bits and bobbins

1.21.2006

4.27.2006

5.2.2006

6.16.2006

9.2.2006

9.16.2006

11.4.2006

12.10.2006

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i love looking back. looking back allows one to see the trends in one’s own personal style!
my personal trends and favorites in two thousand six:

• the color red-orange. it’s EVERYWHERE in my wardrobe most of my favorite pieces in my closet are in that color: the red-orange raglan 70s cardigan with the short sleeves, the A.P.C. track jacket with the plastic zipper, and that red-orange enamel pin (a vintage find). several pairs of red-orange enamel earrings…all get regular, or TOO regular rotation! hah!
• boots! i love boots. vintage, new, whatever. often i can be found tucking my tights/leggings into my boots. i rarely wear jeans without tucking them into boots unless i’m wearing pumps. boots deserve to be shown off!
• jeans: the slimmer/straighter and tighter the better. still. i have been pondering getting a baggy pair of jeans, but i think generally slimmer jeans are more flattering for me, since i am short (about 5′ 3″).
• scarves! this habit started while living in new york. it carries on here in SF. a simple way to add color. plus, i LOVE the feeling of a big, voluminous scarf wrapped around my neck and chin…i feel comfortable, protected, and swaddled. i love anything with a high neck. which is actually really funny, because when i lived in florida i HATED turtlenecks and the like. it’s far too hot there, i guess.
• patchwork!
• belts really work for me, regardless of their in or outness. i need them to define that i actually own a waist.
• i have an unabashed love for that vintage acid-wash kids levi’s denim jacket. it’s perfect and it goes with ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in my closet.
• peep toes!
• green and orange together, and red-orange/orange with gray. i have also started to embrace black again, and i do love tan/beige. mixing more neutrals with brights. still having fun playing with color.
• leggings and tights! another layer, another chance to play with color!
• i actually REALLY liked my hair red. lots of people claimed they prefer me blonde, but eh. i don’t know.

ever since i saw the frida kahlo retrospective at the tate modern in london in the summer of 2005, i’ve had an little obsession with her. i am intrigued by her story, her intelligence, her work and her compelling persona, not to mention her exotic, irreverent beauty.

i have been reading her biography since last week. this book is like food! i cannot get enough.

the passage below struck me particularly deeply. why? because i have always believed that clothing, and style is an art, that it goes deeper than the surface, deeper than just fibers that cover and protect our bodies from the elements. clothing and fashion communicate, and are a form of personal expression. fashion is not always frivolous. the way frida presented herself was intertwined with her art, as she herself was the most common subject of her body of work.

“For Frida the elements of her dress were a kind of palette from which she selected each day the image of herself that she wished to present to the world. People who watched the ritual of her dressing recall the time and care she took, her perfectionism and precision. Frequently she tinkered with a needle before donning a blouse, adding lace here, a ribbon there. Deciding which belt would go with what skirt was a serious matter. “Does it work?” she would ask. “Is it good?” “Frida had an aesthetic about her dress,” painter Lucile Blanch remembered. “She was making a whole picture with colors and shapes.”

-from Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

hey, i’m the “fly girl of the week” on andrea’s lovely fashion blog, fly! neato.. check out her site…it’s pretty darn fab.

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i’m also flying away, to fair florida, for ten days, to spend time with family and friends. happy holidays, all!