This is actually the outfit I wore to work today, but with a few additions to make it more festive (My friend R.'s family had a small birthday dinner for her). Let's start with the add ons: The jacket I found in my closet the other day and thought "Well, I will never want to wear that thing again". Its a child sized fake fur monstrosity that I bought at a thrift store I think in Washington, but maybe Pomona. I was so sure I was going to get rid of it then and there, but when I tried it on, it looked sort of fabulous in very punk rock sort of way. I also found $3 in the pocket, so it was almost as though the coat was bribing me to keep it. The hat was given to me by R. and since it was her birthday, it seemed the appropriate time to wear it out. She brought it back for me on her most recent trip to the U.K. It is from Topshop and according to her it caused quite a stir with the sales girls when she purchased it. You can see the veil portion of it a bit better in this picture. The zebra shirt (barely visible here) was also a souvenier. It was given to me by my ex-boyfriends sister after a trip to NYC. The pants are from The Gap.

Some days I feel like giving up on fashion and just adopting a uniform. On these days I imagine that I'm only going to shop at The Gap and become completely invisible. Gap clothes are what I like to refer to as "wallpaper clothing". Wallpaper clothing looks tasteful, but that's about all you can really say about it. You will neither be very stylish, nor very unstylish. So here I am in head-to-toe Gap (well, the sweater is actually from Banana Republic, but same difference). The trousers I got in Belfast and they fit really well. Why is it that I can't find pants that fit in the States?

I ended up not really liking this outfit. It looks okay here, but it made me feel dowdy all day. The sweater is from Dumpster Values. The skirt is part of a set made by my great aunt.

I'm not sure when or where I bought this dress, but I would venture to guess that it was at some sort of rummage sale in high school or just after. Back then I used to buy all sorts of these shapeless 60's dresses. I'm not sure if I realized at the time that you're supposed to wear these sort of dresses with a belt. It really looks so much better here now that I have figured that out (the dress even has belt loops, so I don't know how I managed to miss that one . . . or maybe I just liked looking like a pillowcase). The belt came from M. and it was part of a huge pile headed for the Goodwill that I raided. It is the only wide belt that I own at the moment. The shoes are from Payless, and for a time every girl I knew seemed to own a pair. The sunglasses are from H & M. I bought them on a weekend break to Glasgow when I had forgotten to bring a pair. There's something about that city that makes me forget sunglasses.

I actually ended up wearing a stripy shirt underneath the sweater, so I guess this picture is not a true representation of today's outfit. The sweater was a Xmas gift from my godmother. For some reason she is the only "family" member who can pick out clothing for me. Well, I suppose I don't mean the only one, just that she consistently picks great things that I wear for years. The jeans are from The Gap and they don't really fit that well. I think I should've probably gone with the next size down. I'm not really sure what I was thinking in the dressing room when I tried these on, all I can say is that it was on a very jetlagged trip to The Gap outlet store (you may recall me writing of it before). I think these jeans are lovely nonetheless, so I'm contemplating taking them to a tailor for some fine tuning. Shoes from Urban Outfitters.

My friend R.'s Wardrobe Remix pictures always look amazing. She says it all has to do with using outdoor lighting, so I thought I'd try it out this morning. I came by this outfit quite accidentally, these two items happened to be together on the same hanger and I decided the colors looked nice. The jacket is one of the last items I bought before giving up clothes shopping. It is from Anthropologie. Ah Anthropologie, that dark path to financial ruin I had been slipping down this past year. It is amazing the effect that store has on women. Let me give you some examples: First, my friend T., who is probably bankrupting herself at that store (and looking great in the process). She has almost talked me out of my new clothing boycott with the idea that we will buy some outfits there to wear in our band's album shots (hey, if it's part of the overall artistic concept, who am I to say no right?). Secondly, my friend A. who is usually very frugal when it comes to clothing, and has very high ethical standards when it comes to buying mass produced items. She gets really sheepish when she admits that the sweater or hair clip I have complemented her on comes from Anthropologie. Then there is my friend Mrs. N. who was so very excited when telling me about all the goodies she had been given from that store for Christmas. The list could go on . . .

The skirt I got at either a rummage sale or a citywide yard sale in Claremont. I've had it since high school. It used to have slits up the sides which I sewed up. The tights (which are ribbed, though you can't tell here) just appeared in my stuff one day years ago. I figure this means they used to belong to my Mom or to an old roommate. I don't remember buying them or being given them.

