2013

I'm not 100% sold on dressing up tonight (it's going to be cold, my feet will hurt, etc.) but luckily I don't have very much in the way of shining metallics and sequins, so the selection process will likely be not that difficult.

In the meantime, I dredged up some looks from New Years' past. That 2010 looks is SO painfully 2010.

2010: Zara shirt, vintage bandage skirt and bag
2011: Vintage dress, belt, necklace, J. Crew headband
2012: Anthropologie pants, Madewell blouse, vintage shoes

santa tracker

wearing J. Crew dress, Uniqlo tights, Banana Republic jacket (super, super old), infinity scarf from Ross (no label), vintage necklace and bangles, Pixie Market shoes

It's the most wonderful time of the year--unless there's a tornado ripping through your local high school. No tornadoes here in California, just a rainy-ass day that bothered me not one bit because I spent it in my pajamas by the fire with my family and boyfriend and Kobe. Got some nice things too, including a Clarisonic (aka a Sonicare for your face) that I can just tell is going to do wonders on my winter-ravaged skin. Later I'll be making pot du creme and stopping by a friend's house for a Christmas birthday celebration. And tomorrow, it's Boxing day! Which means I get to eat Trifle and wear a paper crown. It's not a bad life. Hope yours is chugging along in the same vein.

choes

 wearing Insight jeans, Uniqlo white shirt, J. Crew sweater, kid's motorcycle jacket from biker store, and introducing...Sergio Rossi laser cut brogues!

As per usual, I'm not yet done Christmas shopping but I've still managed to pay homage to the #1 most important person in my life (me) by completing my yearly Barney's sale purchase. These babies are giving me major menswear vibes because they're the actual proper shape of a man's shoe instead of some round-toed, bastardized ladies' version. The laser cutouts remind me of those tissue paper Mexican banner thingies they use on Cinco de Mayo. Can't wait to wear them with colored socks.

FLO FOX

I became acquainted with the work of photographer Flo Fox after watching 'Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work'. Joan meets her while delivering a Thanksgiving meal as part of her volunteer work for God's Love, We Deliver. Flo is legally blind and wheelchair bound from symptoms of MS, and started taking photos with an auto-focus camera in the late 70s after failing eyesight made it impossible to continue working as a costume designer.  She has taken, by her estimation, over 100,000 photographs of life in New York since the late 70's. She shows Joan a series of photos she took of the same drugstore for 25 years, documenting the rise in the price of cigarettes. "Check me out," she says, before saying, very slowly and deliberately, "Flo-Fox-Dot-Com."

Her photos are moody, subtle, and always somehow shot through with a pang of raw humor (police blockades creating an accidental Star of David, man in assless leather chaps eating alone at a diner). Also, lots of dick pics, which she's been compiling for her yet-to-be-published tome, 'Dicthology'. She claims every man who has entered her apartment since the mid-70's has posed for the book. 'Atta girl.

In spite of some obsessive internet detective work, I wasn't able to find very many of her photographs online. Her website features a few, but sadly looks like it hasn't been updated since 1999, and hardly does them justice. She has created only one self-published book of her work, 'Asphalt Gardens: 69 Photographs by Flo Fox,' but it is long out-of-print (ps if you can find me one, I'll send you a puppy).

My favorite series is one she self-photographed for Playboy magazine. She was already nearly legally blind when these photos were taken. There's some nudity so I've hidden them after the jump.

NOLA

Back home from New Orleans minus a kidney and half of my soul. Tried to bottle up some of that Laissez les bon temps roule but all I came home with was some kind of swamp sickness and a nasty hangover. Typical.

One of my favorite stores in the French Quarter, Dauphine St. Books is filled to the rafters with used books and has an amazing selection of vintage maps and prints

Above-ground mausoleums at the Greenwood Cemetery in Metairie

 

Architectural details walking around the French Quarter

My sister with her prized rooster, Gregory Peck.

Sunset on the Bayou, cypress trees draped in spanish moss

festive threads

pants via Anthropologie, vintage shell top, Mossimo turtleneck, Sigerson Morrison heels, vintage Bally bag, vintage Monet enameled chain link bracelet, J. Crew headband

With holiday party season in full swing, it's wise to have a few sparkly and/or gilded items hanging around in case you're ever in need of a last-minute cocktail party outfit. This leaves more time for actually celebrating and less time spent in stockings harrumphing over the fact that you have nothing to wear. Also, this headband thingy has become my favorite updo tool and go-to hairstyle for holiday parties. Instructions on how to create this style can be found here. The best part? There are no pins needed. I swears.