Spring Mix: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

PLUS

PLUS

EQUALS

Some of the ingredients for an amazing past few days!

(my boyfriend played the biggest role in making it awesome!)

So many ideas have been bouncing around my head for quite awhile now. While being immersed in the Portland culture for the past four days & five nights I have had countless things I have been wanting to delve more into. Luckily, the new October issue was on stands for me to grab before I got on my flight.

My tweet deck had been sending countless reminders of new lines that have been making their way down runways in Milan during my stay. Needless to say, I've been busy in between seeing the wonderful, wonderful sights that Oregon & Washington had to offer us.

Before I start getting into designer lines, I'll speak my mind about the fashion vibes in Portland. Wow, what a great city! Not only when it comes to funky fashion, but the people are just down right awesome. One of the first stops I had to make was Goodwill. I LOVE thifting. I think it is the best ways to create your outfits and you can really make something your own with what you find. It's like going shopping in 1,000 closets of people of all decades with different styles. I lucked out immensely with this particular one. Almost everything on the hangers was designer. I ended up with a divine purple polyester BCBG top with a long tie-wrap around the waist (reminds me of something you would find in the Ralph Lauren 2010 fall line) I got another top as well. I will have to post a picture;

...but the real winner of the bunch was a beautiful Pendleton coat (made in Oregon) in a deep red. I was absent minded and forgot my coat for the voyage, but knew that I would get to buy one whilst we were there. When I tried it on in the store, three people came up to me and said "You need to buy that coat, it's simply gorgeous and in perfect condition." I snagged this little luxury for only fifty dollars! I couldn't believe my luck, especially since I did not have the desire to spend more than that since I have plenty of coats floating around the house. "They" say never buy a red coat, but "they" can go to hell, it's perfect, especially for holiday time.

I actually just chopped even more of my hair off.

Professional shears are dangerous for me to have.

It more so resembles a longer bob now.

With such fabulous thrifting, so many people are decked out in the coolest threads. I loved that about Portland. Sort of that "Let your freak flag fly" mentality. Which of course, is my favourite.

On to the designers.... I checked out a few collections this past week as the updates rolled in from all over via fashion tweets. heh (this all sounds quite lame to me. I never. ever. ever thought that I would have a twitter, but I do and I love it. dammit.) A few stand out to me; for reasons good and bad. Jil Sander is one of those. I normally like things by Jil Sander. But only through ads I've seen in Vogue over the years. I actually saw one of her dresses in the September issue and I loved it. When I saw the tweet about the latest Jil Sander line, I tapped the screen with a finger and wasn't exactly "in love" with what I saw. I saw big horizontal stripes across the body, unflattering, no shape, etc. But to be fair, I came back to the spring 2011 line multiple times to see if my mind would change the more I saw it. You know, like music, the more you hear it, the more you like it (sometimes.) So here we go; half of page three & page four is probably their only highlights and that is mostly in reference to colour. A lot of it is used here and I love that, I just disdain the shape of the clothes.

This is really the only thing I liked.

Some of the ones I did not like. At All.

see?! no shape!

These clothes are so expensive. They are supposed to make a woman feel wonderful about herself. I cannot see myself ever paying a lot for these garments. The female form should be celebrated and or at least silhouetted in some way. This line didn't do it for me.

On the other hand...we have some lines that I will be lusting over for a long, long time. Hats off to Aquilano.Rimondi & Versus! I love the patterns, the colours, the plaid, the line...really everything! It was hard to only pick six from each that I loved. They just make me gush!

.VERSUS.

mmm. mmm. mmm.

Excuse me, plaid just became extremely sexy.

I have admired the plaid look going around for the past few years, but I was never really into the grunge look so I always hesitate with plaid. I think sometimes it looks dashing and sometimes I hate the look so much. It's all about the rest of the outfit and the occasion. This looks like 'Little
House On The Prairie' all sexed up. I want this whole line.

.Aquilano.Rimondi.

Just PERFECT for spring. This line gives me such a good vibe. It looks like something Margot Tenenbaum would wear if she were 30 years old in the 60's hipster era. However they look like things I would wear now. I also love the one length long hair on these models. It goes perfectly with the clothes and the mood of it all.

But I cannot get too caught up in spring clothes just yet. For the time is coming for tons and tons of layers for me, simply because my body cannot handle these Chicago Winters. It's a season for me where my whole closet gets to jump in the mix. The Versus line holds more inspiration for me now because of the plaids. Plaids have always gotten me into fall, whether or not I wore them or not. They just remind me of the leaves changing colours and the crisp fall air. I am SO EXCITED.

