TPWP

The wonderful DC Goodwill Fashionista has written about TPWP on her blog. HERE

T.O.

I'm in Toronto!!! Until Monday, so I will be blogging from here as much as I can. Specially because the fashion here is so inspiring. I am staying in the Chinatown/Kensington neighborhood close to the the University of Toronto. My favorite place to walk around/shop/hang-out/people watch is the West side of West Queen Street.

More pictures of the local fashion and scene later.

This is what I wore on my first day walking around

Roman God of War

I am going to have no problem getting through hump day, I'm spending all of it re-living the memories of yesterday, a F*ing awesome Tuesday. I had dinner at Komi, one of the best restaurants in the city, actually dinner is a significant understatement to describe the meal I had there, the chef's tasting menu with wine pairings, which was an unbelievable 3-hour sensory experience. Afterwards we went to The Raconteurs concert at the 9:30 club for a face-melting rock experience - it was literally the loudest concert I've ever been to. GOD. It was so much fun. I haven't received that much aural and gustatory stimulation in A. Really. Long. Time.

I didn't write a review of the show because I can't convey effectively music shows, I don't know why, I just keep repeating myself over and over again. So all you'll get is a picture of the band, and lots of my outfit, which in retrospect and through the screen looks a little more scandalous than I remember it.

I will write a review plus pictures of dinner later today.


Jack White is so strange, I've developed a huge crush on him

This pictures of my outfit are post-show, post humid, muggy, sticky show, and originally I wore the Rogan Gregory for Target vest which made this outfit so much more balanced, but at this point in the night I couldn't properly identify its location so this is what you get:












Dress: (Actually it's supposed to be a nightgown) Dessous by Sophie Simmons
Booties: Lulu Guiness (purchased for $30 at a sample sale!!! I know!!!)
Bag: Vintage
Jewelry: Bought on the streets of NYC

Braids and Religion

I hear that I look like a hippie in this outfit. I don't like hippies. So I'll pretend I never heard that comment, although I did braid my hair, and that IS Jesus on my shirt... but my shoes sparkle and hippies' shoes don't sparkle, yes?

Turtle

I don't know if I've already told you, but my little brother is my favorite person in the world. For reasons that are too many to list on a single post. One of them is that he's a very talented artist, and I can't draw. AT ALL. So this magnifies my appreciation of this talent of his. Lately, he's been drawing in graffiti letters his nickname, Turtle, and his latest set is my favorite so far. I'm going have the scans printed on t-shirts for myself :) I'll show it to you when I wear them.

And, yes, he draws his tags on Priority Mail Stickers !! HA! So clever! They are, after all, meant to be stuck places :)



I LOOOOVE this one, the green "turtle spots" on the letters are genius



I'm in love with these color combinations, and the cute apostrophes after the word, I guess maybe he wouldn't want me to call them "cute", but they are :)



Love the "dripping paint" and I think this is my favorite print he makes



Wouldn't this look awesome as a band logo?? Love how evil the print looks combined with the dark colors



When I saw the little turtle on this one my heart melted and I wanted to break a piece of it off and eat it. Out of love.

Socially Awkward

Did you grow up trying to tame your uncontrollable book-reading habit? Did you have a carefully curated stamp collection? Did you match the color of your outfit to the color of the rubber bands on your braces? Did you develop lesson plans (complete with transparency sheets) for your imaginary math class? ummmm... yeah.... neither did I ...
not
true
I might look cool, but I'm a hard-core nerd, my brother, who I always thought was a nerd, said I'm the nerdiest person he's ever met, and he says it while laughing, like he thinks I'm a loser and he can't believe the things I used to do. Screw him!! :)

Well lucky for me that dorkiness is now cool, and very inspiring:


I have lots of suspenders laying around, excited to play around with this look.
top 3.1 Phillip Lim, skirt Karen Walker, vintage glasses, suspenders Chanel
Scanned from Nylon Magazine June/July 2008 (yeah, I scanned it, yeah I know.. I am.. I am)





Both images above from the Luella Bartley 2008 Spring Collection

Jonathan Saunders for Target

Target announces London designer Jonathan Saunders as the next limited-edition designer for GO International. The collection will launch in early October and available throughout the month. Do you remember the collection he had for Topshop? I don't remember loving it, but we'll have to see how it looks for Target. I'm expecting to see a lot of colorblocks, futuristic shapes and nude colors.

