What’s this? A post? I bet you all thought I had disappeared and forgotten all about this blog. Not the case, my friends. I’ve just been busy. My life has changed quite a bit over the past six months. While I was living in New York with my husband, I’m now separated (fear not, we’re still great friends) and living back in my hometown of San Jose, California. There’s been lots of change in my life this year but I’m convinced it’s all for the best. I’m doing as well as I ever have, I think, and I’m looking forward to the future.

For the past three months I’ve been working for Kaboodle, which as you may or may not know, was just acquired by Hearst. I am the Associate Editor for the site and have been writing our blog, overseeing our newsletters and learning a lot about blogging for a living (can you believe it!?). Kaboodle is a great site, that I encourage everyone to check out (my member name is fashionfaction), and I work with a wonderful team of people. I’m very happy to be there.

I just wanted to post a little update to let everyone know I am still alive and thinking about my blog. I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had time to keep up with all things fashion, let alone write about it. I still haven’t even seen the photos and footage from the fall shows…which took place months ago! However, I’m hoping now that things have settled down in my life, I’ll have time for my own blog again.  I hope you guys will still be interested in what I have to say.

I really want to applaud Payless ShoeSource for their recent overhaul. Up until about six months ago, the last time I bought a pair of shoes at Payless was the pair of cream sandals I wore to my high school graduation (oh, so many years ago). Over the intervening years I’d pop in and walk down a few aisles and see nothing but really quite cheap-looking, unattractive shoes. You know the type - the really obviously fake-leather, chunky-heeled loafers in black and dark brown. Maybe some pumps in the same cheap pleather. Certainly nothing that made me want to buy it. However, last fall I noticed Payless’ shoes started to get cuter. First was the pair of maryjanes, pictured at left. They were a knock-off of the Kurt Geiger maryjanes - well, they seemed more like a knock-off of the Topshop knock-off of the Kurt Geiger maryjanes - and they were really cute. They were all the rage over at the Makeup Alley fashion board for a while. I think nearly every regular poster over there has at least one of the two colours. I have both the ivory and black.

Since then I’ve popped back in and picked up a few additional pairs of shoes. Just this weekend I got a pair of canvas peeptoes with cute trim and a pair of grey patent pumps. Last winter I picked up a pair of green pumps from the Abaeté for Payless collection. These shoes all look pretty good. The patent pleathers don’t look super-cheap and with a cute outfit I suspect no one would figure they were from Payless (you know, until they read my blog and know they are). The grey pumps I got even have a nice, soft lining on the inside heel portion so your heel isn’t rubbing against unforgiving plastic inside the shoe. I thought that was a really nice, smart touch.

Click to enlarge…

There is still more bad than good at Payless. I mean, they have a wall lined with Crocs knock-offs and I saw faux wood wedged boots with stretchy leopard print fabric uppers (seriously) when I was there yesterday, but they’re definitely making cuter, more current styles. They’ve even changed their logo, for the first time in nearly twenty years, to help jazz up their image. As I walked through the other day, I noticed they’re opening a location at the biggest, most popular mall here in the south Bay Area (Valley Fair, for those of you around here). The location at the other large mall in the area (Oakridge, for my local readers) has been revamped and now looks more like a DSW or a Loehmann’s shoe department than the Payless layout you’re probably used to. It made finding my size a huge pain, but it was interesting to see just how much they’re trying to switch things up.

Photo credit: Payless ShoeSource.

I know that silhouettes change. If they didn’t fashion would remain stagnant and boring. Change is all well and good. However, I’m a bit of a grump about the whole unstructured, waistless, volume on top thing. Simply put, I just don’t like it.

Perhaps my dislike is a result of my body shape. I have a tiny waist and upper body and bigger thighs. As a result, basically everything I wear emphasizes the waist. Trapeze dresses, as you can see at the left, are my nightmare.

Now, I’m not of the mind that everything one wears should be flattering or pretty (A Dress A Day’s post from last October on the subject is a good read), but I just can’t handle this look. I think the sad truth is I’m a little vain about my waist and the idea of it being swallowed up by a voluminous dress or blouse is anathema to me. It’s a strong word, but I really do hate this look.

