My friends in Europe have been telling me about the recent freezing weather they’re experiencing. I try to be supportive by not telling them that it will hit a balmy 75F by this weekend. We may even see 80s next week. But if it’s of any consolation to any of you who are trudging through snow and rain, an early Spring for us Los Angelenos also means an early allergies season.

So while sneezing and wheezing my way through this morning’s work, I took a break by viewing the Paris fashion shows courtesy of the good folks at Style.com. Chanel seems to have a lot of heavier and fur-centric pieces for the fall 2010 RTW collection so I’m not sure how all that will translate for us warm weather customers over here. But already I spy some brown tweed jackets that would surely look gorgeous with my matte gold and bronze 2.55 flaps! Clearly the buttons from this collection will be incredible as usual. I desperately love this cool leather  jacket assuming it isn’t attached to the fur “skirt.”

Then I clicked over to the McQueen collection, which is outstanding like always but so bittersweet this time around. If I could, in my next life I’d like to come back as a 5′11″ Russian Amazonian so I can rock Look 4. Plus I’d be able to speak Russian!

The Prada collection shown last week also turned up some wearable items but I try not to get so attached to these images early on as some pieces never make it to the selling floor. So I’ll wait to see what shows up in my favorite stores. Is there a better job than buyer for a high end store? I must have missed my calling.

Anyway, back to work for me. Just thought I’d pop in and mention how excited I am for the fall looks already, and here we are just barely leaving winter! But that’s part of the fun of fashion, always something new to look forward to. Have you seen anything at the virtual shows that have caught your eye?

BTW, next week I will be writing from the road again, so hopefully I haven’t lost some of you from all this recent fashion talk!

The buzz about JPG (Jean Paul Gaultier) chez Target started last year but the collaboration collection did not arrive at this mass retailer till March 7. I was definitely more excited about this designer than Sonia Rykiel mainly because I have been buying JPG for a very long time. His meshy, soft polyamide fabric is a dream to pack for (tropical) trips. It weighs nothing and can be rolled up into a tiny ball. Once you get to the hotel, hang it up behind the bathroom door. The steam from your shower will get all the wrinkles out in time for Mai Tais on the lanai. And the bold prints (that Gaultier is famous for) on your dress just seem to make more sense when there are waves rolling behind you. Don’t you always have a travel scenario for every item in your closet, too?

But anyway, I was really hoping that quality would not be forsaken for price, and when I finally got to the first store, I was pleasantly surprised by some if not all of the pieces. I’d seen the nautical themed pieces–which EVERYONE and their grandmother are doing right now–in press releases, but up close I thought the fabric was decent and I particularly liked the laser cut details:

This asymmetrical navy striped top was also cute:

I tried on all of the other tops and a few (age inappropriate) dresses, but in the end I loved most the tattoo-print pieces in that mesh nylon that will be great as layering pieces:

The fabric for Target is definitely inferior to the one he uses in his own collection–the close up shots here are of my dress from his main line and then of the shirt from Target and you can’t tell the difference with the naked eye until you touch them both–

but all of his prints here are just as whimsical. Where else can you find this funky print with insects on swimwear? And at this price point (under $20 for the top or bottom), how can I resist?

I can smell that sun lotion already. I’d better go do more core exercises though before I can leave the house in that.

If you’ve been reading my blog then you must know that art is a very big part of my life. People often ask me, after seeing my accessories collection, which bags I would save in the event of a fire and my answer would vary depending on my mood. But the truth is, once I got everyone out of harm’s way the one thing I’d try to save in a fire would be the paintings hanging on my walls. I may not have a Degas in my house (yet), but original works of art, no matter how small or how grand, are a much greater source of joy to me. They are why vision is my favorite out of all 5 senses. Think about it, which one is your favorite sense? I can live without being able to taste, hear, smell, or touch, but not being able to see? That would be tragic.

Anyway, I can draw something if my life depended on it, but I was definitely not born an artist. So all the visuals constantly swimming about in my head basically stay there; I have no talent or skill to recreate them onto any single medium. But enter the digital camera, and suddenly sometimes I can take a bit of credit in snapping some great photos of a given moment in time whether by chance or by conspiracy. When I’m traveling, it’s easy to photograph beauty, both nature- and man-made. There’s so much out there that it’s as easy as point and click.

