A Surprise For Mom!

Guess who has always liked my hair SHORT.  No ifs, ands, buts, or etcs. That's just how ma rolls......

Frankly, for me, shorter hair always requires more maintenance - on a daily basis, yes, but also in terms of more frequent visits to 'the salon'. The cost of haircuts add up, but even worse is the truly hit and miss quality of haircuts. I've had two stylists in my life who consistently gave me great cuts. The performance of the rest varied from so-so to a recipe for certain despair. As a result, over the last year or so i've taken to trimming my locks myself. With lots of long, wavy-to-curly hair, any mistakes kind of got 'eaten up' by the overall volume of hair involved. And i've enjoyed wearing my hair long for a number of years now.

However, the last couple of months i've felt ready for a change. I've been enjoying the look of my hair more when i wear it up, but even more important i was feeling that my hair just wasn't adding much to my overall look. I believe you need to have all your areas working for you and working together in order to really be stylish, and the hair could be doing more. I wanted something edgier, and with this much and this type of hair that means going short.

I've worn my hair this short (and much much shorter) for many years, through my teens and twenties and thirties, so i wasn't worried about being traumatized by a 'big whack'. But how to find a stylist? I mean, this isn't just a wee bite here and there, we're talking Big Commitment.

Well, anyone who knows me can recite the rest of this story.......after all, if 'the worst' happens, how many hats do i have?

At first i thought 'well, i'll just try a little bob' - half an hour later i remembered the several times in the past i've tried a bob, with different stylists. It looks beautiful in theory (with my hair 'pinned' into a bob), but in practice it's 'instant dowdy'. So i snipped and snapped my way to this tried and true (for me) style. Don't look too close! I still need to neaten some up, and cut in some thinning to lighten up the top and sides. But i'm happy with the overall shape, and it's always so fun to have a new look!

As it happens, Angie wrote a piece recently about the centrality of hairstyle to overall style. She says, "...I’ve found that a person’s hairstyle has a very dramatic effect on how they view their current and future style. By addressing a client’s hairstyle right from the start, things naturally fall into place. Often the new hairstyle alone makes my client’s style feel completely different. And sometimes it is exactly the impetus they needed to get out of their comfort zone." Well observed, and i agree completely!

Cynthia at Be Fabulous Daily writes about how to find quality at any price point, (with an adorable shout out to me - i laughed out loud!). And the Sewing Pixie posts her first 'v-log' with some very interesting information about sewing knits and painting fabric. All my questions answered in an easy to understand (and hilarious ) manner! This look of The Style Crone shows my favorite colors to wear - warm, clear, a little quirky. These colors are just so hard for me to find - especially in cashmere - though she looks so yummy i know i'll be keeping an eye out, whether i mean to or not!

It's only been a few days since i performed 'the big whack', and i'm really enjoying the change. And it's great to feel like my hair is pulling it's weight, style-wise. So i'm happy.

But the most important part is - mom should be thrilled!!!!

Aww, Fiddle!

Condolences to Sarah of Misfits Vintage on the loss of  Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Stop by to read her excellent tribute to Ms. Taylor (with a wonderful picture of Liz driving her convertible and flippin' the bird), and give Sarah some love!

Well, we're in that 'winter is over, but it's not really spring yet' phase of the year. Around these parts, we're getting mucho precipitation - hail and rain. Over the weekend i was woken out of a sound sleep two nights in a row by dreadful wind, hail, and rain. Today Sacramento is under a flood watch - take care Bella! Nothing like living on a delta. Of course, this brings us to 'what to wear?'

I've been wearing variations on this look a lot recently, on 'around the house' days where we see the sun. It's too cool to wear just a tank, but layering a cami-top over a knit cotton tank while covering my legs hits just the right temp. I love the ease of having a 'uniform', but looking the same all the time drives me nuts. These looks may give you some ideas for adding variety to any 'uniforms' you wear and like.

The biggest difference between these two looks is in the silhouette. The top look is boxy and straight - i chose straight leg pants and buttoned only the top button on the cami-top, surrendering the waist as Angie puts it. I brought the knit top hem down over the pants' waistband to the hip, so there's no indication of the waist. The boots have a lower heel and a sturdy shape, and i wore no belt. The length of the pants contributes to the boxy effect - the straight hem cuts across the calf, shortening the leg a bit.

