Fitting Room Pics Brought You By Sick Child

I had great plans for today since it was my daughter's first day back to school after the (extra-long) winter break: my favorite gym class (a mix of core fusion and cardio, where you really sweat it out) right after drop-off, then grocery shopping and a stop at the Collection store where I have something on hold; some ironing and then as a reward a (long due) mani-pedi.
But my daughter is sick with a bad ear infection so I am stuck home with a grumpy child (who is sleeping now) and I am officially bored to death. So if you want to do a good action today, leave a comment to this post and save me from myself (when I am bored to death I do stupid things like clicking on every possible site until I find something to buy that I will regret the day after).

I had these fitting room pics of a few new arrivals since... last year but it seems that so far I had more urgent things to say and do than posting them. Thanks to my daughter and my subsequent boredom I am finally going to post them. I have a request though: don't laugh. It was snowing outside that day and I was wearing my heaviest clothes so many of these pics mix resort wear with ski wear! Mind you, that could be perfectly fine with Gayle and her acolytes and actually a PS at the store suggested that I pair the scroll print shorts with a cashmere turtleneck. I don't know where you are supposed to go exactly in a pair of shorts and a cashmere turtleneck but it didn't seem to bother her that THERE IS NO PLACE ON PLANET EARTH IN ANY SEASON for such an outfit. Unless she meant that I should wear the shorts with tights and boots which gives me the opportunity to make a digression. Please, PS united, could you give me a break on the "wear it now with boots, wear later with sandal" thing? I don't want to wear summer clothes with boots, I have enough WINTER clothes to wear with boots and I don't even wear those BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE TO WEAR BOOTS in the first please. Yep, we exist, people who don't like boots. See, I am grumpy too!

Now, moving on, here are said shorts in a size 2. They fit pretty TTS and I actually liked the print much better on the shorts than on the Jules dress. The yellow is definitively more golden on the shorts than on the dress and there is little beige-pink (which I find odd in the dress):

I always regretted buying shorts too early in the season (not only they invariably go on sale before you can even think of wearing them but weight fluctuations make them an especially risky ahead-of-the-season purchase) but I am going to Miami again this year for President's Day in February and I am considering them for the trip. I just have to figure out if I can pull them off other than on vacation. They are short but they don't feel that short on, if you know what I mean (I don't feel very exposed, maybe because the fabric is rather stiff).

Next is the Jules in the botanical print (I couldn't try the Jules in the scroll print because they were out of small sizes but I can tell you that it is made of the same thin silk than the Blythe blouse and not a silk twill like the botanical one. It is so thin that the first time that I touched it I thought it was unlined, when in fact it is partially lined in poly as all the Jules. With exception that the poly in this case is the one that mimics silk chiffon and not the heavier one that is similar to acetate. Are you still following?)
I tried this dress on for our friend DaniBP, who had asked me for some advice. As you know Dani ordered this dress and had a thoroughly review up on her blog so I will only add a fact that could be useful to some of you if you are still considering this dress. The Jules, as we all know, is a short dress silhouette but this one is about one inch and a half longer than the scroll print one (and, as far as I know, the other Jules) as I found out comparing the two of them in the same size at the store (it looked longer already on the hanger).
Demonstration: I tried a 00 (again, they didn't have a 0) and while it was overall a tad small and pulling a bit on my hips, it was still longer on me than my Jules in Italian paisley (that I own in a size 0, my "Jules" size). In fact it is almost knee-length on me (as a reminder I am 5'2"), while my other Jules hits me mid-thigh:

In case you haven't seen Dani's post yet, this is a close-up of the print which is beautiful and has much more blue in it than I could tell when I looked at it on the website:

It is partially lined in white poly:

I also tried a few cover-ups but I can't post the pics on the account of sheerness. However, I wanted to show you one that I really liked and is not on the website. It is a long kaftan in lightweight cotton. Completely overpriced at $98 but I would consider for half the price or less (I am trying a XXS):

As you can see from the pic above I also tried the sheer stripe tunic and while I loved it on the hanger it disappointed on. It looked very ordinary and the v-neck is much lower than the tunic above, which makes it a no-go to wear as a tunic over jeans (even with a cami).

Ok, that's all I tried. My little patient woke up so I am going to go. If you have any comment about these that you want to share, please do!

Synecdoche, New Year Resolution

I am a bit late for New Year wishes and you have probably all moved on already but I have something important to tell you. I borrowed the title of this post from a movie called "Synecdoche, New York" that I watched a long time ago and was a terrible movie with a great title (don't worry, this isn't another movie review) and you will understand what I mean at the end of this post, so please bear with me!