And I haven’t even touched on the barely-covers-the-bum aspect of many of the minidresses. I mean, look at the Twinkle “dress” at left. That woman wouldn’t be able to sit down on the subway without her butt touching the seats. And the last thing I want to do is see more random ass cheeks on the streets; the awful tiered miniskirt trend a few years ago sort of burnt me out on unsolicited views of women’s bums.

So, what is a woman to do? These trapeze and other waistless dresses and tops are everywhere. I’m just hoping the trend dies down quickly, like so many do nowadays, thanks to, in large part, the internet and the rapidity with which information is disseminated. Luckily, I don’t buy much during the spring and summer because I don’t really dig warm weather clothes. Hopefully by fall there will be more tailored, fitted options. I suspect there will be just because of the necessary differences between warm and cold weather items. Until then, I soldier on, curmudgeonly and hopelessly out of style. :)

Photo credit: Shopbop.

Apologies for the lack of posts. Things in my life are a little wacky right now and blogging is pretty much the furthest thing from my mind. I try to actually have something to say when I post so I don’t want to just go through the motions and write a bunch of posts with no content just ’cause.  Please bear with me as I get my life back on track.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the fall shows. Spring fashion does very little for me so I always look forward to the fall shows.

The photo of fantastic silliness you see to the left is my new Abraham Lincoln bracelet from Naughty Secretary Club. I love it. I have a fondness for big jewelry and the US’ 16th President, so it is perfect for me.

Naughty Secretary Club is part of the (amusingly named) “Austin Craft Mafia,” a group of small business owners from the Austin, TX area. Several of the Mafia’s members host the Stylelicious program on the DIY network. One of the hosts is Jesse Kelly-Landes, owner of online clothing retailer (the clothes are available in some boutiques as well) Amet and Sasha.

Amet and Sasha is great. I’ve ordered a few things from Jesse over the years and have been happy with them all. The apron skirt with white lace apron (pic below) is probably my favourite. I picked it up last spring and wore it all spring and summer long. There are a handful of things I’ve had my eye on for some time and need to order one of these days. She makes all the clothes herself and gets things out quite quickly. She’s also very helpful and accommodating. I definitely recommend her stuff. Her site has a ton of links to other crafty online sites and I recommend checking them out as well.

Click to enlarge (and enjoy my husband peeking from behind me)…

Since I’m providing commentary here, I figure it was only right that I give you a little more information about me and my style, in particular.

Magazines love to put labels on everything. Some people dress “Preppy,” some “Trendy,” while others have “Classic,” or “Tailored” style. I am not really one to self-identify so I don’t really know how I’d go about describing my look. Others have called my style everything from “Edgy,” to “Grandma.” In fact, my own seventy-three-year-old grandmother told me I dressed like an “old lady.”

Despite the fact that my favourite designers are Alexander McQueen, Boudicca and Ann Demeulemeester, I know that I dress fairly…well, others have called it “boring,” but I’ll go with “basically.” I would love to drape myself in nothing but the three designers I mentioned above, but, obviously, I can’t afford to. And, while many RTW ideas trickle down to stores like H&M and Zara, the more complex designs, like the things offered by McQueen, etc., tend not to make it down to the high-street shops. So, I go with more basic items. Chances are pretty good that if you run into me, regardless of the season, I’ll be wearing a black skirt.

This fall and winter (not that we’ve had much of a proper winter here in New York) I’ve been wearing to death a black full skirt I bought a Banana Republic. It’s a little shorter than I’d prefer, and much shorter than it appeared in BR’s pictures, but I like my skirts to sit up at or just below my natural waist. The smaller size I need to fit my waist, combined with my five feet, seven-and-a-half inches means the skirt hits right at mid-knee. Not my favourite length, but what can you do. Most of the outfit pictures I’m posting below contain this skirt.