via Nylon Magazine

Giant Flowers

I spent the entire past weekend wearing my favorite dress, to a hair show and to a wedding, I could still be wearing it right now if I could come up with a reason. When I saw it at the Betsey Johnson store a couple years ago, after gasping for air, I told my friend "-I have to have this, it's the dress I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl." I honestly couldn't believe my eyes, it was the most perfect thing I had ever seen- bright, magical, flowy, iridescent, pink - fit for a princess. I think my little brother described it perfectly when he saw me wearing it "You look like a giant flower." I don't think I've ever received a better compliment :) I didn't think I would get much use of it, but somehow it is incredibly versatile, and as you can see by this past weekend, I wear it as much as I can.

At the wedding






At the hair show


Another model, having finishing touches done by my hair stylist

A Midspring night's Fall

I'm mourning the temporary death of Spring, using the fastidious temperature as inspiration to transform a Summer jumper into a cold-weather outfit. It was semi-successful in keeping me warm, yes, i needed 3 layers on May 20th. What? You're blaming my warm South American blood... this may be true, specially after seeing how comfortable a German-looking fellow seemed walking around outside with shorts and a ripped up tee and flip-flops (by the way, fellow is British slang for a grotesquely dressed person, and I am using it here for that purpose. No. It's not harsh. You should've seen his feet)











Jumper: Rogan Gregory for Target
Blazer: Vintage Christian Dior boys blazer
Boots: Vintage
Trench Coat: Burberry

Dark Pearls

Seen standing outside the The Walters Art Museum channeling Audrey Hepburn circa 1961 in Breakfast at Tifanny's :)

Rogan Gregory for Target

It must be a sign that this is a good collection when I go to an unpopular Target the day of the release and most of my favorite items are almost sold out. The quality of the collection is better than almost all others, specially because it's hard to do a knit well and maintain low prices, but these knits look good. I absolutely love all the Rogan details - different colored buttons, different colored stitching, super light knits. This is what I bought so far, I will be back for more:





I really like the lightness of this tee, it feels weightless, so does the vest.
New York City Tee - Bleached Aqua
Linen Sweater Vest (see the blue stitching on the middle button?)


I love light grey, and I bought this in a Large to layer over other tanks
Colorblock Racerback Tank - Mesa Gray/ Igloo


There was only one of these left at the store in size Large so of course I bought it, it's beautiful, I love the light green/aqua color, it's so chic, and it looks awesome over-sized, reminds me of a Scandinavian mid-century modern chair :)
Short-Sleeve Slouch Sweater - Naive Green

I also bought the Shorts Jumper, the item I wanted the most, and it's 30948530945X times better than I was expecting. It has alternating blue/pink buttons and pockets!!! YAY!!! and it looks very expensive. I didn't take a picture of it, but you can see Camille from Childhood Flames wearing it, she looks adorable.

Just the Product

G-Star Raw

Dupont Circle
1666 Connecticut Ave NW
(between N 20th St & N Hillyer Pl)
Washington, DC 20009
202-232-8520

G-Star Website

I have a lot of boy friends, significantly more than girl friends, because...hmmmm... I dunno, for a lot of reasons, I attribute it mostly to having grown up with 3 boys and not really understanding girl-girl relationships and behavior, except for the occasional girl-girl kiss... joking... Ok, back to talking about my boy friends. I am very lucky that they are all wonderful and gorgeous and most importantly (for the credence of this post) very stylish. Their styles, however, are drastically different: London snob, Indie cool, Rock & Roll prince, South American playboy, Parisian nerd. So, you can imagine that they don't frequent the same clothing stores.... except for one... G-star Raw. I know. I couldn't understand it either. But every single one of them has gone into the new G-star store in Dupont Circle and bought something there (or really really wanted to): slim jeans, Spring jackets, boot-cut jeans, sweaters, Winter coats...

I don't completely know how this is possible, but alas, it is a factual reality. Oh, and the other rarity of this phenomenon is that all my boys are drastically different sizes- from a slim 5'10" to a muscular 6'5" so how can a clothing retailer cater to such a wide range? A deeper mystery. But, all recondite facts aside, the store is cool, even I bought something there, something pretty kick-ass actually, and bright :) {pictured below}


(G-Star Dupont Circle)

So, if you know a man who is... I guess that's all he has to be, a man, take him there, I can almost guarantee you he'll like it (Of course you might buy something for yourself there too).


















