villafied

sunglasses - thrifted / earrings - Boston street vendor / purse - Athens tourist shop / button-down - custom-made / watch - La Mer / denim leggings - Target / sandals - UO

It was super chilly again today, and since I foolishly packed for summer weather, I spent the day in ratty jeans, Toms, and an enormous flannel borrowed from the closet of Chris' 15-year-old (6'2") brother - so rather than treat you to outfit shots of that debacle, I thought it'd be a good time to post some older photos that never made it onto the blog. (I did manage to finish a really exciting sewing project today - involving these shorts and this tutorial - which I'm dying to show off once the weather heats up again!)

These are pretty old pictures. Know how I can tell? The weather was still cool enough to wear pants, my bangs were super long, my watch was still working, and I hadn't switched to my favorite Lucia knock-off sunglasses yet. Oh yeah, and I was in France. During our last week in Paris, we took a day trip (or 'architectural pilgrimage') out to Poissy to see Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye. We had a perfect sunny day for lingering on the roof garden and quizzing ourselves on how many of Corb's Five Points we could remember. (Of course, I got them all - Jeff Kipnis would be so proud!)

banana banana

earrings - Boston street vendor / chambray button-down - thrifted Banana Republic / braided leather belt - vintage, thrifted / wide leg jeans - Banana Republic / red T-strap sandals - UO 

I've been a big fan of the double-denim look for the last year or two, and have been especially smitten with a few recent looks incorporating wide leg jeans, so I was especially excited to get back this great chambray shirt in my recent bunch of clothes from home. While Chris wasn't too crazy about my Canadian tuxedo (when I ask him what he thinks of my outfit, getting a silent half-smile does not mean good things), I absolutely loved it - it was the perfect outfit for our last day in Paris, a day of frantic packing and cleaning followed by an incroyable dinner out (confit de canard avec aligot - my arteries do not thank me, but my tastebuds sure did) and an awesome, cheesily romantic trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower at dusk.

I already tweeted about this earlier, but my little blog seems to be on a bit of a hot streak today - one of my photos popped up on WearColor (one of my absolute favorite tumblrs, courtesy of Mallory of Where the Lovely Things Are), Tania gave my milkmaid braid tutorial a shout-out over on What Would a Nerd Wear, and the other emily officially hit 500 followers! It really does mean so, so much to me that you guys take the time to stop by my blog (and sometimes even say hi!), so thank you. And although we're still reeling a bit from our most recent move, I hope to get back to answering all your lovely comments (and letting you in on where we are now!) by tomorrow.

homesewn

earrings - Anthropologie / cat print blouse - Zara / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - homemade from vintage fabric / tights - Target / boots - vintage Nine West via etsy

This skirt is one of my absolute favorite items of clothing, so I was especially relieved to get it back last week after my epic mail fiasco. I made it about a year ago from some vintage kitchen curtains that I thrifted, and it's since gotten more wear than all my other homemade clothes combined. I am by no means an expert seamstress, but I do love wearing clothes that I've made for myself. It's definitely a skill that runs in my family - my grandmother still does mending and alterations for her neighbors, my mom made all my Halloween costumes growing up (and I still have an incredible coat she made for herself at age 14!), and even my dad did a little home-sewing when I was a baby. He was a stay-at-home dad while my mom finished her PhD, and she still tells the story about how he called her at school one day to ask how to put in a zipper. She told him it was a bit complicated, and that she'd show him how when she got home - but by the time she did, he'd already popped me into the stroller, zipped down to the library, and taught himself how to do it from a book. It's a small thing, but I'm still so proud of him for that.

monochrome

gold link necklace - vintage, great-grandmother's / purse - Athens tourist shop / cardigan - H&M / white braided belt - vintage, thrifted / ring - Primark / seafoam linen skirt - vintage, thrifted / brogues - Primark

In college, some friends* and I got really into dressing in monochrome. It became the theme for all our parties, and we even made Monochrome Monday a weekly institution at school (and by 'institution,' I mean about five of us did it every week). While my days of wearing an entire bolt of tulle to studio are (sadly) over, I still get a kick out of wearing tone-on-tone color combinations (as evidenced here and here); there is nothing that will make you feel quite so striking as wearing a single 'signature' color for a day - and of course it doesn't hurt to pull out your boldest shade of lipstick.

