Office Wear

Recently, a client (who is a music industry guy) from work gave my boss free tickets to Jason Mraz.  My boss tried to unload these on me, remarking, "You look like you listen to this stuff.  Take the tickets."  

If you know me, you can prob guess that acoustic guitar strumming, singer-songwriter types are not exactly my fave.  They are so interchangeable to me, I'm actually not 100% positive it wasn't Jack Johnson.  

Anyway, what's cool about that happening is, I feel assured that I do a pretty decent job of creating a separation of work self from real self.  Court days are suit days of course (there is an upcoming suit entry in the works).  So most days, I'm figuring out an appropriate balance of biz-cashe that screams young professional, yet doesn't put me to sleep looking at it.  I really like this look from Banana Republic, and am going to keep in mind that unexpected pops of color and subtle mixing of patterns really punch up boring office wear.

Glamour-maid

One of my fave things to do in this city is go to the Getty or LACMA, and have a drawing day.  I used to do this often when I first moved to LA years ago, back when I had no idea what the heck I was doing with my life.  And now I try to do this whenever I have the time, because in this career path, scheduling calming activities is a necessity.  

I picked up the ol' sketchbook today and saw that my most recent one was from a couple of months ago when inspiration struck while I was enjoying a chill Saturday at LACMA.  Who doesn't enjoy a good/bad pun?

Denim: Just Say No

An acquaintance of mine asked me recently what she should do to punch up her look a little bit. She seems bit bored with her wardrobe, and I think this is pretty common.  If you know what you like and tend to gravitate towards the same types of clothing or accessories, it is inevitable that a certain monotony will appear in your closet.  There was a time when I realized I had 4 indistinguishably similar lacy A-line dresses in my closet.  There was another time when I realized I inadvertently bought the exact same brushed cotton flannel shirt from Nordstrom TWICE.

Anyway, my advice to her was to do something that really helped jump start my wardrobe when I did it several years ago:  Try to eradicate jeans from your collection.  Specifically, get rid of every pair of flared jeans still hanging around your closet.  The last time flared jeans were trendy was 2004; gotta let those go. Same for ill-fitting skinny jeans.  Dependence on jeans as the staple item, or as the anchor for most outfits, was so limiting to my personal style growth.  I didn't even realize how limited my options had been until I threw out all that denim in that fateful closet clean-out so many years ago.

This is the glorious selection that slowly but surely replaced all that needless denim: Skirts (mini, midi, and maxi), leggings, jeggings, leather pants, skinny patterned pants.

Best of all, tights, in a myriad of colors and patterns.

[I love every single one of the looks on this page. Nordstrom Christmas catalog is my fave.]

I'm not saying this will work for everybody.  But when I made the jump and stopped building outfits around jeans, it really opened up a world of other options.  And let's be honest here.  In this city, when you spot a pair of flared jeans, it's usually a correct assumption that the wearer is a tourist from the Midwest.

Boots, My Fave Part of "Fall"

*The term "Fall" is being thrown around loosely here, as it's 85 degrees out and it's early November.  Go home LA weather, you're drunk.*

In preparation for "fall,"  I've started with my annual boot-shopping spree.  Here's my haul so far:

[Gray suede boots- Steve Madden.  Black low ankle boots- F21.  Black platform beauties- Zara.]

I swear I catch a whiff of pumpkin spice-flavored anything and it makes me gag.  I also hate the bulkiness created by layering winter clothes. Boots are the only redeeming thing about fall.   I am STOKED on my new Zara platform lug sole boots.  Leather pants + drapey fur.  Black tights + green plaid for a holiday look.  Silver glittery tights + black collared shirt dress for a (barely appropriate) work look.  So many fab possibilities!

Posh Spice

Dear God, Buddha, Darth Vader, or whatever is up above:

If I ever lose my mind and decide to have kids, please let me be half as glam as Posh Spice.

Seriously, this pic is from the late 90s and she still looks classic.

J. Crew Obsession

I have written in a previous post about my newfound affinity for the Jenna Lyons-helmed J. Crew.  Here's a toned-down version of an inspired look, that I rocked for a beautiful mimosa brunch with friends last weekend:

[Necklace, denim top, pleated skirt- J. Crew, Yellow silk clutch is vintage J. Crew.  Rose gold watch- Marc by Marc Jacobs.  Patent stiletto pumps- Nine West. Pointless story about these pumps:  These are a knock of the Manolo Blahnik model, which I actually own in black.  They look and feel exactly the same, despite a wide price disparity.  I was in Court the other morning for a hearing, and another attorney asked if they were Ferragamo.  These shoes are ubiquitous.  I should've just picked up a knock off version of the black pair as well.]

Here's my best impressions of Jenna Lyons, neither of which ever made it out the front door:

Vintage Dream

The other night, I had a vivid, crazy dream with this cool image that kept cropping up.  I'm pretty sure I saw an art piece like this in passing somewhere, and it just never left me.  I woke up in the middle of the night with the image still etched in my mind, so I busted out a pencil and bristol paper, got the initial sketch going, and went from there.  By about 4 am, this is what I had:

I wasn't going to add a backround, but lately it's been kind of my thing to fill in a weird, unexpected backround color on my paintings.  Gold felt right for this piece.  I have the sickest shimmery gold shade, but I tested it on this type of paper, and it was horrendous.  So I mixed a deep purple shade and threw some make up glitter on it.  Here's the end game:

This ended up reminding me of my friend Danette, because she loves vintage fashion from this time period.   Danette is my old college roomate.  She has become one of my BFFs, and is one of the kindest, most understanding and supportive people I know.  She's one of those people you can count on for anything.  Over the years, she has proven to be an especially thoughtful and creative gift-giver.  From a pile of amazing books carefully picked to fit my personality, to a Paris-themed gift basket, to a surprise housewarming care package.  I definitely dropped the ball when I got her and her husband a stupid  knife set for their wedding.  So I handed this off to Danette for her early BDay present this year.  It's more her vibe anyway.