luxury items

Chanel shoes (secondhand), vintage Lucite and plastic bangles, vintage Monet necklace, Seiko watch, vintage ring

Miu Miu pumps

As I try my hardest to avoid cheaply made, chain store clothing bought en masse to soothe some kind of psychological deficiency, I'm turning more and more to consignment shops and sale sites to buy a few, quality pieces in their stead. I've been finding some great designer items bought on the cheap(er) thanks to local sample sales, consignment shops, and of course, the greatest store on earth, the World Wide Web. The Miu Miu pumps on the bottom are from Shop Hers, a new curated ecommerce site where you can buy and sell gently used designer pieces. All items are shipped to the Shop Hers HQ first to ensure authenticity, and then shipped to the buyer. There are some dangerously inexpensive Chanel bags on there. Inexpensive, meaning of course under $2K. Let's hope tax season brings with it a bounty of returns.

historically accurate

wearing vintage dress and necklace, Chanel shoes, vintage turquoise and silver ring

Inching my way through season 2 of Boardwalk Empire has got me craving lots of filter-free cigarettes in gold cases. Also, the clothes are nice. Channeling the beleaguered Mrs. Schroeder here in this lovely vintage frock, an accidental find from the weekend's Halloween costume hunt. It's not my Halloween costume but it so totally could be. Too bad I'm going to wear it as not a costume. You know, like on a regular Tuesday. 

the cautionary tale

wearing Zara waxed jeans, Mossimo turtleneck, D&G leopard print top, Acne jacket, vintage bag, Chanel shoes, DIY manicure with Martha Stewart glitter

I was somehow able to cram the highest number of designer labels into this look as possible given their scarcity in my closet. But here they are, working together. I can't remember if I've ever actually shown these shoes before, but I rarely wear them because they're soooooo speshul. And perhaps, if you look closely, slightly too small, but who's looking closely?!

And I have to share the sad tale of the Barney's intern. On Tuesday morning, I woke up, checked my Facebook, and saw the following status update in my newsfeed from the official Barney's NY account:

Poor girl flunked an accounting test and may have lost her (highly coveted) internship in the same day. While some of the later comments said something to the effect of, "This is why you don't get an intern to run your social media," anyone who works in social media knows this is an easy mistake to make, especially from a mobile device. If you're the admin of a fan page on Facebook, it's not like you sign out of your account and sign in to the fan page--you simply write updates on the fan page while signed in to your own account. I know people who have done something similar, including a friend who accidentally tweeted the sex of his unborn child from a company account. I guess this is the price we pay for blurring of the personal/professional line. And for the fact that writing on Facebook is like, a real job now.

Either way, I will be pouring one out for Barney's girl this weekend. I don't like to witness human tragedy, especially when it falls so close to home.

the one in which i shamelessly promote my chanel blouse...

Immaculate craftsmanship? Check. Perfect drapey, slouchy, too-cool-for-school fit? Check. Built-in bolo tie? Checkity check. Ladies and gentleman, meet my new Chanel blouse:




wearing: vintage Chanel blouse, J Brand jeans, Zara booties
I CAN'T. It's too fucking good.

ps
No, these pictures are not taken with my new camera (yet!) I still need to figure out how to to connect it to my computer to download the pictures. I will enlist boyfriend's help post haste to remedy this situation.

sacrifices

wearing Madewell blouse, Armani Collection trousers, Made by Elves shoes, ethnic necklace from street vendor

I had to have these pants when I found them at What Poppy Wants this weekend because they fit like a dream, they were hemmed to my exact height, and they fit in with one of my main style resolutions of 2011--to purchase quality clothing even if it costs more. These happened to not cost very much, which made it all that much easier to take them home.

In other news, I also found a gorgeous Chanel blouse (also from What Poppy Wants) and finally purchased a DSLR (the Pentax k-x!) which should arrive in a few days. In other other news, I will now commence eating ramen noodles and canned tuna. My financial situation is suddenly less beefy.

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can't ready my, can't read my....

I had a pretty productive day today. First I visited the Decades Two pop-up shop at Fort Mason, where they were selling lightly worn designer shoes for $150 a pair. After wavering over a tassled pair of Fendi slingbacks (mostly because they looked fantastic with my polka dot pedicure) I swooped in on these Chanel silk faille pumps instead. Then I headed to Painted Bird where I found leather shorts for $15 and a perfectly slouchy silk button-down shirt. Now I'm watching Lady Gaga music videos on MTV. That actually has nothing to do with being productive, it's just awesome.

wearing LF t-shirt, thrifted shorts, thrifted necklace, UO tights, Chanel pumps

The shoes:


Chanel silk faille pumps
the shoes that almost were: Fendi tassel sandals

best in show: chanel pre-fall 2010

I haven't queefed over a Chanel collection this much since Kunty Karl sent models down the runway with these lightbulb heels in 2007, but I am smitten. I was originally going to do a pre-fall post but decided I needed to dedicate an entire entry to Chanel and this mix of rich pattern and texture with positively futuristic cuts and silhouettes.

For me, this is everything fashion could and should be: playful, elegant, sumptuous, intellectual without being inaccessible, and rooted in tradition while still looking to the future. Bra-fucking-vo. I'll take one of each.