First official winter piece

I'm holding the purse strings close, but I adore this sweater. Shipping was free, and the coupon was expiring, so I ordered it.

I love the thick-knit, smooshy wool. The quirky, outsize details. The childlike frills and furbelows.

I want to feel like I'm wrapped in a big and warm blanket all winter.

Recent purchases

smock top (I love the high school art teacher look)
indian-print housedress
cap-sleeve keyhole top


I am trying my darnedest to be more focused and relevant in my purchases. So while I am drawn to and habitually buy dresses and flats and things like that, I hardly ever wear those things. So instead, I'm really trying to fill in the gaps in my wardrobe. That means warm sweaters, cotton tees, and other layer-able tops.

Thift stores

Today I went on a thrifting expedition. My notes on the experience

Salvation Army (SODO)
- clothes: disorganized
+ housewares: varied, extensive
+ prices: cheapie
the tall black man gives discounts and freebies (I got a free CD)

Goodwill (Burien)
didn't look too long, but nothing much

St. Vincent de Paul (Burien)
+/- clothing: good for some vintage, not so good contemporary
+ books: usually good
+ housewares: varied
+ knicknacks
- prices: on the high side for a charity shop

Goodwill (main location)
- clothing: bad
+ books: really great
+ prices: good, especially compared to others
extensive selection, but dirty

Constantly revising wishlist

1. black pants. 3-season weight. no lining. cotton. $$$
2. oversized, slouchy sweater. $$
3. layering tees. (j.crew.) $
4. winter shoes. ankle boots or oxfords. leather. lace-up. $$
5. medium-size handbag. leather. shoulder worn. cute. simple. $$$
6. blouses. simple. layer-able. cotton/silk/wool ... natural material. $
7. scarf. windable. $
8. maybe high-waisted denim

must resist dresses, sleeveless tops, more jeans.

So following my new spending calculus, less for tops, more for leather goods and bottoms.

Rain

I've become taken with the idea of rain hats. It came about a few weeks ago as I was dashing out the door when it was drizzling out, thinking how nice it would be to have a cute little bucket hat to cover my head. This idle thought reached a fever pitch the other day when I was caught in a heavier rain whilst walking around outside for a good 20 minutes. By the time I got indoors, my hair was a frizzball.


At first, I thought a little Coach hat might do the trick. Yes, it's logo-ish, but when the weather is adverse, I think people forgive questionable fashion.


But if I wanted to really take advantage of that fashion rule, this Noreaster hat makes the absurdity of 30 days of rain (like last year) a little more fun.


I briefly considered a 3.1 Phillip Lim rain slicker as a high-fashion alternative. But I think it's a little too much and I would get tired of it by day 27.

So I ended up with a Land's End kid's hat in yellow, not blue as pictured here. I think it's functional, cute, and cheap. Can't beat that. (Psst. I might still get the Noreaster hat. It's just too fun.)

Likes and dislikes

Finding your personal style is such a vague, amorphous, fluctuating enterprise, but it begins simply enough with just figuring out what you like and dislike. I try to keep tabs on my likes and dislikes every few months so that I can adjust my shopping accordingly.

Likes:
necklaces, scarves, neckties
layered tops
subdued colors (but trying to push at this a little bit)
bare legs
quirky but comfy shoes
cardigans

Dislikes:
changing earrings
dangling earrings
textured shirts
button downs
flip flops

What I think I like but don’t:
dresses
complicated outfits
handbags
tee shirts
corduroys
flats
knee socks
spaghetti strap tank tops

What I think I don’t like but do:
cowl neck sweaters
high heels
jewelry, as long as they’re semi-permanent

What I think I might like and will try out this season:
brooches
rain hats
oversized sweaters

Spending calculus

More on pants, outerwear, accessories like shoes and handbags
Less on tops, tees, dresses, prints

because

It's harder to make well-fitting pants than it is to make tops and dress.
Prints look dated quickly.
Cheap leather shows in quality and comfort.

Style folder

I organized my digital style inspiration folder today. By the end of all the pointing, clicking, and moving, my fingers were sore.


But now I have an organized file of the images that move me in some way. I have them organized in several subfolders labelled thusly:

Hair
Editorials/Models/Runway
Muses & demi-muses
Beautiful things
Candid photography from various blogs
The Fashion Spot


These are a few random images from each of the subfolders.

Fall wardrobe needs

The clothes that get the most use in my closet are the ones that I bought after having identified a gap in my wardrobe. That is, when I would get dressed in the mornings, I would be thinking to myself how nice it would be to have "X" to pull together my outfit. I think for this winter, these are the "X" factors.

