Style Insurance

This outfit really reminds me of Erin from Work With What You Got - not because of the way it looks, but in how it came together. The two main pieces (blouse and jeggings) are both off-the-rack items from Target's house brand. Now, when i think of places to shop where i'm likely to find pieces along my aesthetic, Target ain't the first retail establishment that comes to mind. Yet, i felt at ease in this look and it fit nicely inside my style spectrum.

Now, even nine months ago if you'd told me i'd be dressed head-to-toe in mass market off the rack pieces and like how i looked, "skeptical" would've covered my reaction. But here it had come to pass. Pondering how this could be, i boiled it down to two factors. One, i know my own style well enough to be able to pick items which either express my style or will work harmoniously with it (the neutral colors, the feminine-detailed voile blouse) without those items having been presented to me in the context of my own style. In other words, i have enough experience to see an item in, say, the Land's End catalog and recognize that it would really work for me - even though i personally find the Land's End aesthetic deadly boring and unattractive.  Two, accessories carry a lot of weight in any look. In this one especially the boots and belt really bring my 'Amelia Earhart' factor into the equation. Seriously, a pair of grey flats with bows on the toes and a little silver rhinestone belt would blend perfectly well with the blouse and jeggings. But that look wouldn't really come across as 'me'. Adding accessories that encapsulate and/or reflect your personal style to any run-of-the-mill look can turn a ho-hum base into an authentic expression of your style.

Erin seems to have a real talent for picking out just the right pieces that she can use to project her style, from even the most mundane of retailers (Target, Walmart, and so on). However, i have noticed that she seems to dig deeper in order to find those special pieces that finesse her looks (a wolf claw or hummingbird skull necklace from an etsy vendor, for example). Seeing as you can wear a good pair of boots for ten years or more, and jewelry lasts decades, it's a prudent strategy. Not to mention you can wear a trademark pendant, say, every day without causing comment - it's a different story with jeans or a sweater.

The older i've become (always a scary way to hear a sentence begin, no?) the more important i've found these two factors to be in building a reliable wardrobe.  It's FANTASTIC when you waltz into some new store and everything fits and flatters and goes together in just your own personal dream fantasy style, and it's all on sale and never needs dry cleaning or ironing.  (Well, i'm guessing it would be fantastic, it's never happened to me so i can't truly say.)  But over here in the real world you gotta deal with the hand you're dealt. Weird colors are the only thing in stock, clothes don't fit, money gets tight, your feet can't take heels......even if you make your own clothes, you have to make them out of the limited fabrics which are available.

Building a stock of accessories that you can rely on to bring your own personality to your outfits and being able to spot clothes that will work for you in even the most unlikely of places - both of these strategies help immeasurably in getting through style tight spots.

Grey Sweater: Tweeds
Blouse: Target Merona
Jeggings: Target
Belt: ??
Necklace: gift
Boots: Bass Lamont

The People Who Open Your Eyes

I threw a tantrum on the blog a couple of weeks ago.  (Just so you know, i'll do my best to limit them to an annual occurrence). I was feeling crappy, sure, but the main reason i was so mad was because i couldn't find Luis Baptista on the web.  It frustrated me now end, and bothered me all nite. Luckily, i found him on my first search the next morning.

 Who the heck is Luis Baptista? Dr. Baptista was a bird scientist who made wonderful discoveries about how birds learn their songs, how birdsong is like human music, how the songs vary geographically. Which is wonderful enough....but Dr. Baptista didn't stop there.  He was known for haunting Golden Gate Park, watching and feeding birds at all hours, and engaging any people who stopped by.  He pointed out different types of birds, knew many birds personally, could and did imitate the dozens of different white crowned sparrow neighborhood songs for scientists, children, birdwatchers, and the occasional TV reporter.  He discovered all types of wonderful things about birds but he never kept them to himself.  He constantly shared his discoveries and enthusiasm with others.  Here he is talking about a lady white crowned sparrow of his acquaintance:

"''This is where a white crowned sparrow I used to know once lived,'' Dr. Baptista said, pointing to an ornamental African aloe tree. ''She was very dominant to her husband, whom she beat up on all the time. However, one day, she divorced him, moved to a different tree a few hundred feet away and married another guy who then beat up on her. I couldn't understand what she saw in him. But they raised more white crowned babies than anyone else in the park. She must have realized there was something special about the new guy, in terms of evolution.''" 
 from A Conversation With Luis F. Baptista; 'Revolutionary Etude,' Rendered by a Wren by Claudia Dreifus, The New York Times, May 16, 2000

 Dr. Baptista died at age 59 in June, 2000. He was tending a barn owl who'd decided to roost at his home in Sebastapol when he collapsed.  I never got to meet him.  But i've known other generous birders. Dr. Bill studied the Wilson's Warblers at Jewel Lake. He always beat me there, no matter how early it got going, and was easy to spot with his hand-held parabolic dish, tape recorder, and earphones. He taught me to identify kinglets, and told me so much about how to spot orange crowned warbler nests that i was able to point a nest out to my husband before i'd ever seen one myself.





