Fashion

The next few posts are all queued up as I will probably be too hung over from NYE festivities to really blog. And by "festivities," I mean marathon viewing of Lord of the Rings at my house with my brother and by "hung over," I mean lazy. Plus, I doubt anyone is really checking their Google Reader these few days so I'm assuming all of these posts will be piling up anyway. No biggie.
After lunch with Joyce on Christmas Eve, I changed into this decidedly more festive (but not too festive) look for midnight mass with my family. It is bordering on inappropriate for church but I am always on that precarious line in regards to "taste" anyway. Full disclosure: I was also wearing tights, a cardigan, and my H&M camel wool coat over everything but with all of my layers, it would be hard to bask in the glory that is this (p)leather skirt. And also, a very huge thanks to Janelle, my friend over at The Style Eater, for giving me the heads up on finding this skirt. I had been looking for one FOR AGES and my girl really saved my butt. A Christmas miracle!

What better way to spend Christmas Eve day than spending it with one of your really good friends? Joyce and I met up in San Gabriel Valley for some HK-style lunch and we both brought our younger brothers. It was like looking into a mirror, basically.
Since Joyce won't be moving to New York anytime soon (ahem), I will take any chance I get to reunite with her. It just so happens she has family in CA, so the weekend she was in town, I hitched my car east to see her. True love, ya'll.

I have a few outfit posts from Christmas Eve/Day and the Day After (Boxing day, eh?) but those will have to wait a few more days because I needed to share these photos of me attempting ice skating. So I haven't ice skated in about 10 years and have the grace and balance of a baby giraffe.
Let's just say that after a chubby kid fell face down behind me, I called my ice skating career to be over.

If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas (Eve)! I have been too lazy to take photos of my outfits but after this weekend, I think I'll get the motivation. Natural sunlight = better photos, obviously.

My two weeks have been great so far. Lots of family, friends, and food. A cupcake tasting contest, some reunions, and a walk down "Christmas Lane"--a few blocks in my suburb where people decorate their houses for Christmas. I had always wanted to do that and am glad that I finally got to this time.

To tide you over until my next outfit post, here is an editorial from Winter 2011's A Perfect Guide, photographed by Stefan Zschernitz and styled by Sarah Cobb that I am obsessing over right now. All black looks, really clean minimalism modeled by Theres Alexandersson, Linnea Regnander, and Agnes Karlsson. CAN I HAVE IT ALL PLEASE?

Rag & Bone
I was recently at the basement sale corner of an Urban Outfitters and spied a pair of red pants. I had been looking for the ~perfect~ pair for awhile and the vibrant hue had caught my eye. Turns out, the pants were leather (or faux-leather, I didn't really check). Then I hesitated but ultimately put it down. My point is, looking at the pieces in this Rag & Bone collection gives me a little more courage to try it out next time. Those red pieces are really poppin'.

Temperely London
Away went the quirkiness! What replaced it was ball gowns, party dresses, velvet pants. All strewn with a sort of opulence: gold brocade, huge brooches, pearls. It was hard to choose stand out looks because they were all such fancy-party looks. That can be a good or bad thing of course--depends on what direction the label is going in in the future.

Thakoon
Holy cow this color palette. I haven't really been wearing any of these colors in a long time (cold weather obviously means head-to-toe black) and it's just super refreshing to see it again. Like an old friend, light grays and pastels, I welcome you with open arms! Chunky cable-knits are interpreted as sleeves on a jacket, tennis skirts, and over-sized pockets. Everything has a simple elegance to it. Into this.

Thakoon Addition
I had a dream last night that I was wearing an all-over floral print button up with a tuxedo jacket and slim-cut trousers. Then, my dreams were manifested in this collection. I don't want to say that Thakoon totally ripped off my dreamz, but I'm not saying he didn't...

I apologize for dropping the ball the last season but I just wasn't up to covering shows. But I've been inspired recently mostly because I get to wear a lot of fall outfits without being too cold (yay to unusually temperate weather in New York!). Besides Resort, Pre-Fall is my favorite time to look at collections. For some reason, everything seems a bit more fun and maybe it's because a lot of it is more ready-to-wear?

Burberry Prorsum
Not much more has to be said about their outerwear. Sleek, sophisticated silohuettes--what everyone wants. I can do without most of the dresses/skirts though. Drop-waist with ruffles is not my thing at all.

Jason Wu
Oh man this entire collection. Tailored jackets and cigarette pants, beautiful gowns, A LEATHER COLLAR, so good. This makes me even more excited to see what he designs for Target's collection!

Jenni Kayne
I dub thee "California girl who does not know how to dress for the winter." I liked the monochrome looks, the suit jackets, the button ups, and the breezy tops with shorts. Although I don't share any of them here, most looks were ruined by a ridiculous fur hat. Did Kayne forget most Autumns = cold weather and she just stuck a hat on it?

That's what someone said in the elevator today at work and it's somewhat true. It rained on and off, it was in the low 60s, and also it was HUMID. In December. In New York, where we're supposed to have four seasons. But you know what? I am definitely not complaining.
Last year around this time, I had already busted out 2 of my 3 winter coats (the down coat being the last holdout until January). This year, I've been able to wear ALL of my fall coats that I didn't get a chance to wear last year. It's been a lot of fun, actually! I even got to wear my cape last week (although I did get a few stares while walking down Chinatown...oh well!).
I really thought I was going to have to say goodbye to this trench coat until the spring, but it seems to be enjoying it's last hurrah before the snow hits the fan. Knocking on every single wooden surface that the weather doesn't bite me in the ass come January...

After the strangest and most awkward sample sale at Rodarte yesterday during my lunch break, I was able to snag one of these tees that I had been lusting over for ages.
Don't ask me how much it was because you'll think I always make poor life decisions.
In my defense, LUSTING OVER FOR AGES. So, worth it. I didn't really know how to wear this, a tee shirt, mostly because I don't own very many (and the few I do are band tees) AND because I think it's just a wee bit too tight (blame it on me starting my winter hibernation/holiday food-eating early, I guess?).