The second look emphasizes my curves. I buttoned the cami-top at the waist, and chose curvy boot-cut jeans.  The booties have a higher heel and sleeker lines. I wore a belt to 'pull in' the waist of the jeans, and as a bonus you can see the little bit of chain hanging down. The addition of small sleeves and changing the shape and size of the head - an 'updo' here versus wearing it down with a hat above - also contributes to a different feel, even though the earrings and necklaces remain the same. I've really appreciated having the 'brainless dressing' aspect of a uniform, while ending up with different looks. Angie at You Look Fab comes up with a lot of these formulas or templates - she calls them 'mom on the go' of 'flop proof outfits' - take a look to see which might work for you, and to get more ideas on how to come up with your own if you're drawn to the idea.

Another way to change up any 'uniform' is to vary the color scheme. You could just vary the color of one item (like the knit tank), go from a light to a dark color scheme in neutrals, or go from a low to a high contrast scheme. The first look here is light newt/low contrast, while the second is a higher-contrast look. If you wear an outfit with one dominant color, especially a bold or bright one, people tend to identify that outfit with the dominant color. So if you wear the same look again but replace the bold color with a neutral or a different bold color most people will 'read' it as a very different look.

I've actually started to get in the 'taking outfit pictures' habit again, but somehow i lost a bunch of photos! That was aggravating. And if i look a little 'tomato colored' in the top detail pic, it's not your imagination. I was having a reaction to a sulfa antibiotic, since resolved. Pardon my french, but what a pain in my @ss. Signs are decent that the infection is receding into the past, which would thrill me immensely. Mr. E has a couple of days off and i'd hoped to spend them tearing about town and behaving scandalously - which is harder to pull off if you're too pooped to pop! Here's hoping you are full of piss and vinegar!!

Cami-tops: own design
Tanks: Old Navy
Capris: Royal Robbons
Blue Heans: Levis
Boots: Bass Lamont
Booties: Maine Woods
Belt: Betsey Johnson

Popping In Briefly

yes, i'm still alive. My timing for taking a break was excellent, as mr. e and i are both under seige from a particularly evil virus. Instead of choosing to attack either the gastrointestinal system or the upper respiratory tract, this bug hits BOTH. Two days of 'mice having a circus in your guts' (mr. e), followed by your basic sino-sorethroat blow-out. Which is gross enough, but mr. e has a techy tummy and i'm prone to sinus infections, causing the whole sordid affair to linger indefinitely.....

I had a lot more fun a couple of weeks ago at a 'Ladies' Movie Night' hosted by ielgirl.  Food, romantic movie, drinks, dessert, and some very smart and realllllly funny ladies. Our hostess requested that we all wear our most romantic hats, so i trimmed up my straw one in pink and black. I really fancy the way it turned out and plan to leave it trimmed like this possibly through summer. If this event sounds fun to you, be aware that ilegirl is hosting a Fancy Pants Reuse Outing in Danville for April 2nd - Bay Area eccentrics, consider yourselves notified!

As you can imagine, having your brain slowly replaced by mucous does little to increase one's intellectual functioning...however, i have managed to do a little of the writing on high strange experiences i wanted to focus on during this break. I also managed to miss the fabulous Sheila's Leopard Week extravaganza - click here to get the scoop at the Leopard Week Wrap Up! Those ladies aren't the only busy bloggers out there - Allie of Wardrobe Oxygen has been posting some really helpful information the past few weeks - how to dress for the weekends, her 'eat your vegetables' philosophy of wardrobe building (a little like cake and frosting). But to top it all, Allie goes where no blogger has gone before and posts a complete list of her entire wardrobe! I find these type of posts really helpful, and really hard to write, so kudos to Allie!

I saw some long, twisted scarves of cotton gauze at J. Crew a while back and finally knew what to do with that cotton gauze in my stash. I checked out the RIT website for ideas on olive drab, and a few hours later i had a new scarf. It's soft and warm and i've3 been reaching for it constantly.I think of it as a 'statement scarf'. Wearing a new color, texture, size of scarf can really change the feel of your outfits, with such a small commitment of money, time, or commitment (you can take it off much more easily than, say, shoes or your blouse, at least in the circles in which most of us move).

