Many people fall off the new year’s resolutions wagon by this second week in January, so along that spirit, in today’s FIMTSO episode, I’m cheating a little bit by featuring an item that’s new to my closet. Today’s test item is the something-something I alluded to at the end of the last blog’s entry. But I know that if you are like me, you already have a few black t-shirts in your wardrobe. And if you are really like me, you’re always searching for that next perfect tee, the one that fits just so and that you hope will not lose its shape after the first cleaning.
Test Item: CHANEL 10A wool black t-shirt with embellished trims. LOVE the leather braided into the trim!
Work Look: I’m pairing the tee with a black/white checked tweed skirt from the 09P season. The sweet grey ribbon trim on the skirt actually throws me for a loop each time I put on this skirt–do I match the shoes to the colors on the tweed or to the grey ribbon?? (And who else but Karl would put light grey on black and white?!) But today I’m finishing off the look with the patent black Manolos. Speaking of shoes, at the top of my buy list is a pair of black heels. I think I like the peep-toe, platform pair from Chanel’s cruise 2011 collection, but I’m also still gaga over the YSL pair I saw last week. Hmmm…
Casual Look: We love to layer in Southern Cal so it’s only fitting to slip a slim, grey cotton Mossimo hoodie ($15 from Target!) under my tee. The Gucci grey herringbone tweed pants and black Manolo watersnake boots complete my look. It’s my comfy-casual alternative to jeans and sneakers.
Glam Look: I’ve seen all the great American designers do this look, pairing a formal skirt with a simple t-shirt. So in this third combo I take my cues from Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors (and actually a nod to Ms. Herrera as well), and Donna Karan and pair the tee with a long, bronze, crinkly Nicole Miller skirt. This skirt was actually a dress that I had altered into a skirt (see before and after pics below). I must be in a reptilian mood because in this last look, I’m featuring the Prada python slingbacks.
Tags: Chanel, FIMTSO, Gucci, Manolo, Mossimo, Nicole Miller, Prada, Target, YSL
There have been a lot of stories in the news lately about the downsizing of America, and I don’t mean corporate America. Small revolutions are on the rise around the country, led by women on a collective fashion diet. Blogs, websites, and even parties have popped up like rehab mushrooms for people learning to make do with less. Women (and I suspect some men) are finding liberation in de-cluttering their closets and devoting more time to other endeavors instead of hitting the stores on-line or in person. It’s safe to say consignment stores are the true beneficiaries to this new movement; they now have an endless stream of inventory from people who are clearing out their closets as well as a growing clientele of people who find second-hand items more fitting for their slimmer budgets.
My FIMTSO series was started more or less along the same thinking, as a way for me to maximize what I already have in my closet instead of cramming more stuff inside its bulging walls. I’ve not quite figured out how to go cold turkey with shopping, but since FIMTSOing in February of this year, I’ve definitely learned to buy much less impulsively. It’s made me rethink each buying decision; if I see something I adore but can’t visualize at least 3 different looks with it, I would have to pass. I know a lot of you are already very smart shoppers and way ahead of my learning curve, but I’m a serious addict on a slippery slope journey to rehab. I’ll let you know if I ever kick the habit. You know what they say, once an addict, always an addict. Unfortunately for me, couture is no less potent than meth–but boy oh boy, what a high!
Test Item: theory caramel corduroy pants.
Work Look: For a day/work look, I’m pairing the pants with a dark red Gucci shirt, Valentino slingbacks with mink flowers, and Chanel brown bowler bag.
Weekend Look: For a more casual weekend outing, I’d wear the pants with an army green BR tank under a JCrew dark olive jacket. Dark brown Converse laceless sneakers and dark brown Chanel tote finish the look. I would wear this ensemble to a basketball game or to loiter inside my favorite stores. See what I mean about addiction? 
Night Look: Sometimes I wonder if I do have a split personality. A very big part of me loves sequins, and I’m sooo not a sequins kind of girl. But let’s just leave that between my therapist and me. For a night out, I’d up the sparkly quotient with this coral sequined JCrew cardigan over a slinky flesh colored tank. The coppery coral Manolos in an exotic skin and Chanel matte gold 2.55 flap finish my look.
Tags: Chanel, Converse, FIMTSO, Gucci, JCrew, Manolo, theory, Valentino
So I popped into Target the other day to get some orange juice (I don’t like going to grocery stores) and came home with a skirt that can double as a sundress. It was less than $20 and will be perfect in my suitcase–which I’ll blog about tomorrow–but beyond that, it got me thinking…just exactly how many black skirts is too many for one person?
I know you are out there, snickering in guilt. You’ve got a slinky one for date nights, a perfect A-line one (ok maybe 10 of these) for work, a micro one for vacays where no one knows you anyway, a more modest one for funerals, and the list goes on. Since part of rehab is owning up to the crime, I’ll confess I’m so bad I probably have a black skirt for each different type of funeral. And yes, I suppose that purchase from Target should be considered falling off the wagon. Grrr.
But this leads to today’s FIMTSO experiment, which is how to rework a black skirt for various occasions.
Test Item: Prada crinkled silk skirt. I chose a straight, low-rise skirt that hits just below the knee as my all purpose sample.
Business: I’m turning the skirt into a mate for a Chanel jacket worn over a black tank. The patent black Manolos should carry me from day to night in this outfit. I could wear this to a business meeting during the day and to the ballet at night.
