rusty

jacket - Forever 21 / striped sweater - Madewell / necklace - Clyde's Rebirth / bracelets - vintage, gift from boyfriend / purse - Athens tourist shop / skirt - Zara / boots - vintage Nine West via etsy

Well, once again, it's been a little while since I blogged. My apologies if this post seems a little rusty (har har). I hadn't planned to go on this little blogging hiatus, but these last few weeks have been absolutely packed - and while I have been wearing clothes every day (which, I'll admit, sometimes feels like an accomplishment), between the limited number of work-appropriate options currently stuffed in my suitcase and the inevitable Sophie's choice of weekday mornings ('Brush my hair, or wolf down some cereal?'), regular photos have lately faded to a fond memory. We managed to snap these on Saturday after checking out the Halloween Dog Parade in the East Village - there were some pretty terrific costumes (Lady Gaga dog! Shark Taco dog!), but I think my favorite was the couple that came dressed as Paul Bunyan, with their pug dyed blue as Babe the Blue Ox!

While the change of season has made my limited wardrobe feel even smaller, I have definitely been enjoying the opportunity to piles on lots of comfy layers. I picked up this oversized striped sweater a couple of weeks ago and it's become a fast favorite. It gives my lightweight jackets just the right amount of warmth, and I love how perfectly it matches my rust-colored skirt.

updates

Hi guys! I have a few new posts up on my tumblr* - click to read wider (in which I find the perfect pants), inevitable (in which I manage to cram all of my favorite things into one mega-outfit), and go-to (in which I totally oversleep but still manage to get more or less dressed).
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EDIT: In the interests of maintaining a reasonably contiguous blog archive, I have amended my posts from Tumblr below - you can now read them here, or in their original home (with all the original comments) on Tumblr (click to read wider, inevitable, & go-to). Enjoy!
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3.21.11 WIDER

silk scarf - vintage, thrifted / brass whistle necklace - vintage via etsy / watch - La Mer / pink tank - Anthropologie / wide leg jeans - Banana Republic / brogues - Primark

As all you statesiders herald the welcome arrival of spring, here in Istanbul we seem to have stepped backwards weather-wise and had to break out the puffy coats again to head out today. The resultant indoor shots aren't exactly my favorite photos of all time, but there was no way I was letting a cold, windy day stand in the way of what I'm anticipating will be my new spring uniform. Because, to borrow a phrase from Sydney, these pants? They are the it.

I've been keeping an eye out for the perfect pair of wide leg trouser jeans (a la those recently worn so well by Tania, Carie, Kendi, Kyla, et al.), and last week I just stumbled upon this ridiculously comfy pair in the back of Banana Republic. Dark wash? Check. Trouser pockets? Check. Flattering vanity sizing? Double check. Boyfriend actually likes them? Sold. (Bonus: I didn't even know they were 30% off until I went to check out.)

I know that as a short-and-curvy lady (and self-respecting style blogger) I 'should' be wearing these with my highest platform heels for the full my-pants-ate-my-feet-but-look-how-long-my-legs-are effect - but as I hemmed these on Saturday, I had to acknowledge that for better or worse, that is just not my life. Much as I love the extra inches my occasional heel-wearing affords, one of the few demands of my current (very undemanding) lifestyle is a LOT of walking; so for now, I'll stick to my flats and perpetual weekend schedule, and leave the leg-lengthening to those lucky ladies with desk jobs and obligations. Leggy suckers...
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3.22.11 INEVITABLE

necklace - vintage, secondskinstyle via etsy / pink striped sweater - H&M / rust skirt - Zara / gray tights - Old Navy / socks - Target / studded flats - Zara

This outfit was inevitable. It was set into motion the minute I picked up this sweater, and there was never any doubt in my mind that I would wear (and love) this pinky-stripey-rusty combination. What's shocking is that I waited this long to make it happen!

Since I wanted the pink-rust color combination to be the focus of my outfit, I decided to go with medium gray tights to keep from making my legs too high-contrast. Inspired by a recent look from Zoë I decided to wear my OTK socks as thigh-highs instead of my usual folded-down-under-boots strategy. I also resisted my perennial urge to pair pink tops with a ton of yellow gold jewelry, and instead went with my vintage wood & bone necklace. I've always felt like this necklace didn't really 'go' with anything other than simple, neutral tops but I wound up loving the tougher, earthy materials against the pale pink of my sweater.

