Lace bra, silk blouse, leather jacket, go anywhere. So easy, done.
black lace bra | La Perla
blouse and jacket | Worth New York
phone home
Kids think we’ve been out of touch: after a quarter century or so of doing it all every day, feeling okay with not always phoning home. After putting down a good solid foundation why not take off for a while, good for us, good for them. We’re here barely speaking the language, they’re home figuring stuff out without us.
For visiting French provincial hill-top villages, wore the same black jeans as the day before, black tank for when it was hot, flat boots, and of course, like the women of France, added a scarf.
New black leather quilted jacket came out later, love this new piece and it will get plenty of wear, maybe another quarter century? and it goes with absolutely everything. Fun to throw over a dress too.
Love in France, celebrating twenty-seven years of marriage, yes, we will phone home, and we’ll be back at it with you all sooner than you think. 🙂
Quilted Black Leather Jacket | Worth New York Fall Winter 2014
keeping it clean
Now in I’Isle sur la Sorgue and when the setting is divine there’s no need for precious clothing. Keeping it clean with black jeans, black suede (walkable) shoes, and a men’s white cotton shirt. Jeans were hemmed pre-travel to just above the ankle, a few inches off the bottom make for a subtle yet important improvement.
Happy Monday, hoping I’m still employed when back in the States, oh to be an entrepreneur, keeping it clean.
stay with it
Perhaps you find yourself somewhere feeling a little somewhat underdressed, stay with it, honestly no one is paying that much attention. Our clothes are there to give us confidence, not others. Everyone else around us is pretty much concerned with what they have going on so if you’re feeling a little underdressed, stay with it, have a good time, this great moment shall pass, and then begin again, every day dress.
Staying with it, south of France. Love how these women here love their bodies, it’s a very good thing.
still feels like summer in Avignon
While the shops are full of fall and winter merchandise, tourists populate the streets and it’s still plenty hot in Avignon France. Beat the heat in a chambray linen shirt, a collar is a good thing when you might find yourself touring a church, and some loose cotton white jeans. Those jeans will keep going, all year-long, and can be paired with black cashmere and boots when the temperature drops.
September in Avignon France, still feels like summer.
in France you don’t need much
When you’ve put together a pretty good wardrobe it doesn’t take much to out-of-town and get yourself overseas. A couple of caveats: everything you take you must be able to carry yourself, and every shoe you pack you must be able to walk cobblestone streets, country roads, miles and miles, and up and down stairs.
Pick your neutral, whatever it is, and build on that. This trip, plenty of black and denim. Black jeans, black skirt, black dress, pretty much core. There’s a half-dozen tanks and tees in the bag, white, grey, black, a white cotton shirt, black leather jacket, black blazer, silk scarf, and two black bikinis. One pop of a camo print dress, all black shoes and boots, a couple of bags and a cashmere wrap or two and we’re good to go. Even the workout wear is based on black so it can be mixed in with the street stuff.
No over thinking, no time for that, when in France you don’t need much.
off the cuff
Super quick post, kind of off the cuff. For Friday night dinner out to neighborhood restaurant, wore all black, of course. Shoes had to be walkable, that husband of mine never slows down, so low-heeled boots, black skinnies freshly hemmed, black leather over the shoulder, and black one-shouldered sweater seen before this time without the formal white cuff.
Patent Dior bag, getting in that French kind of mood, and happy to be living fast and a bit off the cuff.
Photo taken quickly with the iPhone 5S. When you’re pressed for time there’s nothing like all black or poor quick fashion photos on the iPhone.
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Go Bills. 🙂
some new fall color
Back to blue for Fall 14. Wardrobe and weather not quite up to season yet but with a subtle shift in the make-up things feel new.
Some new fall color from Dior and NARS.
Eyeshadow Palette | 276 Carré Bleu | Dior
Rouge Dior | 317 Bar | Dior
Lip Liner Pencil | 169 Grège | Dior
Dior Vernis | 796 Carré Bleu | Dior
Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner | Rue Saint-Honoré | NARS
DIY fashion don’t
Yesterday achieved a 75% success rate with some DIY wardrobe work.