Before talking about serious things like resolutions, I will tell you how I spent NYE. Nothing new here as we stayed in as usual. I can't even remember the last time we went out (actually now I do and I was pregnant) but in any case, with a few exceptions, I never had fun going out on NYE. Too many people trying too hard to have fun, too much booze around, the whole thing always felt a bit desperate. The best are dinners with friends when the friends don't want to go out in the streets right after midnight (I have been there)! In any case even if we really wanted to go somewhere it would be impossible to find a babysitter so at home it is, at least until our daughter will be old enough to come with us or celebrate on her own with friends (a pretty scary thought!)

This year though I bought new china for NYE and it felt like a very good way to start the year. You could think that since I buy a lot of clothes, I also buy a lot of stuff for the home that I don't share here but I am surprisingly frugal when it comes to purchases for the home. The reason is that I have to deal with my husband, who thinks he is a decorator extraordinaire and has an opinion on EVERYTHING from towels to bedding so over the years I sort of given up on the "perfect home" housewife dream and settled for compromises. As a matter of fact we haven't bought new China since we got married, with the exception of a few cheap everyday sets every once in a while (that were more a question of sheer necessity) because we could never agree on a style. All the were deemed too old-fashioned or too modern; too ornate or too simple; too colorful or too white; too rustic or too cosmopolitan. So when I saw these golden-trim white plates at Sonoma under the 20% off sign I thought they could actually make the cut and the discount would sweeten the deal for my husband. I took two to the register as a sample to show him but they rang up at a very discounted price (like a fourth of the original price) so I took the initiative and bought the whole set, making the bet that they would suit my husband's difficult taste. And they did, after an initial resistance to the simple fact of me buying something.
So here it is my new china, on NYE, with the resident lobster (I know, delicious meal for some, finest expression of human cruelty towards the other species for others):

We also had a special dessert, this time not made by me:

This box contains two slices of the most prized desserts in the city, the famous "millecrepes" by Lady M, a boutique patisserie on the UES. If you are visiting the city you have to try a slice of this cake, it's heavenly (it is a variant of a millefeuilles but made of tiny layers of crepes). Their strawberry shortcake is also delicious too.

Even after a 2 pound lobster, a cake heavy in cream and a bottle of champagne I felt good on NYD, since I started to go to the gym on a regular basis around end of November as I mentionned in my previous post. It looks like the secret to start the year on the right foot and keep up with your resolutions, is to have them metabolized by the first of January. The concept of "a fresh new start" is probably too much to keep up with if it involves a too drastic of a change. As you know exercising (or dieting, or decluttering, or any other thing that you wanted to start doing) is empowering on various levels and you can use that energy to carry out other goals. But you have to have that energy first! So my advice (for next year) is too start with your resolution(s) a month or two before the end of the year.

From a fashion/style point of view I had an epiphany on NYE while I was frantically surfing iTunes to "discover" new music to put on our NYE playlist. As you know music speaks to the soul on a deep level and while I was listening to what iTunes has labeled as "Best of 2012" and at same time thinking of my clothing options for our little private party (that involved the polka dot sequin tee and a few other sparkly numbers), I suddenly remembered where I come from (in terms of my music tastes) and what I like and dislike on a deep level. We say that our style should reflect who we are but it is sometimes difficult to know who we are, exactly. Music and art in general are here to take us back THERE. So this translates in a small resolution that comes from that deep place and should have a big impact on my style and purchases in the next year and beyond if I only remember it when on the verge of making a purchase. The resolution is "You shall not buy polka dots" and it is sort of a synecdoche (see the title of this post) that stands for "Remember who you are and what you like and what music you listen to and which are the movies and artists that you love and why and what your dreams are when purchasing something" except that it is easier to visualize and keep in mind. If I look back to 2012 the two purchases that I really regretted are the big-dots skirt and the polka dots sequin tee. They looked cute at the moment of purchasing them but they are the opposite of what I am, sort of. Mind you, I am not comdamning polka-dots, for somebody else they could totally be an expression of their deeper self but not for me. On the other side if I look back again and try to find what's the outfif that best expresses myself I think of this one:

You will agree that this looks very me. And this is my first outfit of the year, that also looks very me:

You can expect a big decluttering of my closet based on this resolution in this first part of the year.

So my wish for 2012 to you is find and remember who you are and stick to it. To a new near and, as they say, a new you.

Two OOTD (Ribbons and Stripes + Mustard Overdose) and Another Movie Recommendation

I have two outfits that I want to show you today, the one that I am wearing today and one that I wore last week to do last-minute Xmas shopping. The thing that they have in common is that they are a bit over the top but it is holiday season after all.