Coat: Target, Mossimo. I remember in 6th grade Mossimo and Stussy were THE clothes to be wearing, not that anyone ever bought them for me. I love this jacket! It's light weight enough that I can wear it all day as though it were a blouse. For some reason it didn't really seem to sell very well at the Target stores around my area. I saw loads of them sit on the rack for ages and then end up in the clearance bins.

Pants: Dickies borrowed from V. I have offered to give them back to him on several occasions, but he has basically relinquished control of them (I'm not sure he actually fits them anymore). I haven't really worn them for a while, maybe I will get into the baggy pants thing again, but there is the problem of finding shoes that work well. R. thinks mary janes are the way to go with baggy trousers, but I don't own any. The ones I'm wearing here are from Office. Here's another picture of today's outfit.

So, it looks as though I may be doing some clothing shopping after all this year.  When my friend C. informed me that Alexander McQueen was doing a line for Target, I totally didn't believe her, but apparently it's true.  I will be holding my breath and saving my money til March!

It's been very cold today, so this outfit has gone through several permutations as I have found the need to add more layers over the course of the day. The jeans are the same ones I wore yesterday (yes against "the rules", but whatever. Perhaps the rules need to be modified to accommodate reality). The blue top which you can sort of see peeking out around the edges, I made from a Built By Wendy sewing pattern. That is how I looked at work today. Once I got home, I added the sweater and scarf. The sweater was a gift from T. She got it at a swap party. I had been unable to attend and this is one of two goodies she very sweetly brought back for me. The tag says its from Charlotte Russe. I have never actually set foot in one of those stores, though I've had a fair number of classmates who have worked for the company in various capacities. The scarf is from American Apparel. Frankly, it is just a long rectangle of knit fabric being sold for 3 times the price it would cost at Michael Levine's. I bought it because I was suckered in by those videos they play in store showing all the different ways you can wear it (I've only tried 2 so far). The jacket is another I picked up at the Western Costume yard sale. I like it, but I sort of worry that it makes me look like a high school theatre student. Shoes are a bit of a problem with it too as you can see here. It really needs some awesome boots to make it work.

The green turtleneck is from the Jet Rag $1 parking lot sale. I used to go out to those about once a month when I was in high school. The jeans are from The Gap and they are my current favorites. I wish I could find a similar cut at The Gaps here in the U.S., but no luck so far. The belt is from Brooks Salzwedel. R. gave it to me as a hostess' gift when she came to stay with us in Belfast a few years ago. The jacket I got from Western Costume when I did an internship there last year. Technically I was working in the research library, but while I was there they had a massive "yard sale" to clear out some of their old stuff which all us interns had to work on. I picked this up there. I'm secretly hoping that someday I'll be watching some classic movie and see my coat on one of the leading ladies.


Don't I look terrifying in this picture? Sadly I was in such a rush yesterday that I didn't have time to take more than this single picture of my outfit. The Jacket is from Banana Republic and was part of my massive end of the year shopping spree. It lost a button the second time day I wore it out and I have yet to sew it back on. The scarf I believe I inherited from my maternal grandmother when she died, though maybe it came from a yard sale or flea market. The label says "Made in Italy exclusively for Mademoiselle". I wonder if this refers to the now defunct women's magazine. You can't really see it here, but I'm also wearing a dove grey V-necked sweater from Zara. The jeans are from Topshop (I think these are probably the only pair of jeans I own and actually wear that are not from The Gap). The boots are from Office. I think my ex-boyfriend may have bought them for me. I love them because they remind me of something from Vivienne Westwood's Pirates collection.

This brings me up to date with today's outfit. The top was given to me by my old boss and friend K. back when I was in high school. She's a bit older than I am and I would have to say that she had a certain influential effect on my fashion sense whether I like to admit it or not. This top is really cute and has lovely smocking details at the yoke and sleeves which I am too lazy tonight to take a good picture of. The skirt is from Topshop, and I think I probably only bought it because it was on sale. At least, I hope this is the case as it is a really poor quality piece of clothing. It picks up all sorts of lint (a real problem this morning as I was housesitting for 3 white cats - I had to do a thorough going over with the packing tape when I got to work) and behaves very oddly when I move, which may be due to the fact that it is cut on the bias. The fish nets are from Hot Topic. My mom bought them for me probably about ten years ago. They have little bows running up the back which I hated at the time. I used to reserve them exclusively for 80's fancy dress parties. These days I find the bows quite cute.