Reattached original jean hem to two pair of DL Florence skinnies, close to looking like who ever knew. Re-hemmed a pair of silk twill cargos, actually did the work three times, once two weeks ago Friday and wore them out that night, they didn’t feel great. Knew they weren’t right so there they sat for another two weeks until yesterday when they were tackled again, this time it took two tries to get it right and now they are good. Actually wearing them today while working and doing the runaround. Success.
Leather culottes? Not so much. Feeling strong after having accomplished a good length on three pair of pants decided to rip-stich these leather pants at the seam around the mid-leg. The length of your pant can tell so much: you’re perfect model height and those jeans just hit you at the exact right spot, or, you’re like 99.9 percent like the rest of us and you’re pant length needs some adjusting.
Home hemming your leather culottes is a definite DIY fashion don’t. Googled ‘how to sew leather’ after seam-ripping one leg in half, cutting 1 3/4″ off of each end, and then attempting, unsuccessfully, to sew them back together. Have been sewing since about 5th grade so decided why not? You never know until you try, right?
In addition to sewing on leather playing with proportion can be a challenging thing which led me to cutting the pants at the knee in the first place. When something needs to be shortened you need to look at the entire garment, even skinny jeans can taper at the end and can cause a little puckering at a new hem length if not considered. These leather culottes were pieced at the knee and having been told that to shorten them you simply had to cut the desired length of the bottom of the pant I should have listened. The hook was in seeking to create the correct placement of the mid-leg seam where the skins were sewn together. As the legs on this body are on the short side kind of wanted to put that mid-leg seam further up on the leg to create a longer line. Bombed. Leather is unforgiving and the tiniest indiscretion shows big. Way above the current skill level. Off to the experts we go.
Expensive mistake but okay. If you don’t try you’ll never know. 75% success rate is acceptable here and we learned something: probably don’t attempt a DIY wardrobe rework on a leather garment unless you simply plan to cut the bottom off, and this I’m thinking is probably a bit tricky. Funny thing is just might try it again if I can get my hands on some leather sewing needles, synthetic thread, binder clips, and feel confident in adjusting the thread tension. For now taking this pair to the professional tailor.
If he can’t fix the mess perhaps I’ll simply cut them off some more and make both legs equal. I’ll then have an awesome pair of leather shorts, now those are so useful. 🙂
Every day dress, DIY fashion don’t. Mistakes happen, moving on.
Wishing everyone a fantastic weekend.
lunch for two, dinner for six
When fashion week is going on in the big city and you claim you’re a fashion and lifestyle blog and you’re home working, you kind of have to default to the lifestyle stuff, how in the world else can the content be the least bit interesting? There are tons of blogs and social sites out there reporting on all that’s happening, and we’re home watching.
We’ve talked about this before, this is an every day site, accessible to all and existing to inspire to find the good and the style in the every day of every day.
So, here’s what’s been happening: husband and I have decided there’s been much too indulgence in the French trinity of bread, wine, cheese. Cutting back on all but heck no not eliminating. And back to the gym, this new trainer is all about push-ups. Politely asked the trainer that in addition to the body we could focus on the chin, arms, abs trinity, ha.
Lunch for two inspired by NET-A-PORTER video of some fabulous stylish London woman prepping a salad with one egg for the protein part. Oh, it was beautiful, and sometimes think that vegetables and one egg could do it for lunch but have now lived long enough and have kind of learned that maybe there’s more. There’s always so much to do after lunch: work, house, pick-up, laundry, garden, dinner, clean-up, dogs etc etc.
When it’s just two, greens and a piece of cod, quite nice.
When it’s six you need to mix in some rice, and some tortillas, and a pile of cheese. Vegetables still there, and green peppers are prime now, so sauté those separately from the onions and then stir them all together when both are at the right doneness.
Every day dress, lunch for two dinner for six. Fashion coming back soon, off to France again this coming weekend. Oh, trinity, bread, wine, cheese.