John, I'm Only Dancing

Like the earthworm called out of the soil by a warm and gentle rain, like the dusted white moth pulled from the depths of darkness to the heat of a fire, like the humming honey bee following her sisters to the sweet nectar of a bright red flower patch, Saturday evening I found myself once again drawn, willingly and magnetically, into Brooklyn. This time, the occasion was a bit of a reunion, with a group gathering to pay homage to our dear and lovely friend Hartley, who has fled the metropolitan trap of the area for the frozen, winter-barren lands of her birth, in true upstate New York, and who returned to the glitz, glamor, and grit of stoic, silent skyscrapers for a weekend sojourn. Some of these social acquaintances and university friends I had not seen in quite some time, since leaving the welcome, exciting folds of academia and trudging through earning a living as a responsible adult, so it was a pleasant and surprising evening of catching up. We met at a cozily popular bar, highlighting vintage cocktails such as Tom Collins and mint juleps, as well as Southern fried nibbles, of the breast and thigh variety.

After some early evening drinks and conversation, my beau the filmmaker in tow, he and I wandered over to Union Pool in Williamsburg, to meet up with some of his lady friends, celebrating a recent dumping of an undeserving and dastardly boyfriend. Union Pool is best described as a textbook example of a hipster Lek mating ground, with males and females alike gathering to display for potential partners, however, hoping to not overtly exude any enthusiasm or interest in the typical and mundane. Nonetheless, it is a fun place to dance around and the outdoor area sports a glowing fire pit, offering some solace from the fierce competition of obscurity within the sweating walls of the joint. Favorite partners of crime, Becca and Peter, along with his lovely lady and dear friend Danya, arrived on the scene, as well as some other university characters, creating quite a crew for our dance round.


Someone, a certain poet and philosopher who will go not named, enjoys watching my normally intimate moments of bathroom preparation. This photograph has an interesting flow, however, and truly captures the shape of the sort of kimono-style sleeve of my 1980s purple silk top. I nabbed this funky little number up in Ithaca, at a church sale if I recall, during the all-items-must-go-for-a-dime day.

With the recent hair cut, I actually have been blowing my hair dry, artificially, with appliances, rather than allowing the wind and other elements to have their way with my head.

Close up of my lucite chandelier necklace; I do not think I will ever tire of wearing this out and about. Particularly with solid colors, or more simple drapes of fabric, it adds immediate notice and welcome crystal-like texture and opulence to the look.

My roommate and one of my best friends, Katherine, gave me this vintage 1960s lucite bangle; as with the chandelier necklace, I never tire of it. Encased in the early version of decorative and functional plastic (bakelite and lucite were utilized as insulation for early appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and radios) is some aluminum foil, ever so artfully crunched.

This vintage 1940s black patent leather pocketbook is very long, with a sort of pyramidal rectangular structure; my father teases that I could hide a rather large gun in there, and deceive anyone on the street with my seeming girl-like, ingenue naivety. As a long purse with short handles, it is not conducive at all to dancing; something to keep in mind next time I go trotting up to a place like Union Pool.

These shoes are almost flats, suedes with a subtle kitten wedge, perfect for traipsing and dancing because of their great comfort. I wanted to create a uniform look on the bottom, to highlight the necklace, as well as color and shape of the top, as well as elongate my legs, so donned the black dress, as a skirt here, with opaque black tights and all black shoes.

Lately, I have been inspired by the bright jewel colors popping up everywhere, like in the Diane von Furstenberg Fall 2011 show in New York and the impeccable Gucci Fall 2011 show in Milan, and am trying to emerge from my monochromatic black winter rut.

Since the top is very loose and unstructured, like many items and people stemming from the late 1980s, featuring cascading wide sleeves, a boat-type high neck, and loose chest and bodice, detailed with a non-descript tie off to the side, I wanted to make sure my bottom was very fitted. Once again, I found my trusted American Apparel scooped back and front dress, which I own in a number of colors; though the night was warm and inviting, I resolved myself with the black, so the purple would shine.

Outfit for a Thursday: Inspired by DVF, or, Cobalt

This morning, reflecting once more on the beautiful colors and feminine skirts of the Diane von Furstenberg Fall 2011 collection, I retrieved this brilliantly cobalt wool suit skirt, looking a tad woeful, from the depths of some trench drawer in my bedroom: a 1970s vintage Dior wool suit skirt. I bought this last winter, with the matching jacket; though I have never worn them together, separately each is truly dynamic and create an entire look on their own. I believe I paid about 20$ or so, for the set. I wish I had had the time to perform a proper steaming to remove more wrinkles, but I was able to do a swift round of damage control with some really great wrinkle spray. Unfortunately, my professional photographer had the day off; I promise, though, this cobalt number is not done any justice laying flat on my bed. This skirt, like most, needs a waist and some hips and some long legs to complete it, and looks much better when curving around the female form. The color, also, should be bolder, and is not so much an electric blue, as a true blue cobalt.


