It feels like it’s not yet summer here in the Emerald City.  I woke up this morning to clouds and cold, and put on a staple long skirt, tee and sweater to work in.  My project has been putting together photo-albums for a family friend – this time, their Switzerland trip.  I was really feeling the chill, looking through all the photos of glaciers and gray skies.

Stepping outside about mid-project, I realized the sun had come out and the temperature had risen at least 10 degrees.  I strapped on a pair of shoes and prepared to run some errands -snapping a few photos first.

I don’t need the sweater anymore… apparently.

Also, let’s talk about this necklace.  I received a giant box of amazing granny jewelry from a friend as a gift.  I kind of love amazing granny jewelry – and this box had some real gems!  (HA!)  Of course, one of my favorite little pieces was this clip on earring, which posed 2 problems.  A) Clip on earrings hurt.  And B) I was missing the other half of the set.  Of course, you can be creative and clip them onto other things though – shoes, skirts, belts, tops…  But since there was only one earring, I looped the clip over a spare chain I had, and have been wearing it as a pendant.  A little JB Weld under the clip will hold the clip down, so the earring doesn’t slide off the clip.  Voila!  Instant jewel party.

The entire outfit feels very nautical.  For my trek outside, I paired it with this white Céline bag (from Rice and Beans Vintage – she does layaway so I can afford nice things) and a pair of silver Saltwater sandals.

What I wore:

• Striped Top – Forever 21
• Maxi Skirt – Nordstrom BP (Pre-anniversary sale.  There was a haul.  More on that later)
• Necklace – assembled by me!  Thrifty!
• Cleves Ring – Wendy Brandes (LOOOVE!)
• Sweater – Erin Brinié Online
• Bag – Céline from Rice and Beans Vintage

I love the maxi-skirts because they’re light for summer, but since our summers are so fickle they’re still warm enough to brave our cloudy mornings.  Also, I just love the silhouette of a long, slim skirt.   They’re one of my favorite summer pieces right now, along with this white bag, and Saltwater sandals.

Oh, by the way, Gustav says hi!

Hai!

What’s your current favorite summer piece?

PS – Tweet this for a chance to win a Honey Bronze set from the Body Shop (You have until Friday!)!    Help @birdiee and @thebodyshopusa stop Sex Trafficking! Sign the petition (& comment, to win a Honey Bronze set). http://bit.ly/j6VYsK

This is probably the cutest thing I’ve seen all day! Special thanks to David the Majestic and Beautiful Laura of Birdie Royale Adornments. The music is Ondulé by Mathieu Boogaerts. I love this video so much – and we had such a great time shooting photo and filming! Yay!

Thanks again to Laura and David (especially since Laura was one of our models too!), to Gorgeous Kirsten for being one of our models, to Mitsy for modeling, and to Kimberlee of Deco Modiste for designing all the clothing and for letting us raid her house. More photos will come, eventually… Stay tuned!

PS – Don’t forget to enter the Haute Summer Night Fashion Event Giveaway! There are only a few entries so you have a very good chance of winning. Please, and Thank you! xoxo.

After what seems like forever, I finally met up with Kimberlee of Deco Modiste to talk about the Deco Modiste Spring/Summer 2011 photos that we had yet to take.  We’ve been sitting on our Spring/Summer looks for this year since the weather here has been so uncooperative.  But the styles have been in stores for a month or two, and we wanted to show you a preview of the items we’d feature at the Velouria Trunk Show, this coming Saturday.  So we brought 3 of the prettiest girls we know down to the Deco Modiste studio, and got to work.  I’ve been working on these and a couple other weighty shoots for a while, which means I’ve forgotten to blog…

But for all you Seattle gals – mark your calendar for Saturday at 6, and meet us at Velouria in Ballard.

SO!  Without too much babbling, let’s just get to the photos.

What do you think?  Like the new styles?

Apparently the other day, Scott Schuman – the Sartorialist – announced that he hated style blogs.  No big surprise there – The Cut said: “The Sartorialist’s Scott Schuman is unimpressed with girls who dress up and take pictures of themselves and post them online, mainly because they don’t seem to have extensive wardrobes.”

It sparked a pretty great Twitter conversation through members of Independent Fashion Bloggers – but it all boiled down to one thing:  Your style is much more influential than the Sartorialist.

