Edwardian Ball 2012

As promised, here are a couple of photos from the Edwardian Ball, which was fabulous as always. My friend Fawn had never attended the ball before, so I fitted her out for the occasion by loaning her my ruffled top from Sequoia and Gita and one of my self-made hats.

All year long I had been intending to create an elaborate costume involving my Marie Antoinette wig, but somehow it just never came together. Instead I recycled this outfit, which is what I wore to our friends' Victorian/steampunk style wedding at the Bohemian Grove back in October. It was pretty good, but not nearly as over the top as it might have been. One would be hard pressed to come up with an outfit that's too elaborate for the Edwardian Ball. In fact I'm certain it would be impossible.

The highlight for me this year was the upstairs level, which hadn't been opened up in past years. Turns out there's a whole other ballroom on top of the main ballroom at the Regency, and it had a bizarre, mysterious vibe like something straight out of a David Lynch film. Any minute I expected to see Isabella Rossellini come out and start singing Blue Velvet.

For more info about this year's ball, click to read what SF Weekly had to say about it, or take a look at this slideshow.

Vest: Lumme Designs (formerly Attila Design)
Dress: from a shop in Copenhagen
Hat: made by me
Boots: John Fluevog

Mod

Yep, I'm totally in love with this little mod dress. There aren't many vastly different variations I can create with it because I think with a dress like this it's better to let it be the star of the outfit. I really like the look of it over solid legwear, which plays up the contrast in the blocks of color. Here, I let the cardigan's straight lines mirror those in the dress and avoided adding any other pattern to the mix. In warmer weather I can see this dress looking great with bare legs and sandals.

This week has had all sorts of excitement, with the Edwardian Ball on Saturday and a couple of Noir City shows during the week, including tonight. Next week I'll share some of the outfits from these events.

Dress: Promod
Cardigan: Max Studio
Pants: Club Monaco
Boots: Ecco



I'll leave you with this pretty photo I shot from our patio a couple weeks ago. We've had a gloriously warm and sunny winter (though sadly, that means we're probably in for a horrible drought this summer), and this was one of those gorgeous, clear nights with a big bright moon.

Gratuitous

No outfit photos for you today, just some gratuitous pictures of adorable canines.

In case you were wondering, Spencer is now up to 70 pounds and stands several inches taller than Georgie. And yes, he still thinks he's small enough to sit in your lap.

A Whole New Look

It was really only a matter of time before I started digging up older outfits, swapping in a couple of items such as these fab new boots and jewelry, and calling it a whole new look. I've actually done this quite a bit lately, partly because I'm at a new job and nobody has seen any of my past outfits anyway, so why not recycle the best ones? And partly because as crazy as it sounds, I actually want to get to work in the mornings and therefore don't linger as long over what I'm going to wear. One of the real benefits of maintaining a daily wear blog for so long is that I can search the archives if I'm pressed for time and come up with an outfit in a snap.

And hey, if you haven't already done so, please consider becoming a backer for fabulous designer Stacy Lomman's fall line. After successfully funding her last Kickstarter campaign, Stacy put on a great runway show for her spring "Biohazard" line, and has since been named a finalist in the 2012 Rising Star Awards. Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, Stacy immediately set to work creating her next collection, called Modern World. Being a huge fan of mod myself, I simply cannot wait to see the new line. The project is more than halfway funded, and every little bit will help Stacy to reach the finish line.

Dress: Aryeh
Jacket: B. Bella
Boots: Brako
Jewelry: Metal Pointu

8 Feet Tall

These shoes make me approximately 8 feet tall. OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I do tower over Mark while wearing them, and that makes me feel like I'm 8 feet tall. I sort of accidentally bought these shoes one day when I went running some errands and stopped into Nordstrom Rack. I say it was accidental because I went in there looking for a duvet cover, but I figured it couldn't hurt to take a look at the shoes, and the next thing you know I find these in my size and I'm trying them on and they look great and they're surprisingly comfortable and they're less than half the original price and... You know how it goes.

They're suede. They're green. They make me 8 feet tall and they feel pretty darn good doing it. There was really no way I was getting out of there without them.

Jacket: thrifted
Tunic: Asos
Pants: Club Monaco
Shoes: Sam Edelman

Restraint

This dress is the last of my Paris purchases, and it has a fun memory to go with it. I'd been out shopping all day and wound up over near the Centre Pompidou, where I stopped at a nearby creperie for a galette and a very large carafe of wine. Feeling warm and merry, I set out towards my hotel and along the way spotted a Promod store that was still open. Tipsy shopping ensued, and I ended up popping into a couple more stores and finding some great gifts in addition to this adorable dress for myself. Surprisingly, while at Promod I limited myself to just this dress and a few basic layering shirts including the one shown here. I tell you this showed remarkable restraint, given how fond I am of Promod and how many other cute, mod style dresses they had on the racks.

