Saturday, February 28, 2009



I read in a magazine this week that men perceived women to be more attractive when they were shown photos of them standing in from of a red backdrop. I thought I would test this theory with this red sweater, but in my case the results were inconclusive. This is one of the many 60's/70's mystery sweaters that I find in my drawers. This probably came from my great aunt, but who knows.
The jacket is from Urban Outfitters. I believe it is Geren Ford for Urban Outfitters to be exact. It was one of my last purchases at the end of 2008. The skirt I bought in downtown L.A. at a little outlet shop. You can't see in this picture, but it is a bit too big and hangs way down around my hips when I wear it. I'm also wearing a blue Gap turtleneck, but you can't really see the colour too well here.


This sweater is from Jet Rag (yup, $1 parking sale again. I have very rarely actually bought something from inside that store). I need to take a close up picture of it so one can see the intarsia design - it's a "Parisian" night life scene. Just my usual jeans here and my really beat up Converse. I've had them for about 15 years now and they have faded to a lovely grey colour. They are so trashed at this point that I've actually done that thing where I have stuck them back together with duct tape.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I love this faux twinset. I got it quite a while ago at a thrift store (Pomona, if I am not mistaken). It is actually all one piece which I think is really cool for some reason. Shoes and pants as before. (I will post Tuesday's outfit soon)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009


It feels like I've haven't worn a skirt in awhile, so I decided to wear this. I'm pretty sure I bought it at the PCC swapmeet. The sweater and tanktop are from H & M. Even though I bought them on separate occasions, they look like they go together, so I consider them a sort of twin set. The shoes are from Payless.

Monday, February 23, 2009


The jacket is from Dumpster Values. It's almost a letterman style though god knows I never wore a letterman jacket in high school, so maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about. I like the cropped length of it, but it has a cigarette burn on the back, which I don't think I noticed when I bought it (I'm really not sure why as its huge). The shirt is from a yard sale in Claremont. It says "Miss Kitty's Pussycat Lounge". I don't usually wear shirts with this sort of design on them, but it reminded me of Quintron and Miss Pussycat.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

a very long weekend

This was Friday. I work with this one guy who always wears nice suits to work. Customers always think he is my boss instead of the other way around. This outfit is in response to a yet another customer the other day who thought that. This is the only suit I own, but hey, if you're only going to own one suit, it may as well be a vintage Pendleton one. I got this at a thrift store in New Orleans in 1997. I'm not sure where I got the brooch from, but I really felt I needed some sparkle on this outfit. I have never quite got the hang of brooch placement. They never seem to look right when I pin them on.

Saturday was a very hectic day. This is what I wore to work and later to hang out with a bunch of ladies I hadn't seen since high school. The sweatshirt is from H&M. When I bought it, it was being displayed in the store over a collared black shirt much like this one. I though it was a good look. The shirt is from Rogan Gregory's Target line last year. I really want to like Rogan's stuff. I very much agree with his politics, but his clothing just doesn't really thrill me the way fashion should.


Later that night we played a show at Pehrspace with The Gowns. I was running late and grabbed what I could find quickly (this project is beginning to make a mess of my bedroom - or maybe I should say more of a mess). The stripy shirt is from H&M. I think I wear it a lot for shows. The jacket was a Xmas present from K. It is the most buttery leather I have ever felt, but is starting to get a bit trashed around the neck.

