Style Envy: Jenna Lyons

I have never been a huge fan of J. Crew.  My friend Michael used to be a walking J. Crew ad, and he had incredible style, so I can say I am a fan of the men's line.  For the women's side, I always just lumped Banana Republic and J. Crew in the same category.  It's all nice clothes, professional, inoffensive, maybe a place where I can pop in to grab a dress shirt or suit for work; really nothing special.

Jenna Lyons is the creative director at J. Crew.  She just finished up a guest spot on Girls, as Hannah's stylish and intimidating boss.  I instantly looked up her outfits from the show, and stumbled upon her entire catalog.  Holy. Crap.  This woman is so unbelievably chic!  After analyzing the looks she chooses for herself, I looked at the back catalogs for J. Crew, and these images really clicked with me.  She really incorporates herself into her work.  Everything she personally wears could easily show up, piece by piece, on paper in the lookbook.

The way she styles herself encompasses everything I love about fashion, and so much of what I have been writing about on this blog.

Here are two separate looks incorporating a lovely fur coat.  It works so well in a formal setting, and also in a more dressed-down setting.

The layering with this fur vest is so interesting.  The cross body bag in both looks is a perfect touch.

The contrast of this plain button up shirt with patterns that I would never think to pair it with.  Somehow, it works!  

R.I.P. Vogue

It is not realistic to expect someone I really like on every cover of Vogue.  I don't think Rhianna or Jennifer Lopez are ever good choices for high fashion.  Kate Upton is pretty low-rent as well.  But Kim Kardashian?  I think Buffy said it best:

Vogue is an institution.  Anna Wintour is the IRL Devil who wears Prada.  When I think of Vogue, I think of old school Sex and the City, I think of the era of the classic supermodel, I think of Chanel suits, I think of McQueen ball gowns, I think of the ideal of cutting edge splendor and luxury.  Here are things that will be forever associated with Kim Kardashian: a sex tape, BeBe, and Sears.

Anna Wintour has stated on record that she regrets putting the Spice Girls on the cover in the late 90s.  I understand that a lot of people hated that cover, and argued that the Spices were not representative of the Vogue ideal.  I loved that cover, but then again I was 12 when that cover came out and my bedroom was plastered in Spice memorabilia.  I am trying to be understanding here, but let's be honest, Victoria Beckham would rather gnaw off a foot than collaborate with Sears.

I'll be surprised if the Kardashian taint ever leaves.  Here are some classic covers to mourn what used to be the authority on high-end fashion and luxury. #RIP

[I know it's a Paris cover, but I've seen this image before and I adore it.]

[I remember seeing this issue on the newstand and thinking Madonna as Evita was so glam.]

[Of course I have to include this one.]

Style Envy: Diane Kruger

Diane Kruger was Frau Hammersmark in Inglourious Basterds.  I have no idea what else she has been in, but every time I see pics of her at events, her look is impeccable.

Even for her casual looks, she injects a certain European element.  The best I can describe this, is the ability to mix severely contrasting pieces and making the outfit as a whole look wearable.  This is something I have been trying to master with my own look over the past few years.  I love what she did with the prom skirt here, you barely even notice that the skirt is such a formal piece:

[Cropped T-shirt/ Prom skirt combo.  Stripes/ Patterned bag/ Python sandals combo.  Perfection.]

[Vintage-y dress/ sneakers combo is so offbeat and chic.  How is it possible to be so cute???]

This evening look.  OMG, I die.

[Every element of this look is flawless.  The red lip and nails are the perfect finishing touches.]

SATC and Feathers

In an effort to make use of our usually dormant HBOgo account, I'm re-watching Sex and the City.  I'm in the middle of Season 3, and getting a huge kick out of the outdated tech, fashion, and pop culture references.  In one episode, Samantha was telling Carrie about a cutting-edge new service that guarantees a delivery person bring a DVD movie of your choice to your doorstep "in one hour or less."  I had to laugh out loud, because I was watching this episode from said HBO account on our Roku, which also contains our Netflix and Hulu.  It's hard enough to get us to wait for anything for one minute, let alone one hour.