Somehow the end of our time in Paris has completely snuck up on me, and we're leaving tomorrow! I have absolutely loved our time here, but I am (of course) so excited for our next, rather unexpected, destination. It's not a stop we'd originally planned on making, but now that it's imminent I am really looking forward to it. Tomorrow's going to be another looong travel day, made all the worse by the recent additions to my baggage (oof!), but I've got a fresh post scheduled to go up while we're off getting fresh stamps in our passports.

*Yes, my college friends have gone on to be incredible fashion designers. No, I have done nothing cool with my life whatsoever.

more is more

brass whistle necklace - vintage via etsy / braided belts - thrifted / jacket - thrifted / cardigan - H&M / chambray shirt - Banana Republic, thrifted / black jersey dress - UO / striped tee - H&M / yellow skirt - homemade from vintage fabric / seafoam skirt - vintage, thrifted / boots - vintage Nine West via etsy

Warning: This post has turned into a bit of a saga. If you get bored, I promise there are more pictures at the end.

Longtime readers may vaguely remember that my folks attempted to ship a few things to me in the UK, as I mentioned it here a few times. (Ok, more than a few times.) Unfortunately I seem to be under some kind of postal curse - a box I shipped home from Spain took two full months to arrive (ripped open, no less), a package of goodies from Emily is, now at two months, still floating around somewhere in the ether between Chicago and Istanbul, and while this third package arrived in London a mere three days after it was posted in Virginia, it has taken a whopping three and a half months to make it into my hot little hands. (That's not just an expression - they're literally hot and little.)

First it was sucked into the black hole of UK Customs for a month, during which time no one would confirm its exact whereabouts. I'd call Customs, and they'd say it'd been handed over to Parcel Force (the delivery company) weeks ago; I'd call Parcel Force, and they'd say it was still in Customs. I have never spent so much time on hold in my life, nor been so astounded at how little responsibility people can feel to be courteous to paying customers, and to, you know, do their job. (And I've had to go get a driver's license in three states.) With my belongings still in limbo, we left London for Edinburgh and I more or less lost all hope.

But then! Lo and behold, two days before our flight to Istanbul, the tracking mysteriously updated! The package did exist, it had been handed over to Parcel Force and it's location was known! I paid the exorbitant VAT fees online - yes, I'd been charged about $50 for the 'privilege' of 'importing' my own used clothes - submitted an online request for my London friend E. to pick it up at their depot, and arranged for her to meet us at Heathrow during our connection en route to Istanbul. It was going to be close, but it was doable.

The morning of our departure, just on a whim, I checked the online tracking for my package - OUT FOR DELIVERY. Disaster! Despite my online pick-up request, despite my calling to confirm said request, Parcel Force had ruined everything by putting my package on a truck with no guarantee that it would arrive in time to make the Heathrow meet-up. They paged the driver to see what he could do, but no answer. I started trying to coordinate multiple contingency plans with E., frantically calling PF every ten minutes for updates (we don't have phones while we're traveling, so all of this had to be handled exclusively with outgoing Skype calls), all while trying to get myself ready to go catch our morning flight. We finally had to leave the apartment with the situation still unresolved, with E. promising to send me an email update as soon as she got any news from PF.

Once we got to the airport, I waited as long as I could stand it before logging on to an Internet terminal. I checked my email, and couldn't believe it - we had actually caught a break! The package had been delivered to E. and the Heathrow meet-up could go on as planned! I logged off and hopped on my flight grinning - I couldn't believe this was actually going to work!