orange crowned warbler on nest by robbbinestridge. visit robbinestridge's flickr photostream to see more of robbin's wonderful photographs

Some birders just tally up the birds they've seen, competing with others for huge life or year lists.  You can't help but be amazed by their skill and dedication.  But you can't learn anything from them - they don't share. How to tell a Bufflehead from a Goldeneye by how the way they land in a pond, or a Sharpie from a Cooper's hawk by wing beats, where's the best places to see a Least Tern - they keep it all to themselves.  But other people open your eyes to a whole new world. Suddenly you divide your neighborhood up into towhee territories, and you can tell if a mockingbird is squawking about a cat or a hawk by call alone. You take your mom to a spot in the bug-ridden, swampy brush and say, 'Okay. Within ten minutes a Swainson's Thrush will show up there, worm in mouth.'  About seven minutes later, bird and bug appear.  Mom is amazed.

Some people are amazing. Some people show others amazing things. Other people show you how you can be amazing, too. Those last people are the ones who knock my socks off, the people who change how you see the world around you and even how you see yourself.  For me, that's the big difference between traditional 'style media' and bloggers. Vogue, etc. are full of pretty illusions and lovely pictures - but half the time they don't even reference the makeup or accessories in a shoot (not that the average person could afford it). 

 But bloggers!  Every item is lovingly sourced. Sheila shows you how to pin, use belts as bracelets, layer, and double up your stockings so you can incorporate these ideas into your own great looks. She also answers every single reader question.  And Sheila is far from alone in her generosity.  Academichic has a great variety of series on color theory, proportion, layering, and pattern mixing (among others). They go way beyond 'Here's a cute outfit, mow try to copy it' - they give you the concepts you can use to create your own original looks. V of Grit and Glamour just did a reader survey and came up with some very interesting results on what reader's look for and appreciate in style blogs.  Did she just keep all that juicy information to herself, so she could stomp on the competition? No! She went to the trouble to analyze it, summarize it, and publish it all on the web so everyone who wanted to could read it and benefit from all of her work and thought.

on edit: And of course Mrs. Underdog has been incredibly generous in providing me with information on clothing details. In addition to scoping out some truly hardcore jewelry resources previously unknown to us mere plebes.

I could go on and on. I'm sure all of you have been stunned at the generosity of style bloggers, not just with one-off or trifling questions, but with the effort they will put into big projects addressing key concepts and style secrets. I haven't seen any 'Here's my trademark recipe (except i secretly left out the key ingredient)' around this part of the web.


So today, if you have a minute, think about the people in your life who've opened your eyes. If they're still around, let them know you appreciate them! And if you're feeling particularly bold, allow yourself to contemplate how you might open someone else's eyes.....


Blouse: Merona at Target
Skirt: own design, inspired by The Hidden Seed


p.s. as many of you know, i take my own pics using a camera with a timer.  the bouch showed up for this shoot, and posed patiently while i walked back and forth to the camera, setting the timer for each of six shots....i especially like the one where we are both lying down. very Isadora Duncan. it's fun to have someone to photograph besides myself!

Frilly Feelings

Clothes-wise, that is. I wore this outfit on the weekend of the Mr.'s birthday. I like to get a little more 'dressed up' on the weekends as a rule, just to add some variation to things - no real reason.  Plus, that is when the spouse is off work, so we could end up eating out at some fancy restaurant or strolling the streets of an upscale area........or, hiking a few miles on muddy trails, scrambling down bluffs to rocky beaches, cruising the stalls at a local craft festival......Living in the Bay Area affords an unlimited assortment of activities within just an hour or two's drive.  Beach, snow, internationally renowned cities, museums, ghost towns, gold rush towns, amusement parks, skiing, hiking, desert, marsh,'pick your own' farms, ferries.......with widely varying activities possible on the same day.  It presents me with some real challenges in deciding what to wear.

Well, what's the problem, you ask. Just dress for whatever activities you have planned for that day. Ah, there's that naughty word - 'planned'.  Some of us like to be spontaneous. Some free spirits feel that a person taking two or three minutes to grab a pair of walking shoes and a sweater (because you've told them you'd like to go to that oh so specific location: 'out') robs the day of that special feeling of freedom. Don't be so middle-aged and stodgy.  Just go with the flow, be adventurous and end up where the day takes you! Why be such a stick in the mud! 

(Why, indeed.  let's see....traffic, weather, whether the place you're going to is actually open or not, i don't see YOU walking seven miles in 3" heels, a map of your location may actually assist you in reaching said location, etc.)  Well.  Let it just be acknowledged that there are charms and arguments in both approaches.  And while opposites might be irritating, they definitely do attract.