Thursday, February 19, 2009



I look like I'm doing something very strange with my fingers here, but really I'm trying to show off my ring (which you can't see anyway - it's turquoise and I love it!). This sweater is from Banana Republic, the jeans are from The Gap. This would be a very boring outfit if it were not for my lovely 1940's coat. I bought it at the PCC swapmeet a few years ago. I do so love good 40's tailoring.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

That's Walter Pidgeon on the screen. I was watching the truly awful "Mrs. Miniver". There were a few nice costumes that I did manage to sketch though. This type of outfit seems to have become a sort of uniform this week. 70's blazers with patterned shirts underneath and boring, boring pants. Oh well, I've been feeling a bit under the weather as it were and this is my style of comfort dressing. The jacket probably came from a Jet Rag parking lot sale. I remember going to it once with V. right around closing time. Instead of charging $1 per item, they handed us a black trash sack - $5 per sack. I'm afraid I went on a bit of a binge. This jacket is most likely from that spree. It's got some lovely white topstiching and a bunch of completely useless decorative buttons. The real piece de resistance is the bracelet, which I bought at Target. It was from the line that Subversive did for them. I don't usually buy jewelry at Target, but I do love anything with an insect motif.



Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Oh god, it's embarrassing how wrinkled that shirt is. I had it stored in a box labeled "Woven Tops". I love this shirt. Not only did it belong to my mother, but she made it as well. The fabric for it was made by her best friend (I'm not entirely sure if it was painted or what), so it is really an awesome shirt on many levels. I'm not even going to comment on those pants again.


The jacket I bought in Dublin on my first visit there. It was so long ago I actually paid for it in Irish pounds. I got it at the Brown Thomas diffusion store (for lack of a better term). I think it's called BT8, but I could just be confusing the name with my old post code. At any rate the store is further down Grafton St. than the main Brown Thomas building and only sells clothing of the younger variety (think Diesel and Miss Sixty). The brand is Earl (as in jeans), which is a name I haven't heard much in a while. The scarf I made myself in high school. It is the first item of clothing I ever knit as far as I can recall. (Isn't it cute the way I look like I'm looking up at myself here)

Monday, February 16, 2009


Usually I get some good natural sunlight for my pictures in this location, but as you can see, it was so rainy today that this picture turned out quite dark. Anyway, I think it might actually make the outfit look better than it really is. This is a sort of velveteen sweatshirt that I bought on a thrifting pilgrimage to Palm Springs with C. a few years ago. It's got some interesting detailing on the shoulders, (which would never show up in a photo so I didn't even try) but on the whole it is rather unspectacular. I bought it for the colour. Peacock blues and greens have been a thing for me the past five years or so. I even convinced an ex-boyfriend to paint our house in that shade (the interiors mind you, I'm not that eccentric). This shirt rides a bit high, so I'm wearing an American Apparel black wife beater underneath (actually I think the company may refer to this particular style as a "boyfriend beater" Ha!). I went without a belt today which looks awesome in this picture, but in reality is a particularly bad fashion habit of mine. I truly believe that belt loops are meant to be used, but I am frequently too lazy to follow my own advice. Here it looks like I'm wearing some cool high waisted trousers, but they are, in fact, the same damned black cords I have been living in the past few weeks.

Sunday, February 15, 2009


I've been wearing the same black cords all week it seems and the fact of the matter is, I wasn't at all happy with the way this outfit worked as a whole. The top half looked pretty good, but somehow with the skinny black pants it didn't really fit. I think I'll have to find a good skirt if I want to try this outfit again. I love the teal and brown combo though. I pulled this sweater out of a drawer chock full of forgotten sweaters from high school. I have no idea where I bought it and only have a general idea of when (probably in the late '90s). The brown shirt with the tie is a hand me down from my great aunt. I've had it for years, but have only recently started wearing it under V-necks.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's day


I made it a rule back in high school never to wear red on February 14. Black is a bit overly dramatic (unless, of course I feel like being overly dramatic, which this year I don't), so blue has become my colour of choice for most Valentine's days. The dress is from The Gap and was given to me by my godmother as a Xmas gift last year. The turtleneck is also from The Gap, which might make you think that I shop there on a regular basis, but honestly it's just that they make jeans and turtlenecks that fit me well. The wool tights are from my mother, who gave me several pairs when I left for colder climes. Like any good New Englander, she got them at L.L. Bean. I used to wear this outfit alot until I saw the exact same dress on a regular customer at work (always a hazard with Gap clothing). The woman was in her late 40s/early 50s and clearly should not have been dressing like a French school girl anymore. Since then I pause when reaching for this jumper. I'm not really sure why I chose to wear this today.