Inauguration Day

This is what I had planned to wear on Monday, but I hadn't packed any tights to go with it and therefore had to wait for a warm day. Ultimately though, I think this outfit ended up being quite appropriate for the celebratory mood of the day. I like to tell people that I found this dress in a dumpster, but that's not quite true. I found it in a free box in Olympia. While I was out doing my patriotic duty as an American who still has a job (shopping), a middle aged gentleman on the street told me, in a not at all smarmy way, that he really like my dress. This dress really does seem to make people happy. The turtle neck is from the Gap. I really love the 3/4 length sleeves they have on their turtle necks there.

After this past weekend I have come to terms with the fact that I am really quite bad at packing for trips or any sort of time spent away from my own home. If I have any sort of individual style, it comes from having an enormous array of clothing choices available to me when I'm at home. When it comes to holidays and vacations I'm always poorly dressed. The above outfit is a perfect example. This is what I wore to work on Monday, (frankly, I spent Sunday cheating and wearing a sort of cross between this outfit and Saturday's). I had planned to wear a far more ambitious little ensemble, but when I woke up it was grey and I hadn't planned for it being anything other than unseasonably warm. I had to scrounge this together to keep from freezing. The sweater itself is another example of my poor packing skills. I had to buy it at a Gap outlet up in Sonoma when I went up to my cousin's wedding and forgot to pack anything warm to wear in the evening (at the time I blamed it on a 12 hour flight followed by a 8 hour drive to get there). This was the only thing that remotely matched my outfit, and while I find it a very handy sweater, it's not exactly the most exciting piece in my wardrobe. The jeans are also from the Gap, but were bought in Belfast. They are boot cut and I have very strict rules for myself regarding the wearing of boot cut jeans. Most of the time I wear them with large cuffs.

catching up

I've been away housesitting these past few days, so let me try to get caught up. This is my outfit from Saturday 1/17. The shirt is Isaac Mizrahi for Target. It's a very light weight material and I love it for any outfit with even a remote sailor theme. The denim skirt I believe is from Dumpster Values, but at this point I can't be sure of that. It has zippers running down both side seams (I tried to take a picture of that detail, but I couldn't get a good one). The tights are from Urban Outfitters. Clashing stripes are a particular favorite of mine.

Yikes! I look frightfully blocky and waistless in this picture. This was rather a difficult outfit. It seemed equally awkward with the shirt tucked in or left out. I ended up going with tucked in, but this picture (which I took after I got off work) is making me rethink my choice. The sweater is Behnaz Sarafpour for Target. It is the only item I bought from that particular collection. The stripy t-shirt I got at Dumpster Values in Olympia. After a careful inspection of the inside, I would venture to say that it started life with a different silhouette, perhaps as a dress. The skirt is from Topshop in Belfast. It was the first time I was introduced to their insane summer sales at that store. I think the skirt was £2 and when I brought it to the register the sales girl informed me of the sign that said "Buy one get one free". I'm not sure where I got the tights (other than out of my massive container of tights). They're a bit weird, they're quite heavy and feel a bit like they should be opaque, yet as you can see here they come across looking sheer.

This is one of those Issey Miyake Vogue patterns that I made a few years ago. The envelope said "Easy", but my memories of it involve my mother telling me that she would never again help me with another pattern if it was somehow related to Issey Miyake. The snap fasteners I remember being a particular nightmare. The dress is pretty wrinkled (as seen in the above picture), as it has been sitting in a box for who knows how long. The blue shirt I'm wearing underneath is from The Gap. I bought it a couple of months ago at their outlet store because it is an amazing blue which is not translating very well in these pictures. The shirt itself is not all that great. It has rolled hems at the neckline, the sleeves and the waist which to my mind makes it look a little sloppy and too casual if I wear it with, say jeans. (The shoes, by the way, are my everyday black Campers)

My friend R. was using this backdrop to take pictures for her etsy store, so I took advantage while over. I haven't worn this dress in years and I'm pretty sure I've only worn it once before. I got it in when I was briefly working at a vintage clothing store in Washington state. The owner was really generous, and I think she may have just given it to me. You can't see here, but on the collar I found a Cramps pin stuck on. The dress does strike me as the sort one might wear to a Cramps show. The belt I'm pretty sure is from a U.S thrift store (that's about as specific as I can remember). I remember feeling that I really needed a cheap black patent leather belt in order to complete my wardrobe and found this one. The shoes I bought for £5 from The Gap. I get a lot of complements on them, and when people hear where they are from, they always seem to get a bit disappointed.