When we debarked in London, we waltzed through the connecting terminal towards our planned meeting place. Our flight had even arrived a little earlier than scheduled, so we had over two hours - plenty of time to get back through security before our next flight. Things were looking good... except we couldn't quite seem to find the exit. We walked the whole length of the terminal, we consulted an airport map, and still - no exit. Finally I went to the British Airways Customer Service and asked:

"How do we leave the secure area of this terminal?"
"Oh, you actually have to be escorted by a security staff member. They take people out once an hour and you just missed them, but if you wait, you can go with the 3:30 escort. When is your connecting flight?"
"4:45."
"Oh. Well you can't leave the terminal unless you have at least a three hour layover. Otherwise we'll have to have your checked luggage removed from your connecting flight."
"Um... please?"
"I'm sorry, no. Miss, please stop crying."

There was no way. After all the drama and coordination and emotional anguish, my package was literally in the same building as me and I couldn't get to it. I tried to scheme my way out of it again ("I'll just take the next flight to Istanbul! Tomorrow! For $300! And stay overnight in the airport!"), but it was no good - I had to give it up. I placed a sniffly call to E. and asked her to hang onto it for a few months, cast a baleful look at the Customer Service desk, and wallowed in the utter futility of my efforts as I waited the few hours for my next flight.

Fortunately for my wardrobe (and for those of you patient enough to read this far), this story does finally have a happy ending. Fast forward to a few months later in Paris, and I again found myself within a reasonable geographic distance of my belongings, and after a few more false starts and scrapped schemes, E. was finally able to send my stuff in care of a sympathetic professor who commutes between cities by Eurostar. I stopped by her apartment this morning, and there they were - my clothes! Admittedly with a few rather unseasonable choices (I did ask for these back in January after all), but they were here. I hugged my bag all the way home, and I was so excited that I immediately put everything on at once.

Of course, five minutes later I was so hot I thought I was going to pass out, so I was forced to lose a few layers before going out for the day.







sunglasses - thrifted / brass whistle necklace - vintage via etsy / wood & brass bangle - vintage, thrifted / braided belt - thrifted / black jersey dress - UO / striped tee - H&M / tote - Forever 21 / red t-strap sandals - UO

Of course, given the state of our suitcases these days, I may be wearing that first outfit again for our flight on Tuesday. Plus my winter coat. Hey, layers are in for spring, right?

curated

Inspired by recent internet loves closet visit (which combines well-edited personal style with my personal inclination towards voyeurism) and things organized neatly (which is a steady feed of eye candy for my Type A side), I thought I'd put together a little snapshot view of my traveling 'accessories wall.' Picking jewelry to bring on this trip might have been one of the most challenging parts of the packing process, as it was incredibly tempting to rationalize bringing even more (Necklaces take up no space! Earrings don't weigh anything!). There have been a few additions along the way, but the majority of these pieces have been with me for years. (And if you'd like to see a bigger version of this photo, click to view it on flickr.)

I'm sorry my posts have been a little sparse these last couple of days, but I'm still busy working away on thesis support. I've still been taking outfit shots in the meantime, and I should be back to posting those as usual tomorrow!

rhino queen

studded shoulder dress - thrifted / peach geode ring - H&M / mint ring - Primark / red t-strap sandals - UO

Today I'm working hard to crank out a 3D model for a grad school friend's thesis, which means insane electro music, a sloppy bun, and an unfortunately abbreviated blog post. After this dress languished in my to-be-handwashed pile for nearly a month, I was finally motivated by the heat we've been having to give it a good cleaning this weekend. I also thought it was about time my two favorite rings met up - peach and mint go together so nicely in food, I thought they'd make great friends as colors too.

