sound of Music celebrating its 50th, that might not be so bad?

Tuppence a Bag

Goodbye, old England! The memories I made on this trip will remain as sentimental and nostalgic to me as an aged bird woman on the steps of St. Paul’s, reminding us that sometimes the frivolous expenses turn out to be the most meaningful. I have been blessed by this trip and the opportunities it has presented. Thank you for reading along and sharing those adventures with me. ❤ Outfit Details: Hat: vintage from Venice (shown here, Sweater: GAP, Jacket: Barbour, Scarf: Pashmina (bought off the street in New York), Skirt: vintage, Tights: H&M, Shoes: Tommy Hilfiger, Bag: Ba&sh

Fun Fact: The Bird Woman was played by Jane Darwell, the oscar-winning actress who played Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and Ms. Merriweather in Gone With the Wind.

The Woman Tarzan Loved

One of my favorite areas I discovered in London is Shoreditch. What became a constant hangout started by chance; I wanted a bagel shop. Now, London differs from New York in a lot of good ways, but ranking the top of the list as to London’s deficits is this city’s dearth of bagels. However, despite the inability to locate a single bagel shop on any given street, Shoreditch, specifically Brick Lane, hosts a whopping two bagel shops almost next door. Arriving at them is like a pilgrimage. If you start at the beginning of Brick Lane (and don’t take the much more practical route through Bishopsgate), you have to battle through about a half mile of very enthusiastic resteraunters vying to lure you into their pan-Asian establishments. About the time you reach a very sketchy bridge, the restaurants begin to be replaced by bookshops and coffee shops; it’s then you find yourself in the middle of hipsterdom. You must cooly continue past all the overpriced Americanos in their minimalistic surroundings and proceed onwards, but this is the hard part. Hipster central makes way for some of the coolest vintage shops in London. If you want a 15 pence bagel (that’s right, the bagels are criminally cheap), you have to travel onwards. I have to confess I regularly failed.

It was on one such day that I discovered this LOVE Moschino dress. When I arrived home, one of my former Disney colleagues took one look at it and said, “Oh, how cute, it’s Jane!” Hitherto, “safari” had been the only word to come to my mind, but I had to concede she was right. For fun, we started trying to put a “Jane” look together, and somehow, even with my limited wardrobe, I managed to have virtually the whole outfit amongst my belongings.

I wanted to visit the Imperial War Museum before I left and thought this would make the perfect ensemble. Little did I know before arrival, the Imperial War Museum is imperial only in name. Nothing there predates WWI. Then again, if we were being truly authentic, there was no way Jane would be showing her knees. So with that, I hope you enjoy my modern interpretation of Jane Porter.

Outfit Details: Hat, Scarf, Belt, and Umbrella: Vintage, Dress: LOVE Moschino, Shoes: LOFT (old)

Trend on the Horizon: Carpetbags

As exams grow ever nearer, I am regressing to all my favorite books and movies out of fear… but it’s hard not to celebrate when

On December 10th (just in time for Christmas y’all!) Mary Poppins will be released on Blue-Ray (and combo pack and digital HD) for the first time! And I’m wondering if she will usher in a new bag trend:

CARPETBAGS

Seriously, is it just me or am I starting to see needlepoint, jacquard, carpet-esk material everywhere? First it was these:

For some reason all the men in my dreams are named Mr. Stubbs or Mr. Wootton.. probably because I can’t have themmmmm *sob*

Then Zara gave us this: (my pictures are from ebay and if you dare buy this out from under me… I will eat too much pizza crying and there will be no more fashion)

Mary Poppins, needlepoint shoes, Zara jacket? Coincidence you say. But you can’t argue with AGE!

If you have not seen the blog Advanced Style please leave now and go enlighten yourself (but come back now ya’ hear!). Really, it’s the most beautiful and charming collection of pictures taken by Ari Seth Cohen. There are only two stipulations: they subjects are all elderly people and they all have fantastic or quirky or dynamic or intriguing style. So, as I was staring my future in the face the other evening:

This is Ari Seth Cohen’s photo!

That might not be quite a carpet bag… but it’s definitely in the carpet bag family… ~~making it a welcome mat bag?~~ They very next post you can’t deny.

This photo is property of Ari Seth Cohen.

This lovely lady even has her own vintage purse store WITH carpetbags here.

So what do you think? Are carpet bags the next big thing or did they go out with Reconstruction? Let me know what you think, and in the mean time have a jolly holiday!!

Disney came out with copy a few years ago. Notice they don’t show you the bottom of the bag…

In case, you want to get in on them now, they are going for relatively little on Ebay… in the range of 20 to 50 for the cheaper ones.

Fashion: ?

Funky: 7

Fancy: 2

Function: 5

The Clothesline

Style for people blowing in the wind