Ensemble du Jour - 9-28-12

On Friday, I took off work to go to my favorite antiques show. It's twice a year and each time I go, I find something great.  Past purchases have included structured bags, great hats, linens and gold cases.  I don't always go with a plan in mind but I usually end up with something great.

The show is held in a big farm field so boots are necessary.  I went with a bit of a "modern Victorian" look wearing my ruffly Betsey Johnson knee-high boots and a mini-straw hat headband.

''I should have brought a parasol as I usually do, because it was warmer and sunnier than I had anticipated.  But it all worked out for the best, because I found a darling French flax (I think) parasol which I promptly put to good use.

I also found a beautiful ladies English boating hat and two Fall hued table cloths which I will be using in my bakery booth next month. 

I'm always excited to wear my new purchases and we had great weather on Sunday, so I paired my new hat with white and coral Zara dress which I topped with a navy blazer from Anthropologie.  I also wore white wingtip oxfords and another previous show purchase, a white wicker purse.  It was perfect for a bookstore visit and stroll outside.

(I have got to set up my good camera with the timer and tripod!)

I hope I don't have to put these away until Spring.  Maybe there are a few more warm Fall days ahead.

Talent, Style and Inspiration - a Fascinator Story

I'm not sure if I've expressed this before, but I love love LOVE hats and fascinators and hair accessories of all kinds.

And I love that the lovely Kate Middleton is bringing them back in a big way.  And my absolute favorite thus has been the vibrant red straw fascinator with the maple leaves that she wore in Canada.  Obviously she is gorgeous, but the combination of the jaunty design and wearing angle, striking color and outfit pairing made it perfect.

I had to have it!

So I did a bit of research and found that the creator was Sylvia Fetcher of milliners Lock & Co.  Right away I gave them a call and was promptly told that this piece was custom made for the Duchess and not for sale.  Darn royals!

But lucky for me, I also have access to a custom milliner - my very talented friend Mary of Pretty Good Things.  So, we discussed a plan - we wanted something equally striking, red with maple leaves, but it had to be inspired by, not a knockoff.  Different shape and materials and her unique vision led Mary to create a little masterpiece just for me.

Isn't it stunning!?!?  I don't even have it yet but I'm so excited to wear it!

What's great about the process is that she shared her vision and progress with me throughout.  I was able to select the overall color (in case I wanted something other than red), how I wanted to wear it, and even placement of the lining and embellishments.

In the end I ended up with a beautiful piece that will be so much fun to wear, as pretty as the inspiration piece but one that has a personality of it's own.  And that is what's great about working directly with artists of all types!

By the way, I'm not a huge royal family watcher, but have to admit, I love Kate and Will as a couple.  They both seem so gracious and equally in love with and comfortable with each other.  I just watched this video of them from their Canada outing and they seem sweet.  I guess I'm a fan!

Bows on the Brain

I love a good fascinator. And if they are bit silly or extravagant, I like them all the more.  So it's not surprising, is it, that I wold love to have one of these pieces from Tour De Force?

The Bronze Bowtie would be perfect with my new copper patent oxfords (still to take some snaps of those for you!) - £215.00

But the Ruby Rose is so lush too!  And I look good in red. - £159.00

Of course, Bardot bunny ears - a bow AND bunny ears!!! - may get me to hand over my card. I mean, how can you resist??? - £79.00

And I'm not done with bows bedecking me bodily (hee hee!).  I was on ideeli today and they have some fun and inexpensive BCBG jewelry.  I've been wanting some pretty sparkly rings and when I saw these bow rings - in bronzey gold, pink and aqua - for only $16, I jumped.

Run right over and grab some for yourself too.  A bit of sparkle and ridiculousness goes a long way to cheering up the mid-winter doldrums.

Ensemble du Jour - 6-12-10

Saturday I was able to have a fun day out with my sweetie. He suggested that we go out to lunch and to our favorite antique store. I love when we go out to something other than doing errands because I use it as an excuse to wear some of my favorite things, like hats, that I just don't have the time to incorporate on my way to work.



It was very warm out but I knew we would be running in and out of the air conditioning. I wore a very bright floral dress (and probably my only yellow piece of clothing) with a light cropped cardigan. The dress is a few years back from Target's Isaac Mizrahi line.



I wanted a very summery mix and to play up the green too. So I used my Stephen Jones boater, a vintage wicker-y bag, my lace parasol from Venice and Jessica Simpson Pegeen heels.

Here is the dress without the cardigan. The waistline is a bit above my natural waistline so it has more of an empire feel to it.

The fabric on this is the best part. The bodice has the bigger pattern.

The skirt is pleated with a smaller pattern on top of the box pleats and a larger pattern in the folds. The dress is even lined so it's a pretty nice quality for a mass merchandiser.

Because it was so warm I kept the jewelry simple - a very delicate gold chain with pearls and a gold bead.

A hat close up with the green and navy ribbon.

I like the preppy colors of these shoes but they are not great for walking a lot, I'll admit. I ended up changing into my favorite Keds after we ate lunch and before we walked around.

I was happy to receive several compliments as we visited the shops. It's funny how, when you take the time to put on something just a bit nicer, like a dress, how sweetly people respond.