This is yesterday's outfit. The sweatshirt is from Topshop. It is the only top I can wear with these pants. The pants are from The Gap. I bought them in Glasgow for £1.50, which, looking back, was probably the main selling point as they are rather awkward to wear. This is probably the reason they were only £1.50. At any rate I've been almost ready to donate them on several occasions, but never seem to be able to. As I've said, they really only go with the above black sweatshirt. On one occasion in college, I was wearing them when a fire alarm went off in our dormitory rooms. Because it was a particularly cold Scottish winter, I grabbed the nearest coat I could find before I ran outside. It happened to be a 1950's leopard print faux fur. I hope you can use your imagination to picture how ridiculous I looked, because I hope never to repeat the mistake - I spent half an hour hiding til we the fire department let us get back into our flats. The shoes are from Office. They are comfortable up to a point, so I don't generally wear them to work.

This is Monday's outfit (yes, been a bit busy). The sweatshirt is from American Apparel. Sadly it is the only piece I own from that company that has not fallen apart (a sad comment on domestic manufacturing?). I bought it from the American Apparel store in Silverlake (or is that Echo Park?) on a night out with my friend S. The skirt I believe belonged to my great Aunt, but perhaps not. I find it very similar to another blue skirt I own which you can almost see here in a rather saucy picture of my legs. I'm pretty sure I went barelegged the day this picture was taken, but it sort of looks like I'm wearing nylons here doesn't it?

Frankly, I had a bit of a duvet day today. This is yesterday's outfit. The stripy dress I'm pretty sure is from a thrift store. At any rate it's vintage and I got it sometime around the end of high school. It always reminds me of a picture I've seen of Kim Gordon where she is wearing a similar dress with giant star earrings. I had planned on wearing it on its own, but it's January even if it has been sunny around here. The sweater I picked up around Xmas 2007 at an Urban Outfitters sale. The tights I believe are from Target, but it really could be from anywhere as they are your garden variety black opaques. Shoes as usual.

Look what I found at the very back of my closet!!! This little mini jumper is actually part of an old Girl Scout uniform. My friend M. gave it to me (along with a host of other goodies) probably about 10 years ago when she was moving from L.A. to S.F. A customer I was helping told me that she used to wear this particular style when she was in the G.S back in the late 60's. The turtleneck is from The Gap and I've been thinking that I may perhaps have to break my rules further on down the line as this is the only black turtleneck I own and I do have a number of little jumpers that really work best with it. . . we'll see. This particular pair of black stretch pants are from Topshop, though I have owned several other pair in the past which may or may not surface as I uncover long lost garments.

My gentleman friend tells me that I'm being remiss in not posting more close-ups of the garments, so here is a closer look. There is a blue pen stain on one of the pockets, probably from the days it was being used by a 12 year old.

January 6,

The coat which is being worn here as a blouse is from a discount store in downtown L.A. where everything is $10. It is from Lux (correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe that is the Urban Outfitters in-house brand). The skirt is my own design. I made it for a class a few years ago and my teacher absolutely ripped me to shreds for putting in a placket zipper rather than an invisible one. The rosette pin and the tights which you can barely see in this picture are from Topshop. I bought the tights on a class trip to London at the big Oxford Street store.

January 7,

This was my day off, so I went for a fancy pajama sort of look. The jacket is vintage. I got it in downtown Pomona back when they used to have all sorts of awesome vintage clothing and antique stores. The pants are indeed silk pajama pants and they are from Knickerbox.

Today,

Back at work. The sweater I can't really remember for sure where I bought it, but I think it was from one of those dollar parking lot sales at Jet Rag. The skirt is from one of those aforementioned Pomona vintage shops. It was on a $5 rack.