(Winter 2008 Runway)




(G-Star Quilted Jacket)

Destruction

I've been trying to photograph this building ever since I saw the birth of its end, I waited for a rainy day, and I wanted to get really close. I finally got the rainy day but didn't get close, not enough, I wanted to lay on the ground right under it and shoot up to capture the magnitude of its size and verticalness. The traffic was prohibitive of my goal, so this is all I got, I'll try again at night with a tripod :O

Oh yeah, I wanted to photograph it because I find destruction to be very inspiring (more destruction pictures in the future) and because it reminded me so much of the Maison Martin Margiela Spring 2008 Collection, specially their shredded ghostly jeans...


K St NW & 16th St NW Washington DC



Martin Margiela Spring 2008

Architectural Knits

Makes me wish it was still Winter







From the current Sandra Backlund Collection

Coco Avant Chanel

I was looking this morning for more information about Audrey Tautou's role as Coco Chanel and I happened to find it in one of my favorite blogs Vain and Vapid (I very much relate to the blog's name). The film "Coco before Chanel" is set to be released in 2009 and it is the story of the celebrated fashion designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel from her childhood through her rise to stardom. If you loved Tautou as much as I did in Amelie, I'm sure you're just as excited as I am about the film, specially after seeing how good she looks below.

I loooove the androgynous look of this poster.

Beers in the A.M.

Re-think what you drink is the slogan of Kombucha and Synergy drinks. Well, listen to them and stay away. The drink is some ancient tea type elixir that's fermented using a macroscopic solid mass of microorganisms called a "kombucha colony." I should've put the bottle down when I read "fermented", but, dammit, I'm a consumer, I fell for their marketing. It was supposed to give me energy, rejuvenate me, give me shiny hair (I added that one), it said it was some Ancient recipe, the bottle was pretty and colorful. What I feel instead (I drank it about 15 mins ago), well before I tell you what it made me feel I'll tell you that it tastes awful, like ... fermented tea (duh!) and vinegar and beer mixed together. I convinced myself that if I added some sugar maybe I could drink it, so I added sugar and drank about 1/2 cup, who knows why I even bothered. Now, 15 mins later I feel like I just had 2 beers, but without the jolly happy feeling of having had 2 beers, wait, I don't like beer... see I AM drunk!! Anyway!!! My stomach hurts, I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO TURN OFF THE CAPS LOCK, I have a headache, I can't concentrate. What the hell? what happened to the ENERGY? The HappInEsS?? The shiny hair!!!!!
Im going to go now and lay down on the floor and recover from my hangover..
DON'T DRINK IT!!!!

The Black Keys Part 2

The Black Keys

Monday May 12, 2008
9:30 Club
Washington DC

Show review written by our borrowed in-house music journalist
Pictures taken by me



After a show last week, I found myself trying to describe to a friend what it is that I love so much about live music. What about the concert experience captivates me so much that I spend almost as much time in the 930 Club as I have in my apartment. And I realized that I'm a closet voyeur. That's why I read blogs like this one, why I sit outside at restaurants people watching, and why I go to as many shows as possible. I am fascinated by human beings. By real emotion, laid bare for my consumption. By the sensation that another human being is actually FEELING something, and not only that, but their expressions, their hesitations, their tones of voice, just their mannerisms, can make me feel it too. What The Black Keys made me feel on Monday night was...BAD ASS!
From the opening lick of "Same Old Thing," which incited the capacity crowd, I felt like I was having an out of body experience. By the time the band had finished ripping through "Girl is on My Mind," I had a vision of myself starring in a penultimate cinematic action sequence with this song playing as I strutted in slow motion through a smoking mass of charred car and enemy remains, in combat boots, perfectly fitting black pants, and a sleeveless black shirt, my digitally enhanced biceps rippling from the weight of the Desert Eagle I carried in each hand. And after 2 hours of face melting raucous blues rave ups like "Busted," "10 AM Automatic," and "I Got Mine," my imagination had carried my strut down the runway in pieces from an edgy designer collection while paparazzi snapped and I sneered cockily.



