wintry mix

I actually took these photos yesterday, but one thing led to another and I never got around to posting them. It was snowing/sleeting in the morning and now it's just raining. Again, relief. This outfit was 100% inspired by this look on Chictopia, and provided an opportunity to plug another pair of shoes into an outfit for a change :)

(chambray tunic: tjmaxx; chambray skirt: f21; sweater: family cedar chest; belt: goodwill; tights: uo; booties: gojane.com)

So remember how I mentioned that my friend Steph and I were wearing our maxi skirts on the same day? Go here to see how she wore hers!

I am so so so so so sososososo ready for the weekend, it's incredible. Well, I always am. In other news, K brought this beauty home last night as a surprise:

I am totally in love.

saturday style icon(s): ziegfeld follies

From 1907-1931, Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies reigned supreme on the Broadway stage, and his chorus girls were notoriously eligible and adored young bachelorettes. Inspired by the Parisien Folies Bergère, the Ziegfeld Follies was a theatrical revue that combined vaudeville and what we consider musical theatre on Broadway today. Not only were these women known for their beauty, but they were decked in elaborate costumes designed by the great sartorial minds of the early twentieth century. These were the original showgirls, and the sense of fun and excitement in their merry lives is something that I don't think will ever be recaptured in contemporary entertainment. Sure, their sex appeal was exploited (most of the photos I found of these girls were [tasteful] full nudes), but there was an energy and vivacity in their eyes that I find enormously inspiring. And the fashion?? Fantastic.

(most images found here)

the overall effect

When I bought these plush overalls the pants were long and loose and the straps were far too long for my short torso. I thought it would make a great little jumper with a few minor adjustments, so I hemmed the pant legs into shorts and moved the buttons on the straps to suit a petite person. Voila!

(overalls/blouse: bargain boutique; tights: tjmaxx; shoes: payless; bowtie: diy)

I do like this look, even if it is a bit French mime-meets-English Butler-meets-Court Jester. I prefer to think of it as Coco Chanel-meets-Alexa Chung-meets-Annie Hall :) I kind of felt strange wearing this to work, which is why it took so long for me to do it (I fixed the overalls a couple of weeks ago), along with the fact that I knew K would make fun of me. And make fun he did, but I poo-pooed that. Thanks to Nicole for doing it first and making me feel a little bit less scared :)

style inspiration (sort of?)

This outfit post was very close to failing today, as the Universe appeared to be conspiring against me. With sheer determination I fought back, and here we are. So there, Universe. So there.

(hat: h&m; cardigan: old navy; blouse: bargain boutique; skirt: salvation army; tights: hue; boots: seychelles)

To demonstrate the extent of my failure, you must first understand that this outfit was inspired by Jen's style file last Thursday:

Yeah. Couldn't be more different, right? Well, I thought I had an oatmeal pom-pom hat (which I had stolen from my mother), but I couldn't find it anywhere this morning (maybe I actually gave it back to her??). Then I couldn't find my skinny braided belt, which I needed to match my booties. I decided I couldn't wear my brown plaid skirt again so soon (oh, blogging), so I slapped on this pheasant-feather mini. And basically all that remained as far as similarity to Jen's outfit was the blue cardigan. All this wouldn't have been so bad except that I drove to one photo location, took a few shots, had to hide from the plow, saw an elderly gentleman taking a stroll toward me, and high-tailed it out of there to my other photo location. When I arrived I noticed that my camera was sans battery (it had dropped out somewhere, because the little door that holds my battery in was ruined when my camera fell off the tripod once upon a time). After searching high and low in the new location I returned to the old one and still couldn't find it. I decided that the battery had to be back at the other location so I drove all the way back, put on my gloves, and started groping the ground until--yes!! I found it underneath the freshly fallen snow. It was a miracle, but I was incredibly late to work... so, fail.

saturday style icon: sylvie vartan

Sylvie Vartan, like Francoise Hardy, was one of the super-cute French chanteuses who hit it big during the swinging sixties with fun pop tunes. She was considered the most "glamorous" of the yé-yé girls, a movement of naive-but-sexy Lolita types who damn well knew how to dress. Her highly-publicized marriage to singer Johnny Hallyday surely would have meant a silly conjugation of names (Johnvie? Sylvnny?) in today's celeb-obsessed world, and it lasted through the majority of her career.