Speaking of skirt lengths, I’m not much for above-the-knee lengths. I went through a miniskirt stage when I was seventeen and eighteen but grew out of it pretty quickly. Out of the dozens of skirts I own, I think maybe three are above-the-knee, and just slightly at that. It isn’t that I have leg issues, I just don’t dig the shorter lengths as much. When I read about the “return of the mini” every few years, I cringe. The popularity of shorts last spring and summer elicited similar emotions. A friend said, “Knees are ugly.” I never much thought about it in those terms before, but I realised she’s right. Heh. Knees really aren’t the most attractive part of our bodies.

Anyway, I’m not much for fashion rules. I mean, I certainly have certain rules I apply to myself but they are borne out of personal preference more than any sense of propriety or any particular respect for fashion conventions. Any sort of white after Labour Day or black at weddings talk is going to be lost on me. In fact, I wore a black dress for my own wedding (pic below). I realised from looking at the photos I’m posting here that the relatively new idea that black with colour is awful isn’t one I buy into. I’m not especially big on red accessories with black but green with black and bright blues and cobalts with black are good looks, if you ask me, especially if accented with a little ivory or something else.

Black. I’m a big fan of black. I get a little irritated when I hear people say black is “easy,” “safe,” or, “boring.” I’m just not that into colour. I like some blues, some greens, some oranges and reds, but, generally, I’m into neutrals…and less so browns than black and greys. I don’t know, maybe it is easier, but I wear those colours because they’re what I prefer, not because it’s easy. It’s the same way with prints. I’m not a big print fan. I like houndstooths, tartans, polka dots, textured tweeds, some herringbones, and the occasional toile or scrolly or floral pattern here and there, but I’m usually not drawn to them. I don’t feel like my wardrobe is lacking for their absence so I’m not going to seek them out just because.

What my wardrobe is heavy on are sweaters; I probably own more sweaters than anything else. Cardigans, crewnecks, v-necks, shells, cowlnecks - You name it, I’ve got it. There are probably well over one hundred stacked in my closets. One of the nice things about living in California was that I could basically wear sweaters all year long. In the summer, short-sleeved sweaters and shells were perfectly fine to wear. Here in New York, I’d rather kill myself than wear even a silk shell in the horrible, hot, humid weather. I find myself quite lost when the summer comes and I can’t wear a sweater. So much of my wardrobe is built around them I’m not quite prepared for the times I can’t wear them. When summer comes, unless I’m going to the theatre, you’re probably only ever going to see me in a cotton skirt, tank, and flats…or the dreaded flips flops. As the saying goes, you can take the girl out of California, but…

I’ve heard of people changing their style when they move to a new city. Californians, specifically those from Los Angeles or the Bay Area often say they want to dress less casually or less colourfully when they relocate to New York. New Yorkers say they often feel overdressed or too bleak when in California. Honestly, there isn’t much difference. I will give you that you don’t see as many Juicy Couture track suit items or flip flops in New York as you do in California and there is a greater variety of designer bags to be seen around town here than in CA, but as far as the explosion of trendy items and basic styles, the coasts really aren’t that different. I think the stereotypes of both places play into the mindset more than the actual styles to be seen. It is true that California is more casual, generally, than New York City, though. Jeans and flips in the office are frequent sights, at least in the Bay Area. Suits at job interviews are definitely not required - and can often looked down upon - at many tech companies.

So, all this rambling leads to this… Here are some of my outfits (save the wedding pic) from the past year (most from the past few months), some better than others. Click to enlarge…

Picture One: Zara blouse, Banana Republic skirt, Hue tights, Dr. Scholl’s boots, Joan Rivers bracelet.
Picture Two: Behnaz Sarafpour for Target tee, BR skirt, Max Studio pumps.
Picture Three: BCBG sweater, C&C California tank, J. Crew skirt, DKNY tights, Seychelles booties, MCQueen bag.
Picture Four: Zara skirt, Bloomingdale’s house brand sweater, Naturalizer peeptoes.
Picture Five: French Connection skirt, BR sweater, Michael Michael Kors pumps.
Picture Six: BR skirt, Victoria’s Secret camisole, J. Crew sweater, Tara Subkoff for Easy Spirit wedges.
Picture Seven: Banana Republic trousers, Forever 21 tank, Bloomingdale’s house brand cardigan, Dell’Acqua bag.
Picture Eight: My wedding dress and sandals- BCBG. (We were married in Vegas, by an Elvis impersonator.)