Let's start with the one that I am wearing. This would make Gayle and Tom proud because I dared pairing bows and stripes and it kind of worked. See, I read the "style guide"! I can mix patterns! I picked up a Saint James Galathee tee last week in store for a crazy price (like $20) and I couldn't wait to wear it. Because the stripes in this tee are green and navy I thought that I would try it with my ribbon bow toothpicks in the same colors and see if the patterns would mix well together. I actually really like the result. The green in the tee is a bit lighter than the green in the pants but it is the same shade and the navy stripes attenuate the difference (I tried the pants with a vintage kelly solid top and I found the color too light for the pants).
The tee is a XS. I remember trying it in another color last year and not liking the fit at all, but I liked it this time around and I don't think it is only because of the price. I find it less boxy than I remembered, maybe sizing up makes a difference? Or maybe I just warmed up to the fit. Anyway, this is the oufit:

The other outfit features one of my favorite skirts, in fact the only pencil skirt that I really wear in wintertime, the Sunnie from two years ago (I could donate all my other pencil and wool skirts and it wouldn't make a lot of difference in the way I dress, to be honest). A few weeks ago I picked up this Joe Fresh sweater to wear with the skirt and in fact it is a perfect match of the yellow in the skirt (it was very cheap and it is very soft but doesn't contain a single gram of wool). Where I went over the top is that I also wore mustard-y tights. Admittedly it is a lot of mustard-y yellow and much more than a lot of people can bear to wear or even look at but as you know it is one of my favorite colors, clothes-wise.

Luckily I don't have mustardy shoes or I don't know if could have helped myself from wearing them. Instead I wore my Chalet boots and my cloud puffer:

And now... time for another movie recommendation. So this one is a French movie called "Beloved" by French director Christophe Honore and it is a weird movie. I recommend it to those of you who 1) must see every movie starring Catherine Deneuve or 2) have loved "Love songs" from the same director or love "French musicals" in general (which are very different from American musicals!) or 3) don't mind sitting through an hour of what seems to be some very light-hearted and silly French commedy before the movie gets on a deeper level and rewards you with the feeling that you have been the witness of a woman's life. I find the way the movie achieve this a bit odd, with some choices in the storyline (especially one!) and characters development difficult to understand. I read some reviews after watching it because I am always interested in the reaction of the american reviewers and audience to French movies and I have to disagree with those who say that the songs' lyrics are trite and don't add anything to the movie. I really enjoyed the songs (probably because the lyrics make more sense in French) and I find them helpful in revealing the inner thoughts of the characters, especially the duet sang by Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve at the train station. I read an interview with Christophe Honore where he said that he learned from his previous movies that you have to "train" the audience to listen to the songs during a musical because they are not used to pay attention and that's why the first songs in a movie should be quite easy and catchy and without a major impact on what's going on. That's why the songs have much more depht towards the end. In any case I think that watching Catherine Deneuve, this living legend of French cinema, play with real-life daughter Chiara Mastroianni (not my favorite actress I must say) is a treat in itself and she really is extraordinary at the end of the movie. I don't think it is a masterpiece but it is very enjoyable if you love French movies and you don't mind some oddities in the screenplay.

Do you like my stripes and bows mix? How much mustard is too much mustard? Anybody who has seen "Beloved" or "Love Songs" by Christophe Honore?

The Day After (A New Coat For Xmas)

So it is all gone. My daughter summed it up yesterday morning when, after the presents opening frenzy (she received a LOT of Barbies) she said "I can't wait to open my presents next year". Well, me too! I wasn't expecting big surprises from Santa this year because I just signed up for a gym membership (yes, I am having a jump-start on New Years resolutions and I have been going to the gym on a regular basis more or less since Thanksgiving) and it was said that that would be my Xmas present. But I hoped that my husband would take a few hints and put something else under that tree. I had also hinted at the New York Times Weekender subscription (cultural gift!) that we used to have but was cut a few years ago under the absurd pretention that nobody was reading it (what, the Book Review and the Sunday Style section, that I religiously read, don't count?). Anyway, I only received a little surprise and that was a book on Jacques Chirac, former president of France!!! While I am an avid reader, I only read fiction and my husband of fifteen years should know that! I guess it was a gift to himself disguised as a gift for me, which is fine because I also had a gift to myself disguised in gift from him. Husband is excused under account of too much work and business travels this year to even think about buying presents for his wife (I mean the presents that you don't buy on the 24th on a coffee run).