A few people commented on these boots when I posted them the other day. They're made by Brako, a Spanish company whose beautiful shoes are designed both for comfort and style. In fact I've made the 3-mile trek to work several times in these already and they're perfect for walking. I found them at a wonderful shoe store here in SF near Union Square, called Nobel Shoes. Brakos seem to be difficult to find this side of the Atlantic even online, so I'm happy to have stumbled upon them in a brick and mortar shop; a shop which incidentally I pass very often on my way to and from work. I expect there may be more Brako shoes in my future.

Dress, shirt: Promod
Boots: Brako
Bracelet, ring: Metal Pointu

Prediction

This was a festive outfit I put together for the last day at work before the holiday break. I loved the way the burgundy cardigan brought out all the rich reds and browns in the floral pattern of the dress. As you may recall, I predicted that this dress would work well with several different color schemes, and so far my prediction is holding; it worked with mustard yellow, and here I've taken it in a more wintry direction with the burgundy and olive green (the tights are olive green, though it's difficult to tell from the photos).

One of my favorite times of the year is almost upon us; it's only a couple of weeks until both the Noir City film festival and the Edwardian Ball. Soon it'll be time to get costumed up and hit the town. You can bet that my fabulous 50's dress will be making an appearance at one of the Noir City shows this year, but as of yet I haven't decided on any of the others.

Cardigan: American Eagle Outfitters
Belt: a gift from mom
Dress: eShakti
Tights: Foot Traffic
Boots: Bata

Scenes from Strasbourg and Paris

Today I thought I'd share the highlights from my trip to France. I'll keep the text sparse and mostly let the photos speak for themselves.

Strasbourg calls itself the Capitol of Christmas, and boy do they mean it. 

These people take Christmas fucking seriously.

The awesome cathedral in Strasbourg.

This picture is a little blurry, but it gives you some idea to what extent the streets in Strasbourg are decorated for Christmas. 

If you think the exterior decorations are elaborate, try going inside some of these places.

One of the canals in Strasbourg.

Once I got to Paris, I spent my first evening and night just wandering around looking at the Christmas lights and window displays along the Rue Saint-Honoré and the Champs-Elysées.

My hotel was just one block from the Place Vendôme, which made a great starting point for my walk.

Each different area seemed to have its own unique Christmas decorations.

The window displays at John Galliano were absolutely magical.

Christmas lighting along the Champs-Elysées.

 I can't remember which store this was displayed in, but I thought that the shearling jacket, sequin dress 

and suede fedora was such a great combination. I can totally see myself wearing this outfit.

Clearly this was after my first shopping day, and as you can see I didn't waste any time wearing the new leather vest. This outfit was perfect for the cold weather but wasn't too bulky to go shopping in. I added a scarf and gloves when I was outdoors, and brought along a hat, which I put on after the sun went down. Rather than wearing tights I wore my thick ponte knit pants under the dress.

 I just had to take a look at all the beautiful designer clothes at Au Primtemps. 

Item that broke my heart by being out of my budget: a gorgeous little bag from Zadig et Voltaire.

 A beautiful day up at Monmartre. 

A guy was playing Pachelbel's Canon on the harp outside the Sacré Cœur. 

One of those magical Parisian moments.

 Sunset at the Place de la Concorde.

 A view from the Tuileries Gardens.

 The perfect end to my last evening: a nighttime stroll around Notre-Dame.

Making it Count

I didn't do a TON of shopping while I was in Paris, but I made the shopping I did do really count. This gorgeous leather vest was an instant must-have; I first spotted it in a shop window the first night I got into town, and although the store was closed at the time, I knew I'd eventually make my way over there when it was open. As it turned out, I came across a second store location early into my first shopping day, and I didn't waste any time making this beauty mine. 

One of the things I love about shopping in Paris is the attentiveness of the salespeople. When I tried this vest on I zipped it all the way up and tied the belt in the center, but the lady who was helping me showed me how to leave the zipper down partway and adjust the alignment of the belt just so. Thank you for increasing my chic factor, Parisian sales lady!

The ring and bracelet are also from my weekend in Paris, and I've already worn both of them several times. It's a good thing  there will be more trips to France in my near future, because I'm regretting not bringing back more items from the wonderful shop where I found them (they have some items available online, but it's not nearly as fun as bringing something home from a shop in Paris, right?). Before work sends me back to France I'll be saving my pennies for one of their amazing chunky necklaces.

Dress: Desigual
Vest: Cotélac
Skirt, tights: Noa Noa
Boots: All Black
Jewelry: Metal Pointu's

Urban Active

Here's that other purple dress I was telling you about in my last post. It's from Athleta, a store I probably wouldn't have checked out if it weren't for the fact that Sal has put together so many cute outfits with their stuff. With a name like Athleta I'd have thought they carried strictly athletic clothes, but it turns out they make all sorts of clothes I would categorize as urban active, which is exactly what I need to accommodate my long walks to and from work.

The dress is comfortable and breathable, machine washable, and the quality is great. I took this dress with me on my recent international trip, and it was just perfect for travel.

Shown here are two different outfits with the dress; the second photo has a lot of glare from the sun but I included it to show you what the upper wrap portion looks like.

Dress: Athleta
Jacket: Shawna Hoffman
Belt: thrifted
Boots: Brako