Last but not least at all - i can't believe that people have actually decided to follow me while i'm on this hiatus! I so much appreciate all the people who take the time to read this blog and comment and follow. It is so much more fun to put these posts together thinking about the various 'pairs of eyes' that will take in my efforts - not to mention it makes me take it a bit more seriously. So THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! to all of my readers and commenters and followers, old and new!!!  In the past couple of weeks, i've started to feel that old compulsion to photograph my looks, so i expect you'll be seeing more of me sooner rather than later - in the meantime, take care and have fun!!!  steph

The Dude(ette) Abides

 Well, i'm taking a little break from the blog. Now that i've received a comment from Wendy B. herself, what else is left to strive for?

hee hee, well, as thrilling as that moment indeed was, it's more down to my leg bothering the living mm mmm  hmmmm out of me the last month, and the amount of time i've spent fighting colds this winter. Plus, there's some new information that i'd like to present on this blog, and i need to put some hard thinkin' into the best way to format it. As became oh-too-apparent with my notorious camping series, i can literally write a respectably long book about any topic which catches my interest. However, reading books on a blog? I just don't think it 'scans'.

From the time i started blogging, i've intended to present the ideas, systems, etc. which have been the most help to me in terms of finding and honing my personal style and in creating a wardrobe that works for me. The more time i've spent reading various style blogs and interacting with members of this community, the more i've become committed to this enterprise - the bulk of the information which has been the most help to me is just not available on the internet. And my philosophy is 'the more the merrier'! You never know which particular viewpoint or tidbit will unlock the door to your perfect wardrobe.....

But as i said, i need to put some time and thought into how to get this info onto a blog in a way that works for most readers.  On the whole i've never spent huge gulps of time on posting, though the extra time will be nice for this project. I more want to free up the space in my head that day-to-day posting takes up. And as fate would have it, certain family matters will likely require my attention soon as well.

That said, what's with the pictures? A while back Terri showed us all the glory of her new necklace rack, along with the spectacle of all her wonderful necklaces. She asked if anyone had any good ideas for organizing other jewelry items. This got me motivated to organize my pierced-ear earrings. I've always like to keep them on cards, but so many of the ones they come on are just tacky and gross. In the past i've gotten energized and pasted magazine pictures onto cardboard and used those. But happily, these days so many artists and craftspeople have wonderful, vibrant business cards. I collected quite a few at the KPFA Holiday Crafts Fair, and after cutting them to size and piercing them with a darning needle or safety pin they make perfect earring cards.

So, what to do with all your time spent not reading The Dashing Eccentric?  For starters, Elsita's popped up again (it seems she responds to pressure via e-mail, so go to it, gals!)  The Beckerman sisters are always up to something fun. Sara at Orchids in Buttonholes has completed an excellent series on making her shopping experience and decisions more conscious - be sure to read the excellent comments as well! Here's a resource which will help you to renew your conviction to avoid any concealers containing 'light reflecting properties'. Check out the blogs on my blog list, & drop me a line if i'm missing someone fabulous (especially 40+ers!)

Believe it or not, there is an internet beyond fashion......if you think you're up on 'the UFO gossip' because you know about Area 51, you're just deluding yourself. The real deal is buried in  - Area 52. You can practice the Lost Sport of Olympia (so inflammatory it was banned in ancient Greece) when you're offline. George Hansen spins a web of liminality, anti-structure and Tricksterism over at this classic Paratopia podcast. Brush up on your on and off line networking skills. Dig into the Secret History of Rock 'n Roll, Aleister Crowley, Sirius, Isis, Agent Mulder and (obviously) more. Send me an e-mail (i'll gab about anything - as should be apparent by now!). Follow Dr. Beachcombing as he sifts through ancient archives.  Keep your eyes on the skies. Take notes on how to argue with anyone and win.  Set up a new home page for your web browser. Wallow in pootie-fest!

I do reserve the right to pop in at anytime to post any noteworthy looks. I'll leave you with this one for now, which broke no new ground and was a little dressy for grocery shopping. But i received excellent, very attentive service from the butchers at Lunardi's.

(Mom - if you click on only one link, make it the last one!)

Take care all! i never thought anyone would read what i wrote, and *wow* have you proved me wrong! You'll always have a primo place in my heart. See you soon! steph

Mom Tells It Like It Is

 Received an e-mail from ielgirl this am, horrendously disturbing upon first glance. My groggy eyes immediately leapt to a few phrases which jumped off the screen: ".....i had him shoot me.....i beheaded....."  - - -  What!?!?? My mind barely grasped the meaning of these phrases, leaving my heart paralyzed as my eyes automatically continued skimming along: "....and i posted it to my blog." Aaah! Someone's posted her first outfit of the day!  Whew! I did pause to wonder how she was managing to send an e-mail after all that brutality. Ya got me on that one, P!