I really need another pair of winter shoes. I wear the same old tired Doc Marten sneakers day in and day out. That's because they're comfortable and keep my feet warm and dry, but surely there must be others that might fit the bill? I have beenthinking about ankle boots or simply another pair of oxfords. I really like the versatility of the Clarks desert boots, but they don't import the women's version to the States.

I also would like to get one or two thick, cuddly sweaters. I'd like them to be oversized and slouchy, perhaps even falling off one shoulder. I'd like to also find a vest cardigan and a cardigan in neutral colors that I can layer.





Besides that, I think I need at least two more tops that I can wear to work. Cotton will ensure that they get worn. While I love the idea of silk (it seems like the most romantic of fabrics), I never actually wear silk tops. Too fussy for me in real life. This tie-neck swing top from Phillip Lim is just the kind of beautiful, simple top that I actually would wear and love wearing.



My layering tees from J. Crew get constant rotation, so I plan to get a few more to replace the ones that have gotten stained and holey.

And I would love to get a leather jacket. But I don't know if I'll find the perfect one, and I'm only willing to drop the dough on a perfect one.

The operative word this winter is WARM!

Waiting for the mid-season sale

The Fall/Winter collection at A.P.C. this year looks fairly redundant. Partly, it's their schtick to offer basic, well-made pieces, but this year looks so much like last year, you have to wonder why you even need anything new. Conclusion: I don't. Except for these three things that I'll wait for the sales to acquire.



The cable knit hat, except in grey, on the girl at the far left. I like the idea of skull caps, but they look funny on my skull. I think this version looks more wearable, warm, and effortless.

And the reptile-print wedges on the girl second to left. Reptile prints go with everything. Perfect.



The black smocked dress, which I adored the minute I saw it. I love the severity of it, for those days when you want to skulk around in the rain. Reminds me of Jane Eyre.

Vintage, you are no friend of mine

I preferred the days when vintage was simply "thrift" or "secondhand" clothes. When my sisters would cry "ewwwwww!" at the thought of wearing somebody's castoffs. When I could riffle through the racks on a Saturday afternoon with only a few Mexicans (it was Texas, ya'll) and frazzled moms as company.

Because this meant that you could find things for cheap. Nowadays, you have every impoverished trendwhore and hipster wannabee in the shops with you, beating you to the good stuff. Damn them.

And you find that the belt you bought for $3 at Goodwill is being sold online for $75 because it's been labelled "vintage."

Wishlist

Rebecca Minkoff date clutch
I want a large, daytime clutch that I can tuck under my arm when I go on my errands. I like the idea of a beautiful, simple piece of leatherwork as a handbag. Will wait until it goes on sale somewhere.

A.P.C. black smocked dress, Fall/Winter collection
The collection this Fall season is rather watered-down and disappointing. Too much like past seasons in some ways (the things that I don’t need), and too little like them in others (in the things I do, like crepe-soled boots or a fantastic winter coat). Of all the things, though, I am enamored with this little black number, with its moody inkblot color and monastic lines. Will wait for the Winter clearance sale in mid-December. Still a lot of winter remaining then!

I’ve changed my budget to reflect a birds-eye view of my sartorial acquisitions. So now my budget spans several months (two seasons in Seattle: rainy, and summer) instead of one month, and that allows me to buy more strategically. Perhaps I’ll spend more than one month’s budget on one item, but I’ll get less items overall, and I’ll be sure that it’s something that can work for me the entire season at least.

The contraction of my budget has forced me to dive deeper into my existing wardrobe. I come across items that I don’t really love anymore, and I find that the next time I go shopping, I have a better idea of what will hold up in my affections. But I’m also moving through my wardrobe more as well, and I wear things that I had tired of. I do like the idea of wearing my clothes until they grow tatters.

Evolution

I've become a major online (window) shopping addict. It hasn't always been this way. I was an 80s mall rat like the rest of my generation, cruising the air-conditioned stores with my high school friends. But as I see it, several key events came together to turn me away from the stores and on to the little square screen. Catalogs were the first step.

In graduate school, catalogs were the only passive entertainment available to me. And between reading two books and grading 50 papers every week, I needed some passive entertainment. Television was not around, my internet was rudimentary (dial-up for God's sake!), and even my movies were foreign and required me to read.

I particularly loved the Oilily catalogs. They seemed magical to me, with little rosy-cheeked Dutch tots in a perfect world of colorful textiles and old-fashioned playthings.

