Styling After Sandy

After enduring what was, thankfully, the relatively mild effects of the horrible Hurricane Sandy, and after suffering a bit of the ever insanity-inducing cabin fever, I finally ventured outside for a substantial period of time to retrieve a calzone with the filmmaker.  Copious amounts of melted cheese and red peppers and sausage was easily and obviously enticing, even if it meant venturing out, surveying the havoc and damage, braving the frigid air.

This warm caramel wool jacket, slightly stylized with a rounded black velvet collar, is definitely one of my most prized consignment shop finds; it is the ideal blazer for crisp weather, before or after any tumultuous storm. Although warm, frankly, it was a bit too little for this particularly brutal afternoon; there has been a stark cold streak, complete with snow and ice-rain. Unfortunately, my silky almost-sheer scarf, emblazoned with intermingling animal prints and tiger faces, also did not offer much sanctuary from the elements. Still, I survived the slight chill. Being consistently inappropriately dressed for the weather is, apparently, a great skill of mine.

This black and oxblood vintage carpet handbag, which formally resided with my sister in her wardrobe, is such a treasure. The soft texture and the deep, pungent colors of the floral combine in a way that is, in a bizarre, simultaneously subtle and unforgettable.

Evocative of some gilded bird nest, perhaps something suited for a William Butler Yeats poem, or a dusty frontier tumbleweed rolled in gold, I found these contemporary clip-on earrings at a small boutique in Paris last spring. They have since become a staple.