Top: J.Crew Lace-stripe tissue tee in Buff Grey cardigan: J.Jill kimono sleeve Skirt: gifted (denim) Shoes: Cole Haan Earrings: gold hoops (okay you can't see them, but they went well with the pink)
Ah! finally almost hot today. I wasn't planning on bringing out the lace-stripe tee until later on in the season...and I doubt this was the most stylin' way to style it...as you can see, I got a loose-fitting size. Normally I tuck my shirt in, but it looked awkward with this skirt, which is a bit high-waisted. (Possibly it would look awkward tucked in with anything; don't know yet.)
But, love the light pink color, pretty lace, scoopy neckline and tissue-weight cotton: all quite cool-feeling. I've dithered about getting the "Soft Dove" version:
J.Crew Lace-stripe tissue tee in Soft Dove
...but, eh. Perhaps had it been blue, or ivory-colored, or écru...
Kindly allow me to gripe again: I really think the 'Crew should carry all of the colors of a given item at the b & m stores. I saw (and tried on) Dark Navy and Olive Tree—both pretty, but less striking than Buff (the lace being less visible), but could not find Soft Dove anywhere.
Top: J.Crew Jackie shell in Hyacinth Taupe Cardigan: J.Jill kimono sleeve Necklace: made by me Skirt: gifted Dark brown fishnets Shoes: Cydwoq Category
Same necklace here:
This outfit cried out for a longer strand of pearls, which I don't own. I have it in mind to make one though; it should be pearls of about the same size as in the above piece, a single strand knotted on silk (easier than it sounds). Hm....
*Me: I can't tell you what's on my mind. You already thought I was hitting on you, before. Prince/Knight (aghast, but fake-aghast): I didn't think that. Me: Yes, you did. You totally thought I was hitting on you. You know, if I'd wanted to hit on you, I would have done a much better job of it.
Lipstick thoughts
posted by Colleen Shirazi
on
Saturday, March 26, 2011
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
Paul & Joe lipstick
I realize I've blogged hardly at all about beauty products lately—from sheer inertia. Been working my way through a tube of Dr. Hauschka #07 Adagio lipstick:
...which, while reasonably useful, is not something I'd care to repurchase time and again. (Unlike Hauschka #09 Dolce, which is a staple of mine.)
Come to think of it, this tube of #07 is probably my second (rolls eyes) but I'd had it in mind to try something else next time, and now both Adagio and Dolce have waned, down to the barest sliver (still usable, but gettin' there).
I'd a coupon, but online only; when I glimpsed Paul & Joe's cat-shaped lipstick in a google search, something told me I'd found my next lippie to try.
Since I'd never...in a million years...wanted to own a cat-shaped lipstick, why the sentiment? The sculpted shape and natty printed tubes were sure to attract beauty bloggers—those kind folks who describe and photograph beauty products on their blogs. I mean Paul & Joe Beauté sounded vaguely familiar, from when I'd done some beauty blogging myself, but amongst a swirl of brands I'd never gotten around to trying.
The cat shapes appear to be limited edition, with P & J cranking out new cat shades now and again. Not something I'm into, since devolving into a pattern of sloth; I'd far rather chance upon something useful, and repurchase-able.
BTW other P & J LE lippies have a delicate flower design carved into the lipstick bullet (see Pink Sith).
After sifting through the swatch and FOTD (face of the day) pics, I decided to try #14 Strawberry Jam, modelled by Strawberry Mochi, Tracy's Beauty Blogsphere and Inspired by beauty. Perhaps it's difficult to go wrong with this sort of color, but I am picky about makeup, so the descriptions of lipstick quality are as valuable to me as images—I decided against Nvey Eco and Vincent Longo Lipstain based on mixed reviews of their feel on the lips.
I loathe buying shoes online. I'll buy just about anything else over the Net, but shoes...seldom look "on" the way they do photographed by themselves.
That said—are these cool or what! Imagine in the summer, when it's steamin' hot (or what we call steamin' hot, anyway); here you have shoes (work-friendlier than sandals) paved with teensy perforations. The oxfords pull ahead here, if only because you could do the little-socks-thing with those, but the ballet flats appeal (less shoe, more air on feet).
