Shoes

I got two pairs yesterday. I think I really wanted them. I felt so happy afterwards. It's been awhile since I've gotten shoes that didn't have other people's feet in them prior.

Repetto ruched suede ballet flats with leather tie
Jeffrey Campbell flats with cutout and seam detailing

We also got bath products for Nelson's mom for Mother's Day. I'm on the hunt for a pair of pj's for my mom.

Adventures in raw denim

So when The Fashion Spot went down a few weeks ago, I wandered elsewhere for my fashion fix. Lo, there's Supertalk, a mostly boys' forum for street style.

I got hooked into the raw denim discussion. Apparently, this is one of the few safe areas for fashion obsession available to guys. It's where you get denim in the raw, unwashed state, and break them in yourself.

A few points I picked up:
. Nudies and APC brands seem the most popular, and then there are the more esoteric Japanese brands
. Looms...Levis's sold theirs to the Japanese in the 80s, and this was a very bad thing.
. You want to wait as long as possible before washing, to increase the contrast in wear marks. Six months seem to be the target mark.
. Of course, your denim will start to stink. Febreze is the method of choice.
. Detergent--Woolite Black, Dr. Bonners, nothing, or esoteric Japanese denim soap.
. Temperature of the water should be either 40C or 60C, depending on how dark you want your denim to remain. A soak and rinse then hang up.
. Don't fold your denim. They must be hung up.
. Get them as tight as possible so they shape to you. This also speeds up the breaking in process.
. Wait about 6 mos before the first wash. About 120 wearings. Some folks track this with tick marks. I'm considering a spreadsheet.
. Pics of the breaking in process is referred to as denim porn, complete with crotch shots. I guess so that you can see the hige.
. Hige: the wear marks radiating from the crotch. Honeycomb: the creasing behind the knees.

And it goes on.

I don't think girls get into this as much. For one thing, they are not so sartorially boxed into a corner. We've got other things to satisfy our creativity, like color. Even the trad style adherents (see Style Forum) obsess over tiny details of "purity." Also, I think girls care about the fit and trendiness of things over than anything else.

In any case, I decided at some point to start my own denim project. I was completely unenamored with the ridiculous washes of women's denim, anyway, and had been looking for a dark wash skinnyish jean for awhile.

The APC arrived the other day. I've been wearing them around the house first. They're stiff, and there's a little bit of a sheen to them. I had to have the boy help button me up at first, and he couldn't do it on the first try. But they're already starting to relax. I'll post pics of their progress as time goes by.

Rhetorical effects

One of the students in my class said to me after class, in her broken English, "you should gain weight. Be more sexy."

I was shocked into silence. So she takes it as a sign to continue, "I need to lose some weight. But you need to gain. Do you eat?"

The conversation ends with "You make all girls jealous."

Dionigi coin wallet

It's nice. Vegetable-dyed leather, entirely made in Italy. Very small. Only big enough to fit credit cards and money. And I can attach my keys to it as well. The inside is lined with cotton plaid.

I think I'll be keeping this one. When the Lodis one arrives, it's going right back. It was kinda bulky anyway.

A bad thing happened

When I looked into my bank account some weeks back, I found out that I had about a third more moola in it than I expected. I went about remedying the situation in earnest.

In the mail:
APC New Standard raw denim
Michael Kors Astor satchel in luggage and black (I'll only keep one)
Tsumori Chisato for La Redoute blouse
Lodis red snap wallet
Italian leather coin purse (I'll only keep one)
Diesel overalls

On hold:
HOBO Hayward clutch

With the tags still on:
peacock tee (anthropologie)
rasberry ruffled hem skirt (anthropologie)
brass drop necklace (anthropologie)
grey tee (Luella for Target)
trapunto strapless dress (Luella for Target)

Dust

I've been picking up a lot of dust on the front of my shoes. They're ashy now. I think it's from the park that I walk across every morning. Maybe from chalk.

I also pick up a lot of gravel in the folds of my pants. They skitter across the floor when I change at home.

Baseball caps

...make me feel jaunty.

Overalls folderol

Every few years, I have to replace my overalls. I know they're just grubby clothes, but I still like to freshen them up when they get too faded or worn. Over the years I've had Old Navy, Todd Oldham, and JuuJuu overalls. The trick is to get lightweight denim so that they don't weigh you down too much.

The newest incarnation is in the mail from yoox.com, made by Diesel.