Much as I've been enjoying the sartorial freedom the crummy weather has been affording these last few days, I am getting pretty antsy to get outside and get moving again, both here in Turkey and on to our next destinations. We've been spending these 'indoor' days in a flurry of planning for the next few months, and now I am getting impatient to get going!
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3.23.11 GO-TO

jacket - Zara / necklace - Forever 21 / sweater - H&M / button-down - custom-made / watch - La Mer / overdyed skinnies - Zara / t-strap shoes - UO

I'm afraid I'm a little short on words tonight - lately I've been in an awful pattern of insomnia-followed-by-oversleeping that I'm trying my best to break by heading to bed early. My awful sleeping patterns totally derailed our initial sightseeing plans for the day, so I wound up throwing out the outfit I'd planned as well and improvising. I went for a simple variation on the buttoned-up shirts I wore layered last week, remixed with simple-but-fun accessories for an incredibly easy, comfortable look.

What's your go-to formula for getting dressed when faced with a change in plans?
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migration

As you may have already gathered, my plans to circumnavigate Turkey's ban on Blogger have not been entirely successful. Completely unable to access Blogger from our home in Istanbul, I found myself faced with three options:

a. keep posting via email, with links to my Flickr in lieu of embedded images;
b. send finished posts to friends outside of Turkey and ask them to publish for me; or
c. take an enforced blogging vacation for the month of March.

While my cold little heart was warmed to learn that many of you actually clicked through all my janky links to view yesterday's outfit photos on Flickr, I don't want to ask that much clicking of you all month (Carpal Tunnel is real!), nor do I want to impose any more on friends stateside to publish posts for me, and given how much I've been enjoying blogging on our travels, option C seemed particularly distasteful. So I chose:

d. start a Tumblr!

I did a little more googling, and it turns out Turkey doesn't block Tumblr - so for the rest of this month, you can find me blogging at http://the-other-emily.tumblr.com. I've just put up my first outfit post there, so go check it out! I'll still update this blog when I have a new post up on Tumblr, so subscribers will still get a heads-up, and I'll be back to my regular blog-home when we leave Turkey at the end of the month. And again, many thanks to all my readers for your patience with this unexpected blogging hiccup!
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EDIT: In the interests of maintaining a reasonably contiguous blog archive, I have amended my post from Tumblr below - you can now read it here, or in it's original home (with all the original comments) on Tumblr. Enjoy!
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3.4.11 MIGRATION
Welcome to my new temporary blog home! As evidenced by the nasty mess of uninterpreted html code that went live on my blog yesterday, I haven't exactly arrived at a functional work-around for the Turkish Blogger ban. Rather than spend a month asking friends outside of Turkey to post for me, or continue publishing posts that are only half-baked (raw html will give you salmonella, you know), I've decided to just pop on over here to Tumblr for the month! I'm thinking of it as a blog vacation home. I'll be updating my home blog with links here every time I post, so subscribers to the main blog should still get a heads-up, and I'll be moving back to my original Blogger home when I leave Turkey at the end of the month.




brass whistle necklace - vintage via etsy / white v-neck - Forever 21 / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - Zara / tights - H&M / boots - Steve Madden

My apologies for the nasty indoor photos again - we waited 'til far too late in the afternoon to head outside for photos, and had to use the flourescent lights inside - yuck! Today wound up being an impromptu TCB day, devoted to such exciting pursuits as filing taxes and doing laundry, so I took advantage of the opportunity to wear something maybe not-so-Istanbul-appropriate. This is pretty much my lazy-day-at-home uniform - I spared you the horrifically worn-out cardigan, but couldn't be bothered with makeup, hair-brushing, or any particularly inventive use of accessories. I did at least break out my new navy tights - I have been loving the way Amanda has been wearing similar ones with lavender and earth tones lately, so I grabbed a pair at H&M while we were in Edinburgh. They're a fun alternative to basic black, and I love them with the rust color of this skirt.
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highlander

earrings - Anthropologie / scarf - gift / watch - La Mer / ring - Primark / cardigan - Primark / tank - Anthropologie / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - Zara / tights - Target / brogues - Primark

Ok, so I'm not actually in the Highlands (and I'm not the Highlander), but I am in Scotland! After a fairly smelly nine and a half hour bus ride yesterday, we arrived last night in Edinburgh, and took advantage of the surprisingly great weather today to go out exploring. The old town is exceedingly cute, and everything is compact enough that we can walk pretty much everywhere. We snapped these pictures in Greyfriars Kirkyard, after paying our respects to Greyfriars Bobby. As far as I can tell, Scotland's two biggest tourist industries are tartan and ghost stories - so far we haven't really indulged in either, although the pub where we had dinner last night does claim to have their own house ghost. I've also noticed a serious abundance of charity shops within walking distance of our apartment....

After seeing (and freaking loving) this kind of pink, pumpkin, and cognac color combination on both sartoriography and fancy treehouse this past week, I decided to try and style up a similar color story with my new favorite skirt and a pink tank. I really loved the core combination, but I think it got a little lost after adding the navy cardigan and (especially) the yellow scarf, so I'll definitely be trying it again sometime with more neutral outerwear. I'm also going to be on the lookout for some rusty orange tights, so I can wear them with my pink skirt for even more pink-pumpkin love.

