Some Gems

Drop me off anywhere in the world and my idea of acclimation is finding a flea market, haggling to an embarrassing degree, and, if I have the restraint to wait, finding a dry cleaners. All within the first few days. L.A. has amazing flea markets, and I haven't even been to the Rose Bowl yet. Here are some of my finds, at $30 or less, of course!

The Wire

Baltimore Salvation Army. My mecca.

All of the above, $5.

Are you KIDDING me?

Cat Power

This is me, from when I'm not sure, in my mom's showroom (i need to get images of the sweaters she designed and post them here). I can't get over this outfit: talk about stylized. I looked at the polaroid through a loup and realized that it's a separate lion patch that we ironed on the skirt, so the ensemble covers most bases of the feline species (Phylum? Kingdom? does anyone remember those classifications?) Expect for the ocelot, which is a shame really.

An ah-wutta?

So mind the shoddy quality of my i-phone photography; but are you marveling at my decently impressive recent purchase, a crossbreed of Alaia and Louboutins? They're from Zara.
(It's not seamless, it's my sheets. And Chow Fun's paw--she too goes for white jazz shoes on her off days, just like me!)

Need a closer look?

I'm not being completely self-indulgent here, i deem this postworthy for several reasons. The first of which is that I've kind of resigned myself to not shopping cheap fashion unless its flea market-found or basics. Or rather, trying to convince myself to not shop over spending minimal amounts here and there for items that you wear three times and don't thrill you ever again. Especially at places like Zara and H&M where the "interpreted" items are practically directly copied and produced at much lower standards of construction. But at the heart of it, I think you should have pieces you love, simple as that, and nothing less. Not because they are expensive-looking-and-feeling, but because they are original. I feel hypocritical bringing up authenticity here, because what does that even mean in fashion...corrollary: the intense quagmire of trying to talk about fashion as art and image as power since it's all self-referential anyways...But i guess authenticity as measured by what the item means to you and the intent and how much you want it.

So the fact that I could not help myself at Zara makes me feel all strange and ashamed. They're not original though they are 'inspired' (um, directly). But they are SO good. Which brings me to my second post-worthy point. One of the things I've noticed, up until this year, was that the delineation between cheap shoes and expensive shoes is in stability and heel height and shape. You know what i'm talking about--like the Nine West spike heels that curve in and back out again (high school is coming back to me in a big way). And they're never high enough, because normal people don't wear hidden-platform-spike heels like they do in my industry, mostly because the high fashion exposure was limited to a certain group that would go for originals anyways. (Always kitten heels, which I don't see a point for, ever). And yes, maybe the turning point was Sex and the City blah blah--but i think the real reason why we're seeing such amazing knockoffs--with really high heels--is because of how viral the style blogging is, and how street style blogs created this new forum where images of Emmanuelle Alt leak to 16 year olds in tiny towns and then Net-a-Porter ships there. Kind of crazy.

But honestly, for me to invest in (real) shoes means they have to be all kinds of amazing, and then you know, you don't have tons, and you stress about ruining them, and then you just want a really fun Alaia-esque heel with naughty strappings and lo and behold you find yourself torn and then you justify it because Zara is Spanish! And you have lots of Spanish pride, from when you studied abroad in Madrid! Andre, can you weigh in here?

Anyways, any guilt i had was reduced this morning when I walked into work and one of the more fabulous editors i work with had these breathtaking shoes. And this editor only wears le top, (which is good for me since I bought a pair of Lanvins off of her, saving them from a fate at INA and her half-commission). And she blurted out, "Natalie, don't judge me, they're from Zara."

And there you go.
(KP's lovely feet)

Really, i think the moral of this story is that office carpeting is the greatest idea ever.

Grunge

I threw the lovely Fiorella a bottle of my favorite nail polish and you can read about it here. She is, unsurprisingly, far more eloquent about beauty (and funnier) than I am. But seriously I don't know how I can ever wear another color again, it's just so good. Greige.