Some Girls Wander

All In One

Hello dear readers!

I am so sorry to have been AWOL the last week, but tragedy struck my ankle (quite hard, actually) and I've been couch-bound since. As you can imagine, my daily outfits haven't been fit for sharing...mostly slips and cardigans and slips and robes. Comfy, but sad. The thought of all of my pretty heels languishing away is pretty  darn sad, too.

I hope to be back to full-steam-ahead very soon, and I thought I'd share these two all-in-one dresses that caught my eye lately. It's so sweet and easy to give the appearance of a pretty blouse and skirt with a tricky dress like these!

From ModCloth:

I suspect that one would feel very Anna Karina in this dress!

This breezy Summer number is from Anthro:

(I think some mojitos or spiked lemonade would be in order when you slip this on in late July)

See you soon (promise).

Fall Back

I know that nobody is excited about tweed and cloches and general Fallishness right now (well, unless you're in the Southern hemisphere!), but all of the grey weather we've had around here lately put me in the mood for an extremely autumnal outfit! So, here I am last weekend, looking ready to join the others at the Algonquin for lunch.

Hat - UO
Jacket - thrifted
Blouse + Cardigan- JCrew
Collar - vintage
Skirt - Anthro 08
Socks - Forever21
Shoes - Remix
Bag - vintage

Josiah really knows how to flatter me most, as evidenced by the amount of times he called me "Dorothy Parker" on the day these photos were taken. I'm a lucky girl to have such a sweet compliment-payer at my side all the time...besides, he's quite clever and cute as well.

I'm wearing this pretty yellowed pearl collar I got at the big antique expo a few weeks ago...you can see it a bit better in this detail:

I promise I'll try to keep getting more Spring-y around here, and fold the tweed up and pack it away for the year.

Small-print florals and cotton bows are on their way, promise!

xoxo

Mercurial Toes

Thanks for all of those sweet-pea comments from my last post  re: the grandness of crooked teeth. They don't make me feel badly, and truly, I hardly think of them. I like other people's funny teeth, and so I try to extend the same courtesy to myself. Here's to quirky grins!

Sweater - JCrew
Dress - custom
Knee socks - JCrew
Shoes - Chie Mihara
Bag - Vintage

I know that's not the proper use of "mercurial" (it's one of my favorite adjectives), but the shoes really do look wrought from mercury. Or maybe from the scales of an extremely, extremely reflective and shiny silver fish!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend! See you soon.

Mixed Stitches

Bonnet - Seaplane
Sweater - Anthro '09
Cardigan - F21 '07

I love the Portland chill...the way it is right now, where you don't need a proper coat, but you still need a sweater or something cozy. It's a mossy, loamy time, between Winter and full-on Spring. I think it's quite lovely and comforting. I'm rustling through sweaters and things right now, trying to figure out what will transition and what should be packed away. And I need to stop giving such loving looks to things made of velvet and corduroy! I'm such an Autumn girl.

A few people have commented on the fact that I don't often smile in photos, so there's an elusive smiling-Emily up there only 'cause Josiah took me by surprise. I have extremely crooked little teeth, which is one reason I don't give big toothy grins too often! Another excellent reason for me to wish to be Victorian: the exposure times for portraits were too long for one to hold anything but a straight face, so a smile, forced or otherwise, would've been out of the question!

Aeroplanes Inside & Blanket-Forts

I'm really smitten with both of the Tim Walker picture-sets in the March British Vogue, but especially the one with the beautiful blue war-time planes inside a mansion. Putting something far too large to be indoors actually indoors is one of Mr. Walker's favorite tricks, it seems!

Shall we take a look?

The oatmeal-y colors the girls are wearing, and the almost thigh-high, beautiful socks are just perfect too. Fancy socks, as you might already know all too well, are one of my own favorite tricks.

The colors of this whole shoot are just too perfect. And they fill me with the strongest desire to build a blanket fort, and hole up inside with a stack of books (picture and word-y) and the light of a golden little lamp.

A scene maybe something like this:

Except that I could never be such a cool tea-party girl-hobo.

These photos combine two things I am really loving for Spring: Delicate, warm, girlish color (and florals, in the last photo!) with vintage imbued, time-worn neutrals.
And I didn't even mention the hair!