Though you may not be able to tell, this skirt is very high waisted, and very tight around that waist. Dancing it slowly up my hips, all I could think about was needing to do more cardio at the gym. It is a somewhat awkward length, hitting just beneath the knee, so, though I am tall and have long legs, I still like to pair this with heels. Especially as this skirt is both long and fuller in cut, despite the tight waist, I want to make sure I prevent a matronly look by prancing around in some feminine heels.

Four large black buttons provide a great detail along the top of the skirt, tracing down the waist to the hip bone.

Again, difficult to tell, and perhaps I should have waited until my beau hunk photographer had returned from his vacation day, but the skirt sort of alternates between smooth, flat fabric and wide pleats. The pleats lend this skirt some added movement and flow, as well as a more interesting structure to the fuller cut.

As I mentioned, the waist to this skirt is tight, but since it is so high, I like to tuck my shirt in; also to combat appearing overly dowdy, I generally wear a more fitted top. This black and white striped tee shirt features a key-holed back neckline, which I would normally deem a tad too racy
for work; however, again, when coupled with a longer, heavy skirt, it provides an infusion of youth and vitality to the outfit.

I really enjoy how narrow the stripes for this shirt are; this was an amazing Century 21 find, for maybe 5$. Added to the cotton is some spandex, giving this shirt a nice weight as well as shape.

These lace-up heels were a TJ Maxx find; I could expound on the glories of shopping in TJ Maxx stores in affluent socioeconomic areas for hours. Or in a single sentence: TJ Maxx stores where wealthy people live are amazing and have the best selections and deals. Particularly, if that affluent-audience TJ Maxx store happens to be, for whatever reason, in a more run-down, rough-like, rumble type of shopping center, say one that also sports a Wal-Mart and a dollar store. I have nothing against Wal-Mart, I shop there all too frequently. Clearly, I am describing the one and only shopping center within my two mile commute from my apartment to my place of currently semi-employment.

The heels are about three or so inches, and a bit of a thinner heel than I typically aim for, with that type of added height. Despite the long and lean design of the heel, these shoes are quite comfortable for the office.

I adore the contrast of leather and suede, a sort of contemporary interpretation of Victorian lace-up booties, with a pinch of men's wear inspiration thrown into the mix.

Though as of late I have been partial to gold, silver was my first love, and I have some really interesting silver bracelets and bangles, such as those featured in my Christmas Party outfit, glorious beauties of vintage lucite. This cuff is also vintage, from perhaps the 1970s, and the earrings are silver and bubblegum pink costume pieces, either late 1960s or early 1970s.

The cuff is about two inches wide, and has a hand-hammered type of look, causing the silver to appear to be scaled, as if it is made of some skinned ancient reptile.

Now that I think about it, these pink earrings are among the first three pairs of earrings I ever owned, found when I was in eighth grade. They are large and round, each a pink hemisphere, and similar to the coral earrings from yesterday, add a splash of color. With the large swatch of blue in my skirt, this slight sampling of pink offers a bit of balance and contrast.

New York Fashion Week: DVF Fall 2011

Fashion dame extraordinaire Lady Diane von Furstenberg has never really faltered in my eyes; her pieces are forever flawlessly feminine. This fall collection, naturally, did not fail to deliver plunging necklines, sultry sequins, and gorgeous gowns, maintaining the tradition of utter flirtatious fun and femininity, while still being exciting and fresh. In particular, I enjoy the synergy of the wild patterns of certain looks with the various monochromatic looks, blue, green, purple, and turquoise being highlighted here. Honestly, I attempted to edit a bit to include what could potentially be considered favorites, but other than the moments where a cowboy-inspired, rodeo black hat was introduced, I adored this entire collection start to finish.




The boat neckline just accentuates the simply dramatic elegance of this dress; stripes continue to be everywhere, but it is refreshing to see some along a diagonal, and in a wider pattern, which is often more flattering look for more curvacious body types.

These bangles, such perfect details, complete the look for me.

This look is brilliant, as it stays within a single palette but offers some variety and playfulness with the shades.

Again, amazing bangles, and the perfect pencil skirt. This look was an interesting straddle between the monochrome outfits and some of the wilder prints, and serves to create cohesion among the looks as a whole collection.

This dress alludes to a kimono, necessitating demure steps and soft voices.

All three of these cobalt blue looks left me speechless; the slit on that sequin gown is so daring, without being obscene. I love when skirts drape and kiss the floor, but there is still a tribute to the long, lean leg. I am fairly positive if I had that collared jacket, I would wear it daily; obviously I am drooling over it matched with slight variations to the shade in this look, but would love to pair it with all black or camel as a perfect accent outerwear piece. Lady Furstenberg frequently draws heavily from 1970s party looks and silhouettes; I tend to agree with her.

Black and gold is one of my favorite color combinations, which I frequently resort to; here, I really enjoy the use of white as a background and the geometry of the pattern. Almost a love-child between Escher tessellations and those stereotypes of Aztec architecture.

(images taken from Fashionologie)