spring, summer, to fall... what is your favorite season to dress for?

Spring...

Summer...

To Fall...

 

Spring, Summer, to Fall... What is your favorite season to dress for?  To dress for.  Just yesterday, my fashionista-Phd.-wielding-momma friend, Holly was explaining to me how it's not that she likes to dress fancy all the time, she likes to "dress for her day".  She says she likes the "pomp and circumstance" of it all.  Me too!  I thought about how I dress for my day, and I realized I dress for occasions that I imagine might happen or that I desire or that I am trying to evoke.  Here we go, from the top:  

Spring

Evoking:  I am going to a mother's day tea.  In Palm Desert, California.  In the 1960's.

Reality:  I was hosting an open studio of my art. 

Summer

Evoking:  I am an actress in a Greek Tragedy at the outdoor theater by the sea at the Getty Villa.

Reality:  I was picking up my sons from cross country practice.

Fall

Evoking:  I am drinking Turkish coffee in Prague at a vinyl listening party.

Reality:   I took a walk and took photos of cats on the street.

                    

Nice outfit, cat.

Spring:  dress - vintage, necklace - vintage

Summer:  dress - Matty M, skirt under dress - Matty M, necklace - vintage, Mexican blouse - vintage

Fall:  dress - Mayle, belt - vintage, necklace - Tiffany's, headphones - Sony, boots - used, unknown, darn label worn off!

guava boots

This is what together looks like right now.

I dreamed of a guava room. It was guava colored with guava branches hanging down the walls.  There was a window somewhere with nice late afternoon light coming in.  Paula, giver of pineapple guavas floated through the room.

"Paula, Paula!  I got these two pairs of shoes!  Come see them!  They're amazing, and they were only three dollars!"

She looked back smiling and floated away out the guava door of the guava room.

Do you know that as I write this, I am breathing guava?  This photo is actually a combination of Paula's little pineapple guavas sitting in front of me amid my dad's giant guavas and avocados.

So the next day after the dream, Holly comes over to drop off not only her son for the (last) mega slumber birthday party, but also two pairs of boots that look a lot like the shoes in my dream.

And they fit.

And they are comfy.

Thank you San Francisco friend of Holly's sister for cleaning out your closet, and thank you Holly for thinking of me.

Happy.

boots by Hanna Anderson, top is vintage, jeans by Levi's 

vintage clothing expo IS my disneyland

Santa Monica Vintage Clothing Expo.  If I wasn't doing yoga and meditation all the time I would have simultaneously hypervenilated, had a panic attack, and lost all feeling in my legs when I walked into the Costumes from the 1930's Mexican Independence day booth.  But luckily, I am doing yoga and meditation so I didn't.  Whew.  

And by the way, I found one a shorter version of one of these skirts that needs a little TLC in another booth for $15.  Score.

I put this find on when I got home.  I am hoping I can wear it when I get to be a "fancy extra" on Enlightened tomorrow, but I am waiting for that special call from wardrobe for my instructions.  (Did you hear my secret agent attitude.  Always.)  Anyway, this dress isn't really vintage.  It was a stowaway at the expo, but it makes me want to say, "Yes, take me to the Tonga Room."  We lived a few blocks from San Francisco's Tonga Room in another fairy tale chapter of our lives.  Go there.  You exit the street and enter a night time tropical paradise, with a band playing on a barge surrounded by a lagoon, happy hour food on skewers, and it RAINS.

Dress by Kimchi in Blue

Rebecca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, thank you to my friend, Laura for getting me to the expo (texting me during Avengers the day before), and thank you to Rebecca for missing the surprise part of a surprise party to come shopping at the expo so last minute.  Rebeeca comes dressed to do some damage in her beautiful platform shoes, lady-like hat, updated 50's shape skirt, modern neck drapery (What did I just make up?), and... come on!  She had to get these gloves.  She was an accessories girl that day.  Delicate handkerchiefs, suit triangles for her man, sunglasses, and gloves... those gloves.  Ms. "No thank you, I don't need that plastic bag for my vintage treasures" Harrell Tickell is one of my super heroes whose film, "The Big Fix" about the BP oil catastrophe will be released on DVD on June 19th.  Pre-order your dvd now!!!

pretty lace

This outfit almost makes me want to compose a poem... or a song... but here is the story, at least. I needed to put an outfit together to represent my family's Latino heritage. Along with one my boys we would share the story of making tamales on Christmas Eve in front of his whole school. Of course, the whole business became a deep and profound experience for me when I got dressed in the morning. "I will layer my Merida Mexicanness over my colonial intricacies, OVER my hippie California silk. Yes. And Hush Puppies. Yes, those represent my OC childhood, of course," I think. Okay, every morning does not involve an extensive inner monologue like this, but this was a special day. My son wanted a serape or at least a guayabera with all the attention I was putting into my ensemble, but all we could find was a faded Mexico FIFA tshirt from 2000. It was a cool contrast.

Marc for Marc Jacobs lace blouse, Glam Vintage Soul silk dress, Creaciones Mario vintage blouse from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, Bettina Duncan earrings, Hush Puppies shoes.

outfit extravaganza

Starting from the top...

Mexican Art Deco: This is what I was wearing when I walked into the Balenciaga store in West Hollywood. Yes, I was designer shoe-less, Levi-wearing having animated conversation with Balenciaga shop girls. This probably only happened because I had just been across the street at MOCA looking at security-guarded Rodarte dresses in the dark from behind a white line. One of the shop girls wore a black pillbox hat with one long black feather cradling her face. Details like this is what really makes the experience. That, and the futuristic hidden headquarters of a store with built in runway screens, fantastic fabric that you can touch, and the feeling that it goes on forever (like a casino!). Mexican silver jewelry from our honeymoon in Mexico City, Marc Jacobs blouse from friend's closet clean out (FCC, I will call it from now on in this post), Levi's 501 jeans, 80's belt.

That Swiss Mexican Girl: One of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen was a girl I knew in college who was Swiss Mexican. I am confabulating when I think that she dressed like this. She would have looked so good in this outfit! Actually, this choice of outfit is about trying to reconcile Mexican me with the Orange County resort scene. Matty M sweater, my mom's Mexican dress, homemade silk belt with wooden buckle, Teva boots.

Librarian in Barcelona: I pretend that many of my outfits take place in Barcelona. Here, I am taking a moment to try to focus. "Where, oh where is the Gaudì section? I mean, I work here. I should know these things. Was it the fourth floor? Huh, I probably just need a Spanish latte to awaken my memory." Marc Jacobs FCC sweater, Levi's jeans, Poleci FCC blouse, Mingle earrings.