StyleSnapshot

Sale wishlist: shearling envy

Jackets: R13 (left) and 3.1. Phillip Lim, both @ Ssence

 

Sale wishlist: ladylike

Dress: YSL, Shoes: Givenchy, both @ Barneys

Loeffler Randall started doing bags in the fall and I gotta say - not bad at all. I don't wear their shoes because, well, I have my (silly and snobish) shoe loyalties, but I've been successfully suckered into a bag purchase by their dreamy instragram-like campaign photos :)

I want...

Crushing hard on this very cool patchwork trench from Acne...

On (re)discovering Zara

Ok, I have to admit I'm one of those people totally incapable of finding cool stuff at big department stores (or Zara's, H&M's, etc of the world). I get overwhelmed by the quantity of stuff /people and unless something awesome is right in front of me and super obvious, I won't find before my attention span expires. I have my few stores I still frequent religiously (rather sheepishly and at off-peak times) but otherwise the VAST VAST VAST majority of my shopping is done online from a growing list of purveyors of fabulously (un)necessary fashion stuffs (a post on that sometime later - the list is quite impressive, I must tell you!). In the comfort of my loungy office chair, with the added benefit of three computer screens (all strategically turned away from my boss and covered up by privacy screens, of course) I'm totally content to waste away hours combing through the vast inventory of the aforementioned numerous purveyors in search of my AHA!!! moments of uncovering must-have items. Add to that the joy of receiving packages in the mail (christmas year-round!) and using my own bedroom as a fitting room, and one would think that I would never return to mega-store format shopping...

...but, anyway I did, and it was ZARA (!!!) (Yes I may have been living in a cave and/or under a rock until now). And the experience was so profound that I felt compelled to email an endorsement to my two best friends (both of whom surely snickered, having been religious Zara treasure hunters for close to a decade). Even though I've read countless reliable odes to Zara in recent past, most recently here, it either wasn't sinking in or the fear of the mega-store has kept me far far away. It did, until I came across their recent campaign and lookbook online and it was very nicely styled and generally looked preeeeety good for your $$ (behold the lookbook). However, not having bought anything from Zara in half-a-decade (not since I shopped there religiously while living in Paris during college... but subsequently, and with great sadness, discovered that the US Zara experience just wasn't the same), I had to try-before-you-buy, so there I was scurrying to the store during a shamelessly extended lunch hour and scurrying back with the fabulous stripy blouse from the lookbook and a blazer that looked and felt 10x its price tag! And, if not for having to get back to that pesky work thing, I could've spent lots lots more time investigating the goods, as there was much worth investigating. They had some well-constructed coats and even good-looking leather jackets, silky blouses that felt as luxurious as the Equipment ones (my huge addiction), attractive classic blazers and (important for relieving my mega-store anxiety) a nice, airy, uncrowded, well-organized retail space on 5th Ave. Most of the garments that stood out to me were made in Spain, Portugal or Morocco as opposed to China (I've been instructed to look for local point of origin) and a refreshing amount of them didn't look like blatant rip-offs. I shall return!!!! most likely for this fabulous pantsuit:

Just ordered boyfriend's christmas gift... and kind of jealous because I reeeeeally want a men's watch for my very own little wrist please :)

Friday flowers

 Shirt, Paul Smith

In this week's installment of Outrageous Fridays - an only-modestly-outrageous pairing of stripes and flowers (there is a proper suiting style pin-stripe skirt involved on the bottom but posing full length in the middle of a trading floor might raise some eyebrows... so you'll just have to use your imagination ;). And sorry, no jumpsuit (yet), although still seriously considering it!! Anyway, back to stripes and flowers... I gotta tell you, I *heart* Paul Smith for making Outrageous Friday dressing to work eeeeasy - sassy mensware inspired stuff that marries traditional tailoring and goofy prints, colors and details. I'm pretty sure I can also dig up in the  depths of the closet a cropped snow leopard print suit jacket, green houndstooth newspaper boy vest, candy-cane red striped button-down, some frilly blouses in Paul Smith rainbow print and juicy orange, plus my go-to high-waisted skirts (in frequent rotation - highly recommend)... and never run out of Friday funware :) :) 

P.S. Stay tuned for an update on the belabored naked dress dilemma tonight!!! xxxxxooooo

The naked dress dilemma (continued)

Ok, I don't intend to blow this out of proportion (I mean, c'mon - I'm the first to roll my eyes at a friend who can't decide what to wear out!). But it being a very special/highly anticipated occasion, I'm permitting myself to obsess a little longer about the naked dress dilemma...

...and, I have the most perfect, totally bad-ass overcoat solution!!!  Check this out:

 
Coat, Reed Krakoff via Gilt

Fur was a little too Upper East Side for me in the first place... but this is pretty spot on :) :)

Minor inconvenience (glad I read the small print before hitting "buy") - expected delivery after 4/19. Really? REALLY??? hohumm :x Gilt Groupe apparently is not for procrastinators.

The naked dress dilemma

Source: Hollywire.com 

So this Friday, in honor of my best friend visiting NYC from London for exactly 10 hours (all of which will be likely spent eating, drinking, dancing, and laughing uncontrollably), I have been contemplating dusting off *the naked dress* for a serious GNO. We all remember Carrie's naked dress from Season 1, Episode 6... While my dress is clearly not THE naked dress (less slip-like, more body-con with perhalps slighly more coverage), it's certainly similar in that it makes you look... well, naked. Courtesy of Cushnie et Ochs, it's this SS'09 dress...

 
Source: Elle.com

...but in a color so closely resembling moderately pale skin that on my moderately pale skin it is virtually indistinguishable!! So, it being the naked dress, there are clearly some reputational logistical risks involved with wearing it, the most concerning of which is looking just naked enough and not too naked and staying warm in near freezing weather. Since Carrie wore her dress in the dead of winter, lets not be concerned with seasonal appropriatness here (Carrie's not one for fashion faux pas, right ;) plus I'm a big fan of her original solution:

 
Source: Fashionism.ca

...with one minor problem in that I don't own a large raccoon fur coat... or any fur coat for that matter (mainly due to financial, not moral constraints ;). So, back to the original dilemma: I can wear the dress... but don't have anything appropriate to wear over, can't wear anything under and probably couldn't eat (or breathe ) in it anyway because it's rather umm "unforgiving". So, what to do?? To wear or not to wear??? Any creative solutions???? xxxooo