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. A minor ocular disease has, unfortunately, popped out of remission and that, combined with the approaching holidays, has had me preoccupied lately. I’ll be back to posting regularly (and taking care of some pending e-mails) after the new year.

Whatever holidays you may or may not be celebrating in the latter half of December, I hope you all are enjoying yourselves.  Best wishes for the coming year.

I saw these silly things posted over at Catwalk Queen.

According to their website “Tattooed Pins” are “for the girl who epitomizes sophistication by day but likes to turn the heat up a notch by night.” They are “aimed at…the wild diverse London gal.”

…

Sorry, I was rolling my eyes there for a second and couldn’t see the keyboard.

First of all, I don’t know anyone who would actually wear these. In my experience, a large percentage of those who don’t have tattoos seem to be vehemently anti-tattoo and wouldn’t dream of looking like they might have one. I’m going to assume that most people who have tattoos will just find these things silly and wouldn’t go anywhere near a pair. Everyone else, I suspect, would consider them ridiculous and “tacky” and stay far away as well.

Despite the company’s claim that the tattoos look “so realistic they’re set to start tongues wagging and the mind wondering [sic],” they so don’t look realistic. Through nylons a real tattoo is going to look slightly dark and obscured, not bright and clear. I especially love that the banners in each design (five in all, at least so far) say the name of the company. Realistic and subtle.

The main objection I have to these sorts of things (see the even more ridiculous fake tattoo sleeves) is how they are attempting to capitalize on the tattoo subculture while, essentially, mocking it at the same time. The notions that one needs to be without tattoos in order to “epitomize sophistication” and that tattoos are “wild” and cause “tongues to wag,” are all entirely ridiculous. I get that these things are generally marketed to plain-skinned people, but come on! It’s 2006; recent polls indicate that 36% of adults aged 25-29 have at least one tattoo (it’s said to be around 16% for adults of all ages). It’s just not that wild and scandalous anymore. However, talking about these products in terms of the negative stereotypes, as though tattoos, and those with them, are wild and crazy, only strengthens the silly ideas people have about the tattooed - exactly what those of us with tattoos would prefer to avoid. The same Harris poll cited above indicates that 57% of those without tattoos think those with them are “more rebellious” and 31% think tattooed individuals are “less intelligent” than those without. I would like to see people trying to counter these stereotypes rather than playing into them.

There’s also the whole idea that if you want to look like you have a tattoo maybe you should just get a tattoo instead of a pair of nylons with a fake one painted on.

Photo credit: Pins & Needles Brand.

So, holiday party season is upon us. The husband and I are both between jobs, shall we say, at present so we don’t have any office parties to attend this year. However, the lovely Neue Galerie, of which I am a member, is having a little shindig so I had an excuse to buy a new, albeit inexpensive, dress for the occasion. It is not the dress at left, however.

That lovely green velvet dress over there is from J. Crew. While lovely, the dress did not fit me well. The reason - the typical Cristina Dress-Shopping Curse™. I am moderately pear-shaped (and relatively tiny on top) and finding dresses that fit both top and bottom is tough. A column dress like this one is generally disaster waiting to happen. The hassle of alterations is usually not worth the trouble to me. *le sigh,* as the kids say.

Perhaps my fit problem is the reason I’m not a big dress-wearing woman. Most holiday parties I can recall, I’ve worn separates, as I do 99% of the time. While I like full-skirted dresses a lot, it gets to be a bit tired when those are basically the only kinds of dresses you can wear. That being said, I did find a hot dress with a poofy skirt at Zara for this year’s parties…

It’s not the kind of thing I usually wear, by which I mean, it’s not black. It’s also above my knees, which I don’t do very often either. I was really drawn to it, though. I don’t think I’d ever wear it bare-legged, but I quite like it with the black tights and heavier shoes. I think the tights and platforms toughen the look up a bit, which I need to feel comfortable. I’m as girlie as the next woman but I’m not a particularly girlie dresser. Plus, the tights and shoes will help with warmth during the winter. There’s little worse, fashion wise, than seeing women shivering, freezing their bums off in season-inappropriate clothing.