Earth Day at Buffalo Exchange

They were having a dollar sale of all the crap they couldn't sell, I guess. Nothing really remarkable, but there was a swarm of people picking over these things. I just wanted to say, People! You can find cheap stuff at Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul, too! This stuff is not that good a deal!

Nevertheless, inside I found a Piazza Siempone (spelling?) sheer polka dotted top that I plan to wear over tank tops. I love tank tops. I love the freedom of feeling the wind on my bare shoulders and moving around unemcumbered by my clothes. But it's always so cold in Seattle, so I've slowly been amassing a small collection of cardis and light sweaters to wear with tank tops. This top fits that function.

Things I'm looking for right now

. shoes to wear with summer dresses (something solid looking, perhaps not completely flat, but not high heeled either)
. knee length skirts with some structure to them
. sleeveless and short sleeve white tees
. coin purse/wallet

Laundry day

I'm trying to stay awake for the remaining loads. I may have to have the boy retrieve the duds.

For school today I wore my sheer pointelle sweater under striped babydoll tank with my jeans and polka dot belt.

Then for cruising around town, I changed into a summery babydoll linen dress over the sweater and Converse with my Miu Miu bag.

a few more things

Unisa black flats (Goodwill)
two layering tanks with ruched details (F21)
black and white floral jersey dress
yellow dangle earrings
shorty shorts

Got the Mondays

I don't feel so good. I think I ate too much yesterday. What a mistake, wearing the tight pants over to G's for Easter dinner. G is a terrific chef, and I gorged myself to the limit of my straining pants button.

Today it's comfort in the mood of blue:
. long white tank top under
. fitted dusty blue tee shirt
. dark blue corduroys (with a bobby pin holding the tabs together {I told you I have an issue with errant buttons})
. striped Dr. M sneakers

Stuff

Acquired:
Diesel cropped jeans (thrift)
Striped s/s tuxedo shirt (J.Crew)
cropped bell-sleeved sweater in mint (Anthropologie)

Returned:
madras plaid bikini bottoms (J.Crew)
turquoise headband (Ant.)

Weekend outfit

soft lavendar tee (J. Crew) under
skull tee (some indie designer)
slouchy jeans (Levi's, thrift)
striped canvas belt (thrift)

Taking the bag out for a walk

So we've had a few excursions, what I like to call, "taking the purse out for a walk." A few observations:
> I feel special carrying it. I think that's kind of stupid, but it's true.
> I walk a little bit taller, according to the boy.

It is a bit like armor. Perhaps I am more willing to barrel through the tough girl lines with this bag in tow. Meaning that people have to go around me now, rather than the other way around. I did notice a lot of "excuse me"s. Usually, people just push me aside.

Weird.

Miu Miu!

I had been laying in bed all morning listening to the door for sounds of the mailman. It was still grey and quiet outside. At last, I heard some rumbling and then the sound of a thud. I pulled on some pants and scurried outside.

The box the bags came in was much larger than I expected--standing almost halfway up the doorframe. I dragged the box inside and carefully slit the masking tape.

It was like Christmas, with layers of tissue paper, more boxes underneath, and then inside the grey box, the grey dust bags that held the handbags. The dust bags were cinched with long strings that had to be untied.

I'm going to keep the buffalo sac. The leather is thick, soft, and squishy. I kept running my fingers over it and smelling the leather all morning. The whole experience is quite tactile, really. I like how it looks. It's large, but not ludicrously so. It will fit all my books and papers. It also looks nicer than anything I've ever owned, but it's casual enough for everyday. And while it looks very nice, it's not obviously logoed or designer.

(the white one...eh. Too schoolmarmish and plain.)

Success!!

The waiting...

...is the hardest part. The Miu Miu bags will arrive on Saturday and the Un Apres de Chien bag will arrive on Monday. I'm so excited! although I know that there is a good chance that these bags won't work out. They are both a little bit different than what I would usually get, a little bit outside my comfort zone.

In addition, I am waiting on a necklace from Alex + Chloe.

Things boys like that you wouldn't think they would

Flannel nighties
Overalls
Headbands
No makeup

Handbag mania!

So I finally bit the bullet and ordered a few handbags this weekend. I had visited Saks in Portland but they had a pretty slim selection, and not of the designers I wanted to look at.

So here's what's coming to me as we speak:
This is a messenger from Un Apres-Midi de Chien, a French handbag company. This one comes from Luna Boston on sale.

Then I have two Miu Miu bags that I have to decide between:
The FedEx package with the Miu Miu bags weighs 10 pounds!