A Daisy Buchanan moment
posted by Colleen Shirazi
on
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
at 9:06 PM (Pacific)
Dress: J.Crew Tuxedo end-on-end dress Earrings: made by me (tiny pearls on gold chains) Grey cardigan: J.Jill kimono sleeve Distressed leather jacket: ? have had for years Boots: La Canadienne
I bought this dress on a bit of a whim:
J.Crew Tuxedo end-on-end dress
Not something I'd normally consider, but I saw it in the shop and was attracted to its bright blue color, and the fact that it resembled a shirt my husband owns several of.
He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher — shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.
"They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such — such beautiful shirts before."
On the negative side, it does wrinkle when you've been sitting in it a while. I suppose it's meant for warmer weather; the long sleeves roll up (and can be tabbed). The drawstring is nifty, since you can convert the dress into a drop-waisted effect, or more of a blouson.
Got to see this in person, but only in Smoky Charcoal, Ivory, and Taupe; no Shore Pink or Dark Navy.
Is it me? Do your b & m 'Crews appear to stock only some colors of items now? I find that annoying.
This tops runs big. I could wear a Small in it, where I'd normally try Large first. There didn't seem to be much difference between Small and Medium, actually...I'd probably spring for Medium here, if only because I prefer looser-fitting tops.
About the colorways: they really need to stock them all. I'd normally have gravitated toward Ivory or Taupe, over Smoky Charcoal, but the former looked blah on me when tried on. Smoky Charcoal fared well.
The quality was a bit off here too. I noted the buttonholes hadn't been finished nicely. Okay, technically there's no reason to unbutton the top, being henley style—ironically the shirt is presented in the store with the first two buttons undone, and those buttonholes look fine—for a $52 top, you'd expect a bit more. Oh, and the top of the placket looked kinda fuzzy. Okay, I could just take it home and sew it...grumbles
On the plus side, the lace layer over thin cotton effect was quite pretty. The neckline was too low on me, but then I usually wear a camisole under just about everything, so big whoop. I was tempted by Smoky Charcoal...but couldn't they have stocked Shore Pink and Dark Navy? How would navy blue lace look? Would the pink appear too close to my skin color to pack much of a punch?
I liked how the top was long enough, and loose enough at the hem, to be worn untucked. Usually I like to tuck in my tops, but here you'd want the lace to show.
Overall...had the 'Crew stocked the pink and navy shades, I might well have bought one FP. Waiting for the price to drop can be risky, in terms of getting an un-shopworn item in the color and size you want, and a pretty, business-casual-friendly top that would work in hot weather is something I can use.
OOTD; listening to...
posted by Colleen Shirazi
on
Friday, March 18, 2011
at 7:29 PM (Pacific)
Shirt: J.Crew Earrings: made by me (grey freshwater pearls with aquamarine) Cardigan: Sundance Catalog Skirt: gifted (and squashed in the photo) Boots: La Canadienne
Drat! the glare obscures the graph-paper pattern of the shirt:
At first I was convinced he was the Knight, not the Prince. I'm American, so the Knight is more valuable to me (he works for a living, where the other guy was merely handed the job); but, at one point, I recognized what he was doing. (He was the Knight and the Prince.)
Top: ? Cardigan: Sundance Catalog Skirt: Stewart + Brown Boots: La Canadienne
This is a different Stewart + Brown skirt from yesterday's: it's reversible. When I first got it, I thought, eh, it's reversible, but then it becomes a plain black skirt.
But that can be a good thing. If you feel your outfit is too busy, you need only turn the skirt inside out. The "loom" pattern side didn't do much for the shirt, so that is what I did today.
The shirt now, is at least fifteen years old, probably closer to twenty. It was sitting in the back of the closet when I was taking care of my kids and working as a contractor.
It's nice, particularly now that we have so much mass-produced fashion, which tends toward solid colors over prints. Another factor imo is the preponderance of apparel made in China. Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, English and U.S. textiles tend to be far more sophisticated.