When I’m grounded, however, I like to use photography to document all the mundane things in life that bear witness to our lives. Good, bad, and boring. Twenty years from the day you take a single photo of your parents nudging each other over an inside joke or of your kid brother crying from falling off a bicycle, such photos become much more than mementos of an ordinary day gone by. They become recorded history, and if you start to take a lot of videos, these moments become living history.

No idea why I am writing all of this (maybe because I have been looking at old photos all morning while cleaning up the folders on my desktop) because originally I meant to write an introduction to the photos in today’s blog entry. What I really meant to talk about today was the back story for the FIMTSO series. About the terrible habit I have of buying an item in multiple colors when I could (maybe should) spend the same amount of money on a variety of items instead. But sometimes, when you have a good gig going, like matching Converse sneakers with Chanel bags, you wonder if Imelda Marcos didn’t have it right after all.

PS: After seeing these pictures, maybe I would save a couple of bags along with the art in a fire!

I’m pulling a Tiger Woods and making an unnecessarily public apology today. On the way to shopping rehab I’ve done a complete face plant. Have fallen and cannot get up. My shopping ban has been a total failure; I blame some of it on my weakness and a lot more on the releases of Sonia Rykiel at H&M and Jean Paul Gaultier (JPG) at Target on March 7. So after this week (hey, at least I’m not lying about cheating with JPG), I will head back to rehab. No timeline as to when I will return to the sporting world of shopping.

Since all of my shopping skeletons are rattling their way out of my closet anyway, I might as well confess about the jaunt to Robertson Boulevard this past weekend. You know, the short but deadly block where you can find the second Chanel boutique (I actually love this cozy location a little more than its big sister in Beverly Hills) a few doors down from the paparazzi’d The Ivy restaurant and the enchanting Les Habitudes boutique.

I had stopped by Robertson to check out the new 1969 boutique that the GAP has recently made a permanent fixture after using it as a pop-up store for the Stella McCartney for GapKids release. If you like denim as much as I do, this is a fun place to see all kinds of jeans openly displayed in a way that I wish I could replicate in my own closet. OMG I’m such a liar! I didn’t come here to check anything out…I came here to buy a jacket that had quickly sold out. I know, there’s a GAP in every town to supply the whole country but believe it or not, they do come up with something once in a while that becomes a hard-to-find best seller. The Robertson location had the only XS that I could find in this region. So here’s the $59.50 black knit motorcycle jacket (PS: my lil sis even had a 20% off coupon for me to use! what a score!):

But even standing inside the GAP at 109 S. Robertson, I could feel the gravitational pull from 125 N. Robertson. It’s probably whatever voodoo spell Karl Lagerfeld has put on me that made me march straight from the GAP to the Chanel boutique. I knew it was wrong, didn’t want to do it, but my feet went on autopilot, and there I was inside the breezy foyer of the store in under 60 seconds. Putting this Chanel addict inside the white walled boutique is like locking an alcoholic inside a liquor store. So many beautiful bags and shoes and clothes on display! Who cares that I’ve seen a Chanel jacket reinvented a million times–with each season’s new buttons and trims, it’s as if I’m looking at it for the first time. And I fall in love all over again. So maddening that Lagerfeld refuses to release an ugly collection when I’m on a ban!

Anyway, on the first floor near the window, what do I spy but a black knit motorcycle jacket–the very same one that I had seen from trunk show pictures earlier this year. The very same one that had been added to my Spring buy list:

Let’s just say the tax alone on the Chanel version is about 4 times the total price of my GAP one after tax. And except for the quilting on the hems and logo on the zipper pulls, I honestly can’t say I could justify the sticker shock. Chanel’s leather version of the moto jacket, however, is a different story. Now that’s one cool jacket but it’s also twice as much as its knit version. I clutch my GAP find a little tighter and think I’ll save my pennies for a classic Chanel tweed jacket instead. On some trendier pieces, it’s enough to fill the craving with something non-designer as long as the quality and fit are decent. And of course if the price is right!

Luckily the rain was coming and that prodded me to leave the store before I could talk myself into buying something…some thingS. I’ve already failed the ban and couldn’t make it worse by sticking around here. But this one brief peek inside the boutique did trigger a question, and I’ll blog about that in the next entry.