The Black Keys owe this cool vibe to their two main influences. Their secondary influence, the "British Invasion" of the late '60s and early '70s can be seen in the graphic on Patrick's kick drum, which could just as plausibly spell out "The Monkees" in that trippy font, not to mention songs like the slow burn of the banjo infused "Psychotic Girl," but the influence of American black culture leaves the biggest imprint on their sound and attitude.
Dan Auerbach grew up wishing he was black. I know this, cause I did too. Its been said that the American black man is the most copied in human history, and nowhere is this more apparent that rural white towns like Akron, Ohio (the Keys' home town), and much smaller outposts in upstate New York (like the one I grew up in). Rural white kids will go to any length to be cool, and there's no disputing that the black American male is a cultural icon of cool. But where I aped Bo Jackson, Chuck D, and Michael Jordan, Auerbach spent his time mimicking the motown and blues sounds of artists like Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy, and Diana Ross (actually, the black keys on your piano make up a pentatonic minor scale that is most commonly associated with the blues). So it was no revelation when Auerbach slowed in the middle of the set with two perfectly executed motown-y songs, including a haunting rendition of 2006's "You're the One," and even less surprising when they brought the house down with an encore of "The Breaks," which opens on record with a hip hop drum beat behind an old audio recording in which the male narrator instructs you to "Lean forward slightly, look straight at the speaker and listen with a sparkle in your eye as though you might be thinking 'Gee, this is the most wonderful thing I've ever heard in all my life.'"

If they come to your city, buy a ticket to the Black Keys' show and take this speaker's advice, you'll find him quite sage.

At the Black Keys Concert

Show review and pictures later, I thought you'd like to see me first ;)










Leggings: American Apparel
Tshirt: Paul Smith
Vest: Vintage
Boots: Vintage Charles David
Scarf: Urban Outfitters

Co Co Sala Chocolate Lounge

Co Co Sala

929 F St NW
(between N 10th St & N 9th St)
Washington, DC 20004
202 347 4265
www.cocosala.com

Five-Course chocolate dessert tasting menu.... do I really need to say any more? ... Yeah, I thought not, but I will tell you more anyway.

Their savory menu items are few, all tapa style, but they all sound delicious: There are 5 categories to choose from, three items in each. Unfortunately when I went the kitchen was closed so I didn't get to try any of them.

Their dessert menu is Unbelievable, I wouldn't even know where to begin making a choice. There are 5 categories of 5-course desserts. My two favorites


The Xocolatyl Aztec Experience
Co Co. Grown up Childhood Favorites
I took pictures of the menu for you to read yourself :) since they don't have it online yet. And if you don't feel like you can quite handle 5-courses of sweetness you can get each item individually.

Their cocktail list is also very exciting, I am usually a bourbon-whiskey/ginger-ale drinker and I was lured by one of their cocktails (very rare event) and I actually loved it, I'm getting it every time I go there: The Alisar - Grey Goose Le Citron, Diced Cucumber, & Fresh Lime Juice (and probably some simple syrup)

The interior has a very strong confectionery feel to it: sculpturally curved ceilings, marble floating fireplaces, moody up-lighting details throughout. It's a sexy ambiance, specially for DC. I wish they had tempered their excitement a little and not used to many shapes and materials, but it was still successful for achieving a definite mood.


Co Co Sala will be a great place for pretty much anything, breakfast (they are supposed to open at 7am), coffee, drinks, a date, dinner, dessert :) and with their very novel concept, accessible location, and cool vibe, I am sure it will be visited and loved by many. I, for one, will definitely be back.

From the review I posted on Yelp

5 bar blues

I am in a very strange tilting mood, can you tell? :)








Dress: Vintage XL mens Fender t-shirt
Jacket: Vintage Boys Christian Dior from Goodwill
Boots: Vintage Charles David
Jewelry: hmmm... don't remember
Watch: Vabene

hep·cat

North Foggy Bottom - I noticed him the second he entered my line of sight, maybe because I own the same scarf and sweater :) (a good thing)

Goodwill Look Book

Did you know that Goodwill has a Spring 2008 Look Book? and that it's actually pretty F*ing awesome?? Well they doooooooo. Their previous Look Books were bland, at best, exactly what most people expect to see from Goodwill (except for a few of us thrift store connoisseurs): ugly, ill-fitting, polyester suits... NOT this Look Book, Ok I'll just shut up and show you the pictures.

You can buy the items here soon.

