this one goes to eleven

Remix items: pink tank - Anthropologie / linen blazer - thrifted / skinnies - BDG / gold sandals - Target

Spices: necklace - Brooklyn Flea

I'm afraid this post will be short and sweet since it's already past my bedtime, and I need to clear a huge pile of sewing supplies off the bed before anyone can get in it safely. This blazer and these sandals were rather late additions to my 30 items, but once I clapped eyes on them I knew they'd jazz up almost any drab ensemble far more than that taupe v-neck and striped skirt I'd planned on including. When I wore this blazer to work, I kept imagining that instead of drawing plans for a private gym, I was busting up an international smuggling operation in Miami, keeping the streets safe for hard-working citizens of the 1980s. You know, important business, so important that it can't be undertaken with full-length jacket sleeves.

The sandals didn't inspire quite such an elaborate narrative in my mind, but since picking them up on clearance at Target, I've had a hard time not just wearing them every day. They're amazingly comfy, and they seem to add a little something to almost every look. I've felt like over the last few years I've had a hard time buying sandals - I've sort of rejected flip-flops off the beach as too casual, but every other sandal available is either a gladiator or a long t-strap. I do love the gladiator look, but it does horribly unflattering things to my muscular and not over-long legs, so I've given up on finding a pair that works, and those super long t-straps? I think they make everyone's big toes look freakishly long. I know, way to sweat the small stuff. I also mock people's taste in fonts. Fortunately, these braided gold sandals kind of have that Grecian look without the stumpifying strap across the ankle, and since I'm a total gold junkie they're pretty much perfect.

Speaking of fonts, I know I'm a couple years late to the party, but the boy and I watched Helvetica tonight, and if you haven't seen it yet, I really recommend it. I have some interest in graphic design but have only a pretty superficial knowledge of typography, and I still thoroughly enjoyed watching real experts geek out about the white space that cradles the letters of a truly great font. There are a lot of charming characters interviewed throughout the documentary, but Massimo Vignelli, designer of the NYC subway signage, was perhaps the most winning. The next time someone asks what it is that I do, I'm going to borrow a phrase from this gentleman, and tell them that, "a designer is like a doctor. And the disease that we fight, is ugliness."