Anyhow, in the words of Tiger Woods, “I want to ask for your help. I ask you to find room in your hearts to one day believe in me again.” Because let’s face it, I don’t believe in me when I say I can stop shopping. Do you?

Before I left for law school I was seeing a med student who worked weekends as a parking valet at a country club. He would tell me about the perks of sitting in some of the best sport cars in town (this got my attention since I loved anything shiny, motorized, and fast) and taking home lobsters or steaks from the kitchen (this, not so much since I’d gone vegetarian by then). He was quite an Armani addict on a grad student’s shoestring budget. I got a kick out of looking at his Italian suits but often wondered if he was what high maintenance meant.

One day, we were just sitting around and I put on his gold watch, which was his late father’s. It had a huge face and too many links so it rolled down my arm halfway to my elbow, stopping just where the rolled up sleeve of my white (man’s) shirt ended. I looked at my own reflection in the mirror and thought about designer Carolina Herrera who had always been such a fashion inspiration to me. Her uniform of crisply starched white blouses with skirts, pants, and jeans has resonated with me since I first started reading Vogue.

I relate this memory to you because there are more fashion don’t days than there are fashion do moments in my lifelong fashion chase. So when something looks instantly right, the image gets burned into my brain for later references. A sublime man’s watch paired with your SO’s white shirt is one of those instances. I have not yet scored a similar watch since that summer, but I’ve stumbled on to (and been distracted by) other precious things along the way. In my book, there’s nothing sexier than a strand of Tahitian pearls under a white shirt. Always starched.

So without further ado, let’s showcase the next FIMTSO experiment.

Test Item: Today I’m featuring several white shirts because I know we all have more than one. And with white being a neutral yet finicky color, taking on different persona based on its fabric, it would be easier to show a whole rainbow of whites!

Business: For a business casual look, I’m pairing an eyelet Juicy Couture white tank with a JCrew peach cashmere open cardigan. I can throw this over jeans or slacks or skirts and a pair of slingbacks.

The Chanel coral/turquoise necklace is simple enough for me to also wear a JCrew encrusted wide enamel cuff with it. I like large cuffs with short sleeves:

Casual: for warm weekends, I like this stark white lightweight knit ruffled henley shirt from JCrew (no, I do not work for them) that I’ll accessorize with a Gucci silk scarf and Balenciaga leather bracelet. Jeans and strappy sandals will complete this outfit for me.

On cooler days I like to layer a white handkerchief linen shirt (Max Studio) under a rugged cotton jacket. A white feather-weight linen shirt is the only white shirt I will launder and not iron because the wrinkles make the shirt less sheer! Let’s leave some things to the imagination, shall we?

Fun, long necklaces, like this Chanel dog tag one, complete the look.

I’d wear skinny jeans or a slim miniskirt over leggings with this. On a side note, I need to find a mannequin with legs so I can show the entire look with bottoms!

Play: It’s actually difficult to find the perfect dressy white shirt. My favorite ones are of a stiffer silk but all of these shirts in my closet verge more on ivory and beige than white, so I can’t include them here. I’m still looking for that perfect white-white silk shirt to pair with a floor-length black silk taffeta skirt. But I digress…

This is a Dolce & Gabbana white tuxedo shirt; it’s a man’s shirt but at least some Italian labels run on the slim side, making it easier for us gals to poach menswear. I’m pairing it with a pair of velvet low-rise theory pants and killer stilettos. As I mentioned above, I’ll only need a strand of shiny pearls and a patent python clutch to head out to dinner. And just think, I could also tuck this shirt into capri skinny black jeans and some ballerina flats and instantly go from Lauren Bacall to Audrey Hepburn .

Last week I wrote about my flight suit. Today let’s examine the anatomy of my flight bag, which I affectionately call my Little Buddy because it basically totes my life around for me when I’m on the road. After multiple attempts at trying carry-on bags of different shapes and brands, from hard cases to soft duffel bags to designer totes, I’ve settled on a simple black computer rolling bag with just enough room for my essentials while compact enough to be easily lifted into the overhead bin. Unfortunately it only fits under the seat in first class cabins.