Continuing with my 'e-mailbag' theme, mom had some remarks on my recent tule fog post. Mom was born and reared in Fresno, CA, smack dab in the center of the California Central Valley, birthplace of tule fog. Take it away, mom!


"Hahahahahaha! I know why you used the tule fog picture you did, but THAT's not REAL tule fog (see, old lady here).  This is tule fog:

(i can't find the pic she attached to her e-mail - it's just a bunch of fog anyway with one foot of road visible in the foreground)

and it's not real bad in this photo.  Pictures of real tule fog have to have a 'no fog' before picture and the tule fog picture as a referent because in real tule fog you see nothing but the grey.  In this picture, you can actually see the line in the road and some other object(s); in really bad tule fog, you have to drive with the passenger car door OPEN, not just the window, and have the passenger keep their eye on the side of the road as you creep along at 5 mph.  And when the road intersects - oh, hell, that's why I love living outside the Central Valley.  Of course, if you don't stay out late and drive home before 2 am, then it's not such a problem - more cars on the road, however.  Like most of life, it's a crapshoot. 8-)"

We stand corrected!

(Note to Readers: looks like the text formatting went haywire around this point and i can't figure how to fix it. Please accept my apologies! It seems to be just this post.)

I was getting into the top half of these outfits there for a while. Looks like Gracey has been into this dolman sleeve thing too - check out how great she looks when she's "not putting in any effort".  I guess yard-long legs make any outfit pop!!  Anyways, I liked the shape the wrap cardi made over slim-sleeved tees or light sweaters, and played it out with two different skirts, both with dramatic lines. I kept the accessories and other styling to a minimum in order to accent the silhouettes.  I think that the denim skirt look would've been better with a bit of a heel and my hair up or in a low ponytail. Next time.

I've taken so much inspiration from Elsita's blog The Hidden Seed. It seems she no longer posts there, but the archives are up and completely worth your time. I tried duplicating one of her trademark poses with this outfit, seeing as the skirt design was sparked by one she wore, but i've got a ways to go. Elsita's slips don't show unless she wants them to.

Wrap Cardi: Nine West

Grey and Black Sweaters: Target Merona
Denim Skirt: repurposed from J. Peterman wide-legged denim trousers
Beige Skirt: own design, inspired by The Hidden Seed

Slip: own design
Legwear: Sock Dreams
Shoes: Maine Woods
Belt: ???
Bracelet: Justina Leigh

The Sheila Skirt

 Tule fog or no, i've been spending productive time with my Bernina the last few weeks. I just finished a straight skirt in a linen/rayon blend on Sunday morning, and wore it for errands and walking in Berkeley that afternoon. Success! Between the shape of the skirt and the wonderful rusty-red tones of the brown, i started calling this one 'The Sheila Skirt' before i even knew what i was doing.

While wearing my skunk skirt (what can i say, the name just stuck) in total comfort, i realized that the 'base' on which i'd applied the ruffles is simply your basic straight skirt, cut off just above the knee. It occurred to me that with the addition of a modest slit, this silhouette should work well for a comfy, workaday item. The beauty of the straight skirt is it's un-fussiness, ability to play well with just about any jacket shape, and low fabric needs. There's some times when you don't feel like dealing with a lot of fabric, from the psychological as well as financial perspectives. I'm very tickled that this pattern has worked out so well, and look forward to whipping up a couple more skirts along these lines.

Saturday i had a 'blogger meetup' of sorts. Ilegirl invited me to check out the local American Cancer Society thrift shop's vintage extravaganza when she received their e-mail notice of this event. Of course i accepted and we had a great time. However, ilegirl and i have known each other for going on thirty years now, and have gotten together for shopping, dining, and basically hanging out literally hundreds of times before....does it still 'count' as a blogger meetup in those circumstances?

The most enjoyable part of the day for me was getting a look at the labels in some of the vintage items.  So many were from old, venerable San Francisco institutions that i remember frequenting with my mom as a girl. I had a blast getting photos of all of them to share with you. I've never heard of FANYA before, but i loved the graphic on the label of this mint-green silk shantung suit.