Casual: naval stripes are everywhere this Spring so I’m pairing my skirt with a b/w striped Kors pullover. The b/w Chanel mules are low enough (2″) to be casual without looking too sloppy. Though I could also see myself in this skirt with a white t-shirt and patent flip flops. We are a flip flop nation after all. Add a killer slouchy bag and I’m ready for a walk through Soho in the early summer.
Play: This is where it gets fun. Today by Play I mean we get to play around with a bunch of shoes. What you see (thought it’s really difficult to photograph black clothes) is a Miu Miu sleeveless turtleneck in a lightweight high-tech fabric that won’t wrinkle but will stretch and breathe. I think it’s one of the best pieces in my closet as far as functionality. Anyway, with a black outfit, you can make it play day or play night with your accessories. The occasion dictates the shoes, so this outfit is also suitable for work with the right pair of slingbacks. That’s what’s so versatile about black!
My eighth grade science fair project was about REM sleep and dreaming. I don’t remember what I proved exactly, but as you can see, ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated by what the mind sees even in a restive state. For all of my life, my dreams have generally been quite animated, full of colors that don’t even exist except on a color wheel.
My recurring dream is one in which I save the world like a superhero (Dark Lark after all is my alter ego–more on this in days to come), jumping over walls and brandishing swords. In the most recent one from a couple of weeks ago I was defending a family wearing modern attire with the three musketeers backing me up. So you see, it’s not always about clothes and bags and shoes in my subconscious. But then again, the outfits the musketeers were wearing were quite brilliant, from their foldover boots to plumed hats. And I was in a purple cheongsam…er, I wonder what Freud, or for that matter Anna Wintour, would say about that.
I relate this because I have been fighting insomnia. Surely I’m not the only person sleepless in LA but it’s turning into all sorts of opportunity costs for me. Who knows what adventures I’m missing out when I’m not sleeping and dreaming. On the other hand, insomnia provides a sort of down time where I visually rearrange my closet and plan some outfits. It was during one of these last bouts of sleeplessness that I thought about how many different pairs of shoes I could wear with a classic black tweed top that I invested in from the 09A season. Who counts sheep when they can count Manolos!
Anyway, all this yapping is the back story to the series I hinted about yesterday. Since my goal is to stop buying, I’m going to have to get creative about how many different looks I can pull together from a single, chosen basic (as in classic) item.
I’ll call this my fashion science project. It can only be fun if you participate as both my jury and judge. I welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions. Today I submit to you my project, FIMTSO, for your review, and tomorrow we begin with our first test item.
FROM IMELDA MARCOS TO SUZE ORMAN (FIMTSO)
Purpose: How to help a shopaholic go on a shopping ban cold turkey.
Hypothesis: It is completely acceptable to wear an item more than once in a calendar year and not have to hand over one’s fashionista card. Just have to shake it up a little. Or a lot.
Materials: All items already in said shopaholic’s closet. No yanking off price tags and faking to sneak in “old” stuff allowed. No cheating of any kind allowed. I mean it.
Procedure: Lobotomy perhaps. No wait, choose one test item per blog entry and show as many different looks as possible.
Result: We’ll see if it hurts more to stay on or fall off the fashion wagon as it were. There’s always vodka if the result isn’t pretty.
Conclusion: Shopping ban sucks. So can I have a Birkin if I survive my experiment?
Tags: Anna Wintour, Dark Lark, Manolo
It’s been almost five weeks since I started the bootcamp program to tone up my body. I’m here to report that I’ve put on two pounds, my jeans feel tighter and looser in different parts, and the 6-pack abs are still nowhere to be found. This is where I’m reminded of an YouTube video on how to fake abs. If I assessed my body’s jiggliness quotient (JQ) as cottage cheese level those five weeks ago, I’d say I’ve successfully upgraded to jello. Sigh. So the mochi I ate probably didn’t help my cause any either. Who knows, maybe in 4 more weeks my JQ will be at mochi level. For now, I’ll keep telling myself that I’m slowly building muscle mass and see what happens at the end of my bootcamp in mid-June.
I’ll admit I do feel stronger, more energized, and that’s enough to keep me vested in the program. The body image issue, however…well, instead of moping over my own theory of relativity (freefall from aging + inertia also from aging = long sleeves + lower hemlines) (is it any wonder I’m blogging about travel and fashion and not physics?), I exact my revenge on gravity with some retail therapy on the westside. Beverly Hills to be exact. How about we test out the gravitational pull between the boutiques and my checkbook?
I’ve probably driven down Wilshire Blvd a thousand times, and this is how it looks and sounds on a very windy day:
No, I don’t bury my sorrows in hard drinks doled out by seedy bartenders in dark bars (that’s only appropriate for birthdays). I prefer to escape in boxes upon boxes of Manolos and Louboutins showered upon me by my favorite shoe guy at Saks–doesn’t the store look all sunny and innocent on the outside…
when all kinds of sins of gluttony are committed inside?
I won’t confess to my own sins (what happens at Saks stays at Saks…er, in my closet) but how about I take you on a drive instead:
Lest you think it’s all rosy posy in this part of town, even the F word (foreclosure) has been whispered here–look closely at that yellow sign below:
And like any other American town, there are typical schools
and boring storefronts
just blocks down the tony bubble of my sweet escape.
Tags: Beverly Hills, Chanel, Louboutin, Manolo, Rodeo Drive, Saks
