Hello, My Name is Zelda



Happy Halloween! I intended on being a flapper or a witch… and ended up with Zelda Fitzgerald. I do wish I had photos that were a bit clearer because this is definitely a favorite costume, but we were kind of having this little problem over the weekend.


…so that was a no on photos outside. Although I would have braved it if not for the wind. I’ve had the tripod blown over before and my 35mm lens has the scars to prove it.



I didn’t really have any adornment for my hair so I put a necklace in it, an idea I got from The Vintage Valley.


I’m very glad I had an apartment party to attend. Changed my boots for heels when I got there. The pile of snow gear in the corner kept growing as more guests arrived.

Everything for this costume came out of my closet… so does that make it a costume or some craziness I would normally wear? I should wear it to the speakeasy one night.

Donna Morgan dress (gift), scarf from Turkey (gift from cousin), Seychelles shoes, Talbots glass pearls, necklace from Brooklyn Flea (in hair), bracelet from India (gift from friends). And Target boots in the corner for the snow.

Sunset Before the Storm in Alexander Wang





August 26, 2011

A little pre-hurricane fun– I live in the mandatory evacuation zone in New York (#ZoneA), so I trekked to my parents’ in the country and met my friends for tapas and sangria al fresco. I wish I could have gotten more definition out of the dress but it was definitely 7:30pm by the time I took these photos. I guess that means I’ll just have to wear it again soon!

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Spring Outerwear & Summer Jewelry

I ended up rushed to take these before I had to change and get ready to go out, which resulted in about three photos that were actually in focus.  And which means I didn’t get any head to toe photos without the coat, only the portraits were usable.  But I am just wearing jeans, you can probably just fill them in with your imagination!  This vintage coat was a gift from my cousin around the winter holidays.  I’ve worn it between then and now but this is the first time I’ve actually gotten a photo.  It’s a good spring/fall weight jacket and blocks the wind wonderfully.  However, that means it’s also far too warm for temperatures above 70, I would definitely roast!

I pulled out my summer jewelry because I was feeling especially bright.  The bangles are from seasons past at J.Crew and still among my favorite pieces.  The turquoise bracelet was a gift from a friend.  Isn’t the color really wonderful?  It’s not really a valuable type of turquoise (I basically play with pretty rocks at work now) but I think I prefer it because it’s more interesting.  My turquoise necklace is also vintage and a gift from the same friend for my birthday last year.  Hard to believe it’s actually only a few weeks away again…

I Think It’s The Shoes

20 Feb 2011

So I don’t totally love this outfit…  I think it’s the shoes.  I expected them to blend in with the navy tights (worn with the help of Spanx) a little bit more, but… they didn’t.  I should have probably dug up some brown sandals or something, no matter if they would have been slightly ridiculous with snow still on the ground.

I wore this to go do some general running around.  And then I just suddenly happened to be in the Coach store.  I did receive a really good discount from them in the mail ($100 off $300 or more) so I just wanted to look around and see the spring collection.  They pressure you a lot to buy things though, and that really makes me not want to go to the store.  I was also so surprised that no one in the store could recognize a vintage Coach bag.  I guess Coach has changed a lot since I was younger and they’ve done a lot of rebranding.  I think they’re losing touch with their classic look… which makes me sad.

Change in seasons has been wreaking havoc with my sinuses so I have such dark undereye circles now, I didn’t walk into a wall or something.  But I’m enjoying the clear sidewalks for the first time in a long time and I hope you are too!

J.Crew cardigan, shirt, and skirt; Anthropologie belt, Merona Premium Collection/Target tights, Frye shoes, vintage Coach bag.

Some Old Things and One New

Tuesday 18 Jan 2011

Salutations!  I guess I’m just into the vintage look/old looking photo look right now.  Probably has something to do with me working on the blog layout a little more.  I thought it was loading too slowly so I made a few adjustments.  If anything crazy goes down with the CSS in the next couple don’t worry, I’ll fix it!

I got two new belts at the LOFT 40% off sale!  I love buying belts when they have huge sales like that.  This is one of them.  I intended to wear it with the LOFT safari dress (and with other things too of course) but the dress didn’t fit me at all.  Petites were too tight through the chest and shoulder and I ended up swimming in regular sizes.  Sigh.  I really like that dress.

I’ve fallen behind on posts again, which means I’ll be posting through the weekend, tomorrow as well.  If you’re not out playing in the snow (or sun, lucky things) pop by the blog tomorrow!

Love,

Alex

Old rainforest umbrella, Francesca’s Collections open cardigan, BCBG dress, LOFT belt, Assets by Sara Blakely tights, J.Crew wellingtons, vintage Coach bag.

Again and Again and Again and Again

Monday 17 Jan 2011

Last week I really went sort of… extremely minimal on styling.  I did take a few photos with lace from a slip sticking out of my dress.  Better with or without?

