Francophilia and other style influences.

I have been reading a lot of fatshion blogs in the past year, and I derive so much inspiration from what I see there. While some of the more popular ones are also some of my favorites (and you can find them all in the links at the right), I've been influenced quite a bit by the French Le Blog de Big Beauty. Big Beauty, aka Stephanie Zwicky, a French comedienne, model, and now designer (please please please sell the line in the US?!) has expertly translated the classic "put together"--but not too put together--look I always associate with French style. And she rocks the nautical like nobody's business. Some of my favorite nautical looks of hers are here and here.

I am under no illusion that I am pulling that off here, but it just happened that both top and bottom of this outfit was French in origin and reminded me of some of Stephanie's looks. The pants are from the same label that is producing her clothing line. The shoes are a much more vibrant sort of fuchsia pink than they look here. The lighting has been a challenge here lately with all the gray weather.

Nautical cotton sweater--vintage Pierre Cardin, thrifted for $6
Banded-bottom capris--Taillisime from La Redoute, via OneStopPlus. $25 with discounts.
Shoes--Henri Beguelin, thrifted for $8 (I looked these up and apparently they retail for $495! They are handcrafted in Italy)

Flounce and Frippery

Wheeee, my new Eshakti dress is here!



I am so happy with this dress. It seems as though the word frippery needs to be applied here, somehow. I don't love the fit of the bodice on this. The bust is a little too small and the torso is a little loose (which I am hiding with the belt), overall it's cute, the colors are more subdued than they look on the website, and I just love a flouncy skirt!

Leggings from American Apparel, denim jacket is thrifted, I made the scarf, and the navy blue cardi and navy blue beaded necklace you can't see are both thrifted.

Coming soon: pics of the tulle skirt I made, inspired by this one from Chan Luu:

An outfit

I wore this today to the aquarium at the mall with my very crabby two-year-old.

This is the epitome of what I have been wearing this winter. Boots? Check. Ambiguous tunic/dress type of dealy-do? Check. Wool sweater and a jaunty cap? Check and check. Belt optional.

I'm in love with this hat that I found in Austin while visiting my awesome friend Rudy. It looked good on both of us, but he graciously allowed me to purchase it. I usually don't like caps, but this one has the cutest little brim:

The dress/tunic (it has pockets!) is a color that I always am drawn to, but feel like it washes me out, especially in winter, so I like to pair it with darker colors. I am quite fond of finding ways to wear colors that are not "good" on me. How about you? Do you like to be "bad" and wear another season's colors?

Outfit details:

Dress: Gap via Re/Dress Consignment store in NYC
Sweater: Target via the magical Salvation Army, aka Target's year-round garage sale
Leggings, Belt and Earrings: Target
Boots: J. Crew via Jeremy's in Berkeley, CA
Hat: 1940s jockey cap via Protoype Vintage in Austin, TX