Friday, February 13, 2009


Another hit with the old timers. I bought the jacket at Dumpster Values in Olympia and the sweater at the Goodwill in the same city. This is the first time I've worn them together and I must say I like the effect. Gap cords as before. I was looking for some other pair of pants to wear, but I have gone through all the ones that I have on the premises and I'll have to dig into my storage unit to find some new ones. Still, I think I need to take a brief break from these and the jeans.

Thursday, February 12, 2009


I don't generally do the pink and red combo. Valentine's day is around the corner and I don't know if this makes it more or less acceptable to wear these colors. My friend A. is actually a big fan of the pink and red (or she used to be the last time we spoke on the matter). Funny enough, this blazer is one that I literally snatched out of her hands while we were shopping to together at a thrift store back in high school. I think it was actually a case of her uncovering it and me grabbing it before she could, a practice I used to be shamefully guilty of. This blazer has a lovely little bedazzling job done to the yoke area that you can just barely make out here. The sweatshirt is from an old riot grrrl band called Panties who I saw at the Santa Barbara "Girl Convention" back in '96. The neat thing about the sweatshirt is that they actually printed on the fuzzy inside bit. Jeans and shoes as before

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

red or orange?


The great debate of the day was over the exact colour of this jacket. I maintain that it is red. My work chum A. said it was orange. And so it went, with each of us holding up different examples of red and orange to compare it to (it is more orange than a swiss army knife, more red than the handles on a pair of scissors). This outfit proved to be big winner and garnered a huge number of compliments, mostly from the 60+ crowd. One regular older gentleman said something like "Superwoman has dressed like a star today" (he calls me "superwoman" because of my tattoos, though I can't really understand why - I just go with it). This jacket is another find from the Jet Rag $1 sale. This means I must have bought it sometime in the late 90's. It is also another item that I didn't realize needed a belt until quite recently. I think what really makes the outfit though is the scarf which is Norman Norrell. I bought it for 50¢ at a yard sale. I thought I would be very annoying by wearing it with the name prominently displayed to show off for any vintage fashionistas I might run into. Instead I just had A. ask me "What's a Norrell?"

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I'm remembering how difficult it is for me to dress well in cold weather and today's outfit is really a great example. The sweater is from a Pomona thrift store (the late Leroy's if I recall). The stripy shirt underneath is from Dumpster Values. This used to be my favorite shirt. It has a really nice square neckline. Sadly I have worn it to bits and it really isn't suitable to wear on it's own anymore. It is finishing out it's last days as an undershirt.

This jacket is from the Alice Temperly for Target line (I did tell you I went a bit mental for the collection). I got a couple of compliments from the patternmakers tonight on it. One of them thought I had made it myself - Ha! I've heard that the fabric on this doesn't age very well (I think R. has this same jacket and may have this problem). I haven't really worn it enough to do much damage yet.

Look at my crazy chicken legs!!! I don't like footless tights and I bought this pair by mistake. I bought them as part of a 2 for 1 deal at Urban Outfitters. The cozy sweater-dress is from Topshop.

This jacket I got for $1 at Jet Rag. I think it is probably my best purchase from one of those parking lot sales. It used to be my go-to jacket in college for any sort of cold weather. It's missing a button and I ripped the lining while trying hop a fence in Glasgow with my roommate M. and a certain Norwegian pop singer. He said that by ripping the lining, I would always remember that day, and he was right.