So pretty.

General Gingersnap

I think there are a bunch of us who draw lots more inspiration from non-fashion places than fashion-y ones (well, "modern" fashion-y places). I tend to draw most of mine from children's books, vintage children's fashion, old + new films and illustrations.

Dress - No-name brand, TJ Maxx
Cardigan - JCrew
Jacket - Vintage Pendleton/thrifted
Underskirt - vintage

Scarf - repurposed sweater-sash
Tights - Sock Dreams
Brooch - 1930's/thrifted
Oxfords - Biviel
Bag - vintage
Beret - H&M

 The other day, as I was getting ready, I was thinking about one of my favorite artists and his characters. One of my favorite things about Henry Darger's mythology is the names. The names of the Vivienne girls, and especially the names of the generals (good + bad). They tended to be either based in real-life people's names, people that he admired or disdained, or sometimes they were just whimsical. This outfit is a bit of a girl-and-general collage with a bit of regalia courtesy of my favorite old-timey mysterious philanthropic club, the I.O.O.F.

In fact, today I went poking around the internets, looking for some images of Mr. Darger's generals, and I happened upon this image...

Ranger Girlscouts of General Aronburg's Army

A little similar in color-scheme, at least!

I'd be a Ranger Girlscout any day, if the uniform involved red berets and ankle-strapped wedges.

Hello,

Some people thought they'd never see the day in which they'd live in skinny, tapered jeans, or be eyeing a pair of overalls for the first time since seventh grade. I, on the other hand, never thought I'd see the day that I'd be drawn like a little jaundiced moth to the flame of butter-y, saffron-y, Spring-y yellow.

But here I am...

Short sleeved cardigan from JCrew, 70's style wooden sandals Swedish Hasbeen via Endless, Vintage shift dress from this lovely Etsy shop, Ruffle collar dress mine (acquired locally from a boutique that I'm completely blanking on), Pastel sleeveless sweater from Anthro, and fiendishly lovely fur-collared dress is Ebay (saved in my inspiration folder from months ago)

I still think it's usually best used sparingly, but I do so love that new dress. And those chunky sandals! They would be really amazing with a pair of grey tights.

We're spring-cleaning like mad in our little house, and I think fresh + bright is on the brain!

I'd Like One of These, Please

GQ profiled this young dandy, son of Mad Men's creator. His name is Arlo, and I would like to order a little boy that, like him, has no use for backpacks and uses an attache instead.

Find more on this miniature dapper darling here.

He reminds me that I need to renew my Milk subscription.

Born on a Train

Coat - H&M '06
Dress - Anthro '08
Sweater - Anthro '08
Slip - hand-dyed by me
Socks - Target? a few years back
Shoes - Chie Mihara
Washed silk scarf - thrifted vintage
"E" Brooch - Etsy vintage
Bag - Vintage

The dress might look familiar (it's this dress that I got and un-embellished) and it was easy-peasy! I'm glad I just went for it...I've worn it about 5 times in the last month or so.

 

I had multiple (sweet) people email me about this brass "E" on Etsy. I finally snapped it up, and I love it so. The jacket is an older favorite...I've always loved it floppy rakishness, and of course, the deep teal velveteen.

Pretty hemline details:

The silk of that slip positively glows in the the sunlight. It's so beautiful...I'll probably break it out and wear it as a dress quite a few times this Summer!

Rust, Apple, Vermillion

What a windy day this day was! The tree-boughs were whipping around like crazy.

Beret - UO
Cardigan - JCrew
Blouse - UO
Belt- thrifted
Velvet bow brooch - handmade by me
Dress - Anthro 07
Tights - Anthro 08
Oxfords - Biviel

Here is a very scarlet-y ensemble, including my little velvet bow again. Two post-appearances in a row! I must really like it. It's been a while since I've sported a monochrome outfit...I think I got excited about them again after reading this old New York Magazine piece about 5 folks who dress in monochrome. Even though I think his outfit isn't really as monochrome as it could have been, I was excited to see droopy, sad-eyed Stephin Merritt profiled in there.

I really love detail photos of outfits, which is why I try to have them more often than not. There's just so much you can't see in full-outfit pictures.