You see, most of us suffer from smaller closets.  Not many of us have money to throw at an “extensive wardrobe” – and in an age of minimalism (not to mention expensive apartments!) girls don’t necessarily want to keep all that extra junk around.  Women are constantly looking for a few simple and effective pieces that always work. They want pieces that they can mix and match, not a bulging closet where you can’t tell what you’ve got.  Parisian style is in – small closets, staple pieces in quality cuts and colors; not this American idea of “have it all, and have it all shipped to you!”  And the women and bloggers I know who have more simple wardrobes are actually much more inspiring than Mr. Stuck-up.

While I do own a copy of The Sartorialist book, I don’t see it as a style bible.  I see it as a great work of portraiture (not even photography in general – how hard can it be to shoot someone outside in natural light after you’ve meticulously posed them?) and the expressions he captures are just fine.  But as far as style goes, the “style” of this “street style photographer” is all his own.  It’s not a style I necessarily identify with, and after about 10 pages, all the subjects start to blend together.  How stylish is that?

What I love from the blogging community is that there are so many gals who take the leap – they set up a timer, they snap their own photo, they become vulnerable as they put their own image up on the net for anybody to gawk at, to see, to comment, to tear apart.  The ways in which they mix and match from a limited number of items inspires me to mix up my wardrobe.  Your style is much more creative, much more fun, MUCH MORE INFLUENTIAL than the Sartorialist.

It’s that simple.

Friday was party-night; we celebrated Jess Estrada’s birthday at Hollyhood!  I was under the weather most of last week (hence the lack of posts), but it sounded like too much fun to miss out on.  I was waiting till the very last minute to pick something to wear, when I remembered this little frock the Clothes Horse sent over when she was cleaning out her closet!  It was the perfect party dress ….

Why yes – I am wearing a frilly dress with black tights and my Doc Marten Darcies!  I seriously wear these boots all the time.  They gave this dress a 90′s grunge rock, babydoll-dress-with-boots-vibe.  I was going to be taking photos – I wanted stability in my shoes.

The dress itself is interesting.  It’s three different textures in the same color – which I’m a big fan of.  The mesh top is so subtle, that accessorising was an interesting feat and I didn’t want to cut into that subtlety too much.  I opted for hair bling, pairing feathers and bold glitter in a light gray that almost matched.  I just happened to forget I was sporting that spoon necklace.

This is the point where I lament the fact that I didn’t have a tough moto-jacket to toss over the top.  I went with a long gray cardigan and Mister told me I looked like something out of Clueless.  Like, Woah. I attempted to wear a cute little blazer with studded epaulettes (for lack of a better description) but Mister told me I probably shouldn’t leave the house looking like I did.  Unfortunately, no photos of the entire outfit.  It was warm in the club that night, and I had to bribe a pretty lady to snap my photo.

I admired all the party girls out that night in their cutest club outfits.  Pictured here, Birdie Royale in a striped bustier and gray pencil skirt, and Katie Marie in an amazing animal print number.  Me-yow!

I wore:

• Rodarte for Target Blue lace dress
• Doc Marten Darcie boots
• Black sweater tights from Sockdreams
• Spoon necklace found on Etsy
• Sparkly feather headband from CharlotteRusse
• Not Pictured: Gray cardigan from Ann Taylor Loft, Asymmetric coat from Allsaints

It was fun and hilarity.  And champagne and cupcakes.  My favorite kind of party.  If you were there, you can check out the photos on the Bonne Vie Facebook page!  Give us a like, little kittens!

I recently re-enrolled in French classes – it’s been a long time since I’ve studied the language, but it’s a labor of love and I feel the need to refresh my brain a little on the finer points of French conjugation.  To wash away my nerves, I decided to don a plucky little outfit and sip some café au lait while perusing my brand new textbook.

Luckily it was sunny and warm; perfect for cute little skirts, still paired with knee-high boots.  This outfit seems so fall-like, but since spring in the Emerald City is so much like fall (and winter for that matter), I figured I’d be fine just this once.

I definitely felt a little “Francophone” in my knit beret and striped top.  Oh, hello!  Do not mind the mess, or little G’s dog bed in the background.  As for my outfit, I jazzed it up with my red Fluevog boots, and this crazy beaded granny-necklace.  The great part is all the red matched the lining of my blazer.

The color combo felt a little strange when I originally pulled it out, but with a few finishing touches, I think it came together well.