I remember when we were little and our mom would take us to Union Square in San Francisco for a little window shopping. When it was time for a 'rest', mom would take us to I. Magnin. This was old-style class and glamour - green marble rooms for each 'throne', gold-plated faucets, a nice big lounge with couches, coffee tables and mirrors. How sad when I. Magnin went out of business!

 And how strange when the most disparate areas of your life turn out to be intertwined. Years ago i listened to the 'grande dame' of conspiracy researchers, Mae Brussel, who broadcast her radio show 'World Watchers International' every Sunday afternoon from down the coast.  Her programs were bristling with information you'd be hard pressed to find addressed anywhere else, but mostly i loved her larger-than-life, joyful, and raucous personality. She'd been dead for over a decade when i learned that she was a scion of none other than the venerable Isaac Magnin himself! If anyone could floor you long after they were dead, it'd be Ms. Brussel!

At least Gump's is still around. And with the opportunity to market and buy specialty items on the web, and the availability of all types of style inspiration from street style to couture coverage to do-it-yourself tutorials, access to great style continues forward. Isn't it funny how many memories can be triggered by a couple inches of ribbon...

Jacket: Issey Miyake for Vogue Patterns, made by me
Sweater: Royal Robbins
Belt: Betsey Johnson
Skirt: own design (in tribute to Sheila)
Scarf, Earrings: own design
Over The Knee Socks: Target
Shoes: Bass Lacey Oxfords

More B7tch1ng About The Weather

Note to readers: Mr. E has posted his reflections on being featured as a style icon, the fickle affections of the lens, and modern funerary practices in an edit to our last post (as well as in the comments).

This ensemble appears just about right, as it shows in the top three photos. Clean lines with enough textural interest to keep things from being boring. Nice proportions, flat shoes that make walking easy but which also add a nice vintage element to the whole look. And the chunky sweater easily comes off or on to deal with any temperature fluctuations. Looks like a slam dunk!

Except when you leave the house for your daily constitutional. Chunky sweater is knitted of chunky yarn, leaving chunky holes through which clammy air can wind  it's fingers around your delicate ribs. And this jacket is a bit much on top of those small, flat shoes. Nice and big up top, medium past the hips, then ...... where's the feets?

But the worst of it came in the late afternoon. The sun burned through the fog for an hour or so, hitting the roof at just the right angle to heat up the house by around 20F degrees in minutes. This was just the time i'd penciled in for some quality time with the vacuum (which always gets my blood going).

Well, it's been a while since we've had a good vacuuming photo around here. I'm not at all sure how those texture-y socks look with the lace-trimmed tank and bare arms......maybe i should've left the belt on?

It's all because of this blasted weather! It's been gloomier than glum the last couple of weeks, as we've been in the grip of tule fog. Tule fog, also known as valley fog, is technically a type of 'radiation fog'. It manifests (very spookily!) when the temperature drops to the dew point in a low-lying area where the ground has become saturated with water. This type of fog literally forms from the ground up. Here's a great description of the evil that is tule fog, "The visibility in Tule fog is often less than 1/8th of a mile, about 600 feet, but can be less than 10 feet. Visibility can vary rapidly in any area, with sudden decreases to near zero in only a few feet. It is situations like these that often lead to multi-car accidents where one car follows another into a fog bank." (from the NOAA website). This photo on Flickr gives you a feel for typical driving conditions in this type of fog.  (Scare yourself silly by imagining driving in tule fog courtesy Google images.)

But the facts above don't begin to address the psychological aspect of living inside of a dingy ball of cotton candy fuzz for days, weeks, or months on end. Sunday morning i woke up and was thrilled to see how sunny it was! It was also nice to hear the steady downpour hitting the roof. Yes, your classic rainy day is brighter than living in tule fog.

So, the moral of today's post is the same as always - take it all with a grain of salt (or more).It's easy to look pulled-together for 1/64th of a second, and it's possible to edit any mundane life into an exciting, attractive post. I don't know about anybody else, but i have plenty of loose ends, stumbles, and bad hair days. I leave that out because no one's interested in that (if you were, this'd be a comedy blog). But i assure you it's here in my life, as much as in anybody else's.

And there is hope after all - 'mostly clear skies' predicted for the end of the week!

Sweater: Tweeds
Black Sweater: Royal Robbins
Belt: vintage Coach
Skirt: own design, inspired by some girls wander
Socks: O Chevrons from Sock Dreams
Shoes: Born