Ah. My thoughts are finally put in their place for now.

This sunny day is making me chipper! Normally it's the opposite.

Hope you all tuned into Dexter on Sunday.

cold cut classics.

Sometimes I feel it's all about that signature look.

the signature is everything.

You know, that look that you've established and made your own and people associate you with it.

I had always wanted to make something my own, have my own association;

a long braid or fitted black pants with a white button up, or big earrings or hats. Or hell even a perfume would have sufficed. Then I read an article (not this particular one) about someone who actually has made this come to life. Alexandra Kotur, the style director of Vogue has created her very own signature look as part of her daily work outfit, which has become well known and well admired among her co-workers. She appears everyday in dark fitted pants, navy/brown/or black. The shirt is always a light color, either white or off-white and it's a button down. The shoes on her feet are either loafers or ballet flats. Classic. I love this idea. She wears no makeup and pulls her hair back into a bun Monday-Friday. For events, this is really the best part, she "transforms" with makeup, beautiful jewelery, and anything but her usual workday self acquired uniform. What a trickster! (& I love it.) Although my job allocates creativity and is much more laid back than anything you'll find in the corporate office world, sometimes I long to have an office job so I can create new looks each day. The word "uniform" makes me CRINGE. Especially if this consists of a pre-made company polo and if a visor is involved, forget it, I won't even apply. Wearing a set uniform retards my creativity flow a great deal. I briefly worked at Marshall Fields right before they turned into Macy's. Marshall Fields allowed you to wear what you wanted as long as that consisted of something nice. Macy's turned off the creativity and amped up the class (in uniform standards, anyways) and went with an all black dress code and now as a direct result (I wear a lot of black) I get mistaken for an employee often when I go into Macy's. The only perk of this transition was that Marshall Field employees received 50% off EVERYTHING black in the whole store in order to prepare for the new dress code standard. Unfortunately, that was my only job thus far that allowed you to pick your own clothes for work. How depressing...

The problem for me and a "trademark" look is that you can't really pin me to a specific style. I have always had this revolving door look going for me where some days I look like I came out of a goddamn Gap catalog and other days I look like I did some searching in my Grandma's closet or just got off stage at a concert. This has always worked for me, but it lacks the trademark. As for perfume goes, I have always had this fascination with what a perfume can do for you. They say scent is closest related to memory. It is about the impression you want to give and the scent you want to last. I think when you chose a perfume for the evening, you are subconsciously choosing a mood. Of course, your clothes reflect that and should encompass how you feel, but the scent is almost what can make that outfit come to life and can make those inner senses come out. People can also react differently to you based upon your scent. The thought is thrilling. Therefore, you can never just have one perfume in your collection, it needs to be an elaborate mix of sweet, spicy, strong, and sexy. With the right scent, you might just own the night. Remember that.

looks I LOVE.

too perfect for fall.

All I want this year is a Mink coat. A knee length mink.

A mink for winter and a Trench for fall.

I cannot wait to inherit my moms furs.

Everything Jackie wore was a hit.

I normally disdain white sunglasses. They remind me of an ex-boyfriends mom.

This is someone who should have NOT been wearing white sunglasses.

To me, they take a lot to pull off and they have to be the perfect frame shape.

I LOVE these sunglasses though.

along with....

On the days where I wear a black turtle neck and black skinny pants, I feel like that should be what I wear every day. I love it, it's easy, and I'm always reminded of classic Audrey.

However, I'm too colourful of a person for all black all the time.

& perfumes that need to be mine.

I started wearing Marc Jacobs perfume when I was a freshman in high school.

For such a long time his scents had this heavy gardenia base & all smelled similar.

However, this smells nothing like his signature fragrance and I still love it!

I love Chance but don't have the original. Unfortunately, I only smell this when I go into a mall and douse myself with it, and I try to avoid malls. However, I need to make this scent mine.

Perfect timing for me to swing back into my fashion phase. Right when I need to stop blowing money and start hiding it like crazy under my mattress (or a bank account?) It is vital. Absolutely vital that I stop blowing money. So I can just be thankful that Christmas is coming up and leave it at that. If I want any new clothes, they must be thrifted. I might choose Vogue over food too, I feel it feeds me better.