What I wore:

• Striped sweater top: Banana Republic
• Gray tank: J Crew
• Gray skirt: Papaya
• Black knee socks: Sockdreams
• Red embroidered leather boots: Fluevog
• Denim blazer: Thrifted
• Red beaded necklace: Vintage – from Mr.’s Granny
• Blue crochet beret: Bird & Belle (AKA: Made by Me!)

The weather held, and class was great!  I was a little nervous, but my nerves were swept under the rug toute de suite. It turns out I’d actually forgotten less than I originally thought!

Unfortunately, the weather was not as kind, and the very next day was rainy and gray.  I stashed my little skirt away for the moment – until the sun comes back out and the rain goes away.

“… A new dress doesn’t get you anywhere, it’s the life you’re living in the dress… the sort of life you had before, and what you will do in it later.”

Diana Vreeland was a wise woman with those words.  Wiser still was the realization that I CAN turn summer dresses into wintry spring wear, with very little effort.  And you can go out, laze around in the park with your dog, have fun lunch adventures, and the world will smile as you walk by because you’re a fresh breath of air in a cute summer dress.

So here’s how you do it.  Toss on some leggings under a little white ruffled tank dress.  Throw on a cute sweater with covered buttons… Put on a light colored boxy jacket, to offset the rest of your bodycon outfit.  Wear big sparkly jewels, and cute heels.

And voilà!

What I wore to lunch with my friend David, and then later to get smoothies and hang out in the park talking about how people should meet people in real life….

• Leggings – American Apparel
• Symphony Pumps – Miz Mooz
• Little white ruffle dress – H&M
• Gray covered-button Cardigan – LOFT
• Little gray boxy wool Jacket – Thrifted (a gift from Deco Modiste)
• Various rings – Thrifted
• Sparkly heart necklace – Tarina Tarantino (LOOOVE!)

I think it turned out well, and it’s a great way to turn any summer dress into something you can wear right now.   It’s also a great outfit to do the Charleston in your livingroom…

Favorite outfit photo?? Maybe!

Who doesn’t get dressed up to dance around in their livingroom?    What’s your favorite way to wear your summer dresses in the still-winter weather?

Gratuitous Photo Post!  Gratuitous Photo Post!

I went out and shot some photos at Hollyhood last night, so if you’re interested in other people’s party pics, stay tuned!  Also, if you want to tag yourself or nab these, they will be on the TigerBeat206 Facebook page, courtesy of Jess Estrada!  Here’s a sample:

It’s not necessarily cold outside, but I’m sitting at a desk in a damn near 65 degree office.  Sitting still for that long in that cold an environment gives me the chills, and my winter wardrobe as of late has been big on ultra-warm pieces thrown on haphazardly.  Like this outfit.

You probably remember this skirt from my Modern Vintage post where I waxed poetic about how this skirt was probably inspired by someone’s grandmother’s couch.  I think it’s probably one of my favorite weird wardrobe staples and readers agreed – strange in a very cool way.   Primary paisley brocade with oversize gold buttons.

I wore this outfit all day, just like this – though the hat was an outside-only deal because I know people in the office would totally make fun of me.  Jerks.  It’s a sorry scenario when the only way you can get your rocks off at work is to wear goofy shit and pretend you’re secretly a Russian Spy in a vintage fox Ushanka.  They wouldn’t know style if it kicked them in the kneecaps.

It’s not really a vintage Ushanka – I wish!  But it is vintage, and it came from Dana at Sustalux (who loves me).  It’s currently my favorite accessory.

Showing off my shoes…  Miz Mooz… And I’ve been living in this coat.  It’s light enough to wear indoors without being overly warm.  It’ll be perfect for spring.

I’m wearing:

• Envelope collar asymmetrical walking coat from All Saints
• Vintage paisley brocade skirt
• Black boatneck sweater
• Charcoal trouser socks from sockdreams
• Miz Mooz Symphony heel
• AMAZING hat from Sustalux!
• Black glasses – BCBG

If you had only one ridiculous accessory in your wardrobe rotation, what would it be? I think you know what I’d pick!

Again, I found a bunch of lovely vintage inspiration in the Etsy today (and Taste Test is addicting!) – probably because I spend so much time sifting through antiquities (like glass vintage apothecary bottles), looking for oddities and curios.

So I made this treasury (click the pic to go to the Treasury Page…)

Relentless Caper – Etsy Treasury

Inspired by this:

Legend, by Harold Hart Crane

I’m surrounded by the lore of all things old – the calling of dusty books and antiquities.  Today’s inspiration is brought to you by that, and the letter B.