And!  Finally!  A better photo of the vintage Coach bag that belonged to my grandmother.  It’s been hiding out in my closet for years.  I never carried it because I didn’t want to clean out the things inside: an old blue pen, tissues, some loose change, a Trident gum wrapper, and a change purse I can remember my grandmother having forever.  I didn’t want to discard any of those memories so I kept everything.  I left the pen and gum wrapper in the back pocket and tucked the change purse away somewhere safe (where it won’t disintegrate).  This is perhaps the most personal thing I have ever revealed on this style blog.  Now you know why– I’m extremely oversentimental.

I’ve worn this dress so many times and photographed it at least four now for the blog.  It’s an old old favorite from Commander Salamander (so old it’s from when Commander Salamander used to be good) in Georgetown.  And yes, I totally looked like a fool walking into that store.

Love, Alex
Commander Salamander dress, A.C. Moore belt (from leather for jewelry), HUE tights, Target boots, vintage Coach bag.

Nov 2010 on an unseasonably warm day.

Sept 2010 in one of my first DSLR photos.

March 2010 on a deceptively sunny and warm looking day.

Edit:  Sorry about the weird formatting.  I thought I would do something cool and caption the photos but weird things keep happening with them.

Edit 2:  I think I fixed it, but it still isn’t how I intended.  Oh well.

My First Vintage Dress

Worn on Thursday 11 Nov 2010

Thoughts:  This Anthropologie dress used to belong to my cousin and is from sometime in the 1980s (is that even old enough to be vintage?).  It’s my first vintage piece ever.  There’s a tie at the waist but the overlay fabric is literally disintegrating there so this dress must be worn with a belt or sweater.  The first time I ever wore this dress I paired it with a black cardigan and gold belt.  I think I’ve been wearing it with black ever since, although it’s actually blue and beige underneath.  

I was afraid that none of my photos would come out— these were taken just before 5 pm, which these days is well on the way to full dark.  There was just a tiny little bit of light and while these certainly aren’t the best exposed photos… I’ve definitely taken worse.  

Francesca’s Collections black sweater shirt thing, Anthropologie dress, H&M belt, stockings, Sofft platforms.  

Into the Woods

7.7.2010 ~ Wednesday

It was 100 degrees every day last week, I was practically melting in this light silk blend!  I just wanted to be as cool as possible, so I threw on a belt and easy slip on wedges.  The hood is optional (as seen in Guess Where New York) but I really like it up!  Although I do get the occasional odd look… 

BCBG dress, Charlotte Russe belt, vintage necklace, J. Crew wedges, Marc by Marc Jacobs bag.  

The Print

5.20.2010 Thursday

It was humid on Thursday!  So I opted for a summery dress.  This post was actually meant to test this dress as a possible guest of wedding look, but I’ve ordered the Aidan Mattox one so I won’t be considering this any more!  It is 100% silk and the ceremony is at 4:30 pm, otherwise I wouldn’t have considered it.

When I read the reviews on Anthropologie a lot of people noted that the top of the dress folds… and now I understand what they meant.  Maybe a good tailor can do something about that?  This dress also needs to be shortened three or four inches I think, and I’d like darts put in because the skirt is just so voluminous!

Multicolor print dress (Anthropologie), turquoise necklace (vintage), tan wedge sandals (Steve Madden). 

twenty. three.

5.6.2010 Thursday and tumblr did not save my draft the only time I have wanted it to…

My birthday!  I was out for lunch and dinner.  Yum!  I’ve heard twenty three is a difficult birthday and the recommended course of action is to wallow about old age for at least half the day and then go perk up with some Starbucks.  I napped and perked up with some Starbucks… before dinner. 

I wanted to photograph this dress in full sun but overexposure was a huge problem — so bright!  So here it is in sun/shade and it appears to have a splotchy pattern… that mysteriously moves in each photo! 

I received my first present from the mailman… well really from Christi.  The scarf and necklace are from her and I decided to wear them as I was getting dressed and talking to her on gchat.  She was glad she could accessorize my outfit without trying! :)  This is a relatively new Diane von Furstenberg dress, although it’s actually from S/S ‘09 collection and deeply discounted on Yoox.  I may wear it to a wedding in June but I am not sure.  It’s quite sheer and I feel it makes my hips look unusually wide due to the volume at the sides.  You can see where it’s folded at the waist, otherwise part of the dress sticks straight out of the body and thank goodness for the wide sash!  It also has very, very high side slits… it is actually from the soleil + swim line.  So I’m now questioning if I am going to wear it.  We’ll see!  I think I definitely have to test run it again sometime this month!

Yellow dress (Diane von Furstenberg), peacock print scarf (somewhere in Manhattan Beach), turquoise necklace (vintage from a store in Austin), tan wedge sandals (Steve Madden).