New Year's Eve

All the pretty girls in their finest silk frocks and high heels, the men in their overcoats out on the streets, going to New Year's Eve parties. Such an optimistic sight.

Men's brogues/oxfords/jazz shoes

Still looking for them. I would wear them with tights and short skirts. And in the summer, with shorts but no socks.

In the search for personal style, I have started to mine the past for the things I used to wear before I had a lot of income at my disposal. These would be the looks I put together from thrift stores, and I mean real thrift stores. Not to be a snob about it, but vintage stores don't count. Someone else has already sifted through the smelly mess (and dry cleaned it, for God's sakes!) and hung it up nice and neat for you. I went into a vintage store once--couldn't even afford a cotton slip in the place. No thank you.

Ahem. What I was saying. Was. In the timeline of my personal style, I went from Converse shoes to oxfords sometime in college. It was a slight transition to less tomboyishness at the same time, as I started to show my legs, too.

Personal landmarks of style (ages approximate):
15....h-u-u-u-u-u-u-g-e Gap pocket t's. (by huge, I mean I wore L or XL and weighed ~82 lbs)
high school....shoes, no socks. shoes always came off in English class
16....black Converse sneaks
17...Birkenstocks
21....brown men's oxfords
21....the return of the skirt
23...tank top (for the first time!)

More recent changes, I'll post some other time. There was the first high heel, silk dress, non-sale item, etc.

Ooops! Almost forgot the reason for my post. The shoes I lost out on on eBay. I still cry.

Shoe love

The current crush. Marc by Marc Jacobs makes the best shoes. Girly, fresh, whimsical, and just plain cute. He was the cobbler of the glitter shoes this past summer.

Two style inspirations

Segolene Royal, the French socialist candidate for the presidency

Why: elegant and refined. girlish without juvenility. the perfect French "no makeup," luminous look. showing how to age gracefully (she's 52).




Sofia Coppola

Why: singlehandedly made flats chicer than heels. epitome of offhand cool. an unconventional beauty. (pictured on the set of Marie Antoinette)

Sales

So in mid-November, the summer things go on sale. Then the day after Christmas, there are some deep discounts for fall and winter.

I want to slow down the purchases and try to work out new outfits with the items that I have. These sales haven't helped too much in that endeavor. But luckily, at least they fell around my birthday and Christmas, so it wasn't too much impact on the pocketbook.

Happy Boxing Day!

Note to self: sales after Christmas.











I'm enamored with the idea of ankle straps. Although I've read that they make legs look stumpy because of how they cut you off at the ankle, I like the slightly retro feel of them.

Plain and oversized, like menswear.









Just a simple ol' mini.











I needed something to round out the order so that I could apply a coupon. So I added this pair. But while I like the idea of corduroys--so warm and collegiate--I always stop wearing them after awhile.





I saw a slim-looking shopgirl the other day in a pair of very well-fitted pants. And it occurred to me that it must be possible to find pants that are tailored in small sizes. Perhaps I had been looking in the wrong shops, at the wrong brands.

Striped mini dress

When I was about in the third grade, mini dresses had a revival. It was the first reapppearance of the 60s (I think we've since had at least one more). I myself had a pink and grey striped mini dress that I loved to death. It was about the prettiest thing I owned, which is why I often didn't wear it. It was too pretty for me.

For one of my research projects, I did a report on Evonne Goolagong, the aboriginal tennis player from Australia. I borrowed my brother's tennis racket and wore that mini dress as my closest approximation of a tennis uniform.

This dress from Velvet reminds me of that dress I had as a kid. It should be arriving in the next week or so.

On skiing

"I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes..."
---Henry David Thoreau

Looking for

...an oversized warm sweater.

Returns

So many, it's embarrassing. Maybe the postal patrons will think I'm just a really generous person sending off Christmas packages, instead of returning what will be 8 boxes of crappola.