Anyway, here are some other dresses and accessories, at various price points, I quite like…

La Rok. $246 at Girlshop.

L.A.M.B. $485 at L.A.M.B.

L.A.M.B. $365 at Nordstrom.

Stop Staring. $84.95 at Daddy-Os.

Alexander McQueen. £3,525 at Brown’s. A girl can dream!

Lauren Merkin. $285 at her site.

Stacey Lapidus. $69 at Girlshop.

Where ever you may go, whatever you may have to do this winter, have a lovely time. I am full of the holiday spirit already!

Photo credits: J. Crew, Nordstrom, Girlshop, Lauren Merkin, Daddy-Os, L.A.M.B.

As a tattooed woman (twelve hours so far), I’m always struck by depictions of tattooed people in the media. This year has been an interesting year for tattooed people (well, men) in major fashion spreads and advertisements.

The new Juicy Couture fragrance ads feature a heavily tattooed male model alongside the female models. In September of this year, US Elle featured another heavily tattooed male model in its “Following Suit” editorial on the menswear trend in women’s fashions. These are the most prominent, and most heavily, tattooed people I can recall appearing in mainstream, higher-end fashion magazines. I would like to see these models’ appearance in these spreads as progress, but I’m not so sure it is…at least not entirely.

While it’s wonderful to see tattooed people (heavily tattooed, at that) presented in fashion publications, it still seems like the only reason these men are included is to try and shock the viewers. The women in the Juicy ad aren’t interacting with the male model; he seems to be standing there as an afterthought. It’s almost like the advertising people said, “Hmm, OK, we have the women in the dresses; we have the giant bottle of perfume; what else can we add to make people look at the ad? I know! A tattooed guy in a skirt.”

The model in the Elle spread (see images below) seems there for the same reason. It is nice, though, that the editorial would have the same vibe if the model had his tattoos covered by clothing. It’s not quite as, “Hey, look at the freaky tattooed guy” as the Juicy ad. I wonder how long until we get to see a fairly heavily tattooed woman, who isn’t Angelina Jolie, in an editorial or advertisement like this? How long until we see depictions of heavily tattooed people used in advertisements and editorials who are not just there for shock value?

“Following Suit” from US Elle, September, 2006 (click to enlarge)…

There are female models who are tattooed. Giselle Bundchen has small tattoos on her wrist and ankle. Carolyn Murphy has a large Asian-inspired koi design on her hip. Murphy’s tattoo is almost always Photoshopped out of editorials. The most interesting (and when I say “interesting” I really mean “silly”) thing I found were Murphy’s photos in the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (she was on the cover) - in all the photos where her hip is slightly obscured or in the shadows, the tattoo remained. In the photos where her leg was clearly visible, the tattoo was Photoshopped out.

With tattoo (click to enlarge)…

And without (click to enlarge)…

The only times I can remember seeing Murphy’s tattoos in major fashion magazines have been in profiles of her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an editorial with the tattoo. In fact, a Google Image search for “Carolyn Murphy tattoo” returns zero results. The only photo of her with the tattoo I can find online, aside from the SI ones, is over at Vanishing Tattoo, which features a compendium of celebrity tattoo photos. I have, however, often seen Giselle’s tattoos in magazine spreads. I’ve heard the, “Small, dainty tattoos on women are fine, but nothing big…that’s just tacky,” line a million times. Having rather large tattoos myself, I’ve also rolled my eyes at it a million times. I guess fashion magazines agree with it, though. The fact that the Juicy ad and Elle spread only feature tattooed men further reinforces the notion that several large tattoos are okay for men, but certainly not for women.

(Click to enlarge)…

I look forward to the day when tattoos are no longer a curiosity to most. I’d love to walk down the street in a skirt and not feel people staring at my leg. I’d love to see tattooed skin regarded the same way as un-tattooed skin. I’d love for people to realise that the only thing tattoos indicate about a person is that they like tattoos. *sigh* A girl can dream, can’t she?

Photo credits: Sport Illustrated, Juicy Couture, The Fashion Spot, Vanishing Tattoo.