sunday stripes.

dress: Betsey Johnson
necklace: vintage
necklace: bought at a street stall in Korea

chenille scarves

Starting this blog has opened my eyes to the world of fashion blogs: I have to say people are obsessed and disciplined! As I try to find my "voice" and things to blog about I have been spending inordinate amounts of time checking out other people's blogs. During my "research" I started bookmarking a lot of "bad" fashion blogs. For me a bad blog involves the documenting of real outfits involving chenille scarves, gaudy colors and cheap cuts. I love how there are large groups of people untouched by the big, glossy, fashion machine and that they keep wearing horrible outfits but think that they look great. In a way their fashion ineptness signifies a kind of innocence and that comforts me when I get sick of sleek, glossy fashion people who think they know it all.

Frivolity at my fingertips.

Month three in L.A.: missing Japanese magazines: Glamorous, Sweet, Cutie, So-en, Ryukou Tsushin, Mini, Bijin Hyakka and more. -_-

sunday best.

dress: Betsey Johnson
necklaces: vintage and handmade
socks: sock shop in Shibuya

I had these socks for awhile in Tokyo but it wasn't until I moved back to Los Angeles that they saw the light of day. Los Angeles has warm enough weather to wear knee socks and dresses all year long plus its not as trendy here so I don't run into ten other girls wearing the same thing. :)

rinko, rinko, little star, how i wonder what you are.

Rinko Kikuchi, the Japanese actress of Babel fame, is starring in the new Chanel Cruise collection advertisements. I was stunned when I first saw her in a kimono with her platinum slicked back pompadour while promoting Babel and I thought she looked adorable bopping around all the various red carpets in her Chanel outfits. Unfortunately, these ads squeeze all the personality out of her and her hair looks stiff and helmet-like. :( It's really too bad considering how wonderful it could have been but then again the cruise collection ads are always kind of bland. I feel like they are mixing up casual with dull....It's okay, I guess, it's just her hair and the clothes...sigh, I don't know.

cummberband skirt.

Sometimes I run into friends on the street. :)

underrated.

It's seems so difficult to find cute shoes that are A. affordable and B. not knock offs. Most shoes that are in my price range are derivative of something else, which I don't have a huge problem with if it is not too blatant a copy and the shoes don't look cheap. However if you look a little more there is a much better alternative over the $120.00 rainbow past Steve Madden, Nine West and Aldo. A prime example would be the Michael by Michael Kors shoe line. I had checked out the shoes before online and was always impressed by the pragmatic fashionista-vibe of the shoes but finally got to try them on recently and I have to say they look even better in person. The shoes are sophisticated(i.e. look expensive) but the prices are admirably affordable. My two favorites are both great wardrobe investments and fun fashion pieces and at $128.95 are quite reasonable especially considering that they are on average only $30.00 more than most of the similarly styled disposable shoes at the mall stores listed above.

kit pistol, bang, bang.

My friend Kit, recently of Project Runway fame, has some really cute t-shirts and bows for your hair on her website. My favorite is this sleeveless hoodie.

scuff.

So I totally scraped the leather on one side of my new shoes yesterday. That's what I get for wearing them around like sneakers. I'm trying not to get totally bummed about it especially now that I have decided that they are my most favorite shoes ever.

christmas wish list.

It'd be cool if my imaginary boyfriend got me this for Christmas.

sunday best: new shoes!

dress: Betsey Johnson
shirt: no brand
leggings: no brand
shoes: Betsey Johnson

These are my new favorite shoes. I had wanted a pair of brown oxford booties for the longest time and I finally met them. I think it's very essential to update your shoes each season. I've learned that more than any other accessory it makes your outfit current.

double leopard!

change.

When I decided to take a break from the blog this week I had neglected to think about the cathartic aspect of writing and how it can be a soothing activity that takes your mind off, well, life. As of late my family has been grappling with the declining mental health of a family member and the aftermath of each storm it has involved. As my home life entered into a surreal "this can't be happening to me" melodrama my frothy and seemingly insouciant blog seemed irreverent in tone and irrelevant in the whole scheme of things. I felt guilty and feckless typing about my sunday outfits and favorite beauty products when things at home had been so difficult. I started to wonder if friends and acquaintances would read the blog and think nothing was wrong when actually I've never dealt with anything so serious in my life. My dad has taken time off of work to come deal with the situation and I worried whether my blog could reflect badly on him. I felt like it was necessary to take a little respite out of respect and I have to say sometimes my sense of respect and guilt gets mixed up and I do unnecessarily self-sacrificial things, not that not blogging was sacrificial by any means but in the sense that I felt guilt about "living my life". My dad has been encouraging all of us to go on with our own lives. He's right and it doesn't mean I love my grandmother less because I am pursuing my dreams and moving forward but sometimes it feels like it does.

:(

I'm taking a little break this week. Sorry. I'll be back soon.

Sunday best, oh yes.

dress: H&M
boots: Aldo

I wore this sweater dress yesterday(Sunday) and today. While yesterday I wore it carefully for a couple hours today I swashbuckled around town running errands and what not and guess what: I stretched it, specifically the bottom part, the most important part. It's not supposed to be an unflattering A-line dress; it's supposed to be tight at the bottom to form a tulip shape. I am bummed, especially my bum.

But I did some research and apparently this sort of damage is not irreparable. I found many different suggestions about how to reshape a stretched sweater but this article from ehow.com was the easiest to follow. I haven't tried it yet but with directions this easy I have no excuse not to. Here's hoping for the best and a rainy day project for me in sunny California.

Things You'll Need

Towels
Steps

1 Step One
Fill the sink with warm water. Soak the sweater in the water for 10 to 15 minutes.

2 Step Two
Take the sweater out of the water and roll it in a towel to remove as much moisture as possible.

3 Step Three
Spread the sweater on a towel placed on a flat surface, scrunching the sweater into the size and shape you want.

4 Step Four
Return to the sweater every several hours, rescrunching it as necessary, until the sweater is dry.

5 Step Five
If the above steps haven't fixed the problem, you can try tumbling the sweater in the dryer on low heat, checking it every few minutes to see if it's the right size. If you're not careful, however, you can end up ruining the sweater, and at best drying it will likely weaken the fibers.
(http://www.ehow.com/how_113414_fix-sweater-has.html)

cute girl alert.

My friend, Sharice, always has cute style.