What I like

It's good to take an inventory now and then of what you like and don't like, what works for you and doesn't. Now that my budget has changed, my purchases have slowed down A LOT, and I find myself picking things much more carefully. While the price tag of individual items hasn't gone down by much, the number of things has.

What works for me:
Marc by Marc Jacobs shoes -- I have a pair of glittery platform sandals from last summer that I still love. It feels like the arrival of spring when I pull them out from their box.

A.P.C. -- I like the simple, quiet, and versatile aesthetic that permeates the collection. And I can use this brand to expand my wardrobe with foundational pieces, especially since most of their items go on 50% sale about midway through the season. (But you have to act quickly. The summer sale occurred about a month ago, and the choicest items sold out within hours online, but I did snag a few new items.)

necklaces -- Of all the accessories that I own, I switch out necklaces the most often.

What doesn't work for me:
Earrings, bracelets -- I wear the same Tiffany diamond posts and jade bracelet every day.

handbags -- Nothing ever really grabs me and holds on. Yes, I get feverish crushes now and again, but they all end up fizzling out almost immediately upon procurement.

dresses -- I think they're the prettiest little things, but I never wear them. I think they feel heavy on me, and drag me down.

And here's a new test of what I know I won't end up liking...If I find that I have to persuade myself into an acquisition, especially if I picture myself in some sort of glamorous setting, then it's a no.

I'll add more observations as they come to me.

The mailman

...has started saying, "I'll see you tomorrow!" when he hands me yet another package.

Oh the shame.

Oxford shoes

I wear oxford shoes all the time in the winter and often at all other times because 1) I like comfortable shoes 2) I don't hem my pants. Flats look terrible when your frayed hems are dragging along the ground.

But I get tired of them sometimes. So masculine, so clunky. Sometimes I want an in-between alternative.

Like these, which I hope will work. They are modeled after 1920s tennis shoes. Cute, huh?

Summer girls

They reappear this time of year like little woodland nymphs reemerging after a long winter season.

This picture of Brigitte Bardot summarizes to me what they try to capture when they put on their pretty things: ephemeral beauty. That dangerous nymphette charm that Nabokov wrote about.

But why try to capture something that is ephemeral? It's a losing proposition, after all.

I might quote a friend and say, it's because of the whiteness of the whale. The railing against certainty and death--the certainty of death, yes, but also just certainty itself.

Perhaps both men and women hunt for an elusive thing. Though these things might seem so different--to kill one thing, to hold another--the reasons are one and the same. And both, fairly impossible.

Cupid

Kind of like the grey kitten that I wished for as a child and expected just to appear one day at the end of the sidewalk, I had some idea that somebody would wander on to the Saks Web site, find this necklace, and realize that it was just right for me.

But I ordered it myself yesterday on sale. Almost as good.

Good things come to those that wait

What is it about fashion that encourages obsession? A few months ago, perhaps back in early fall, I fell in love with a handbag. I've fallen in love with handbags before, but not to this degree. I saw the bag, I loved it from afar, I collected images off of purse forums, and I waited. During a first markdown online, someone had beat me to it and I lost my chance on getting this handbag on a deal.

Through some fortuitous Internet sleuthing, I found out who had bought the handbag. She was a member of an Internet forum I visit sometimes. She planned to return the handbag. From the online reps, I found out how long it took for a returned item to be reposted. I bookmarked the product page and waited. I checked daily for months. But alas, the bag never reappeared.

Many months later, the only change I ever saw on the product page was a second markdown. It was moot, though, since there was no item to buy. I came close to deleting that bookmark, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had grown to enjoy checking up on my bag, like a little Internet pet. I suppose it's just one of the strange attachments that the Internet breeds.

So anyway. I idly opened all my bookmarks a few days ago, and lo and behold, the item had reappeared under the summer clearance! I hopped on that junebug!

So it's on its way to me now, at last.

Actually, I fully expect NOT to love the bag once it arrives, but what is it that they say? It's the journey, not the thing in itself. In this case, it was the waiting and the pining that was the most excruciatingly, exquisitely enjoyable.

What to pack for hot weather

1 sheer long sleeve shirt in white, for layering
2 casual skirts
1 dress (at most)
1 pair sandals
1 pair flip flops
1 pair dressier shoes
1 pair jeans for airport
3 pairs shorts
2 loose tanks
3 tee shirts
1 dressier blouse
1 floppy, collapsible sunhat

and, for comfort...
tin of black, green, and chamomile tea
journal
pens

buy books and magazines on the road