So what are these essentials besides my laptop, phone, ipod, digicam and their respective chargers? An international converter block that’s seen me through 6 continents–best invention ever besides the Internet:

A set of cashmere blanket and eye mask so that I don’t have to use the public ones on the plane; I’ll stick to my own cooties, thank you. This particular set was from the Banana Republic holiday collection a few years ago:

A pair of burnt orange silk and mink-trimmed Prada slippers in their matching case pretty enough to double as a clutch; I got this on a trip out to the Prada outlet mecca just outside of Florence, Italy almost a decade ago! I’ll wear these in my seat (or the hotel room) but put my shoes on to walk around the bacteria pod otherwise known as the airplane:

A change of clothes in case my suitcase gets lost. As there’s not much room, it usually means underpinnings, extra pair of socks, and another black shirt or knit dress that can be neatly rolled up. I’ll also include a floppy hat that’s good for sun and rain (Burberry and Juicy Couture offer great choices). You never know exactly what kind of weather awaits you when you exit the airport.

A Ziploc bag of essentials that pass TSA muster:

As you can see, mostly skin care products and things to battle germs. My favorite item is that single-use toothbrush; awful for the environment but super convenient for me! No makeup concessions except for the lip gloss (my toiletry bag always gets checked in) so I just have to pray my face doesn’t melt by the time I land.

As for entertainment, I already have books and music downloaded to my smart phone. At most I might stash some fashion mags inside the outside pocket of my bag and blow through them on the plane so I can lighten the load by the time I reach my destination.

It’s hard to imagine that my whole life can fit inside my Little Buddy, but basically my work is on my laptop, my memories are in my digicam, and my contact to the outside world is my phone. Everything else is replaceable if my luggage doesn’t make it. And yep, that’s a perfect excuse to go shopping .

I’m going to bump the entry about my luggage for this fashion interruption. And since sometimes it’s more fun to see fashion beyond static photography, why don’t you come vlog with me today. It’s actually a confession of how I fell off the shopping (ban) wagon. Again. I know, I meant to only tip-toe into the store and check out the Sonia Rykiel for H&M collection for Lil A’s baby clothes, but $241 later, here I am in the confessional, wearing the evidence.

PS: that’s my furkid walking in front of the camera. He wants air time, too.

PPS: If you think this video sucks, be thankful you didn’t see the bloopers. This was take 6 and I could barely contain my giggles. I’ll just stick to the old blogging and leave vlogging to the professionals.

For “short” flights (3-6 hours) you will most likely find me in pants (usually khakis with stretch), sneakers, black shirt (in case of spillage by someone in the seat next to me), and a light-weight cashmere hoodie that’s not bulky in case I also have to wear a coat (layering is important when you can’t control the cabin’s temperature and cashmere can be easily rolled up to fit inside your purse or carry-on bag when you don’t need it).

My uniform is tidy and comfortable but nondescript so that I can blend in almost anywhere. The last thing I want to do when going overseas, or almost any public place involving large crowds, is to stick out like a sore thumb. But I also want to be respectful and not look too sloppy. I also find that, whether it’s fair or not, when I need to curry some favor from the airline’s ground crew, I get more help when I don’t look sloppy. That’s just how the world is. So save the cutoff shorts and muffin tops for a picnic maybe?

I don’t recommend sandals or flip flops–even though they are easier to slip on and off when you go through security–because of the public restrooms in airports and on planes. Closed-toe shoes are critical for this reason alone. Plus I remember getting stranded unexpectedly more than once in cities that had inclement weather, wearing pretty but useless sandals that did not protect my toes from rain and snow. So I repeat, closed-toe shoes are critical. It’s not a crime to kick them off once you’re in your seat.

For longer flights, especially the ones involving sleeping on the plane, I have mixed feelings. I have tried wearing dresses–anything with a stretch and that doesn’t wrinkle, and in fabrics appropriate for the weather. The only problem is that some dresses can flag you for an extra round of security check (note to self: TSA does not like maxi dresses), even though it is easy to look smart in a slim black dress even after 12 hours on the plane. So sometimes I’m in my black dress uniform and other times I’m in the look from above. But that black gauze cotton dress I picked up from Target last week…I think I might give it a go on my next flight this summer. I could wear it with the closed-toe espadrilles on the plane and then the peep-toe heels when I go out to dinner that same night:

I now dress for travel while adhering to the Boy Scout motto: be prepared. I always ask myself if, God forbid, there were some emergency, would I be able to run or jump or help someone in my outfit? Therefore, gone are the days of wearing stilettos on the plane–unless I really have no time to change out of a business suit and Louboutins before catching a plane after a meeting. I save those for when I reach the destination. Though I must say, the extra 4 inches from the heels go a long way in reaching overhead bins!