7 is 10 Party - Seven New York and Fashion Week

I think half the fun of Fashion Week are the parties and meet-ups that go on all around the core events. And the 7 is 10 party did not let us down.



The party, held at the Tribeca Grand, was packed! The line was down the block and inside was just as crazy. I was able to hang out with Nova Style and friends, Dream Sequins and spend a good bit of the evening with The Shoe Girl and her adorable hubby.



I have decided that my new party strategy is to wear a fabulous headpiece because people could not get enough of my delicious Agent Lover-created cake hat. Girls begged to wear it for photos, guys tried to french it. It was a magical evening all around.



I wore my Behnaz Sarafpour for Target lace cardigan over the Rosalind Keep Trompe L'Oeil Prom Dress from Oasis. I did wear the Bebaroque Betty tights but might go for a solid next time. I did want to contrast with the pink Louboutin Simple Pumps and it was darn cold out.



You cannot resist the cake hat!

Actually, I was representing my lady bloggers all around - Agent Lover cake hat, Paraphernalia Petit Nom Initial necklace and Wendy Brandes Swear rings.

I also made the extra effort with some false eyelashes. As eyelashes go, these were pretty subtle. I'll put the large images on Flickr so you can see them up close and personal.

There are bound to be images floating all over the internet from this party because people were taking pictures left and right.

It was a lot of fun especially as I was up way past my bedtime... but well worth it!

Ensemble du Jour

So far I've worn two of my new ModCloth dresses and I have to say, I'm a fan. They are well priced and fit well and are just the type of style I like... a classic shape with fun details.

I did wear the polka-dot dress to work (I should have taken a picture, I know!) since it is longer gut I might wear the others more as weekend and going out type dresses. Mostly because I like flirty-ing them up.

We went out for a later lunch today and so I wore the red plaid dress and the mini-boater I made with this dress in mind.



I got a few quizzical looks, since flip flops are more the style than dresses and mini-hats around here, but I didn't mind. These are too fun to wear to worry about getting stares. I paired it with a black cardigan from Target and Nine West strappy sandals.



Here's a bit closer....



In the garden...



I'm very happy with my little hat experiment too. I think I'm going to have to make more. Anyone else want one???

Leo Redux

A while back I found this video that shows how to make a Leo fall in love with you...

Some people know how to do the whole "good gifts" thing really really right.

Hence my big birthday present... the vintage epulets and bicorn hat I adored a while back...

Swooning!

Raising Eyebrows?

Not sure if I'm getting predictable or if the people I'm around are becoming desinsitized to me but I wore some slightly "out there" outfits (comparatively, for NC) and no one batted an eye.

Is this a good thing or what? I'm not sure.

The outfit I wore with my glitter heels and TokyoMade Chapter ring what otherwise kind of basic:


5-7-09 by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

Then on Friday I wore a stripey jacket, my derby and saddle shoes (wish I could have worn my Viktor & Rolf paperclip eyelashes too).



5-8-09 by Princess Poochie on Polyvore.com

Today I went out for lunch (and vintage shopping... more on that later...) and wore a shiny silver skirt, sequin Chucks, my boater, a green top with my parasol and a vintage straw purse.


5-10-09 by Princess Poochie featuring Old Navy t shirts

Okay, so maybe these aren't too out there but they were fun.

I've tried to stick to a palette but I just can't do it. I love too many colors! And glitter! And sequins! And vintage! I know there are some things I don't wear and pieces and colors I wear more than others but I'm just trying to enjoy what I buy. Hopefully it will last and hopefully I won't get bored by it. That's becoming more of a goal for me. I'm sort of all over the place but that's okay.... Right?

Ensemble du Jour

So even though I have a crummy camera, don't think I'm photogenic at all and am too embarrassed to ask someone to take better pics of me, I'm doing a real live here I am in the outfit post. Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer.

Anyway.

On Wednesday, I was getting ready for work and I opened up my armoire. I had on green and thought "maybe I should wear my cute boater." But then I didn't. Why? Because I thought people would think I was a bit silly for wearing my hat.

WTF???

Well, that meant I had to wear one of my new vintage hat finds from the weekend. I have big plans for the hot pink fascinator, so that will have to wait until NYC (TWO WEEKS!!!) but I could wear the other one. A really neat pilbox-y brown hat with a big feather poof!

The outfit was the almost retro-looking plaid jacket and skirt from Target. I paired that with a Proenza Schouler for Target brown camisole. Here it is sans hat:



And with hat:



This hat is a bit silly but I love love love it!

It's it great condition and just fun.

I do need to fix the ribbon that goes around the peak but other than that it is perfect.

For shoes I wore this great pair of Enzo Angiolini peep-toes. They are suede and a sort of lace material.

Just a lovely girly shoe that fits great, is comfortable and, with the peep-toe and bow, adds to the retro vibe.

A perfect example of what I love - classic shape with a unique twist.

Oh, I also took today, Friday off, and got my hair cut. I cut a lot off the length and look! Bangs!

I think this weekend is going to be Seasonal Swap weekend. I'm sure that means I will be totally sick of half of what I own and realize I have nothing to wear with the other half. It is dangerous to do this right before going to NYC. I will have to ensure I don't blow all my money while I'm up there.