So the gift that I bought myself is a new coat, the Double-cloth greatcoat in navy. If we go by the definition of Xmas presents as something that you absolutely don't need, this one definitively falls in that category. I have all the coats I need and the color isn't even an excuse as I already have a navy coat (my Elements coat from last year). The only excuse I could make up for this is that I don't have a "dress coat" to properly speak (all my coats are pretty casual. The only one that could be described as elegant and dressy is my black Script coat but because of the short length it is more of a sport coat with a nice feminine touch than a dress coat). I just loved this coat at first sight, which is rear because I don't usually fall for coats (I am a summer clothes girl and I don't get excited by outwear, normally). I resisted it with the 30% off because as I said I didn't really need it and it is an expensive coat but it went on sale a few days before Xmas and I had just tried it in store two days before and put it on hold (my technique to resist impulsive purchases). That's a sign, right? It wasn't that simple to get it (when I called the store, the only store in the city that still had this coat, the manager said that they couldn't extend my hold "at this time of the year" and the day after they couldn't find one in my size anymore. In the meanwhile it sold-out in my size on the website too so I was resigned to watch for popbacks but it turns out that some angel SA did extend my hold at the store so when a bulb went off in my head and I called the store again to check if by any chance they had a coat under my name it was still there waiting for me. The best part, besides the fact that the 30% off and no fs was still going on in store, was that I could purchase it over the phone and had it delivered by courrier just in time for Xmas).

I went with my regular coat size 2 but this coat runs small in the shoulders and upper body area IMO. Usually I have room in a 2 (being the 2 the biggest of my JCrew sizes) but not in this one. I took these pictures as soon as I took it out of the bag (where it had been sitting for more than 24 hours) so it looks a bit frumpy on the bottom because of the creases from the bag:

The feature that draws me to this coat is the waist placement, more than the golden buttons. For once high-waisted is a good thing! Personally I don't like the lady-day, it looked very frumpy on me but I think this one looks elegant without being too little-girlish (a flaw of high-waisted coats), probably because of the military-looking buttons (o the ticket it is called double-cloth "officer" coat). A you probably know, the double-cloth fabric isn't crazy warm but I can live with that since it is going to be more of an occasion coat for me than my everyday coat.
I forgot to take pics but it has a nice golden (metallic) piping that runs on the inside.

On a totally different note, I have a movie recommandation for my movie club fan base out there. Yesterday night we watched a very unusal British movie called "Perfect Sense" with Eva Green and Ewan McGregor. It is a beautiful love story disguised as "epidemic" movie (so probably not for husbands, mine fell asleep). The love story is powerfully rendered in a bigger reflection on human kind and what makes us human. Ewan is at his best as a charming chef who falls in love for the character played by Eva Green and as a bonus he is naked in a lot of scenes and while I wouldn't have thought of him as a runner-up for the title of "best abs on screen" he is surprisingly fit(BTW, don't you think he has really aged well since the times of "Transpotting"? And he has this sparkle in his eyes). Highly recommended with a caveat: it is a dark movie with no happy ending (I wonder what would have happened to the subject in the hands of a Hollywood producer, probably Ewan's character, played by Tom Cruise, would have saved the world).

So, what Santa nice to you? Anybody has this coat? Did you watch any good movie during the holidays?

Merry Xmas!

Hello everyone, I can't believe that tonight is Xmas Eve! I am just going to do a very quick post to wish you all a wonderful Xmas.

Yesterday we went to Bryant park to meet friends who live in NJ for brunch. Bryant Park is one of my favorite places in the city and during the holiday season they have a beautiful Xmas tree, a ice rink, a Xmas market and a carrousel. Fun for all the family!

I love this picture of me and my daughter under the Xmas tree, so take it as my Xmas card for you:

I actually wore a very cheerful outfit under that coat with my old bright papaya cashmere cardigan (2008), the new button painter tee in dried papaya (basically the same color than the cardigan), navy velvet toothpicks and square link necklace:

At the restaurant:

We are staying home tonight waiting for Santa and the only thing that I am going to cook today is a rhum cake (italian style, called baba), which has become a tradition in our family (my husband loves it and asks for it every year). I have some JCrew under the Xmas tree that I am going to share after the holidays!
Tomorrow we are celebrating at friends and it is going to be casual.

I wish all of you a wonderful Xmas!

