Imagery for Imagination

I was looking for something to post quickly that would send a shiver of inspiration down my neck and into my fingertips...in order for me to get a bit of creative work done.  I think this should do it...

Happy (working) Sunday!

Design by Jan Showers

Nature vs. Nurture

I have never been the garden girl.  I appreciate a good garden and I adore flowers.  But gardening has never been my thing.  Maybe it's the dirt or the fact that I can kill every green thing that moves into or adjacent to my house.  I think I just want to show up and have it all blooming and perfect kind of like I live at the botanical gardens.

These little spots below are divine.  I could see myself enjoying the butterflies and whatnot there.

Those adirondacks are perfection.  Don't they just melt away your cares by looking at them?

I love Zinnias.  They are amazing.  Love.  Sunflowers are great for about a day until their heads get so big they cannot stand it anymore.  I love a playhouse in the garden.  My friend Melissa had one growing up, and I thought it was pretty normal to have a little house in the garden that was all yours.  That was really NICE and I wish I had an adult garden house now.  Maybe once we plant some roots...(SSM will be tending those due to my inability to get any root-bearing thing to thrive.)

Feeling Blue

Something pretty for Tuesday. You cannot have enough blue jewelry.  It looks great on everyone. 

Irene Neuwirth Lapis and Turquoise Earrings, $8,650. Barney's New York.

Monday Gear

It would be wonderful to face the week head on with a dramatic uniform like those shown below. Alas, it is not comfortable to sit for hours bent over bits of jewelry while wearing sequins (it's been tried).  I will focus on conjugating happy clothes to face the imminent week.

Chloe dress. Net-a-porter. I want to say this comes in around $10 large*.
(*I've been wanting to use that terminology for a while. It sounds so Brooklyn gangster)

Prada Fall 2011. In stores now. Love. It.
I know it doesn't "make sense", but fashion and style do not have to "make sense" to anyone but the person who has assembled the look and finds confidence or reassurance in their efforts.

Stacked

My mother wore bracelets when I was a kid, specific ones everyday.  I would hear them cling together when I would misplace her in a store and she was easily found. 

Suffice it to say I have enjoyed bracelets since I was a child.  I required more and more rubber bracelets, made heaps of friendship bracelets and collected stretchy plastic neon hearts to wear with my swatch watches (multiples please). As a "rebellious" teen I graduated to chains and broken rhinestone necklaces safety-pinned around my arms. Now when the mood strikes me I will choose to stack studded wraps, blingy baubles, gold chains, and animals.

The message is that this is a very personal way to wear jewelry, an easy way to mix and match and get away with some combinations that mean something to only you. It's about the only jewelry you can wear multiples of and get away without looking gaudy or amateur. I know where I got every piece that I wear and what each one means to me.  I hope these photos below inspire your interest and your aesthetic in stacking an arm load of bracelets.

Colors pop against that black and white we love so much.

I love a double watch! 

Bold triple watch move.  Inspiring.

Simple but I love the neon pop against this graphic print.

All silver and stainless is more understated.

I see elephants...

Ooh love the texture of the beads mixed with the other shapes and watch.

Mid-day Vacation

I love a good cafe. Street adjacent.  People watching.  Looking stylish and warm at the same time (easily done with our do-it-yourself scarf guide). There is even a magazine perched on the chair beside her. And a peppermill on the table.  It's a thoughtful spot when they leave you alone with a peppermill. 

More Insane Stripes



It's Monday. Let's admire something pretty...(cue the stripes).

L.O.V.E. these colors - and bold move with the ankle boots.  Again proving nearly any fashion risk works inside the confines of Paris.



Pink and red and striped all over.  Looks like candy.

Right to Bare Arms

My obsessions tend to overlap. It's the same skip in my style record that reminds me to indulge my neuroses and buy lots of stripes, grey sweaters, boots, and several fur vests.

I am sure I have rambled on about the virtues of the vest on this blog before. All I can hope for is that you either haven't heard my rant about vests yet, or that at least these photos (below) are new to your eyes. 

The vest is one of the most versatile pieces you can own (provided you live in a climate that supports versatility...if not, create your own climate indoors that supports vest versatility).  What a layering piece!  It looks incredible over, under, over and under, inbetween, draped over, inside, and nearly solo.  The bottom line is that the fur vest is chic.  And it keeps your arms free for other needs.  The fur vest keeps your heart warm, and warms your heart.  Awwww. 

Excellent use as an accent of color and texture to this parka look. 

Ooh, Tibetan curly lamb.  Love.  So soft.  I have one in black, it's longer, and I sort of look like a giant muppet in it.  But that does not make it less amazing. 

Black fur vest with bare legs, attitude not included (but enhanced by the cigarette smoking).

Fuzzy fur with sleek leather. In Paris of course. Where you can get away with almost any sartorial concoction provided you are within the city.  If foreign you may need to legitimize your style choices with le smoking.  Not that I am condoning that habit, I am just pointing out that it seems to be thematic. And allowed. 

Big vest, chubby vest, tall vest, stripey vest.  A vest for all! 

Ms. Moss wearing lovely gilet and looking perfectly styled.  Although I am sure she threw this on at the last second because of a chill or something.  (more on Kate in a later post.  stay tuned)

Olivia Palermo in a great fur vest, just the right length, color, etc.  Again the owner of another well-curated wardrobe.

Deer Season

'Tis the season to don your apparel.  Except that this deer sweatshirt (am I right, that is a screenprinted sweatshirt?) is part of the whole kitch fashion rugged fall throwback into the woods ironic to be wearing it to fashion week thing. 

I am not a "hater".  I like this (I could do without it being a "sweatshirt" though).  And I like animals.  As a matter of fact I have recently been donning my deer Cowichan sweater all over SoCal.  Possibly in an effort to feel something like Fall as I understand it. 

I haven't written in a while, and I connected to this streetwear picture. I thought I would share.  Although my recommendation is that you set forth to ferret out a vintage piece of woodsy animalia instead of mucking over to your local Outfitters (if you know what I mean, wink wink nudge nudge).