Top: J.Crew tissue turtleneck in Champagne Taupe cardigan: J.Jill kimono sleeve Skirt: J.Jill Boots: La Canadienne
It was not "supposed" to rain today (I checked the forecast yesterday), so naturally I wore rain boots. :) The weather has just been strange. It's come to remind me of Washington State, where, after a time, you just give up and enjoy the humidity.
J.Crew Eyelet Embroidered Tank, revisited
Wah! I finally saw these in person, and was more than a bit disappointed. I'm still scouting around for office-friendly hot weather tops—and this is not one imo.
In the shop, they had the Ivory and Baltic Blue. No Dusty Blush, but a fourth color not on the website: rich brown-olive, prettier than the other two available shades. Still, a.) It was big...I grabbed my usual size Large and had to go down to Medium. The arm-holes were kinda ginormous and I pictured wearing a camisole beneath it. Not a deal-breaker (who cares, wear a cami) but b.) it just didn't look all that special. The embroidery was a killer concept, but almost cheesily rendered; I had visions of ravelling threads....
Because I need more sartorial seduction in my life. :)
Allow me to preface this...whenever I hear the phrase "fair trade," my first inclination is to find products made in the U.S. (Go ahead, throw tomatoes.) So that would include Velvet, Stewart + Brown, C & C California, Cydwoq, smaller brands such as Heartbreaker Fashion and Punkin NYC, the odd Supima cotton item...all of which I have bought, and check out periodically. There is also a slew of brands I have yet to try, such as LA Made, Lamixx, Prairie Underground, Clary Sage, Vintage Shoe Company, Aurora Shoe Company, Splendid, yadda yadda...
This was nicer in person than in the pic. I mean it looks okay pictured, it's just anything termed "mini" is scary to me, and it looks as if it might poof out, giving you gargantuan hips.
So:
It isn't that short. I did my usual scoping around for a bigger size, and got it to fit akin to last year's Nico skirt:
With opaque tights, it should be okay for work.
It does poof somewhat. If you're against poofiness, at all, you may not want to wear this skirt. For me it was...well, it was great, actually. I got the blue one:
J.Crew Lunette Mini in Dark Navy
Had been looking around forever for a nice navy blue skirt.
J.Crew Lace Stripe Tissue Tee in Buff
Here's another item looking better in person. This kind of thing could be hit or miss, depending on the quality of the lace, and the overall effect could be super casual, or it could also function as a business casual work shirt (more valuable).
Nice touch, lace travelling around the back and sleeves:
You'd need to wear something under it for work (being constructed of strips of fabric and lace, not lace sewn over a solid shirt), but the lace is quite lovely. They didn't have the grey one:
"Buff" is light pink, with a faint tone of brown.
The sole glitch here: it is marked Dry Clean Only. It's cotton, so I'm wondering if the concern is the lace and fabric pulling apart (the lace is a bit delicate too). Could you not hand-wash it though?
I saw the Dorrie skirt, but not in the two colors I was looking for.
J.Crew Dorrie skirt in Alabaster
The Dragonfly Blue and Chambray versions of this might have been interesting to me. The red-orange one...eh, it's too young a color for me. And I really don't like white skirts. I take public transportation (thought of wearing a white skirt on the BART kind of skeeves me out) and then I'm a clod, so would be destined to dump some food or beverage on it, no doubt the first time the skirt gets worn.
The brown one, Toffee, I just did not feel attracted to.
Yo, ladies...
posted by Colleen Shirazi
on
Thursday, March 3, 2011
at 10:16 PM (Pacific)
Apologies for the dearth of ootd pics.
Today's outfit kinda blew, anyway, involving a Kenneth Cole sweater that'd been sitting in my closet for ages (a nice black cotton one, patterned with graduated khaki-colored stripes). I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I put it with a black skirt...ah! Too much black. The sweater melded with the skirt, detracting from its lovely striped-ness.
I have purchased this fine cotton eyelet crop top from Threadsence...before you get all gah! Madonna called from 1983 and wants her shirt back, I'll have you know I have tried it on, and it's fab. (It was described as off-white on the site, but is rather a light warm grey.)
It looks useful; could work as a casual summer top, but also (perhaps even better) over a tank top or dress, as pictured.