An Emotional Concert And Black With Gold

Yesterday night we went to my daughter's school holiday concert, that was held in a church on Madison Avenue. All the grades were singing at least a song and it was our daughter's first public performance ever. The kindergartners opened the concert with "Angels We Have Heard on High" and it was a very emotional moment, not only because our daughter was one of them but because everybody couldn't help thinking that the kids who were killed in Newtown were the same age. The girls looked so innocent and full of promises that the thought of the Newtown kids, forever deprived of their future, was almost unbearable. OK, I am the one who always weeps at concerts and shows (and at the movies) but I think it was sort of a common emotion. We felt enormously lucky and sad at the same time. We had a minute of silence at the end of the concert to remember those who lost their lives so tragically but their presence was alive and felt all through the performance. It was a very special night and I am grateful that the school organized it and that our daughter got to be part of it.

Moving on to a lighter subject, now that we are approaching the end of the year I have been wearing gold. I mean the color, not the metal. In the last few years, sequins have become the go-to look for holiday parties and festive events, so much so that I find the old look of gold and gold brocade surprisingly refreshing. While I was in Italy this summer, I was struck by the Dolce and Gabbana fall/winter collection in all its baroque opulence of black and gold:

Dolce and Gabbana have become more of an Italian eccentricity than a brand that dictates fashion trends but this collection was simply stunning, one of the best that they have ever made in my opinion. While they are probably not so popular anymore in the USA (the time when Madonna was their "ambassador" in the US are long gone, both for Madonna and the brand), they still have a large fellowship in Europe and Italy in particular, and thankfully that European-based powerhouse which is Zara has churned out its own version of the Dolce and Gabbana baroque. If you go to a Zara store you will see a lot of gold brocade in the style of the D&G collection.
I was at Zara recently and I picked up one piece to wear this holiday season, a mini skirt in a golden print (they call it "jacquard" but it is more of a foil print) that reminds me of the intricate sculptures of a baroque church in Southern Italy. For reference I bought the size S, Zara bottoms fit small.

I wore the skirt yesterday night to the concert with a peplum top that is also Zara but I had bought in Italy in the summer (it is still around though). I usually find peplum tops a bit unflattering on me but this one was an exception and it was fairly cheap so it was a good way to give try the trend. I wore opaque tights and simple black pumps instead of the booties because this look wasn't very appropriate for a church but it was too dark when I went out to take pics of the final outfit (the belt is the Brooks Brothers one that you have seen before. Best belt purchase ever):

Are you attracted to gold? Did you stop at Zara recently? Did you like the D&G Fall/Winter Collection?
I have more gold for you in the next post.

Festive OOTDs (And First BaubleBar Purchase)

I know there are people who hate the crazyness of the holidays but I love this time of the year, I feel all the excitment of a little girl and it is even better now that my daughter is old enough to really enjoy the anticipation of Xmas.

So I was feeling festive yesterday and I wore an outfit that I had planned to wear on Xmas day (we are spending it with friends). As you might remember I really liked the toothpicks in ribbon bow print but I wasn't sure that I would dare wearing them. They are now $69.99 in store and with the 30% off they came down to less than $50, which is an acceptable price for something that I would probably only wear around the holidays. I had previously bought the mini in Dublin tartan to wear at Xmas but I changed my mind after I realized that I didn't wear any single daytime skirt this year. I am more of a toothpick kind of gal and I will surely get more wear out of these (if I don't gain weight) than a mini.
I wore them with my beloved cashmere henley in navy from a few years ago and a new "parure" that I bought the same day:

I don't know what the name of the bracelet and the necklace is (square link something I guess) but they are on sale in store ($39.99 the bracelet and $69.99 the neklace). I love how the necklace sits on the collarbone and the bracelet is a good one for the small-wristed ladies (I am often sized out of JCrew bracelets). Highly recommended!

I went shopping for some last-minute Xmas presents and I stopped at the Collection store to make a few returns. I snapped a pic of my outfit in the fitting room:

I had tons of compliments on the pants (which I wasn't expecting, I thought that people would look strangely at me as the lady with the crazy pants). One of the SA at another JCrew asked me where they were from. Come on, review your catalog (this is the same SA who asked me what kind of color "heather dusk" was)!

I wore another festive outfit with the same henley the other day, even if it looked more festive IRL than in the pics (the henley isn't that dark and the pants are the maraschino cherry ones from last year that has blue undertones so they go very well together):

On another note, I placed my first order with Baublebar last week. I ordered a pair of gold and onyx earrings and I didn't know what to expect. I looked at their site many times and while the prices of their baubles are very affordable I was afraid that they would also look cheap IRL. What decided me this time was they were having a 25% off sitewide and I used my $10 off my first purchase (when you sign up) so they came down to $9 and I felt like it was worth taking the risk. They arrived yesterday and even if they are bigger than expected I like them, they have the Chanel-esque vibe that I was looking for (plus, they were beautifully packaged and they have free returns to boot):

Are you feeling festive? Have you ever shopped at Baublebar?