Sunday, February 8, 2009


Oh I look soo sleepy here. The sweater is Espirit and I think I bought it at Macy's back in high school with a gift certificate from my Dad's boss or someone similar. The jeans are the same old Gap ones. The scarf I knit myself probably in college. I made a sweater with the same black mohair, so this may have been me using up the extra balls, or it could've been that I liked the yarn so much I decided to make a whole sweater out of it.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

It's been raining like crazy for the past two days, so my outfits are more about being cozy than anything else. The jacket I wore today is from Levi's. I bought it at their store in Belfast and it's the only article of clothing I have ever purchased from that brand. I've tried on their jeans in the past, but even the so-called skinny ones are too baggy for my liking. This jacket is generally a crowd pleaser. I remember my old bandmate L., who is a bit of a pretty boy, begged me to give it to him. He said it would look better on him than on me and he is probably right about that. Nevertheless, it is the only denim jacket that I've really loved since the acid washed one I wore in 3rd grade and I'm not parting with it. The cords are the same ones I wore yesterday.

I think the last time I wore this sweater was in 1996. It's missing a button and has a few holes in it, but is still in pretty good shape despite those things. I'm really not sure if I should get rid of it or not and I would really appreciate some feed back on this matter. The blue shirt underneath I bought at a thrift store in Tucson on a somewhat disastrous trip there in '97. I got this and a couple of other awesome scores there, so perhaps it wasn't all bad. The pants are from The Gap and I've worn them before, but I'm fast realizing that I'm going to have to reuse my trousers, because I really don't have that many of them.

Thursday, February 5, 2009


I was doing my teacher's assistant gig today and I think this outfit very much fits the part. The sweater is Calvin Klein which I found at Marshall's. I had an older gentleman at work complement me on the color. He said that there are certain shades of green (the implication being that this was one of them) that you only find in California. He liked to call it "California green". I think of it as almost a sage green. There is a wonderful tiny line of orange running through the back neckline on the inside that looks smashing against it. The shirt underneath was a hand me down from my friend K. I think it looks better worn under sweaters than on its own. The skirt was a gift from Mrs. N., I think she may have gotten it from her friend J. but the label shows that it was originally purchased at H&M. Generally I don't have time for things like flesh colored nylons, but I make an exception if they have seams running up the back which this pair do.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

When my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, I went on a massive spree at Anthropologie and ended up spending about $400. I suppose that is a small amount for some women in this world, but frankly I have never before or since spent that sort of money at one time and in one place on clothing. This is part of my haul from that day. The turtle neck is from The Gap and you have seen it before. I suppose this is a very similar look to my inauguration day get up. This must be a good look for me because I had another strange man complement me on my "cute dress". I guess that's the sort of thing one hopes for when buying a post break-up dress.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I was feeling lazy today, so I just wore a pair of Gap jeans and an old army shirt of my dad's (not that he was actually in the army or anything). The jacket is from Target. It is from Isaac Mizrahi. I bought a few jackets of his from Target when he first started designing for them, but I stopped when they started carrying the more exciting designers.


This is what I wore to work on Monday. I think I bought the dress at a Jet Rag parking lot sale back when I went to those sort of things. I had to seriously cut down on buying stuff at thrift stores and rummage sales, not because I don't love the stuff I find there, but because I find too much good stuff and have run out of room to store it all. I haven't worn this dress very much at all since I bought it. The tights are a lovely blue sparkly pair that remind me of lizard skin (actually I have another pair in a slightly different blue color that remind me more of a lizard). I think my my mom may have bought them for me.



Here's a better picture of the tights. You can get a better feel for the color.

Sunday, February 1, 2009


It was such a lovely warm day today, I thought I would wear a nice spring-y ensemble. The T-shirt is from the Alice Temperly line for Target. I went a bit mad for her collection and ended up buying 4 or 5 pieces from it while it was in the stores. The jeans are Mossimo and I got them from a strange little store in LaVerne that sells mostly damaged canned goods. Since it was a bit cold by the time I got around to snapping this picture, I threw on this sweater which I bought at Marshalls or maybe T.J. Maxx. It's not from any label I've ever heard of.