This picture is of my outfit for Monday 1/5/08 (yes . . . okay, I've fallen behind a bit, but I was waiting to get together with my friend R. who is - to my mind at least - a computer genius). This particular outfit is all hand me downs. The sweater is from my great aunt, who was quite the little fashionista back in the day. She has given me all sorts of wonderful clothing of the style best described as "California Casual". This sweater has a wonderfully big cowl collar. Strictly speaking, it is not a cowl at all, but a giant turtle neck. Oh how I love big turtle necks and cowls!!! The pants used to belong to my brother. I took them over in high school when he deemed them too tight and switched to jeans that could frankly fit two of me in each pant leg. I wore them a lot my last two years of high school, but at this point I don't think I could tell you when I last wore them. I find them a bit too baggy these days (my friend A. said they were "Chaplin-esque" and that is definitely not the look I'm going for at the moment), so I have passed them along to the Goodwill. Only 5 days into the new year and I've already dispensed with 2 items of clothing!!! This is indeed a victory. The shoes are from the Glasgow branch of Scuh (I think that's how it's spelled). I've just rediscovered them this past year, and wear them to work pretty much every time I'm not wearing my trusty Campers.

Yesterday's outfit

I think those are supposed to be palm fronds on my skirt, though they've always looked like pot leaves to me. I've had this skirt for so many years that all I can really say about it is that I bought it at a Pomona thrift store sometime in the late 90's. It's made of a lovely crepe material that makes it feel a lot older than it probably is (no label to give me a clue here). The shirt is from Richard Chai's Target line. I didn't really think I was going to like his line based on the preview pictures, but once it hit the stores I was pleasantly surprised and went ahead and bought 4 or 5 items. You can't really see the tights here, but they have little chevrons running up and down. They were one of those 2 for $20 deals at Urban Outfitters, so I have an identical pair in grey. The shoes, as before, are from Camper.

a close-up of the nice pin tucks on my blouse

I didn't have any time to post yesterday's outfit, so here it is. This is me in my bedroom getting ready for work in the morning. The pants are from The Gap in Belfast, I believe the style is called "skinny straight leg". I really love the way they fit - they're slim fitting, but they don't have that very unflattering look that so many hipster end up with in their skinny jeans (think Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland"). I have not been able to find any out here though I suppose I'm not really trying as hard as I could be. I've tried to stock up on them when in Belfast. The white shirt is a hand-me-down from my great aunt. It has lovely pin tucks running down the front. The jacket I believe was purchased in Olympia from Dumpster Values back in my collegiate days. It was so cold yesterday that I left it on all day. One of the nice things about the jacket is that it can function as an overcoat or as a stand alone blouse depending on the weather. It's missing one of it's buttons, but no one ever seems to notice. Looking at the picture, however, that missing button seems to stand out a bit.

As you can see I'm a bit new to all this self portraitizing. I tried and tried to get a shot that showed the full top to toe, to no avail. Oh well. What you are missing here are the same Camper shoes from yesterday. The sweatshirt is from Banana Republic. The last few weeks of December I went on a bit of a frenzied clothing spree and this is part of the spoils. The woman at the bagel place complemented me on it today. She compared it to a peacoat - probably to do with the double row of buttons that sort of mimic a double breasted coat. The skirt was given to me by a friend of my mother. That was probably back in junior high. I wore it quite a lot in high school, but not so much since then. The fishnets (which you can't really see here) I've had, if not since high school, then certainly since college. They were incredibly shredded, and after spending the day tugging at them, I promptly threw them out as soon as I got home. I used to wear fishnets all the time when I was younger, but these days they sort of make me feel like a teenage goth. At any rate I have a box full of plain black fishnets, so I'm covered should the need for them arise. I'm still not sure if I think this outfit has a cute 20's vibe going on (what with the dropped waistline), or is just plain frumpy.

Here is another picture of yesterday's outfit. My gentleman friend informs me that I look a bit insane in the one I had posted.

I had intended to star the year off with something a bit fancier, but I was exhausted and I suppose slightly miffed at having to wake up at 7 am on New Year's Day. The Jacket is from a thrift store in Silver Lake and actually doesn't look half bad in this picture. In the flesh, those 1940's shoulder pads make me feel less like Joan Crawford and more like a high school quarterback. It has a beautiful label that I attempted to photograph with questionable success. The jeans I bought at The Gap in Glasgow in 2000. I think they were about £2.50 or something equally ridiculous. The shoes are Camper which I bought last Christmas and have become my go-to shoes for work this past year. My current purse is from Urban Outfitters. I think its their house brand.