So. Why not indulge a person on their birthday, instead of being a spoilsport. Take this look, throw on a jacket and hat, change shoes, and i'm up for a movie, museum, dinner out, hiking, or strolling around town. But as it turned out, we had a nice relaxing around the house day - which left us energized to fly further afield on the morrow.

These are really nice over the knee socks - warm, great pattern, stay up nice with great pleated ribbon detailing.  Technically it wasn't really cool enough to wear them yet, but i was just too impatient! I added the striped bows myself.  We got them at Dark Garden, a custom corsetry shop in San Francisco. We visited the shop last spring. It's in a fun neighborhood, the staff is very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful, and the floor is full of amazing corsets, petticoats, pantaloons, scarves, vests, garter belts, stockings, and jewelry.  I asked to use the restroom and as a result got a long look at their workshop in back.  !!! Envy !!!  Stop on by if you're in the area, and be sure to make a special trip if you're into corsets. Allow an hour or two if you want to try a corset on - it's a process. (That's part of the fun!)

Blouse: Target
Skirt: gift
Petticoat, Scarf (as belt): own design
Socks: Dark Garden
Shoes: Clark's Passion

The Five Minute Post

Eeeegh. Nursing a sore throat. I'm guessing you can figure it out - if not, leave me a question.

I'd always envisioned this skirt with a petticoat underneath to 'match' (meaning cut along the same a-line shape). Not that it's been done a month or so, i find i wear this skirt with petti more often than without.

I guess it's not the best form, but i love the way that chiminea is kind of lurking ominously in the background......hope you all are feeling well and having a great Monday!

Toodling up Highway One

My brother came into town for the holiday weekend, and proposed a little road trip. I thought it would be the perfect time to wear this outfit, with which i experienced technical difficulties a couple of weeks ago.

For the return part of the trip we drove up Highway One between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. Any part of this highway, which follows the Pacific coastline from the top to bottom of California, is absolutely worth traveling. The especial charms of this segment are the gentle slopes down to the sea interspersed with small farms, the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, and the mating grounds of the elephant seal - Ano Neuvo State Park. From October through March every year these eccentrics of the sea congregate to battle it out with other males in hopes of accumulating a harem of the alluring, rotund female beasts. What can i say to begin to describe these creatures - they fight each other with grotesquely overgrown noses, they can stay under water for over one hundred minutes, their calls are eerily reminiscent of whale song. The baby seals, overgrown sausages just learning to feed on their own, are called 'weaners'. During mating season you may visit Ano Neuvo, but only as part of a guided tour arranged by reservation. I can't recommend it enough.


My brother took these pictures near Pescadero. The last pic shows the fullness at the bottom of the jacket nicely. This outfit worked out well for the day. It's comfy, flat shoes can take all the walking you want, it's pulled together but not fussy or overly formal, the jacket goes on or off to cope with varying temperatures.

The day was mild, we saw many windsurfers and kite surfers (the latter is a new one on me). But we didn't surf or ogle wild animals, just visited an old friend and gazed out at the beautiful ocean. I hope some of you get to spend some time at the seashore this summer as well.

Jacket: made myself from McCall's M5594
Blouse: Target
Capris: Royal Robbins
Shoes: old Borns
Belt: Betsey Johnson

Plan B

Yesterday was a typical Saturday. The E's bummed around the house, visited the library, made muffins. My outfit looked really cute - i was wearing the above jacket and top, with some khaki capris and flats (my trusty Borns) with lace anklets. Small top, small bottom, with a flare in the middle - i made a nice diamond shape, something like Miss Anne Elk's theory of the brontosaurus.

Then, stain on pants. So i put on these black rayon trousers i made a few years ago and wore a more mainstream outfit the rest of the day. The capris are soaking comfortably in the washer.

We ended up shopping on Telegraph, using the public facilities at the University (where above pic was taken - see if you can spot the bride!), then dining at Cesar Espana. Cesar is a delicious, trendy tapas bar in the Gourmet Ghetto with a great interior - lots of wood and tile set in huge curves and arcs. Wouldn't some candid pix of me in that fabulous setting, with fabulous food and fabulous people, be great?

Well, we ended up sitting near some tourist rubes who lovingly documented every plate that came to their table with their pink-skinned iphone.......and taking snaps in the dining area started to seem less glamorous and more 'acting like a coupla schmucks'.

However, some doors have locks, and when you're alone no one can judge.

You have to admit that is some great interior design.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there - especially my dad, Mr. E's dad, the bouch's dad, and Miss Dizzy's dad!!

Jacket: McCall's M5594, made by me (fabric a gift)
Top: Target
Trousers: made by me
Belt: Betsey Johnson
Necklace, Earrings: gifts