But utility is no fun, am I right? Where’s the joy in dressing like a boy scout when you can look like Victoria Beckham? Well, I’ll concede that vanity and practicality are not mutually exclusive, so I like to accessorize my flight uniform with a fantastic bag or some key personal item (like a watch or Hermes muffler) that I will need when I land anyway. The plane ride is just the means to an end, and comfort is a top priority. Perhaps I won’t look like Posh Spice when I land, but at least I won’t resemble Scary Spice either. Uh, not that there’s anything wrong with looking like that.

In the next entry we’ll look at what’s always inside my carry-on bag.

PS: this is the Chanel mule I featured yesterday. Another reader had asked for a shot of the heel and I’m always happy to comply with gratuitous eye candy!

I know you are out there, snickering in guilt. You’ve got a slinky one for date nights, a perfect A-line one (ok maybe 10 of these) for work, a micro one for vacays where no one knows you anyway, a more modest one for funerals, and the list goes on. Since part of rehab is owning up to the crime, I’ll confess I’m so bad I probably have a black skirt for each different type of funeral. And yes, I suppose that purchase from Target should be considered falling off the wagon. Grrr.

But this leads to today’s FIMTSO experiment, which is how to rework a black skirt for various occasions.

Test Item: Prada crinkled silk skirt. I chose a straight, low-rise skirt that hits just below the knee as my all purpose sample.

Business: I’m turning the skirt into a mate for a Chanel jacket worn over a black tank. The patent black Manolos should carry me from day to night in this outfit. I could wear this to a business meeting during the day and to the ballet at night.

Casual: naval stripes are everywhere this Spring so I’m pairing my skirt with a b/w striped Kors pullover. The b/w Chanel mules are low enough (2″) to be casual without looking too sloppy. Though I could also see myself in this skirt with a white t-shirt and patent flip flops. We are a flip flop nation after all. Add a killer slouchy bag and I’m ready for a walk through Soho in the early summer.

Play: This is where it gets fun. Today by Play I mean we get to play around with a bunch of shoes. What you see (thought it’s really difficult to photograph black clothes) is a Miu Miu sleeveless turtleneck in a lightweight high-tech fabric that won’t wrinkle but will stretch and breathe. I think it’s one of the best pieces in my closet as far as functionality. Anyway, with a black outfit, you can make it play day or play night with your accessories. The occasion dictates the shoes, so this outfit is also suitable for work with the right pair of slingbacks. That’s what’s so versatile about black!

]]> http://www.larkieatlarge.com/2010/02/fimtso-the-black-skirt/feed 2 http://www.larkieatlarge.com/2010/02/6765 http://www.larkieatlarge.com/2010/02/6765#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:15:08 +0000 larkie http://www.larkieatlarge.com/2010/02/6765

Well, I wasn’t disappointed. It was well past midnight by the time they showed the medal ceremony for the ice dancing competition but it was worth putting off sleep. I would have given out three gold medals last night. The competition was that good. But in the end, the right teams were on the podium without any controversy. And I loved it that the Canadian gold medalists were belting out their anthem along with the entire audience. That’s what I call an Olympics moment.

So OK, yesterday I said I wanted to be Vera Wang for a day. Today I think I’d rather be an Olympian ice dancer, with a super cute Vera Wang designed costume instead of my puffy parka below when I hit the ice in Belgium–

My favorite outfit from the entire competition was the open-back red dress Russian Oksana Domnina wore for the compulsory dance. Heck, if I looked like her in that dress I would have worn it off the ice, to dinner, to the dentist. Maybe I’d just sit around the house in it.  And if I were an Olympian, I think any hardware would do; I’m not difficult (famous last words)!

Tonight the ladies’ figure skating competition begins so I guess more late nights are ahead of me. But tomorrow, let’s go back to FIMTSO. And if you have any particular item you’d like to see as a test item for this series, do email me or leave a comment.