My favorites (and who they remind me of):

• Goodwill Look Book: Vintage floral cotton blouse from fabric sourced in western Africa and vintage floral paper bag-waist skirt, custom designed in France. (left)
• Reminds me of Dries Van Noten contrasting prints. (right)

• Goodwill Look Book: Michael Kors trench dress in chambray. (left)

• Reminds me of D&G trench dress. (right)

• Goodwill Look Book: Vintage print cotton shirt-dress with pleated skirt from Paris. (left)

• Reminds me of Oscar de la Renta printed dress. (right)

La Mode Folk

I don't really like hippies, but I'm excited to try the updated hippie look this Summer... something like this.....
I'm trying to find less expensive alternatives, I'll let you know when I do.




Dress: D&G
Boots: Isabel Marant
Wrap: Les Prairies de Paris
Bag: Matthew Williamson
Necklace: Medecine Douce

(Source- JalouseMag)

Pizza Pizza

Pete's Apizza

1400 Irving Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 332-7383

http://www.petesapizza.com/

I just discovered that New Haven style pizza is my favorite kind of pizza, thin crispy crust, the perfect amount of sauce and cheese (I HATE overly sauced and cheesed pizzas), extremely flavorful organic ingredients.


What I had:

New Haven (White Clams, Garlic, Tuscan Olive Oil, Pecorino Romano, Oregano). Sooooooo good, I'm actually craving it right now, it had great flavor, great consistency, perfect crust.

Down-the-hill (Sliced meatball, house-made sausage, caramelized onion, fire roasted green pepper, wild mushrooms and kalamata olives). My second favorite, and this is considering the pizza was served to me very cold, the caramelized onions on it where heavenly, provided this great sweetness to the pizza which harmonized wonderfully with the sausage.



I liked their pizza so much that I am willing to return to the restaurant after having had to wait 1 Hour for 4 slices. And I really don't want to complain about the service, I know it was only their third day, and they probably will work all that out, but FYI, they still have A LOT of things to work out--Like taking 1 HOUR to bring me 4 slices of pizza, and not offering an explanation or a refund until I asked. Their computer systems had gone down but managers/owners where nervously gathered around the computers when they should have been talking to the many customers who had been waiting for way too long and offering an explanation AND a refund.

Like I said, I'm still going back, the Pizza was DELICIOUS

(from the Review I posted on Yelp)

Images from Pete's Apizza

Green is the new green

Skirt: Urban Outfitters
Tank: Michael Kors
Belt: Vintage
Shoes: Marni (I think these are officially my Summer 08 shoes)

Band of Outsiders for the Gap

I finally got my Band of Outsiders for Gap button-down/tunic in the mail!!!! I'm really happy with the fit (I got an XS) and the length is perfect. The quality is really good, pretty faithful to what you'd see from a Scott Sternberg shirt from their collection: button-down collars, good stitching touches, solid construction, soft cotton. My favorite thing about the shirt and how long the back is, unfortunately you can't really tell from these pictures, but it lends to a very interesting silhouette and allowed me to wear it as a dress...with my favorite flats.







Shirt: Band of Outsiders for the Gap
Shoes: Chanel
School Bag: Louis Vuitton Saumur XL
Jewelry: Vintage

Summer Boys

I'm so so so tired of guys wearing baggy cargo shorts in the warm months, and flip flops-I'm tired of those too, and printed ill-fitting t-shirts from A&F or wherever hell they are from, and of lack of color, I guess I'm just generally disgruntled huh?

I actually do know several men who dress really well in the Summer, for them high temperates and sun doesn't mean sloppy, but instead- refined, casual and sexy. The following Louis Vuitton ad campaign captures those 3 adjectives perfectly, and so do the men below
Mmmmm... don't you just love men who wear Damier Louis Vuitton?

Louis Vuitton Spring 2008 Mens Collection






On the streets













All street style photos from Sartorialist

More for Less

Muleh is having a 25% off sale for the Spring 2008 Collection for 3 days 5/9/8 to 5/11/8

80s Revival

It was a little scary for me at first, when I realized the 80s were going to be a big influence in 2008 runways, but I've embraced it, bought a pair of acid wash jeans, a leather jacket, I'm having voluminous fun.


Inspirations: Alexander Wang's oversized looks, Fashion East's Mickey Mouse T-shirts, Diesel Acid Wash jeans, Madonna.


I've been looking for someone to photograph who pulled off this 80s look well and finally I found her:


Chinatown