And thank you all so much for all your sweet comments this weekend about the new blog design! It took me a lot of trial and error to get it up and running, so it means all the more to me that you all like the new look.

new look

earrings - Berber handcraft, gift from Tunisia / purse - Athens tourist shop / dress (worn as top) - H&M / bracelet - Berber handcraft, gift from Tunisia / watch - La Mer / wide leg jeans - Banana Republic / shoes - Toms

I know Saturday night seems a rather inauspicious time to be blogging, but I'm afraid it can't be helped. I missed my regular post yesterday, because I was busy working hard.... redesigning my blog! That's right, pop on over from your RSS readers and check it out, because things are looking awfully fancy around here. (And then promptly pop back to your RSS readers and forget all about it, I know I would.) I've been wanting to redesign my layout for some time now - while I liked the minimalism of my old layout, it started to seem a bit dry to me (and, dare I say it, stale?), and didn't offer the kind of simple functionality I wanted. I pushed up my sleeves, found a base template I liked, and started working; I designed a header, custom buttons, modified my CSS, and got everything looking just stellar. And then I tried to install my Disqus commenting system, and things got real ugly. I fretted, I tweaked, and I Googled 'til I was blue in the face, but there was nothing to be done - I had to either give up on Disqus, or give up on my pretty, pretty layout.

So I scrapped it, and made a better one! And I am really happy with it - while it's certainly nothing fancy code-wise, I love the new look and think it will give me a lot of flexibility. There are a lot of new features you guys should check out, but my favorite is definitely my new on the map page - it shows everywhere we've been so far in our travels, along with handy links to my posts from each country. And, like my in the bag page, I'll be updating the map periodically as we keep visiting new places.

These photos are from the crazy 48 hours last week when Chris and I got Museum Passes - on our second day, we visited Sainte Chapelle, climbed (and, er, fell down) the towers at Notre Dame, stopped by the Insitut du Monde Arabe, and spent a few hours at the Centre Pompidou. Suffice to say, by the end of the day we were beat - particularly those of us who'd slid down some stairs that morning. Since I knew I'd be spending the entire day on my feet, I went for the always comfortable Toms and wide leg jeans combo, and decided to try wearing my new printed tunic dress tucked in as a top. I ended up quite liking the blousy silhouette - but it turns out it is way harder to neatly tuck in a dress in a public restroom stall than it is in front of the mirror in your apartment!

matchy

necklace - vintage, Brooklyn flea market / purse - Athens tourist shop / pink striped sweater - H&M / watch - La Mer / peach geode ring - H&M / overdyed skinnies - Zara / brogues - Primark

I've always liked matching outfits to activities. In school I used to plan my outfits for final presentations days in advance, always using my clothes or accessories to pick up on a particular color or pattern found in my project. Sadly, this habit kind of fell by the wayside once I entered the working world, but it's crept back up on me since we've been traveling. For our trip to Versailles a few days ago, there was no question what I would be wearing: pink! And just for good measure, I threw on a few pieces of my blingiest gold jewelry. I definitely fit right in with the furnishings in Marie Antoinette's bedroom.
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cookie salvation

gold paillette necklace - Anthropologie / trench - H&M / black scoopneck tee - UO / peach geode ring - H&M / wide leg jeans - Banana Republic / shoes - Toms

In my still-nascent career as an international lady of leisure/style blogger, I've had to accept the hard fact that not every outfit, or every outing, is going to be a home run. Sometimes they are just singles - totally respectable, and they get the job done, but not particularly spectacular. That's how this outfit felt to me; while I always love the simple top - wide leg jeans - trench formula, I will admit to having some doubts over this look's 'blog-worthiness.' It was comfortable, I felt fairly chic and all my bits were covered, but there just wasn't a whole lot of 'there' there, you know?

Enter the cookie ring. Those who've checked out my Pinterest lately are already well aware of my current obsession with over-the-top cocktail rings, so it should come as no surprise that I couldn't resist this peachy faux-geode on my recent H&M binge. While I definitely don't have a future as a hand model (how other people manage to take non-weird/creepy hand pictures totally baffles me), this ring is so much fun to wear, and inspires otherwise aloof strangers on the street to grab my hand in wonder. And I can tell even Chris likes it, because he says it looks like a cookie.

P.S. I know I talk about Pinterest an awful lot, but it's probably my favorite new website in years. As always, just send me your email address if you'd like an invite!
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