 
The new stars of my traveling wardrobe - the brogues. Comfortable enough to walk in all day and they go with everything. Best £8 I ever spent.
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black & tan

earrings - vintage shop in Copenhagen / jacket - Zara / wrap watch - La Mer / cashmere sweater - Cynthia Rowley via Marshall's / henley tank - Old Navy / belt - vintage, thrifted / skirt - Zara / tights - Target / socks - H&M / boots - Steve Madden

More earth tones, drapey sweater, and army jacket! I admit, while I like it, this outfit felt like a bit of a retread for me. Yesterday was laundry day so my options were pretty limited. I will also confess to being pretty pessimistic about receiving the package of clothes my folks shipped me from home - it's been held up in UK customs for nine days now, probably just sitting in a heap somewhere, and I just know they are going to find some evil excuse to charge me VAT on it. Up to 30% tax on whatever they decide my used, mostly thrifted (and even homemade!) clothes are worth. Ugh. Anyway, I'm starting to feel that mid-remix-challenge funk, but on the bright side, I'm half-way done! (And farther than I managed to get last time!)

We took these on our way to the Design Museum yesterday, where I actually was asked to be in some press photos for their new exhibition! I'm sure they were dazzled by my earrings, and my incredible looking-at-a-folding-bicycle-with-interest skills. The best part was that when the photographer approached me, I'd been playing Angry Birds on one of the exhibit's iPads for a solid ten minutes, and I thought he was coming to ask me to move on! Anyway, maybe now I'll be famous on the British design blogs..... or something.
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woodland

earrings - Boston street vendor / scarf - gift / perfect army jacket - Zara / buffalo Larch bag - custom, valhallabrooklyn via etsy / leather wrap watch - La Mer / fox print tee - Zara / belt - vintage, thrifted / rust skirt - Zara / tights - Target / socks - Target / boots - Steve Madden

More museums, and more tired feet! We took these yesterday right outside the Tate Modern. I love these slim birches and thought they'd offer some nice contrast to my many-colored outfit. When I first got this skirt, I worried just a little that it was just an impulse buy, but now I think I'm in love with it because it goes with everything. Who knew rust was such a wildly versatile color?

Today we had planned to go to Brick Lane Market, but got sidetracked at the British Library on the way. They've got an exhibit on now called 'Evolving English' that's absolutely fascinating - tons of neat stuff about the development of modern English, slang, patois, jokes, and dialects. It sort of got me thinking about how certain authors use language to give their work texture. I always like reading authors who enjoy the possibilities of language, and offer sentences so layered and densely packed you can almost chew them. Maybe it's time I reread The Sot-Weed Factor.




It hasn't really been all that cold since we've gotten here, but it is really too cold to just wear my lightweight army jacket. Fortunately, I figured out it layers underneath my heavy coat perfectly!


Also, I can't believe I completely failed to mention yesterday that I'm now over 1/3 of the way through my 30x30! Here are my first ten remixes:



I really like #4 and #5 - which is your favorite? Fellow remixers, have you had any absolute favorites so far?
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spontaneity

wood & bone necklace - vintage, secondskinstyle via etsy / cashmere cardigan - Cynthia Rowley via Marshall's / gray tank - Anthropologie / painted wood bangle - vintage, childhood dress-up box / belt - boyfriend's / skirt - Zara / tights - Target / flats - Zara

I am a pretty serious planner. I am a perfectionist, Type A, Virgo/Libra cusp - so I make lists. The day that Kendi announced this round of the 30for30, I started a list of what items I wanted to remix, then a series of sub-lists to plan out the different outfits I could make with each piece. Then I started making polyvore sets of all the possible remixes, so I could easily visualize all my options. This is how much I plan just to put on clothes.

Which is why it's shocking that this outfit came together totally spontaneously, and I absolutely love it. I've grown a little weary of wearing pants every day since we've gotten to Morocco, so I thought a lazy Saturday at home would be a great time to break out something a little more 'immodest.' This skirt was a late addition to my 30 (hello, #28!), from the same surprise trip to Zara that resulted in my new jacket, so I hadn't planned any outfits around it yet. I wanted to stick with a pretty low-key, earthy color palette to keep the spotlight on the rusty orange, and topped it off with a wider belt 'borrowed' from Chris and my vintage necklace from the queen of earth-tones herself, Christina. It felt great to get a little more 'dressed up,' even if only for eating grilled cheese and catching up on Gossip Girl.




And seriously, how cute are those scalloped pockets??