Anyway, in typing up this blog entry, I can't help but feel a bit like Carrie Bradshaw  After all, isn't a blog in 2014 equivalent to a newspaper column in 2004?  There's a few key differences between Carrie and me: I prefer Brian Atwood to Manolo, I gave up smoking, and Steve is way cooler than Mr. Big.  However, we are both city girls to the core (albeit she the East Coast, and me the Best Coast).  And we both share the same affinity for off-the-wall fashion. Check out this killer feather dress, I knew I had to have this the second I saw it on Jessa:

[I've been trying to hunt this creation down to no avail.  I'm beginning to fear it was custom made.]

And a similar one I also love from the pages of my Teen Vogue from this month:

Wide Leg Pants

No, I'm not referring to the atrocious 90s era Kikgirl or JNCO pants we all wore as kids, but won't admit we wore.  I'm talking about the dressy, classic look of high-waisted pants with impossibly wide leg openings.  Case in point:

I'm a firm believer in dressing to flatter one's body shape, and I used to think that I lacked the right body shape to pull off this look.  Annalynne McCord, the chick from The Hills, and Bar Rafaeli above all are rail thin and have long legs.  If women with this body shape wear wide leg pants, the extra draping fabric of the pants will not make them look like elephants. My concern was that the extra fabric would widen my less-than-rail-thin frame, rather than flatter it.

Then I thought, eff it, I'll try it out anyway.  Here are two attempts:

[Top- Express.  Pants- Nordstrom.  Shoes- Asos.com.  Watch- La Mer Collection.  Belt- Took this off a coat dress I already had.]

[Jumpsuit and Belt- Love Culture.  Platform shoes- Steve Madden.  Watch- La Mer Collection.]

In both attempts, I wore high shoes.  I thought that this created the effect of elongating my frame.  I'm so pleased with the look, that I am on the hunt for the perfect camel-colored wide leg pants.  Future post!

Fashion Fail: Part III

We all know what an impulse buy feels like.  You walk into a boutique, and everything is gray and shapeless.    Then- like the mythical pair of Prada pumps on the sale rack in your size- it appears.  An article of clothing so perfect, so fitting to what you would have envisioned if you had known of its glorious existence, that it beckons to you.

It's too bad this happened in Vegas last year when my friend Matt and I stumbled into the AllSaints store in the Cosmopolitan.  Vegas and impulse buys most definitely do not mix. Matt emerged unscathed, and I emerged with this atrocity.

[Top- AllSaints.  Necklace- Nordstrom juniors dept.  Skirt- Charlotte Russe.  Shoes- Steve Madden.  Bracelets- Juicy Couture and Davani's of Santa Barbara.]

I have written about signature pieces before, and I only wish that this thought would have been invoked during the course of my vodka cranberry-induced shopping spree that day.  Fashion 101 states that bizarre prints are never classic.  The only prints that could be considered classic are leopard (Only if done correctly.  I will elaborate in a separate post.), stripes, and certain types of logo print.  Aztec was trendy for a split second.  That split second is certainly not worth $430.

Lesson learned:  Take a breathalyzer before running the Visa in Vegas.

No "Mom Jeans" Here

Still on vacay in Cow Town, Colorado.  This place is located about three hours south of Denver, and an hour south of Pueblo.  What is Pueblo, you ask?  It is the closest town with more than two stop lights.  It's much bigger than Cow Town, yet still not really a city.  It has a movie theater, a mall, and several chain restaurants such as Chili's or Black Eyed Pea.  In high school, Pueblo was the closest semblance of civilization.  On the weekends, everyone would make the hour-long drive and would be there roaming the mall.

Yesterday, I went on a Pueblo excursion with my mom. We had a nice lunch, then hit up the usual spots.  The mall has a bland variety of typical midwest chain stores (The Buckle?  What is this, 2001?), so I was glad for the TJ Maxx across the way.  I found the perfect cheesy, disposable heels to wear to Vegas next weekend:
 

 
The best part of the trip was picking out some rad outfits for my mom.  My mom is a career woman, so she doesn't have a lot of time to reserve for fashion.  This one was my fave:

[Top- Ralph Lauren.  Pants- Dillard's.  Shoes- Nine West.]

This is one of the few classic button ups I picked out, paired with the pop of color in these coral pants.  I thought the snake print in the shoes was a sassy touch, as the gingham pattern in the top is not too busy.  I also liked the taper and the length of the pants.